Energy Management Solutions for the Future: Building IoT-Based Analytics Platforms

Most buildings feature a building management system, often known as a building automation system, to assist facility management.

FREMONT, CA: In the years following the inception of the BMS, building energy management systems (BEMS) has developed as an essential application for commercial buildings in terms of energy efficiency.

BEMS is a slightly more advanced energy management system for commercial buildings than BMS, despite their similarities. A BMS provides the capacity to monitor and operate all systems centrally; a BEMS provides monitoring and information on systems affecting energy use and demand, which facilities managers may subsequently use to generate cost savings.

For instance, if a utility initiates a demand response event, a BEMS can receive the utility's external signal and send control instructions to building systems in response. BEMS may command particular lights to dim, raise the temperature setpoint, or switch from utility generation to a battery storage system to lessen the total load. BEMS may also monitor, aggregate, and interpret data at a fundamental level to inform logic-controlled reactions. However, despite the usefulness of BEMS, they are still mainly employed to fix problems after the fact. Rarely are they utilized in a manner that would aid in predicting and optimizing future building performance.

The more extensive capabilities of BEMS make it a better option than BMS for the new building. However, the future of energy management in buildings is shifting away from these conventional methods and toward more innovative IoT-based energy management platforms.

IoT-Based Analytics Platforms: Developing Future Energy Management Solutions

Energy management for commercial buildings has evolved to include IoT-based analytics tools. An IoT-based platform gives facilities managers an unparalleled level of insight into their building systems, allowing them to govern operations and the overall building environment proactively. This is because the IoT complements traditional building management systems. Understanding where, when, and how their building consumes energy enables facilities managers to implement load-shedding schedules to minimize energy consumption (and, consequently, utility bills) actively and strategically.

Using wireless IoT sensors installed throughout the facility, companies may collect real-time, comprehensive data on the energy consumption of the business building. These sensors can remotely monitor a variety of operations, including—individual equipment, lighting, HVAC, ventilation systems, refrigeration units, hot water systems, and heat pumps, as well as

IoT-based platforms can monitor and measure various aspects of the building and bring in different other data inputs to extrapolate anomalies, make correlations, and assist end-users in gaining the knowledge necessary to make smart operational decisions that will affect the bottom line.