Smart Building Solutions
The word is spreading quickly about the incredible smart building solutions for commercial property owners. Smart building solutions, also referred to as intelligent buildings, take all of the structure’s operating systems and combine them into one, network-enabled system that can be accessed from any web-linked device.
Smart buildings are especially attractive to businesses looking to rent commercial space because of all the benefits they offer, such as lower energy costs and a safe and more comfortable environment for employees.
At Network Products, Inc., we have extensive experience in smart building solutions and would be happy to meet with you and discuss how an intelligent building can benefit your organization. These benefits can include:
HVAC System: The cost to run a HVAC system – heating, ventilation, and air conditioning – in a regular building typically accounts for more than a third of a building’s utility consumption. Not only does this affect the electric consumption, but air conditioning also eats up a large amount of a building’s water consumption.
By having the HVAC system managed by a smart building solutions system, each area of a building can be automatically adjusted based on the needs of that particular zone. For example, if there are no employees in a certain area, the system will detect it is empty and adjust the temperature. Instead of depending on an employee to remember to adjust the temperature when leaving the room, the building’s system will do it for you.
Lighting Sensors: A smart building will also turn off any lights in rooms or areas when the system senses there are no occupants in the room. The sensors will also pick up when someone enters a room and turn the lights back on.
Building Security: A structure’s entire security system – fire alarms, security cameras, air quality alarms – can be hooked up to the smart building’s main system. The system will also unlock security doors to allow access in emergency situations, such as fire alarms going off.
Remote Control: Intelligent building designs allow owners and management to control the different systems remotely. Systems can remotely track multiple areas in a building and issue alerts when there is a problem.
Take a supermarket, for example. It is after hours, the store is closed, but something has suddenly gone wrong with the store’s refrigeration and freezing systems. In a regular building, this issue would likely not be discovered until the morning when employees arrive for work, resulting in possibly hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of ruined groceries. With an intelligent building however, an alert would have been sent immediately allowing facilities management to address the problem right away and avoiding the extensive loss of inventory.
Would You Like to Find Out How We Can Help?
If you think that smart building solutions would be beneficial to your commercial real estate, contact Network Products, Inc. today to set up a consultation with one of our professional consultants. With more than 30 years of experience behind us, we can design an intelligent building that will provide you with the utmost benefits available. Call us today to learn more.
Smart building solutions may be one of the greatest investments you can make for your office building. At NPI Connect, we offer smart solutions for your building that can make your life easier. We have been installing this technology since 1986 in healthcare, legal and government facilities.
Features in Smart Buildings
Intelligent building technology has an integrated control and communication system designed to increase comfort and control costs. Let’s take a look at some of the features smart buildings offer:
- Lighting control
- Power monitoring
- Fire safety systems
- Energy management
- Building condition monitoring
- Security systems
Benefits of Smart Buildings
More and more building owners are installing smart building technology these days. Let’s take a look at some of the benefits of smart buildings:
- High-Speed Internet Connection: In the digital age, staying connected all the time is important. Smart building solutions offer high-speed internet that can benefit all of your employees. With a faster connection, they can get their work completed more efficiently.
- Increased Safety: It is important for employees to feel safe in the buildings they work in. With smart building solutions, you can give your employees the peace of mind they are looking for. For example, a smart building can detect smoke quickly and warn everyone to get out of the building if there is a fire. A smart building also has several security cameras everywhere, so you always know who is coming into your office.
- Reduced Energy Savings: Heating and air conditioning costs can get expensive for building owners. Smart buildings are usually highly efficient, so they are less expensive to operate than traditional buildings. If you have smart building technology installed, you can expect to save money on your energy bills every month.
- Increased Property Value: Another benefit of having a smart building design is that it can increase your property value. More and more buyers are looking to buy buildings with smart, connected systems. If your building has smart technology and you plan to sell it at some point, you may get a great return on your investment.
- Improved Comfort: If you install smart technology in your building, your employees may also feel more comfortable. The smart technology can keep the inside of the building at the right temperatures at all times, so employees will never feel too hot or too cold.
- Environmentally Friendly: Because smart buildings are more energy efficient than traditional buildings, they are better for the environment. If you have smart technology in your building, you can rest assured knowing that you are doing your part in helping the environment.
FAQs About Smart Building Solutions
What Is a Smart Building?
Smart building solutions are becoming standard for their ability to collect and process data via IoT, optimizing system performances. Additionally, they send this data to managers to see how energy is allotted, and spaces are used throughout the day. Finally, these solutions allow for automation based on this data.
What Is IoT?
The Internet of Things or IoT is how appliances are connected to the world wide web. These solutions rely on IoT to integrate their systems and send data to the central processing units. For example, you can have sensors placed throughout a building and use the IoT to send data to your software to be analyzed.
How Can It Be Integrated Into Offices?
We at NPI Connect can integrate this technology into your offices in the form of people counters so that you can know more about the foot traffic in your building. Then, when you see that data, you can make decisions that will increase the return on investment for your space. You can also use the data to create automatic changes that make your employees feel more comfortable and safe.
How Can It Be Integrated Into Retail Stores?
You can also put smart building solutions into retail stores, which is one of the more popular ways people use this technology in public spaces. For example, you can install occupancy monitoring systems in a retail shop. These data points can help enforce capacity restrictions and promote customer comfort while shopping.
How Can It Be Integrated Into Sports Venues?
