Unlocking the Hidden Potential of Your Building Management System
Many building managers focus on the big picture of dashboards and analytics when looking to optimise their building’s performance.
While these are certainly valuable tools, some of the most impactful energy and comfort gains can often be found in the ‘quiet achievers’ within your existing Building Management System (BMS).
These are powerful, yet often underused, features that are likely already integrated into your system, waiting to be fully utilised. Focusing on these tools can unlock significant savings and improvements without the need for expensive hardware upgrades.
A building can be thought of as a complex ecosystem, with various systems all needing to work in harmony. The BMS acts as a central intelligence, constantly monitoring and controlling the building's mechanical and electrical equipment.
By getting to grips with the core features of this central intelligence, building managers can fine-tune their systems for maximum efficiency. It's about getting the most out of the technology you already have, making your building smarter and more responsive.
Discovering the ‘Quiet Achievers’ in Your BMS
These features provide a deeper level of control and insight that goes beyond basic scheduling.
Trend Logs for Deeper Insights
Trend logs are a fundamental component of any effective BMS, serving as a constant stream of information that provides a comprehensive picture of a building’s current conditions and energy usage.
By logging data on temperature, occupancy, and system status over time, trend logs become a critical tool for identifying energy patterns and inefficiencies. This data can show you exactly when and where energy is being consumed, allowing you to pinpoint areas for improvement. For example, trend logs might reveal that a specific air handling unit is running at full capacity during unoccupied hours, which can then be addressed with a simple change to the control strategy. Analysing these trends empowers building owners and managers to make data-driven decisions that lead to continuous improvement.
The value of this data extends beyond simple problem-solving. It can also be used to benchmark a building's performance against similar properties or to track progress towards sustainability goals. Having this detailed information allows you to verify the effectiveness of any energy-saving measures you implement, proving their worth with solid data.
Demand Limiting to Reduce Peak Charges
Peak energy charges can be a significant part of a building’s operational costs, and demand limiting is a feature designed to directly address this. This clever tool monitors the building's total energy consumption and, when it approaches a pre-set limit, it strategically reduces the power to non-critical loads for a short period.
This could involve temporarily adjusting ventilation rates or dimming lights in non-essential areas, all without noticeably impacting occupant comfort. This proactive control strategy avoids costly peak demand penalties, translating directly into reduced operational costs.
The beauty of demand limiting lies in its ability to be both effective and subtle. It’s a great example of a sophisticated control strategy that considers multiple factors, such as occupancy and internal heat gains, to make intelligent decisions about how to operate various systems. This ensures that the building is always running at its most efficient, avoiding unnecessary waste and saving money.
Occupancy-Based Control for Smarter Spaces
Why heat or cool an empty room? Occupancy-based control is an intelligent control strategy that uses sensors to detect whether a space is occupied and adjusts the systems accordingly. This ensures that you're not conditioning empty spaces, saving significant energy. When a room is empty, the BMS can automatically dial back the heating, turn off the lights, or reduce ventilation.
When an occupant returns, the systems are brought back to comfortable levels. This is especially important in large buildings where different areas might have varying needs and occupancy patterns.
This dynamic approach to control makes a building more responsive to the people inside it, which not only saves energy but also improves well-being and can have a positive impact on productivity and satisfaction. By zoning the building and providing tailored conditions to different spaces, occupancy-based control helps to maintain a comfortable and productive indoor environment for everyone. It’s a prime example of how intelligent controls ensure that energy is only used when and where it's needed.
The Power of Smart, Subtle Optimisation
The story of one of our clients, as shared by our Sustain Energy Centre Manager, perfectly illustrates the impact of these hidden features. By simply activating and optimising these ‘quiet achievers’ within their existing BMS, the client was able to achieve a 15% reduction in their annual energy costs and improve occupant comfort, all without a single hardware upgrade.
This highlights the fact that a well-designed and properly maintained BMS offers numerous long-term benefits. Beyond the immediate energy savings, a BMS can help to extend the lifespan of mechanical and electrical equipment by running it at consistent and appropriate levels. This reduces wear and tear, minimises the risk of breakdowns, and leads to significant savings in maintenance and replacement costs over the long term.
A modern BMS also helps large buildings achieve higher sustainability ratings and comply with environmental regulations, which is a significant asset in today’s environmentally conscious world. These enhanced sustainability credentials can also improve the building’s reputation and attractiveness to potential tenants, contributing to a greener future.
Investing provides a significant return on investment in the long term, and often, the most powerful features are already in your system, just waiting to be fully utilised.
Here at BMSI, our innovative solutions are designed to help you tap into this potential, helping your building reduce energy consumption and save on energy costs. Get in touch for a chat about how we could help today.
