CONVERGENCE OF GREEN AND SMART BUILDINGS BASED ON …

11

Int. J. Elec&Electr.Eng&Telecoms. 2014 M Vishnu Kumar et al., 2014

CONVERGENCE OF GREEN AND SMARTBUILDINGS BASED ON GREEN COMPUTING

M Vishnu Kumar1*, J Jayapriya1, S Nirmala Devi1 and N Dhanalakshmi2

*Corresponding Author: M Vishnu Kumar,[email protected]

Green and intelligent buildings have been getting increasing attention in and around world due totheir potential to reduce building energy costs, mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, reducewater consumption, and add value to the buildings given the savings and the positive effects onoccupant safety, comfort, and satisfaction. This research introduces the concept of improvedintelligence to make buildings greener and smarter, provides an analysis of the current state ofexisting and emerging technologies in the building automation space, and outlines products andprocesses, as well as trends, which supported by the concept of Green Computing.

Keywords: BMS, ICT, EnerGuide, Flushometers, HVAC

INTRODUCTIONSmarter buildings that emerge from a holisticpoint of view involve collaboration betweenfacilities and IT organizations at new levels andrequire new transformational skills inorganizations or businesses. The term ‘smartbuildings’ describes a suite of technologiesused to make the design, construction andoperation of buildings more efficient,applicable to both existing and new-buildproperties. These might include BuildingManagement Systems (BMS) based on greencomputing that run heating and coolingsystems according to occupants’needs or

ISSN 2319 – 2518 www.ijeetc.comVol. 3, No. 3, July 2014

© 2014 IJEETC. All Rights Reserved

Int. J. Elec&Electr.Eng&Telecoms. 2014

1 Department of Computer Science and Engineering, PTR College of Engineering and Technology, Madurai, Tamilnadu, India.2 Department of Information Technology, NPR College of Engineering and Technology, Dindigul, Tamilnadu, India.

software that switches off all PCs and monitorsafter everyone has gone home. BMS data canbe used to identify additional opportunities forefficiency improvements. A host of BMSsalready exist and as Information andCommunications Technology (ICT)applications become more sophisticated, therange of BMS functions will expand. One ofthe much discussed, but yet to be realized,dreams for architects, engineers andprogressive developers is the idea of the zero-waste, zero-energy building – one which, whenin use, has zero net energy consumption andzero carbon emissions. As operation accounts

Research Paper

12


for 85% of the total whole-life energyconsumption of a building and buildingsaccount for the majority of global CO2

emissions, this would be an enormous stepforward. Alongside the design of an office,home or factory, and the materials used in itsconstruction, a key part of the process is tocreate ‘intelligent’ buildings – ones whichadopt low- and high-tech methods to ensureoptimum management of resources.

BACKGROUNDToday’s buildings and workplaces are majorgenerators—and consumers—of data. Whereonce buildings were simply physicalinfrastructures composed of concrete, wiresand steel, buildings now also include a hugevariety of connected sensors and systems thatconstantly generate volumes of data about thebuilding. But they think is how do you leveragethis data to better manage your facility? Howdo you deliver more value to your organization

by increasing operational effectiveness andimproving both financial and environmentalperformance?

THE GLOBAL IMPACTS OFSMART BUILDINGSGlobal building emissions were 8% of totalemissions in 2002 (3.36 GtCO2e). Thesefigures exclude the energy used to run thebuildings. If this is taken into account, the sectorwould emit 11.7 GtCO2e in 2020. ICT offers amajor opportunity to reduce emissions fromthis sector, by 15% in 2020, by the options setout in Figure 1. Emissions from buildings inemerging economies, such as India andChina, are expected to grow as theirpopulations become increasingly urbanized.In spite of increased attention to energy wastedin buildings, construction is taking place theworld over with little consideration of theimplementation of best practice energyefficiency measures. Several national

Figure 1: Smart Buildings: The Global Impact 2020

13


schemes have been set up to establish andpromote these best practice standards inefficiency. These include: EnerGuide forHouses (energy retrofits and upgrades) andNew Houses (new construction) (Canada);Green Building Council/House Energy Rating(Australia); DGNB (Germany); BREEAM (UK);CASBEE (Japan); and, perhaps best known,Leadership in Energy and EnvironmentalDesign (LEED) (USA).

