Buildings Magazine - August

be more responsible when they
have the right information about
what’s going on in the building.”
Io T devices are able to deliver
the right information at the right
time to the right person, which has
previously been unavailable for
physical assets, Soya notes.

What is Io T?

In the simplest terms, the
Internet of Things is a network of
sensors, meters, appliances and
other devices that are capable of
sending and receiving data. In
other words:
n A CO2 meter that can estimate
the number of people in a room
and tell your HVAC system to
increase the ventilation rate in
response
n An occupancy sensor that can
order a bank of lights to turn on
when it senses a presence
n A dashboard that can analyze
a building’s worth of sensor
data and turn it into actionable
insights
They tend to fall into four
categories, according to Soya:
n Energy: Includes popular appli-
cations like wireless energy
consumption monitoring
n Equipment: Those that
optimize lighting and HVAC use
n Environmental quality:
Devices might measure particu-
late matter or CO2
n People or spaces: Devices that
can measure occupancy, space
utilization or how many people
have passed through a certain
entrance
For more Io T applications, see
“Lesser-Known Io T Applications”
on page 22.

The chief benefits setting Io T
devices apart from other smart
building technology are flexibility
and observability.

To understand the value of these qualities, think of the monthly electricity bill you get at home, Herbst suggests. It may tell you how much power your home used and tell you that you owe $300, but do you know where the $300 was used?

“Most people will say, ‘No, I just
pay my bills and I’m done with it.

continued

I don’t know how much my refrig-
erator uses vs. my air conditioner
vs. my PlayStation 4,’” Herbst
explains.

“Having insight into where my energy is being used is probably the greatest opportunity for Io T to help you manage a building and better understand where energy is being consumed.”

3 Ways to Evaluate Io T
Investments

Choosing which Io T provider to partner with is a crucial decision in implementing smart building technology. As you investigate providers and smart building solutions, think about what you’d like to accomplish with your initial Io T investment and ask yourself questions like these. Opt for a provider with experience in scalability so that you can expand to other floors, building systems or facilities in your portfolio after your initial successes.

1) What are you trying to solve?

Understand where the finish line is before you start running the race. If you’re starting with lighting, for example, do you need a system that only monitors energy use and turns off lighting in unoccupied areas, or would you also like to adjust the color temperature? Could you benefit from adding fault detection and diagnostic capabilities?

2) Is Io T the answer to solving my problem? If you’ve been thinking about phasing in an Io T solution as your legacy infrastructure reaches the end of its life, Soya recommends looking for opportunities to start that transition into an Io T-based approach. “Often people need to upgrade their energy management system or replace lighting, and rather than using that opportunity to pivot into an Io T solution, they fall down the path of continuing to do more traditional methods,” Soya explains. If legacy equipment is involved, find an Io T vendor who is experienced in integrating new technologies with legacy solutions.

3) How much can this save me compared to the investment?

A good Io T solution should have no recurring charges and should enable a quick payback, Herbst says. “For example, lighting controls typically cost about

20% of the lighting budget, so installing lighting controls should save you about 30% right off the bat in addition to a conversion to LED,” Herbst adds.

Soya suggests first asking if you
have a solution that’s holistic in
nature. “Start there and then worry
about the specific Io T technology
you want to select. Make sure the
platform is generalized so you can
include data from any kind of Io T
device.”
A challenge of Io T implemen-
tation is that there’s still a lot of
separation between hardware and
software, and you might need a
variety of hardware vendors and
software to implement Io T.

“Look for vendors that can fully integrate with each other so you’re not stuck trying to put the pieces together on your own,” Soya says.

“Having insight into where my energy is being used is probably the greatest opportunity for IoT to help you manage a building and better understand where energy is being consumed.”