The term “smart building” describes structures that automate and control building systems such as heating, lighting, ventilation, elevators, doors, and air conditioning through intelligent processes. With the help of Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, data about the built environment is collected and managed to enable existing smart building management systems' 'BMS' continuous improvement and adaptation to people flow, weather, and surrounding environment.

Smart buildings aim to create spaces that are leaner, more efficient and sustainable, and promote the well-being of their occupants. Analyzing data collected from various sensors means facility managers can learn more about their facilities, track facility performance, reduce energy consumption, and optimize space utilization. Today automated smart buildings lead to energy savings of 15% to 25% on average.

The future of smart buildings is more than promising, with studies suggesting that the global number of smart buildings is suspected to grow from 45 million to 115 million by 2026, representing over 150% growth. The role of buildings in our lives has completely changed in recent years, especially after the pandemic, and smart technology can help create spaces that are more sustainable, cost-effective, and healthier. Such an industry is always evolving, with new technologies and trends emerging every year, providing better and more effective solutions and benefits. The benefits of smart buildings are numerous.

Tenants/Employees' Well-Being

Smart residential buildings can have a strong positive impact on the well-being of tenants or employees through many aspects. These factors include the addition of natural elements like plants and monitoring environmental conditions, such as temperature, humidity, loudness, and air quality, and automatically adjusting these factors to create a more comfortable and healthier indoor environment.

Costs & Energy Consumption Reduction

Between smart lighting systems, air quality and temperature monitors, controlled windows and doors, and decreased staff, smart building systems can lead to up to 15% cost reduction that may rise in the future with new technologies arising every day.

From an environmental perspective, smart buildings are the best solution to decrease modern urbanization’s carbon footprint as IoT adoption into these building systems reduces energy consumption up to 8 times compared to traditional buildings. A smart building can save up to 23% of energy by automating the HVAC and lighting systems alone. Additional automation and tracking can save up to 50%.

Increased Security

Through the usage of connected IoT devices that are installed throughout the building, facility managers can maintain building security in a more effective manner. The most important of these devices are access control systems such as cameras and badge readers that allow building security to identify unwanted visitors and grant permission to visiting employees. Also, IoT devices inside the building have additional security benefits. A truly intelligent security system could tell other systems that a particular employee has left the building and even turn off the lights.

Predictive Maintenance

Maintenance is the largest cost in a building's life cycle and ultimately can exceed construction costs. Smart technology enables facility managers to save on maintenance costs and completely transform how buildings are managed, moving from a reactive to a predictive maintenance model.

Sensors placed around machines such as pumps and heaters can be programmed to detect significant noise, vibration, or heat levels. Alerts are sent when certain thresholds are crossed, allowing you to resolve the error before it escalates. Unscheduled maintenance based on this type of need has proven to be 3 to 9 times cheaper. A special case is an elevator that sends data about how closed its doors are. If the predictive algorithm determines that more force is needed to close the door (due to dust, for example), it triggers a repair request.

KONE, a global leader in the elevator and escalator industry, is leveraging smart technology to transform the performance of elevators and escalators. KONE provides elevators, automatic building doors, and smart building solutions for maintenance and modernization, which add value to the life cycle of new buildings or already existing buildings. By collecting real-time data and optimizing performance, KONE is improving the efficiency, safety, and user experience of elevators and escalators. Their cloud-based analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning solutions enable proactive monitoring of KONE elevator and escalator performance, identifying and addressing potential issues before they become major problems.