Yet, while these initiatives guide proactivearchitects, designers and builders in theirquest for ‘green’ building, until this currentlyniche market becomes mainstream, withmandatory standards and smart buildingregulations, the full positive impact of ICT onthe building sector will not be felt. In addition,because buildings are major sites forelectricity consumption, there is a strongproposition to link them with “smart grid”initiatives and even transport. Project BetterPlace is currently piloting plug-in vehicles,which draw electricity from the home or electricfilling stations, to see whether there arenegative impacts on grid stability—an initiativethat relies on ICT to make it work.

Hurdles to AdoptionThere are a number of barriers to the adoptionof the technology and realizing the fullemissions savings opportunities. Theseinclude:

• The buildings sector is slow to adopt newtechnology—a 20-25-year cycle forresidential units and a 15-year cycle forcommercial buildings is typical.

• A lack of skilled technicians to handlecomplex BMS—most buildings of less than

10,000 sq ft (930 sq meters) do not havetrained operating staff.

• As each building is designed and built asunique, it is difficult to apply commonstandards for efficiency and operations.

• Lack of incentives for architects, builders,developers and owners to invest in smartbuilding technology from which they will notbenefit.

• Lack of incentives for energy companies tosell less energy and encourage efficiencyamong customers.

Overcoming Methods for TheseHurdlesA number of solutions could be implementedto overcome these barriers:

• Develop open standards to enableinteroperability of BMS.

• Develop new business models toovercome the misalignment in incentivesthat currently exists, such as performancecontracting and tax credits.

• Develop new financial mechanisms forbuilders that support investment in energyefficiency, such as mortgages that fundenergy efficiency or carbon credits.

• Develop green building valuation tools.

• Provide better training to building operatorsand information to users by simple devicessuch as visual smart meters or interfacesto influence behavioral change.

The National Science and TechnologyCouncil in the United States estimates thatcommercial and residential buildings consumea third of the world’s energy. For example, InNorth America, it translates to 72% of the

14


electricitygeneration, 12% of the water use, and60% of non-industrial waste. Consider anotherfact. If worldwide energy-use trends continue,buildings will become the largest consumer ofglobal energy by 2020—more than thetransportation and industrial sectors combined.And waste as much as half of the electricity andwater that they use. Smart buildings:Making living and working spaces moreenergy-efficient could save 1.7 GtCO2e frombuilding energy use in 2020, worth $340.8 bn.

NEW AND DEVELOPINGBRIGHT GREENTECHNOLOGIESBuildings consume up to 42% of all energyworldwide. By 2020, buildings will likely be thelargest consumers of energy—and the largestemitters of greenhouse gases—on the planet.Even worse, about 30% of a building’s totaloperating cost goes for energy. So, as the costof energy goes up, the need to reduce bothconsumption and overall building expensestakes on new urgency. Creating smarter citiesstarts with making buildings smarter which is Thebest way for a building to become smarter is byempowering owners and managers to collectenergy and operational metrics into a single,centralized location and apply enterprise-wideanalytical and optimization capabilities to gaininsights from that information. The followingtechnologies are used to reduce the carbonemissions in their own way.

Water Conservation TechnologiesWater shortages are expected to be an ever-present challenge, and offers tremendousmarket potential for water conservationtechnologies and products. One such optionthat has been displaying growing potential is

the application of integrated monitoring andcontrol of water use. By networking sensoroperated faucets and flushometers inconjunction with supplemental water metersand sensors, facilities managers are able tomonitor the entire restroom environment. Totalrealistic life cycle costs of the restroom are,for the first time, within the grasp of ownersand developers. This new level of integrationwill help companies establish a single sourceof water knowledge while increasing both theoverall sustainability of the restroom space andpositive experience for the end-user.

