The U.S. Department of Energy reports that 30% of energy used in commercial buildings is wasted, primarily due to suboptimal equipment performance, insufficient maintenance, and running systems—like lighting and HVAC—when they’re not needed. These problems and practices also cause water waste, environmental contamination, higher safety risks and liability, and decreased employee performance—all of which boil down to added costs and loss of business productivity.
With increasing state and local regulations targeting greenhouse gas emissions in real estate, organizations must now identify and reduce energy waste.
Amid efforts to create healthy, high-performing buildings, commercial real estate and facilities leaders are facing two additional pressures:
1. Meeting mandatory sustainability compliance amid financial constraints
Only 10% of companies globally have fully integrated their buildings’ systems and equipment to facilitate the level of analysis and reporting needed to meet complex regulations, according to a Forrester Consulting study commissioned by Johnson Controls. These regulatory pressures are coming at a time when many corporate real estate organizations are grappling with budget cuts, high vacancy rates, expiring leases, and maturing loans.
2. Preparing for the aging FM workforce
Lacking the time and resources to prepare for new regulations, many businesses will instead turn to their facility managers (FMs) to fill that capability gap; yet, the FM workforce is aging, with 82% over 40 years old and only 1% between the ages of 20 and 30, according to Zippia. As the workforce continues to shrink, FMs have to learn how to do more with less.
Here’s a look at a few smart building technology solutions designed to help FMs rise to these challenges.
Automated Fault Detection and Diagnostics
With fewer workers entering the FM world to pass on knowledge to, valuable expertise is being lost, such as recognizing the signs of equipment deterioration. Seasoned facility managers know that specific sounds, like a squeak or rattle, coming from the equipment room means trouble, and often can discern exactly which machine needs attention. Automated fault detection and diagnostics (FDD) solutions gather data from sensors and equipment 24/7, picking up on those signs and pinpointing the problem. Once the issue is identified, FDD alerts staff to an impending issue and even helps technicians quickly find a solution, dramatically reducing energy waste, capital costs, and equipment wear.
Predictive and Prescriptive Maintenance
Predictive and prescriptive maintenance can help FMs alleviate the shortage of skilled staff, while reshaping team responsibilities.
Data-based predictive maintenance can reduce equipment downtime and extend asset life using sensors and artificial intelligence (AI) to anticipate failures and schedule interventions.
Prescriptive maintenance goes a step further by recommending optimal corrective actions. These solutions can preempt failures and emergency repairs, reducing disruptions by automating routine checks. They also ease pressure on skilled staff, allowing for facilities management teams to focus on higher-value tasks, fostering a shift toward more strategic roles.
Around-the-clock EP Monitoring
Over the past six years, the ROI for deploying smart building solutions has shrunk rapidly, from a matter of years to months. One big driver is the effectiveness of around-the-clock equipment performance (EP) monitoring systems.
These systems gather and consolidate data from disparate sources like HVAC, lighting and elevators into actionable insights. The most sophisticated EP monitoring solutions automatically identify performance gaps and highlight cost reduction opportunities, manage equipment and building management system (BMS) alarms, and enable the creation and distribution of operational and compliance reports. Cost savings come from a range of sources, including streamlining daily priorities, identifying fluid and gas leaks, and closing EP gaps.
Unified Operating Centers
Without smart building solutions, facility managers often discover a problem after a system fails, leading to hours or days of downtime. Even with a full FM cohort, this process wastes money, time and effort—not to mention potentially impacting occupant comfort, safety and productivity.
Unfortunately, most FMs don’t have huge teams to throw at these problems. In fact, a recent JLL survey found that 61.6% of FM practitioners expected work order volumes to increase, while 48.1% reported already being understaffed.
Consolidating information and operations at a central point is key. With access to building information modeling and digital twin technology, facility managers can detect earlier when something’s amiss, know what’s malfunctioning, and have the necessary staff and parts prepared to get the job done with minimal disruption and cost.
Setting the Stage for Autonomous Buildings
Smart technologies are evolving to the point where buildings can interact with people and conditions to self-adjust, self-heal, and self-notify. Intelligent automation is replacing manual processes, such as starting chillers on a hot day to cool a large space before an event.
Operations personnel will get real-time visibility into system operations through unified management consoles, reducing complexity and boosting productivity. Field service engineers will also be able to respond more quickly using secure remote access to building systems. Maintenance personnel can move throughout the facility or connect from off-site, with continuous access to automated work orders, service tickets, and resources such as equipment documentation. Scaling this automation across multiple properties amplifies these benefits.
OE and EP Play a Central Role in the Future of Facilities
New sustainability regulations are changing the calculus for real estate stakeholders when it comes to energy consumption and, especially, energy waste. Improving OE and EP should be a top priority, offering FMs an opportunity to fulfill a critical need for their clients.
Adopting innovative smart building solutions gives FMs the ability to lower energy consumption, reduce downtime, enhance equipment and asset performance, and lower operational costs. These tools also improve understanding of how people interact with the buildings they occupy, allowing stakeholders to boost occupant wellbeing, productivity, a strengthened company culture, and more.
By embracing these solutions, FMs can not only help their organizations, clients, and the planet, but also secure a seat at the table to solve other complex issues and the future of the industry.
