Oct 11, 2022
5 min read

Smart Buildings and the New Office

The smart building market was valued at $53.54 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow by $115.19 billion by 2030.  

Many companies worldwide consider smart buildings (also called intelligent buildings) for their apartment buildings, hotels, offices, and more. 

So, what is the hype all about? 

An intelligent building solution is a significant part of a growing IoT (Internet of things) and associated sensor ecosystems. Still, many people don’t know much about the scope of this technology. Worry not! 

Let’s explore what smart buildings are and how your business can benefit from them.

What’s A Smart Building Exactly?

Smart buildings use tech to enable economical and efficient usage of resources while creating comfortable and safe environments for occupants. 

They may employ various technologies (both existing and new) and are retrofitted or designed to incorporate future tech developments.

Smart buildings use various technologies to optimize and control their performance, deploying artificial intelligence, augmented reality, IoT sensors, and automation systems to offer a stellar experience to guests and workers. 

These smart building technologies also leverage IoT and connected devices like lighting and environmental controls, augmented reality (AR) experiences primarily controlled from a single panel, and systems for collecting data. 

These technologies make commercial buildings user-friendly and eco-friendly by reducing carbon footprints.

What Makes A Smart Building Eco-Friendly?

Through data analytics, managers or business owners can track energy impacts and energy costs of specific building assets, paving the way to make commercial buildings more innovative and eco-friendly. 

Various technologies like Envizi can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions by minimizing the energy consumption of different building elements. 

These smart buildings switch off electrical appliances when they aren’t in use, reducing energy wastage and carbon emissions. In addition, intelligent buildings help monitor occupants and their usage of machines.

This helps people identify energy-consuming activities and minimize them. 

Top 6 Benefits of a Smart Building

Companies and managers can enjoy the following advantages of owning and working in a smart building:

1. Greater equipment maintenance

Through data gathered from various equipment, facilities engineers could easily highlight potential problems and address them before the fault develops. 

Switching to proper, real-time maintenance helps minimize downtime and ensures everything functions smoothly. 

2. Reduced environmental footprint

It is interesting to note that commercial properties account for higher greenhouse gasses and energy consumption. According to one report, commercial buildings generate 29% of greenhouse gasses and consume about 35% of electricity. 

A smart building helps minimize waste and preserve energy, benefiting everyone involved and the worldwide communities.

3. Higher productivity and ease 

By automating and optimizing air quality, heating, cooling, and lighting levels, a smart building provides people living or working there with greater productivity and comfort.  

4. Reduced electricity costs and Uuse

Although figures vary based on the size and type of buildings and systems, you can effortlessly reduce energy consumption by 5-35% with smart technologies. 

By connecting both mechanical and electrical systems to a cloud, commercial buildings can switch on/off automatically. The reduction in both energy use and waste can help businesses save big. After all, 30% of the energy utilized in buildings goes to waste. 

Using the right tech can help pinpoint sections that waste energy and even locate areas where it costs much, providing a way to minimize carbon footprint. 

5. Increased safety

In a smart building, you can easily implement safety measures to protect the well-being of those who work there or visit. For example, the elevator can detect a blackout before it shuts down, safely guiding people to the nearby floor if needed.

6. Provide key building insights

Smart buildings constantly gather data from internal systems such as energy usage, occupancy, etc. 

This way, they provide updated trends and patterns on resources, building usage, and workplace behavior to make productive and effective decisions to enhance the overall building, business, and workplace use. 

Make Your Commercial Building Smart Using Data With Definity First!

It’s important to know that to transform a building into a smart one, and for that, you’ll need reliable and accurate data. 

To obtain and analyze facility usage data, you’ll have to implement a smart building solution like an occupancy sensor that records it.

When you have the data, you can easily determine where improvements are required and could be made using other intelligent systems and technologies that enable automation. 

With Definity First, you can record real-time data, like when occupants move in, how meeting rooms are used, and areas with the lowest and highest footfall. For more information, visit our website or contact us directly!