In this article, the national service manager for Schneider Electric’s building business, Peter Morris, explains how to drive optimal HVAC performance using data analytics technology.
Today building owners face the challenge of improving the financial return from their facilities while also trying to drive sustainability outcomes.
With heating, ventilation and cooling contributing up to 50 per cent of a building’s total power usage, it has become the logical target to drive building efficiency.
Recent advancements in Big Data Analysis (Analytics) has allowed building managers to achieve the required improvements in plant and equipment efficiency, helping them to reduce energy costs, equipment outages and occupant discomfort.
In order to achieve the maximum operational efficiencies from data analytics, facility managers must first derive the most comprehensive insights from their building’s data.
The latest analytics technologies are often based on Managed Software as a Service (MSaaS) solutions. With managed services, external and third-party engineering analysts help aggregate and analyse diagnostic results and track progress.
The managed services aspect of data analytics technology ensures information is used to keep buildings operating at peak performance for optimal ROI. It’s like having an industry leading expert monitoring your building 24/7.
For example, an analytics report can guide the onsite maintenance team to choose the best course of action on a daily basis to optimise building operations.
Building managers and their suppliers can use building analytics data to validate and verify improvements or upgrades. Data extracted and analysed from equipment that has been upgraded can easily provide building managers with a clear ROI on the upgrades they’ve made to their systems and equipment.
This data can help support the business case for future improvements and upgrades to drive additional savings.
Technology is moving so fast that it’s often hard to keep track of the latest innovations that can help drive how energy use is optimised.
Not only does energy represent a significant percentage of total building operating costs, inefficient plant and equipment leading to occupant discomfort can also lead to overall productivity losses of up to eight per cent in an organisation.
By using the latest advancements in analytics solutions, building owners can reduce power usuage, optimise occupant comfort and manage the changing technology environment.
There are a number of available solutions that can help building managers gather and use data to improve their HVAC overall operational efficiency. However, there is a lack of awareness in the industry as to what the most effective solution is.
Many systems are little more than remote data graphing solutions, when what is really required is an embedded expert tool to get to the root cause of issues.
Another factor building managers should consider is the degree of virtualisation they are willing to deploy in their data analytics solutions.
There are a range of solutions available in the market that fall into three general categories of data analytics technology with different advantages, as outlined below:
1) Embedded analytics: This is the simplest system and is embedded in the hardware and software within the BMS. It provides limited capability and insight. Embedded analytics works best for new construction and is currently at early stages of development.
2) On-premise system: This option is hardware-based and is “bolted on” to a building’s BMS systems. This gives building managers maximum control as they have access to nearly all of the servers and tools. The limitations of this system include lack of remote access, increased hardware maintenance requirements and the need to regularly update software to receive the latest features and functionality. They rarely provide the most comprehensive solutions available.
3) Cloud-based system: By far the most powerful solution, this option is built using cloud based and virtual systems where data is pushed from building systems and analysed in a virtual cloud environment with no on-premise additions. This option allows for greater flexibility, remote access and control, easy upgrades and no maintenance. A key consideration for this category is that most cloud-based systems ensure that software is always up to date and the facility is benefiting from the latest development in analytic technologies.
Data analytics helps building owners and managers understand not only how a building operates, but why it operates like it does.
The “why” emerges through a comprehensive view, including outlines of energy trending, alerts through the application of sophisticated rules or algorithms, detailed diagnostic reports, and more.
Through proactively identifying problems in HVAC and day-to-day building operations that would not otherwise be detected, data analytics helps building managers gain a deeper understanding of the “why,” which in turn allows the implementation of effective solutions and an overall increase in their building's operational efficiency.