Fiber-to-The-Telecom-Enclosure(FTTE) or Zone CablingWith commercial industry relying heavily onsolutions provided by information technology,the network infrastructure is more critical thanever. The cost to business for installation andmaintenance is a large investment. Usersseeking data communications architecturesthat support a wide range of networkapplications can use a TelecommunicationIndustry Association (TIA) standards based

Figure 2: Zone Cabling

15


solution: Fiber-to-The-Telecom-Enclosure(FTTE) or Zone cabling as Figure 2. The FTTEarchitecture extends the fiber optic backboneto telecom enclosure closer to workstationsthroughout a building. The telecom enclosurecan then distribute a flexible topology of mixedmedia and power to the devices using coppercategory cable, fiber optics, coaxial cable, andA/V cable.

As a result, buildings can benefit from moreuseable real estate due to the removal orconsolidation of the telecommunications roomon each floor. Also, there is a 20-30% costreduction on cabling due to consolidation andremoval of proprietary networks, improvednetwork performance, single contractor/integrator vs. several specialists for disparatesystems, and a substantial reduction in costand disruption to staff when making changeswithin work areas.

Electrical ArchitectureTo meet the needs of flexible and integratedinfrastructures, electrical infrastructures areflexible, adaptable, and are able to serve asthe integrated center for lighting, energy, andcontrol systems. This new programmableenvironment combines a new electricalinfrastructure that replaces the traditional pipeand wire electrical systems with embeddedlighting controls that are connected togetherthrough nodes on a network. This technologycan address the following three major needsof building owners and tenant: 1) facilitatepeople using the building to become activeagents in the utilization, creation, and evolutionof spaces that support their activities; 2)preserve and improve the investment and ROIfor the building owners and managers; and 3)reduce the impact on the environment by the

building, from its initial construction stagethrough its life cycle. Labor costs can bereduced by 40-60% over the life of the buildingas it requires less labor during the initialinstallation and requires less labor to maintainthe building. The ability to save money alsoextends to energy savings, as it can reducethe energy costs in a building by making it moreenergy efficient whereby recouping 20-60%energy savings that would otherwise havebeen lost by traditional electrical infrastructure.

Electricity from RenewableSourcesBattery Park City’s green guidelines alsorequire that buildings use on-site renewablemethods to generate 5% of their baseelectrical loads. To meet this requirement, allgreen residential buildings in Battery Park Cityuse photovoltaic panels, which generate powerfrom sunlight as shown in Figure 3. In one ofthese buildings, panels will maximize thepower produced by tracking the path of thesun. By doing this, the system will be 5-10%more efficient than standard photovoltaic.

Developers have also investigated usingwind power in Battery Park City. Unfortunately,given the wind speeds at the site and the lifecycle costs of the current generation of windturbines, the power generated would costabout four times that of a photovoltaic system.While wind power isn’t practical in Battery ParkCity, there are ways it can be used to achieveLEED credits for buildings located there.When NYMEX retrofitted its building to begreen, it purchased renewable energy creditsto cover the electricity needs of its entirebuilding using wind energy generatedelsewhere. At the time the purchase wasmade, it represented the largest purchase of

16


these credits for a single building in New YorkCity. Newer green buildings in Battery ParkCity employ cogeneration equipment. Thesemicro turbines and a planned fuel cell usenatural gas to create electricity within thebuilding thereby minimizing energy loss thatis usual when bringing electricity in from anelectric plant. The equipment emits significantlyless CO2, NOX and SOX. As an added bonus,the heat from these systems will be used tocreate hot water for the building.

