Transforming the very fabric

Transforming the very fabric

In July 2018, The Guardian newspaper commented on the long-term effects of increasing temperatures, saying: “It is underappreciated that climate change will transform the very fabric of the experience of living in the UK.”

As we move forward into a new type of UK weather, building services will be at the forefront of ensuring that we do so safely and responsibly.

Responsibility to innovate

We have established that air conditioning plays a key role in commercial buildings and those involved in the decisions of which systems install have a responsibility to ensure their choice represents the most energy efficient one possible.

However, manufacturers also have a duty to ensure that the solutions on offer, are as sustainable and efficiently produced as possible.

This could be represented by a hybrid system where traditional refrigeration-based systems work with water as a delivery medium, to lower the overall environmental impact of the system or selecting R32 as a refrigerant which has a lower global warming potential to many of its alternatives.

The news seems full of reports about the Internet of Things (IoT) at the moment and how this virtual network is going to revolutionise the way our devices and appliances connect and communicate.

Whilst the reports focus on how your future fridge will be able to order food when you’re running low, or how smart controls allow you to adjust your home heating from the office, this got me thinking about how far we have come in such a short space of time.

If we look at the differences in communication between 1900 and 2000, and then at how much has changed in the last 17 years, it is clear to see that cloud-based controls are having an effect on modern life and this ‘revolution’ is likely to have even more impact in the future.

Today things have changed significantly with the rise of smartphones and internet-connected devices radically transforming the way we communicate.

There is now an app for just about anything, so you can access all of the latest, instant news feeds, on tailored subjects to suit you and your lifestyle.

Your smartphone is of course also your telephone, which means you can reach anyone in the world, by voice, text, image and video, from almost anywhere in the world.

And these devices and the internet have seriously changed the way we shop, with internet-based retailers on the rise.

Taking back control

Many building operators are simply using these controls as a timer, which is fine for some, particularly in smaller buildings with a constant number of employees. However, the range of functions goes far beyond this.

Once installed, understanding the wide range of controls available with your system can also help reduce wasted energy. Many controls give companies the opportunity to monitor and control their air conditioning across a room, building or an entire network from a single PC or device.

Develop a control strategy to suit your business

For example, if a meeting room is empty, modern devices have the ability to automatically recognise this and lower/switch off the air conditioning to conserve energy. They can also be used to monitor energy usage, spotting trends and anomalies to make changes to help further reduce energy costs.

In terms of building controls, things have also changed but the adoption has not yet been quite so widespread.

Today, it is possible to control your home heating from your phone using apps such as our own MELCloud system.

This will also allow a building services engineer or facilities manager to have advanced control over a building’s entire system of heating, ventilation and air conditioning remotely, either for diagnostics or analytical reporting. They can also be used to control a whole network of buildings across a campus, across a country or even across the world.

Things have certainly moved rapidly in just 17 years so where do we see this all going next?

I think it’s difficult to be completely certain about how all of our devices are going to connect using cloud-based computing. However, I do think it is clear that controls have become much easier to access, and that the manufacturers are also finding more intelligent ways to report and analyse the data available.

So, whilst I do think we are a way off the totally automated home, which has already cooked dinner, poured a drink, run a bath and ordered your weekly shop – before you get home, it is now possible to control, monitor and automate a building services using the ‘cloud’ so that they deliver comfortable environments for occupants in the most energy efficient ways possible.