Australia has adopted a global building automation technical specification that is best known as the backbone of the KNX standard.
The global ISO/IEC14543-3 standard for building automation has been adopted as a technical specification for Australia and New Zealand.
Adoption of this global standard locally validates ABB’s strategy of developing intelligent building automation solutions based on the global KNX standard, ensuring KNX badged products and systems are now tested and certified compliant for use in the emerging smart home and intelligent building control market in Australia.
It will also benefit systems integrators, home and commercial building owners, facility managers and the people who work in the buildings sector.
David Sullivan, electrification products manager for ABB in Australia, said buildings are one of the most significant sources of energy consumption.
“Building system engineering supported by intelligent and networked room and whole-building controllers, can contribute significantly to conservative and requirement-based energy use,” he said.
“Utilising solutions that comply with the international specification will ensure interoperability of devices, regardless of the manufacturer, and future proof buildings.
“In Australia, until now, the absence of a recognised standard for the building and home automation sector has allowed situations where various automation control philosophies can be present in a building, even in a single room.
“The lack of a convergence across disciplines of a building’s requirements to a common platform created an unavoidable duplication of resources and incurs additional costs to the integrator and building owner. In part, due to additional wiring and equipment requirements and the increased knowledge base necessary for different programming tools as well as programming software.”
Sullivan said intelligent building systems technology that is based on ABB i-bus KNX ensures the building remains up to date and profitable as it enables energy savings in the double-figure percentage range.
“The amortisation period is reduced and significant savings are created over the entire life cycle, planning stage and construction phase, and during selling, leasing and operation,” he said.
Globally the home automation market is expected to grow to more than $100 billion by 2022, according to industry analysts.
In partnership with ABB, the first KNX certified training centre in Australia opened in 2012 at RMIT University, allowing electrical technicians and undergraduates to study the open-architecture building control system. The training facility is certified by the International KNX Association in Brussels.