Smart MetersA critical element in all of this is the role of smartmeters which will be introduced across manyparts of the developed world over the nextdecade. In the EU, smart meters are seen aspivotal to meeting the energy consumptiontargets that have been agreed for 2020.Wirelessly connected to both utility suppliersand home management systems these will notonly measure instantaneous energy and water

consumption but also be able to provide pricinginformation to help building owners andoccupants tailor supply and demand. With their‘bi-directional communication capability’ thatwill enable utility companies to undertakebetter demand side management, these smartmeters also open the door to the idea of smartgrid where energy is sent to, from and betweendifferent locations. With each buildingeffectively acting as an active node in a grid,local energy production and storage canbecome far more efficient and consumptionpeaks and troughs can be smoothed. Takenin conjunction with more distributed sourcesof renewable energy supply such as wind,solar and biomass, the smart grid andintelligent buildings can really make adifference in energy consumption andsustainable living.

On top of the functional side, manyarchitects and engineers are also very keen

Figure 3: Sunlight is Converted into Electricity via Photovoltaic Cells, Providing 5%of Each New Residential Building’s Common Load

17


that future intelligent buildings are also betterplaces to live and work in: they should be ‘safeand secure’ but also ‘comfortable and makeus feel happy and valued’. The regulatoryactions already undertaken will ensure that,in many markets, the capability is there formore of the infrastructure to becomeincreasingly ‘intelligent’ in the way that utilities,communications and access are managed.The challenge will be for us as individuals toboth change our consumption behaviors,many of which conflict with improvedeff iciency, while at the same timepreserving—and ideally enhancing—ourability to get the most out of our buildings. Theaverage building is around for sixty years sowhole-scale change to the zero-energyambition will take far longer than the ten yearscurrently under discussion but, through acombination of retrofit and new-build, over thenext decade, many people are positive aboutprogress in developed and developingmarkets. Indeed, some suggest that, linkedto the rollout of high-speed broadband;developing countries could use intelligentbuildings as another opportunity to leapfrogover the developed economies which havemore of a legacy of infrastructure to deal with.

How ICT Can HelpEnergy consumption in buildings is driven bytwo factors.

1. Energy intensity

2. Surface area

ICT-based monitoring, feedback andoptimization tools can be used to reduce bothat every stage of a building’s life cycle, fromdesign and construction to use and demolition.Buildings are often poorly designed at the

outset, with little consideration for how theiruses may change over time. Even if energyefficiency has been incorporated at the start,a building’s actual energy performance can beimpaired if builders deviate from the plans orif occupants do not operate the BMSaccording to plans or specifications. Assumingthe building has been designed and built tospecification, poor commissioning (ensuringthe building’s systems function as specified),constant change of use and poor maintenancecan significantly reduce the effectiveness ofany BMS. This means that buildings differdramatically in the energy they consume andas a result the same technology applicationscan have very different impacts.

There are various smart buildingstechnologies available today that can helpreduce emissions at each stage of a building’slifecycle. Energy modeling software can helparchitects determine how design influencesenergy use. Builders can use software tocompare energy models with actualconstruction. Once the building is complete,ICT can measure and benchmark itsperformance and compare actual to predictedenergy efficiency. Occupants can install a BMSto automate building functions such as lightingand heating and cooling and if a buildingundergoes a change of use, ICT can be usedto redesign its energy model and measure theimpacts of this change. Figure 4 shows howICT can identify energy consumption, optimizefor reduction in energy and emissions andtransform current ways of designing and usingthe built environment. The US and Canada arehome to some of the most exciting andambitious innovations in smart buildingtechnology.

18


Smart LivingMore than 65% of the electricity consumed bybuildings in the United States is used for theoperation of heating, ventilation and cooling(HVAC) systems. In cities the size of New York

City, that number jumps to 95%. HVAC systemsin New York City buildings are responsible for 79%of CO2 emissions. The Solaire building in NewYork was the US’s first “green” residential towerand was inspired by the Battery Park City

Figure 4: Smart Buildings: The Role of ICT

19


Authority’s initiatives. As well as other sustainabilityfeatures, it contains a comprehensive BMS tocontrol the entire building.

