The Problem (and Solution) for Workplace Energy Usage

As modern humans, we spend 90% of our lives indoors, both at work and at home. While it is up for debate whether this is a good or bad thing, there is no denying we have a special relationship with the buildings we work and live in. Still, the reality is that the buildings we spend that time in are often unaware of us inside them and the environments around them. This is a big problem for workplace energy usage in the 93 billion square feet of commercial real estate in the United States alone. 

As humans, we have become accustomed to a certain level of comfort, especially when we’re on the job. In many climates, this level of comfort is heavily dependent on HVAC systems for heating and cooling. These energy-heavy systems are good at pumping out heating and cooling, but inefficient in determining when to do that heating and cooling. As a result, 30% of the energy consumed by commercial buildings is wasted per year, resulting in losses of $57B annually.

While we do a better job of aligning lighting needs to those inside through automatic timers and motion sensors, heating, cooling, and overall airflow controls are still dependent on schedules and guesses as to what best suits the building and those inside it. The reality is that above all, we want the occupants of our buildings to be comfortable and productive, but it can be difficult for us to know what those occupants need, especially with environmental factors at play like an exceedingly sunny day, rain, a cold front, and even natural seasonal changes. 

The solution is a system that can understand occupant behavior, adjust to environmental changes, and learn and predict how to do both along the way. Understanding occupancy, the behavior of those occupants, and the environment’s effect on the building allows the system to adjust HVAC levels on a potentially room-by-room level to ensure comfortability and energy efficiency in the workplace. 

This system would employ occupancy tracking on a granular level, providing insights on how areas of the building are being used in real-time, and would relay this data to the HVAC system to adjust levels per area, but also learn and predict when and how areas are being used to reduce wasted energy and ensure comfort.  

With today’s commercial environments being as flexible as they are with both work-from-home and in-office schedules, it’s essential building owners and managers improve the intelligence of their HVAC systems. Scheduling adjustments for weekends, evenings, and holidays doesn’t cut it with modern technologies and capabilities available for larger savings and more efficient operations. Today’s systems need to capture data, learn about usage and needs, and adjust accordingly to ensure occupant comfort and energy management with less waste.