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How smart building technology learns how to lower your energy bill   

Traditional buildings are cooled when it’s too hot, and heated when it’s too cold. This happens regardless of whether the spaces are actually in use or not.  

This inefficient way of managing the energy can be improved by smart technology. But exactly how much can we save on the energy bill by making the system smart and what would that look like in practice

How much energy is wasted by offices being ‘always on’?

When occupants exit rooms in the afternoon, they could be the last ones to use the space for the rest of the day, or even the week. Normally, this would mean that the room would be continuously adjusted to achieve a comfortable temperature – for as long as the office hours last.

Furthermore, many of these same buildings also have not optimized their ‘off-hours’ schedule. This means still cooling or heating an empty building in the weekend or on public holidays

Generally speaking, this means that 20%-30% of the time a building is climatized while forecasted to be empty.  

This not only wastes energy significantly but also unnecessarily increases wear and tear on your electronics. This leads to appliances and light fixtures having to get replaced more often than needed.

Let’s see how we can move away from this unnecessarily wasteful way of working and move towards something more sustainable, efficient and less costly.  

A building that learns from your schedule 

A HVAC system that adapts to human behavior can save 20% on energy usage. More specifically, bAdaptive learns how to use the building efficiently by adjusting its actions based on usage patterns. This is all achieved while making no concessions when it comes to comfort.  

Leveraging AI technology, we accurately predict room usage and transition unused spaces into ‘night mode’ hours in advance. This results in approximately 80% of the building being in ‘night mode’ earlier than scheduled.  

These proactive measures contribute to substantial energy savings annually. For instance, with ‘day mode’ consumption reduced, this saves over 20% by the end of the day

Work with the time of day, instead of against it 

During the weekends, there is no need to keep the building at a comfortable temperature as no one is around. Consequently, bAdaptive deactivates cooling in order to save energy and makes use of the free cooling by night ventilation on Sunday night. This saves energy while making sure the space is comfortable for the work week.  

This approach not only conserves energy by reducing usage during times when the building is unoccupied, but it also requires less energy to restore the building to a comfortable temperature at the start of the work week. 

Conclusion 

The inefficient and outdated way of heating and cooling buildings is unnecessarily wasteful. A building that learns from the habits of the user can realize significant energy savings. This includes:  

  • Not heating or cooling when the building is unoccupied 
  • Learning about the occupant’s behavior and adjusting the energy usage accordingly e.g. stop adjusting the temperture in spaces that will not be in use for the rest of the day
  • Making use of free cooling by night ventilation to further reduce energy usage 

Want to know more about what this would look like in your building? Request a free demo below and find out how much energy you could save by choosing a smart building management system.   

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