This was built into the plans at the designstage, is continuously updated andundergoes an annual re-commission. TheBMS provides real time monitoring andreacts to external stimuli, such as the weather.Winner of several awards and recipient of theLEED Gold rating, the Solaire is 35% moreenergy eff icient than building coderequirements and uses 67% less energy thanother similarly sized buildings in peak hours.Since opening in 2002, energy consumptionhas decreased by 16% and, as a result of itsgreen credentials; the developers have beenable to charge a rental premium of 10%.

LOWER RESIDENTIALDEMAND FOR ELECTRICITYALSO HELPED EMISSIONSDECLINEResidential sector electricity consumptionwas lower in 2012 as compared to 2011 and

this also helped to lower emissions aselectricity-related emissions have been theprinciple source of residential sectoremissions since 1965.

• Although cooling degree days (CDD) wereslightly higher for the year compared to 2011(and 10% above the 10-year average), forthe summer cooling season they were down4% compared to 2011.

• In addition to residential electricityconsumption declining by 3.4%, electricitysystem losses declined even further (4.8%)implying an efficiency increase in electricitygeneration, transmission, and distributionof over 1%.

• Since 2007, residential sector electricity-related carbon dioxide emissions havedeclined to levels last seen in the late-1990sand direct use emissions (total minuselectricity-related) are below 1990 levels.

Cooling Degree-Days (CDD): A measure ofhow warm a location is over a period of time

Figure 5: Residential Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Electricity and Direct Use of Fuels,1990-2012

Source: US Energy Information Administration, Monthly Energy Review, Table 12.2 (September 2013)

20


relative to a base temperature, most commonlyspecified as 65 degrees Fahrenheit. Themeasure is computed for each day bysubtracting the base temperature (65degrees) from the average of the day’s highand low temperatures, with negative values setequal to zero. Each day’s cooling degree daysare summed to create a cooling degree daymeasure for a specified reference period.Cooling degree days are used in energyanalysis as an indicator of air conditioningenergy requirements or use.

CONCLUSIONCurrently, buildings need to exhibit higheroperational efficiency and lower cost withrespect to factors such as energyconsumption and operational costs, life cyclebenefits, management of resources, andlegislative requirements. Ongoing operatingcosts typically represent 50-80% of abuilding’s total life cycle costs over anestimated 40-year life span. From all over thisresearch provides documented evidence toeducate and influence end-users, buildingowners, architects, and contractors that a“greener building” can be achieved usingintelligent technology and that this “greening”will provide a tangible and enable buildingsto meet core objectives of sustainability(Energy, Water, and CO2).

REFERENCES1. Aditya Mishra, David Irwin and Prashant

Shenoy (2013), “Green Charge: ManagingRenewable Energy in Smart Buildings”.

2. Commercial Buildings EnergyConsumption Survey, Energy InformationAdministration, December 2006.

3. Granderson et al. (2010), “BuildingEnergy Information Systems: User CaseStudies”, Springerlink.

4. http://newyork.thecityatlas.org/lifestyle/greener-buildings-brings-green-bank-accounts/

5. http://www.batteryparkcity.org/pdf_n/GreenBook_Chapter04.pdf

6. http://www.green-buildings.com/content/782019-carbon-footpr ints-green-construction-it-common-practice-india.

7. http://www.ibm.com/smarterplanet/us/en/greenbuildings.

8. http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-T/jca/ictcc/Documents/docs-2013/FrancescoAsdrubali_JCA_Feb 2013.pdf

9. IEC 61850, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEC 61850, 2012.

10. Irwin D, Wu A, Barker S, Mishra A, ShenoyP and Albrecht J (2011), “Exploiting HomeAutomation Protocols for Load Monitoringin Smart Buildings”, In BuildSys.

11. Mishra A, Irwin D, Shenoy P, Kurose J andZhu T (2012), “Smart Charge: Cutting theElectricity Bill in Smart Homes with EnergyStorage”, In eEnergy.

12. “SMART 2020: Enabling the Low CarbonEconomy in the Information Age”, UnitedStates Report Addendum, GeSI, 2008.

13. “US Department of Energy”, BuildingEnergy Data Book , http://buildingsdatabook.eren.doe.gov