Being held at the Sydney Showground, Sydney Olympic Park in Australia, Integrate 2014 showcases a range of professional AV solutions, products and trends. For the second day, InAVate APAC shines a light on the how houses, buildings and cities can benefit from automation leading to a much smarter environment for all parties concerned, including the planet
It should come as no surprise to anyone that the earth has finite resources. Additionally the negative effects of greenhouse gases and global warming are also well known with a considerable body of scientific proof supporting them. But power is essential for the modern way of life that we all live and enjoy.
Close to 50 percent of the world’s population currently resides in cities and these cities consume 66 percent of the worldwide power generated. Removing public amenities and other services, buildings in cities consume 41 percent of the worldwide power generated.
This information is not new and hence countries and regions are making provisions for the future. Europe’s strategic goal is to increase energy efficiency by 20 percent come 2020. To achieve these goals standards, such as the European EN15232, have been implemented. More specifically the standards deal with the energy performance of buildings and the impact of automation and control. Currently EN15232 is also under discussion to be adopted worldwide as ISO 16484-7.
The KNX association is one the bodies that is heavily involved not only with forging the standards for smarter buildings but also overseeing how they can be implemented. According to Joost Demarest from the KNX association the smart future will be built on the four cornerstones of smart buildings, smart grids, smart cars and renewable energy.
From these four aspects, smart buildings are an area where professional AV and system integrators can contribute the most. Building management systems from big control players can already help facility managers keep an eye on the energy consumption levels and even reduce them. Monitoring and managing energy levels were there two aspects mentioned by Demarest as essential for buildings to increase their energy efficiency.
At Integrate 2014 a number of building management solutions were on show. AMX for one displayed their whole suite of solutions for boardrooms and their Resource Management Suite platform. This allows operation or facility managers to record energy usage data and with the right control products also control the energy consumption.
Crestron offers a similar solution. They have a range of products which can be attached with the relevant circuits to monitor energy consumption. They also boast their own Fusion platform to help monitor the data collected. Once again with the relevant Crestron control products users can implement automation solutions to consume energy more efficiently.
Lastly, Savant also showcased the energy monitoring capabilities of their Savant control application which is available for the iPad. With a Savant SEM 1024 thrown in the mix, the setup is able to provide a comprehensive monitoring solution for users on their own personal, Apple smart tablet.