Intellectual Property Trends within Sustainable Architecture
By David Katz & Kit Lam
Intellectual property trends in high-performance buildings. Buildings today are trending toward smarter, greener, and more intelligent designs to complement the transition to smart grids, net zero buildings, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), energy reduction, building automation, and computerized maintenance management systems.
In addition to the traditional utilities of electricity, natural gas, and water, high-performance buildings include a fourth utility: broadband communications. This utility allows building managers to add smart meters and offer new pricing schedules such as time-of-use rates and demand response programs to lower energy costs and incorporate clean on-site generation. Moreover, it enables building managers to minimize damage from normal equipment failure and facilitate a programmed response for shutdown and evacuation during times of natural disaster.
One of the major differences between high-performance buildings and their traditional counterparts is the ability to generate limitless data and information on nearly every aspect of a building and then share it among systems to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the entire facility. This goes beyond the data provided by traditional heating, lighting, and cooling systems. Today’s high-performance buildings boast heat, lighting, movement, and airflow sensors, environmental monitoring and control, and integration between fire and security systems, as well as countless other advancements that contribute to reduced costs, improved health, a greener environment, and increased efficiency, productivity, and security.
To be a true high-performance building, building automation systems and energy-efficient equipment require networking and operational maintenance at a high level. A high-performance building can generate limitless data, but to optimize the use of that information, building management systems must take this real-time data and analyze it through system communication and integration.
A traditional building automation system includes a series of direct digital controllers connected by an interface card to a traditional personal computer, which is used as a workstation to change settings and view alarms and data logs. This workstation is usually hidden in a maintenance room. With advancements in data acquisition, as well as graphic and network communication capabilities, building systems and their current state of operation can now be viewed on computer monitors and television dashboards in real time.
As cloud computing has become more prevalent, it is not surprising that it is dominating the operations and maintenance of high-performance buildings. With environmental data programs like FirstCarbon Solutions’ ghgTrack facilitating the calculation of a building’s carbon footprint, a building manager can be anywhere in the world and still be able to connect to the cloud server to enter building and operational environmental data, then assess, analyze, and diagnose the greenhouse gas emissions of a high-performance building.
Intellectual Property in High-Performance Assets
One of the benefits gained from the data generated by high-performance buildings is the ability to manage and save on energy costs and peak demand charges. The building management system can be pre-programmed to reduce demand in discretionary applications such as dimming lights or lowering the temperature slightly.
How is this done?
Demand is reduced when the building management system receives an automated demand response signal from the utility or from companies appointed as aggregators to provide the demand response. Utilities offer financial incentives, resulting in energy cost savings without sacrificing the comfort of tenants.
In fact, energy cost savings are the underlying reason why spending a premium on high-performance buildings can be justified.
The journey toward high-performance buildings, and the various definitions and assumptions that apply to them, is ongoing. The application of information technologies to building automation and integration with other systems helps owners and operators address the new challenges of reducing energy use and environmental impact, while minimizing the consequences of building equipment failures.
FAQs
How are high-performance buildings different from traditional buildings?
High-performance buildings use advanced sensors, automation, and real-time data to manage lighting, heating, cooling, airflow, security, and other systems more efficiently than traditional buildings.
Why is broadband called the fourth utility in high-performance buildings?
Broadband is called the fourth utility because it helps connect smart meters, automation systems, and building controls, making it easier to monitor energy use and improve building performance.
How do smart building systems help reduce energy costs?
Smart building systems can track energy use in real time and automatically adjust things like lighting and temperature to lower waste, reduce peak demand, and cut overall utility costs.
How does cloud computing support high-performance buildings?
Cloud computing allows building managers to access environmental and operating data remotely, making it easier to monitor performance, track carbon emissions, and respond faster to issues.
