Xavier Mongin, Global Director for the Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise Government, Defense, Smart cities & Smart Buildings writes how smart buildings will become intelligent
Climate change is one of the biggest threats facing humanity today. We are already seeing many of its effects, from unpredictable weather to global warming. We need to take steps to radically reduce our carbon footprint if we want to change things for the better. One area in particular that requires attention is the construction industry; responsible for 37% of global emissions according to a study from the UN Environment Programme, the evolution of this sector will play a significant role in tackling the climate crisis.
The concept of smart buildings has been developed past the connected buildings that most of us occupy. These buildings, through efficient and economical use of resources, enabled by IoT, IT and Operational Technology (OT), minimise environmental impact.
Today smart buildings are able to provide real-time services based on occupancy, avoiding wasted energy on lighting, heating, and air-conditioning and more. According to research by 100Green, the UK alone wastes 339,810,000kWh of energy annually just from people leaving the lights on when they leave a room. Smart building technology eliminates this kind of wastage, with sensors that determine when people have left a room and turn the lights off accordingly.
However, smart buildings, as the second step for this technology, are not its final manifestation. The challenge for smart buildings is to orchestrate different heterogenous systems working in silos. Today Building Management Systems (BMS) are partly aggregating data from different endpoints and providing OT management and dashboards but the Intelligent Buildings emerging from the OT/IT merger relies on a more mature platform and seamless interoperability with the various sub-systems defined as a Building Operating System. We are currently in this digital evolution phase where the contouring of BOS is still a discussion of experts and vendors. This marks a shift from smart buildings to intelligent buildings.
But, with the ambitious targets needed to prevent the worst effects of climate change and preserve a liveable planet, reducing our impact is not enough. We need to actively reverse the trend and restore the environment. This is where the ultimate stage of development comes in: intelligent buildings for the future (also known as Intelligent Buildings 5.0).
Where smart buildings are focused on reducing energy use, which in turn reduces carbon emissions and preserves natural resources, intelligent buildings 5.0 are adaptive and are capable of improving the ecosystem, enhancing biodiversity, and producing renewable energy. This means that natural resources will not just be preserved, they will also be replenished. These capabilities require an advanced range of technologies beyond those that power smart buildings.
While architects and engineers will no doubt play a huge role, new technologies will play an integral role in enabling the take off of these regenerative buildings because the volumes of data will be on such a large scale that it would be impossible to compute with current technology. So, what are the technologies that will enable the development of intelligent buildings?
Convergence of IT/OT
Operational technology and information technology both transmit and store information, but they serve distinct roles within an environment. By merging these two systems into one, intelligent buildings will be able to seamlessly and wirelessly transfer information gathered from OT processes to their digital IT networks. This allows for unified systems monitoring, enhancing the value delivered by both IT and OT systems. In practice, this means using inputs from sensors and other measurement devices to improve operations and adapt to user needs, thereby using resources in a maximally efficient way.
Biomimicry
Biomimicry means learning from, and then emulating the systems, forms and processes used in nature, for the purpose of solving complex human problems, often in a more sustainable way. Not only can this design process create conditions conducive to the resilience of a building, but it can also lead to better user wellbeing, and a more aesthetically appealing appearance.
Biomimicry can be used to address different objectives. For example, a biophilic design having green roofs and walls will contribute to restore an urban biodiversity. Several technics to collect, store and filter water also emerged from natural life principals and will contribute to address the critical challenge of water preservation in intelligent regenerative buildings.
Swarm Intelligence
Currently operational technology is very fragmented, meaning that there is no direct communication between devices, only through a central system. But we are seeing an evolution from traditional AI to swarm intelligence, which means a shift from centralised architecture to something more decentralised, with an emergent behaviour model inspired by collective behaviour that we would see in a swarm of bees.
Each piece of software will act as an autonomous agent, working collaboratively with a heterogenous set of other autonomous agents. This model will be more scalable and will have no single point of failure, making it much more resilient. It will be able to handle the complex capabilities required for intelligent buildings to become a reality.
AIoT
IoT collects huge amounts of data, but there is a problem when it comes to meaningfully analysing and gaining insights from this data. Today, this data is transferred to a server and analysed centrally, but as the amount of data increases, this becomes impractical. AIoT is the convergence of AI and IoT. With this shift, data will be computed in real time closer to the IoT (at the Edge) or even by the IoT itself. As a result, operational efficiency will increase and allow IoT to effectively think for itself, learning from mistakes and adjusting a course of action accordingly.
Much like self-driving cars, intelligent buildings will perform seemingly simple functions, enabled by a bank of advanced technology behind the scenes. The systems that power these buildings will create and maintain an internal map of the building’s environment, analysing each room’s temperature, light level, energy use and occupancy in real time.
Alongside this, they will analyse the exterior of the building, including heat loss, air quality, wind speed, bin capacity and much more. Intelligent buildings will generate energy using renewable sources, including solar panels and wind turbines, and predict energy needs, storing excess energy ready for peak times or feeding it back to the grid.
Picture this: The sun is shining overhead, as you wake up on a Saturday morning. As you open your curtains, the lights in the room turn off as sensors detect increased light levels in the room. Air pollution levels are particularly high today, so your home has activated a filtering system to clean the air. Your houseplants also improve the indoor air quality and are watered automatically only when necessary. You eat a breakfast bar and chuck the wrapper away.
It is categorised as recyclable and placed in the correct bin, which will be collected on the same day that it’s full. As you relax on the sofa, you watch the solar panels on the side of your house rotate slowly to match the position of the sun in the sky. A notification on your phone tells you that you have made £50 today from the sale of excess energy. Whilst leaving the house, you notice the heating turn off automatically.
But intelligent buildings are focused on more than just the user experience. This same building is not only making the lives of its occupants more convenient, it’s also having a regenerative effect on the climate, boosting biodiversity, reducing pollution and generating green energy. This is the future that intelligent building technology will enable.
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