Honeywell has announced the launch of its new Forge Energy Optimization, a cloud-based, machine learning solution for smart buildings.
The solution “continuously studies a building’s energy consumption patterns” and automatically adjusts to optimal energy saving settings without compromising occupant comfort levels, the company said in a release.
The firm claims that the Honeywell Forge Energy Optimization is the first autonomous building solution focused on decreasing energy consumption and may deliver double-digit energy savings, decrease a building’s carbon footprint, and can be implemented without significant upfront capital expenses or changes to a building’s current operational processes.
During a pilot at Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University (HBMSU) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Honeywell Forge Energy Optimization demonstrated an initial 10% energy savings.
Honeywell Forge Energy Optimization was applied to HBMSU’s existing building management system, which uses competitor technology to demonstrate the platform’s open architecture and hardware-agnostic capabilities.
Honeywell also noted that the additional energy savings is especially significant because HBMSU is regarded as a highly smart, energy efficient building with fully connected lighting, cooling, building management, power and efficiency control that is optimized based on real-time occupancy. The pilot also uncovered local control issues with the chiller plant and fresh air handling unit that were not adjusting to set points.
“As a smart university, we look to deploy the latest technology across our campus and ensure our buildings are efficient,” said Mansoor Al Awar, chancellor of Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University. “Our further partnership with Honeywell will help to support the advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) modeling for building automation and provide our students with first-hand applications of how AI and machine learning (ML) will drive operational efficiencies in buildings. Our goal is to collaborate with leading organizations like Honeywell that support our vision of educating the innovators of tomorrow.”
“Buildings aren’t static steel and concrete – they’re dynamic ecosystems and their energy needs fluctuate based on ever-changing variables like weather and occupancy,” said David Trice, vice president and general manager, Honeywell Connected Buildings. “By employing the latest self-learning algorithms coupled with autonomous control, we can help building portfolio owners fine-tune their energy expenditures to drive efficiencies and create more sustainable practices for our customers.”
Honeywell Forge Energy Optimization autonomously and continually optimizes a building’s internal set points across hundreds of assets every 15 minutes to evaluate whether a building’s HVAC system is running at peak efficiency. When Honeywell’s solution finds a need to make an adjustment, it analyzes factors such as time of day, weather, occupancy levels, and dozens of other data points to determine the optimal settings per building and makes calculated decisions 96 times per 24-hour period for every building in a portfolio, 365 days a year across the system of assets.
