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Industry trends indicate that nowadays, people spend around 90% of their time indoors, buildings consume 40% of the total energy on the planet, 80% of the total building lifecycle costs occur during its operation, and 75% of non-residential buildings are not energy-efficient, leading to a significant negative impact on resource consumption and CO2 emissions. Therefore, European Union member states have a strong stance in this sector, and starting from January 1, 2025, new requirements in EU directives and government regulations will come into effect.
One of the most effective ways to improve the energy efficiency of existing buildings without major investments is by increasing their level of automation. Buildings with modern and functioning Building Management Systems (BMS) consume 10-30% less energy. By improving automation in an average office building, not only can a better indoor environment be achieved, but there will also be up to 39% energy savings. Compared to, for example, insulating enclosing structures, this is a quick, cost-effective, non-intrusive, and simple solution with a short payback period.
New regulations state that in all public and other non-residential buildings with a nominal capacity exceeding 290kW, a Building Automation and Control System (BACS) must be mandatory. BMS, or Building Management System, is based on a set of engineering systems and equipment (controllers, sensors) aimed at efficient resource utilization, reducing maintenance costs, and ensuring user comfort based on the building type. This system can be implemented during the design phase and in existing buildings during operation.
Modern public buildings have mechanical ventilation, heating, cooling, and lighting engineering systems. Correct operation of these systems affects the building's energy consumption costs, inhabitants' well-being and productivity, building wear and tear, necessary maintenance time, and operational costs. Achieving these goals usually requires good service in combination with knowledgeable technical personnel on-site.
Many engineering systems are automated and provide local functions, such as regulating heating circuits. Setting changes in these automated systems are usually done on-site, for example, in a technical room. Newer generation automation systems come with built-in web servers, allowing remote setting changes.
Even with such functionalities, building owners still face management issues as they must align the operation of individually functioning systems with occupants' requirements and the potential for low energy consumption.
Solutions have traditionally involved creating a centralized control system for managing all these engineering equipment and changing software parameters. Data changes are often possible using standard control protocols like BACnet, Modbus or through automation reconstruction by switching to a solution understood by the respective company's programmer. Communication cables must be set up between managed engineering systems, a central controller must be installed, and separate software must be used for visualization. All this requires resources, engineering hours, and the payback period is usually unpredictable as energy efficiency is often not the primary focus. Most systems are not integrated with room data as wired solutions are hard to implement, and wireless solutions in standardized building automation are costly. Standardized control systems offer the possibility to connect energy metering devices, but separate software is required for data reflection and analytics.
In short, the conventional solution described results in high costs, software dependence, a lack of analytics, and a lack of functionality.
Furthermore, according to government regulations No.730, in Latvia, majority of non-residential buildings must be equipped with a building automation and control system from next year onwards. This system should be able to:
What should one do if they wish to achieve convenient engineering system management, energy consumption analytics, enhance control with climate data, weather forecast data, support building management, and comply with government regulations?
We have developed a solution that is an innovative and effective change in the conservative, tradition-rich building automation market. The solution is highly modern and aligns with advancements in IT, IoT, and the most progressive building automation controllers. The key aspect is to establish optimized building management utilizing as many existing automation solutions as possible and achieve energy savings of up to 30%, ensuring comfort parameters during building operation. Climate and energy consumption data are easily understandable on the building platform.
What we have to offer to be a reliable partner in building engineering system management:
Get in touch with us, and we will set up the Intellify building management system at your place too!
