The Internet of Things is a network of sensors, meters, appliances and other devices that are capable of sending and receiving data.ⁱ The total number of IoT connections worldwide is estimated to reach 5.3 billion by 2028ⁱⁱ. The first 5G IoT connections will emerge this year, and their number is forecasted to grow to 149 million by 2028,ⁱⁱⁱ which will increase speed and access to information.

IoT has transformed the way we communicate and organize information. Adopting IoT in sectors that manage large numbers of data sets, such as cybersecurity, can effectively replace the manual coordination of systems, where instead of a physical person sitting behind a desk inputting numbers into a database, IoT, paired with other smart technology like AI and analytics, can autonomously sort data for us and make the process more streamlined. In residential buildings, for instance, IoT is revolutionizing the collection and use of information.

IoT devices are quickly becoming a new yet integral part of smart buildings’ digital ecosystems. IoT devices attach to any number of elements within a building, monitoring the building’s operations, and helping reduce operation costs, improve operations, efficiency and effectiveness.

Residential and commercial buildings have a significant impact on local, national and global carbon emissions; globally, they contribute an estimated 40 percent of total emissions. And as the density of residential buildings in urban areas increases and the sophistication of technology rises, finding ways to minimize carbon emissions from buildings is imperative for property stakeholders if they want to take sustainability metrics as seriously as profit metrics.

Outdated building automation systems lack efficiency

Before we talk about IoT within the new generation of smart buildings, we first have to understand how we managed building operations before this digital revolution.

The first wave of energy-efficient equipment, known as Building Automation Systems (BAS), was developed to make building HVAC systems within residential buildings more efficient. They are essentially built to tie existing HVAC components together and implement basic scheduling and control logic. It's a relatively simple relationship.

As useful as they are, they don't incorporate deeper intelligence to monitor and/or predict energy consumption trends. As a result, they have failed to improve HVAC energy consumption the way real estate owners had hoped.

Their simple makeup, local data confinement and time demanding manual monitoring have led the end-user to abandon BAS infrastructure. Without exploring smart technology solutions, like IoT, for residential building operations, property managers risk stunting their property’s energy performance ratings and potentially risk unnecessarily inflated costs.

But all hope isn’t lost. Current disruptive technology in this field is estimated to be able to save property owners 30 to 50 percent in operational costs. By merging contemporary smart systems with existing infrastructure, it can open the doors to cost-saving opportunities.
 

Enabling new tech in outdated systems

Thankfully, modern-day smart technology has become more dynamic and readily available to various sectors, including real estate. We first saw IoT emerge in smart buildings in the form of physical sensors that attach within the walls of the building. The sensors collect data in the form of room temperature, measuring electrical power, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC)^iv. For example, a CO2 meter can estimate the number of people in a room and tell your HVAC system to increase the ventilation rate of fresher air in response.

So how exactly do these small sensory attachments work to help smart buildings run smoother? It’s all thanks to the cloud.

With the cloud, IoT can collect, parse through and deliver adaptive data to identify inefficiencies within a building. It then works in tandem with other smart technologies, like data analytics and AI algorithms, to deliver this information to remote controls that execute in real time to address the gaps in efficiency.

IoT sensors fastened throughout buildings are called data points. If you have 100 data points providing information, many of those are really just discreet IoT sensors. Those data points can be used to measure CO2 levels in hallways, the amount of fresh air in condo units, humidity levels, resident comfort, mechanical operations- the list goes on.

It’s worth mentioning that these data points, the physical sensory attachments, currently pose a challenge for third-party installers. Sensors can technically go anywhere, but cabling them through existing concrete walls limits the number of data points each building can accommodate.

The physical networking requirement means splicing the sensors between floors to calculate data in a distributed fashion. Technicians have to wire up an entire building by entering through existing cabling networks to install each attachment.

Despite physical design limitations, IoT data points are proving a necessary component within smart technology tool kits for residential buildings to improve resident comfort and optimize energy controls.

To give you a sense of the scope, energy management providers have deployed within some of the world’s tallest residential buildings where the capacity to collect data points is approximately 200. Every single one of those 200 data points provides invaluable information about building operations in real time. Having this data means it can feed back instructions for better control, which dynamically regulates equipment (such as pumps, motors, boilers, chillers) in a building to minimize energy waste while ensuring resident comfort.

Wireless networks will proliferate IoT

As 5G networks are announced starting this year, the industry is excited to see where it will take IoT. 5G will allow IoT devices that can work on a wireless network, as opposed to physically fastening the IoT sensors, to be totally wireless. This will provide access to even more data to help improve system efficiencies.

Wireless network IoT has significant potential benefits including low power, low-cost communication networks enabling IoT to transition into faster, more intelligent arenas of big data, among other niche, smart technologies, such as cloud computing or smart home devices.

Having access to this enormous amount of data will continue to fine-tune the way that we are run large scale applications in building energy management. Not to mention, further proliferation of devices will help accurately monitor resident comfort.

Thanks to advances in smart building technology, residents experience improved comfort as a result of more consistent fresh air management in hallways, temperature regulation in the building and more consistent hot water availability.

From a financial perspective, each resident has the potential to see the operating costs of their buildings reduced significantly (10-15 percent) and this has translated into more financially-viable condominium corporations and owned apartment buildings.

Looking at the broader impact, smart technology can significantly lower the carbon footprint by millions of pounds of CO2 in cities across the world.

In conclusion, the next wave of IoT will enable more focused, accurate and concrete energy efficiency in urban residential buildings.

Technological advancements open the doors to extend IoT’s current capabilities from a local, data-driven, cloud-based system into a broadband network of mass-scale data that can strategically reduce operational costs, improve resident comfort and strongarm the greater pursuit to improve sustainable smart buildings in urban centres globally.

 
References:

i https://www.buildings.com/news/industry-news/articleid/21603/title/iot-smart-building-technology

ii https://www.analysysmason.com/Research/Content/Regional-forecasts-/iot-worldwide-forecast-rdme0/

iii https://www.analysysmason.com/Research/Content/Regional-forecasts-/iot-worldwide-forecast-rdme0/

iv https://www.buildup.eu/en/news/overview-next-generation-buildings-iot-and-smart-energy-efficiency