Building automation: reduce energy consumption and improve energy efficiency

When it comes to building automation, wireless sensor networks (WSN) and the Internet of Things (IoT) are becoming more and more common, whether it is a new building under construction or a renovation of an old building. WSN allows us to add "intelligence" to the existing building infrastructure, while avoiding wiring and installation in some hard-to-reach areas. With the vigorous development and application of wireless systems, this has also brought some new questions to people, such as the reason and purpose of adding more sensors to HVAC? Is it for lighting or building security system?

The current four major trends in building automation answer this question: energy efficiency, safety and security, user comfort, and preventive maintenance.

Below, we will focus on the topic of energy efficiency, which is also an important trend in adding more sensors to building automation systems.

Whether it is building owners, homeowners or tenants, everyone will care about energy conservation and cost savings. At present, most of the electrical energy used in buildings is provided by the grid, and 30% of the electrical energy is wasted. By using sensor nodes, high-energy-consuming devices are only operated when necessary, which can significantly reduce energy usage. Smart buildings created in this way will have a huge impact on energy saving, waste reduction and cost reduction.

In the HVAC system, intelligent monitoring and control can be realized by adding independent environmental sensors. These sensors can obtain accurate temperature and humidity information from each area or room in the building. Generally speaking, if only one room is used, we still need to pay for the heating or cooling of the entire building or the entire house. Therefore, instead of installing a central temperature monitoring device, it is better to add multiple sensors in the building. In this way, users can flexibly control the heating and cooling areas according to the room usage or usage time.

Large-scale commercial buildings can realize demand controlled ventilation (DCV) through the personnel counting system. DCV can deliver fresh air according to the number of people in the room, instead of turning on the HVAC system directly according to preset controls.

HVAC and lighting systems alone account for 59% of the electricity used in commercial buildings. The power usage of these applications will be greatly affected by smart monitoring and control solutions. By interconnecting sensors for advanced light control such as low-power occupancy detectors and energy harvesting daylight sensors, and adding interconnected sensors for advanced HVAC control such as low-power environmental sensors and people counting systems, we can really start to reduce total Energy consumption.