It seems that when Smart Cities are discussed, more emphasis is always placed on the "new city out of the ground" phenomena, and not on our existing cities and buildings.
The new technology that can be used to reduce the power consumption and carbon footprint of new "out of the ground" Smart Cities is exciting, but it is also encouraging to see the vast opportunities we have to improve the performance of the myriad buildings in the cities we already occupy.
I like to look at it from the microcosmic view, building-by-building. A building represents a community or place that encapsulates, on a small scale, the characteristic qualities or features of the larger entity—the city. As city infrastructure becomes smarter and reduces the strain on resources, the individual building infrastructure also will have to follow suit and become smarter to lower energy usage.
So what does it mean to make an existing building smarter?
今天的技术存在保持现有的构建ings continuously retro-commissioned and assure that the energy efficient design and low carbon footprint of new sustainable construction is maintained after the buildings are commissioned. Data and connectivity is the “technology driver” and the key to providing information on how efficiently buildings are performing, based on the needs and wellness of the occupants. The smart building provides infrastructure to support the data mining that extracts real-time information needed to keep the building operational and enhance the occupant experience. So why all the concern about improving existing building infrastructure?
- It is predicted that by 2030 more than 60% of commercial floor space will be in buildings built prior to 2008 (Annual Energy Outlook 2008) Buildings are the largest contributor to global carbon emissions, accounting for about 40% of the world’s total carbon footprint (Energy Efficiency in Buildings, World Business Council for Sustainable Development).
- The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that the largest energy- and carbon-saving potential in 2030 will be in existing buildings, through retrofit and renovation.
- A Department of Energy study evaluating energy efficiency potential in existing commercial buildings indicated that a reasonable range of economic savings in existing commercial buildings is between 10% and 20% of current energy use.
- There are about 5.6 million existing commercial buildings in the United States. That’s why the microscopic building-by-building view is so important. Those building microcosms add up to an enormous impact.
If you do the math, it is estimated that by turning our existing buildings into smarter, more energy efficient buildings, we could save up to $25 billion in energy costs every year.
The research group Navigant, which conducts in-depth analysis of global clean technology markets, predicts global revenue for commercial building automation will grow from $58 billion in 2013 to $91.9 billion in 2023.
IDC Energy Insights预测，智能建筑物的支出可能以2019年的比例为23％的复利年龄。不可避免的结论是，在未来几年中，使用智能技术改造现有建筑物将占智能建筑投资和部署的很大一部分。
综上所述，从低压建筑物控制系统孤岛的集合转变为融合的系统技术和能够收集和分析数据的基于云的服务，将为现有建筑物提供“未来的防护”基础架构。对物理连接的强调将减少，而更多地访问虚拟连接。
As data sources rise exponentially through the use of Big Data and the Internet of Things (IoT), the challenges in developing technology to efficiently operate existing buildings will include working toward standard configurations and data-tagging formats that support data mining extraction and address the issues of cyber-security.
最后但并非最不重要的一点是，绿色和高性能建筑运动的兴起将使人们对智能建筑现象保持建筑物和我们的城市有效运转的重要性有了新的重视，以保持碳足迹的设计，并且减少温室气体排放。
这为我们带来了完整的圈子：通过融合网络管理的智能建筑集合，该网络具有支持数据挖掘的基础架构和分析工具，以提取信息，以保留所设计的建筑物运营，这是整体基础架构的重要组成部分支持智能城市宏观。
Thomas Grimard, an associate partner at Syska Hennessy Group, leads the organization’s Building Management Systems team. He and has more than 30 years’ of experience designing and implementing smart and sustainable building systems.
