SMART BUILDING DESIGN

The best way of powering the future of change, is to invite you all to be part of the smart building revolution.

When does a building become smart?

When it is part of each occupant, by responding promptly and closely to his/her perception of comfort, based on the set points for temperature, humidity, lights… We need to look at occupants as individuals, not as a bulk, because every individual is unique and has different comfort needs.

A building becomes smart when every occupant is part of it, by storing the environmental profiles of the occupants, learning from them and, automatically adjusting the environment to make each and every one comfortable, and changing it throughout the day, based on the building’s understanding of each occupant’s needs and without his/her interference.

A building is smart when it is also a part of each businessman. By optimizing the energy consumption, employee productivity, etc… apart from other businesses in the same building.

When each businessperson is part of the building, which understands its behaviour and acts automatically and continuously to make sure that the use of energy is optimized.

A building is smart when it also becomes part of its owner, to obtain energy labelling and ensure an increasing value. When each owner is part of the building, by maintaining and enhancing its value throughout its lifetime.

As a summary, a building will be smart when it becomes part of each and every one of us; and when each and every one of us becomes part of it.

It is a common fact that HVAC accounts for the majority of energy consumption by an organization. This is expected because HVAC systems create and maintain a controlled environment within a building and is one of the crucial factors in delivering comfort to both occupants and equipment. Even small modifications to these systems can result to remarkable improvements in the indoor environment and at the same time, save money. The HVAC industry plays a vital role in smart buildings. It is quite impossible for a building to be smart, if its HVAC is not.

EMergy plays a vital role in defining and implementing the strategies and methods to smart building design or convert an existing building into a smart one. The smart building fundamentals that need to be taken into consideration are, such as:

  • Indoor air quality
  • Air speed
  • Different occupants with different needs
  • Humidity control
  • Building behaviour
  • Post occupancy phase.
  • Recommissioning and retro-commissioning
  • Ventilation rates
  • Adapted vs. non-adapted approaches
  • Displacement ventilation
  • Personalized ventilation
  • Radiant cooling
  • Odour control
  • Lighting
  • Controls and building management
  • Renewable energy
  • Passive cooling
  • Infiltration and exfiltration