Four Ways to Benefit from Building Automation

The variety of occupant demands on commercial buildings is unprecedented; and building systems must respond to meet the demands in remarkable ways. For example, schools must maintain a comfortable environment for learning by day and transform to host an array of community meetings and sporting events in various areas of the building by night. Tenants of office buildings come and go at all hours. To say that meeting the occupant needs while managing the energy use in a commercial building is becoming more complex would be a gross understatement. For these reasons and more, building automation systems (BAS) are playing an increasingly important role in managing commercial buildings.

Here are four benefits of a building automation system:

Improved Security – As always… safety first. Automation systems keep track of who accesses the building and gives you 24/7 control over your building.

Convenience – What once took 10-15 minutes to adjust now happens with the click of a button. Building automation systems allow you to alter, tweak, and override building conditions from one central dashboard. More and more, automation allows facility managers to access building controls remotely from tablets or smart phones.

Energy Savings – Automation systems can sync the building’s mechanicals with event schedules. This helps ensure facilities will be at comfortable temperature settings when occupied. They also greatly improve energy efficiency when the building or specific spaces aren’t in use. Systems get placed in ‘coast’ mode which keeps the spaces properly conditioned, but at a lower intensity than when occupied.

Accurate Information – Real-time status updates and building data tracking give the facility manager all the information needed to effectively and efficiently operate the building. With everything documented, managers can evaluate and look for inefficiencies. (See our post called Evaluating Systems’ Trending Data for more information).

If your building automation system isn’t providing you with these benefits, give Owens a call. We’ll be happy to show you how the right automation system for your building can save energy and improve comfort.