Sports venues are among the many businesses embracing technological advances, and we at NPI Connect are here to help. Footfall monitors can be installed in these venues to identify which concessions are the most popular at what times, update menus, and help you plan for future events.
How Can It Be Integrated Into Museums?
Likewise, museums can also benefit from footfall monitors. These systems can track which exhibits are the most popular, giving curators a better idea of what their visitors want to see and helping them plan future displays.
How Does It Reinvent Public Spaces?
As you can see, these are being placed in various spaces because they can promote infrastructure changes. They are reinventing these spaces by allowing them to become more safe, user-friendly, and comfortable. While this may seem like an extravagant investment, it encourages infrastructure changes that optimize systems and reduce excess costs. That means you can save money and enhance the experience your employees and visitors receive.
Do’s and Don’ts When You Implement Smart Building Solutions
Smart building technology offers many benefits, from reducing your energy spending and environmental impact to enhancing the comfort and safety levels in your building. Lighting, security and HVAC systems can all be improved and automated when you implement smart building solutions. If you’re considering upgrading your building by adding smart technology, follow these do’s and don’ts for a better experience.
Do Use Analytics To Track Progress
An advantage of using smart building systems is the ability to collect data. You can use data analysis to gain valuable information about your building and the impact of its smart technology. Analytics can help you identify areas for improvement and opportunities for growth. In addition, you should track analytics to assess the return on investment of your smart building solutions.
Don’t Adopt Disparate Technologies
There are many vendors offering various forms of technology that can be part of a smart building’s system. Implementing multiple disparate systems at the same time can make your building’s smart technology less efficient and more difficult to use. When selecting smart building upgrades, look for systems that work well with one another and your facilities. NPI Connect can help you create smart building solutions that combine different technologies into a single system that is straightforward to use and accessible from web-linked devices.
Do Seek Bottom-Up Solutions
It’s important to consult building managers, system operators and IT professionals when planning to implement smart building solutions. The people who will be directly working with the systems in your building may have valuable insights that can help you select better smart building upgrades. Taking a top-down approach can risk missing crucial problems and opportunities for improvement. By contrast, working from the bottom-up enables you to avoid costly mistakes and promote innovation.
Don’t Ignore Employee Training
In the long term, smart building solutions can improve efficiency and eliminate unnecessary work for building management. With some training, the systems used in smart buildings can be easier to operate than older equipment. However, don’t make the mistake of seeking training after something goes wrong. Properly trained staff can use their expertise to maintain automated systems in the building so that they last longer and address customer issues in a timely fashion.
Smart building solutions can improve the quality of your building while helping you cut expenses, and adding smart systems doesn’t have to be difficult. NPI Connect can help you find the appropriate smart technology for your building.
Myths About Smart Building Solutions
While the numerous benefits of smart building solutions may be known, and understood, there are an equal number of myths and misconceptions. Unfortunately, these myths can get in the way of the benefits and cause companies to overlook a smart building system installation. NPI Connect’s smart building solution experts debunk these myths in an attempt to demonstrate the benefits greatly outweigh the costs. The following are the most common myths about smart building systems.
Myth: Smart Building Systems Are Expensive
Reality: This is completely untrue, says NPI Connect. Building owners have been very outspoken about the ability to recoup investments within one to three years. This is done through saving a large amount of money on energy costs and other operational efficiencies.
Myth: Smart Buildings Only Focus on Energy Savings
Reality: It is true that part of smart building solutions is the ability to save on energy costs. However, this is not their only purpose. Smart building systems can do many other things; such as detect equipment that is close to breaking, alert maintenance personnel to address a problem, and keep occupants comfortable. These things can prevent full scale building system failures, extend the life of machinery, and improve productivity.
Myth: A Smart Building is the Same as a Green Building
Reality: Although smart buildings and green buildings will include features that overlap one another, smart buildings maximize energy efficiency. A green building may include this, but also many strategies beyond a smart system.
Myth: Some Facilities Can’t Be Made “Smart”
Reality: As a leader in smart building solutions, we at NPI Connect, believe that nearly any building, including laboratories, manufacturing facilities, and industrial parks can be retrofitted with smart building systems.
Myth: Only New Buildings Be Fitted with a Smart System
Reality: Some of the smartest buildings in the United States, are also some of the oldest – even heritage sites! For example, the Empire State Building has demonstrated a commendable return on investment, and exceeded their projected energy savings since 2009 – when a smart system was installed.
Myth: People Are Not Attracted to Smart Building Systems
Reality: Anything that can improve energy efficiency, reduce operating costs, and create a more comfortable environment will certainly be an attraction to tenants. As smart building systems become more popular, we, at NPI Connect, believe tenants will start to expect things like air ventilation, maintenance alert systems, advanced security systems, and more.
Myth: Smart Buildings Have a Steep Learning Curve
Reality: When paired with a management system, smart buildings tend to be easier to operate and maintain than buildings with no automation. This is partly due to the ability to pinpoint issues to a degree and integrate management applications.
As new technology continues to be released and adopted, it is becoming more common to expect smart building systems in a building. If you are a company interested in smart building solutions, and what they will do for you, call NPI Connect now.
As you can see, there are many advantages to installing smart building solutions, ranging from efficiency to comfort. At NPI Connect, we can help you determine what the right smart technology is for your office building. Our dedicated professionals have years of experience and are ready to help you improve your office building.
If you want to learn more information about smart building solutions, you can contact NPI Connect at 301-548-0300.