Data Analytics & Smart Building Science Articles | Buildings IOT Blog

Going green is a top-of-mind strategy for many facilities managers today, and for good reason. While it’s essential to hit and maintain standard business norms concerning occupant comfort, not to mention preserve status levels for electricity-dependent services of all kinds, it’s also essential to minimize energy costs. Without the right tools, finding a balance between these goals is far from easy.

On July 18, 2015, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) shut down. It happened on a Wednesday, lasting nearly four hours, from 11:30 in the morning until 3:10 in the afternoon. All trading came to a halt, leaving traders on the floor twiddling their thumbs until just before the closing bell. On the same day, the Wall Street Journal’s website crashed and United Airlines grounded flights globally for nearly two hours due to technical problems, with many suspecting a coordinated cyberattack. Though the cause turned out not to be malicious, the root of these failures was no less troubling.

Pharmaceuticals play an extraordinary role in people’s everyday lives. But producing transformative products can be a costly and energy-intensive business, and reducing costs without compromising personnel or materials can present unique challenges.

Ensuring government buildings function day in and day out is a complex task. That’s why intelligent automation in government buildings is critical for alleviating the challenges of conventional building automation systems (BASs).

We are painfully aware: hospitals are over-extended. With many moving parts, facilities management for a hospital is an essential role in ensuring maximum system-wide uptime. Now more than ever, building managers are looking to technology to support facilities managers deliver consistent, reliable, comfortable and safe spaces on a day-to-day, usually 24-hour basis. With these tips, you can create a blueprint for improving the way your hospital is managed and transform the way facilities managers work.

Motel 6’s “We’ll leave the light on for you” slogan spoke to the hospitality of the brand, but it could also apply to two main libraries on the University of California at Berkeley campus thanks to their newly installed smart lighting system. The new system gives facility managers the ability to control and automate anything from a single fixture to entire circuits, allowing them to curb energy usage and reduce waste. In the Doe Library, fluorescent lighting shuts off during daylight hours when skylights can provide natural lighting. Using a web interface, Berkeley’s Moffitt Library now regulates lighting according to holidays, exams, and other nuances of the university’s academic year. Facility managers can control lighting on a customizable schedule, using a software scheduling application that is accessible via a web portal and allows overrides for when cleaning crews are on premises.

Key performance indicators, or KPIs, are critical for teams to track the performance of their commercial building’s operational systems. Gathering and understanding data around areas such as energy efficiency, maintenance, air quality, and security are essential for implementing building operation improvement strategies.

Building management system vs. building automation system—is there a difference? 

Even seasoned facilities managers may be surprised to find that building management system (BMS) and building automation system (BAS) are largely used interchangeably. Both terms refer to computer-based control platforms installed within commercial buildings that control and monitor mechanical and electrical equipment, such as HVAC, electric power systems, lighting, ventilation, and other core functions.

As smart building technologies continue to advance, the role and very definition of building management systems (BMS) is changing. Today, a BMS is not just about proprietary protocols and the ability to get alerts about every setpoint change or damper fluctuation. Modern building management systems, also referred to as building automation systems (BAS), or even integrated automation systems (IAS), the focus for  owners and facilities managers is on making better and faster operational decisions, increasing automation, streamlining systems, and optimizing overall performance.

Traditional building management system (BMS) design results in the capture of a huge amount of data from a complex network of equipment and sensors—data you have to make sense of. This data contains invaluable information about your building, but the sheer volume can make it difficult to filter through and determine what matters, what doesn’t, and how disparate elements of the system relate to the whole. As a result, your goals—energy efficiency, increased occupant comfort, improved operations—often remain out of reach. But the right building management system design can change that and allow you to optimize performance.