#intelligent building, #smart home
Demand for intelligence. Intelligent buildings.
History of intelligent buildings development in Russia.
On November 9-12, 2006, the Hi-Tech House-2006 exhibition and the International Forum «Integration of Intelligent Systems, Automation and Operation of Business and Residential Buildings» were held in Moscow.
This became an event for all participants in the «intelligent systems» market. However, it would be interesting to know what was happening in this market in general, what are the trends in its development, what new technological innovations have appeared here and how actively are “intelligent systems” being implemented in Russia?
Elena Yepishina, the head of the International Forum and Exhibition Hi-Tech House-2006, where the “very best” that defines the current face of the Russian market of “intelligent systems” will be presented, told AZ about this.
The global boom in the “intellectualization” of buildings continues.
Developers in Europe, the USA, and Japan are striving to equip banks and offices, hotels and sports complexes, administrative buildings and industrial enterprises, private homes and apartments with “intelligent systems” to the maximum extent.
Today, about 40% of all “intelligent” buildings are located in Western Europe, about 30% in the USA, and 20% in Japan.
Russian realities in the development of the market of intelligent buildings.
«Intelligent» technologies in equipping buildings are actively conquering Russia as well.
According to experts from the company «ARMO-Engineering», the growth of the domestic market for the construction of «intelligent» buildings (business centers, administrative buildings, hotels and other commercial real estate) in 2005 was about 10-15%.
And by the end of 2006, it was expected that the growth rate would reach 20%.
Such activity was especially noticeable among the «intelligent» business centers.
There were already quite a few of them in Russia, but most of them, of course, are located in Moscow.
These are «Tsarev Sad», «Dukat Place III», «Moscow-City», «Country-Park», «Aurora Business Park» and a number of others.
By the way, the number of companies offering the installation of a wide variety of building automation systems has noticeably increased, as evidenced by the exhibitors' stands at the Hi-Tech House exhibition.
So, in my opinion, the market development is facilitated by the ever-increasing demands of both owners and tenants of buildings.
Again, high-tech companies appear on the market – and quite a lot! – focusing on information security and modern business technologies.
But the domestic market of “intelligent” buildings would certainly develop much more dynamically if this topic received sufficient regulatory support from the state.
Abroad, the need to implement building automation systems is confirmed by the adoption of a number of special regulatory standards, the basic of which is ISO 16484.
But in our country, the standard «Building automation and control systems» is still advisory in nature.
And the prospect of including this standard among mandatory ones, unfortunately, is still small. Requirements for equipping facilities are developed individually each time and are based, as a rule, not on standards, but on the experience of specialists preparing tender documentation.
There are GOSTs and SNiPs in Russia that regulate issues of building automation, but they hardly work.
That is why, when commissioning facilities, the absence of control rooms, automation control systems, and resource conservation is not taken into account.
There are no standards, so there is nothing to ask!
The obvious benefit of intelligent buildings.
It is estimated that the implementation of integrated building automation systems in Russia pays for itself in 1.5–3 years of operation.
And then – pure savings.
Here are the figures for the economic effect: energy costs are reduced by 20–30%, building operation costs by 50–70%, and equipment repair and maintenance costs by 50–60%.
Roman Vroblevskiy, Director of the Automated Control Systems Department at YORK Johnson Controls, believes that “…just thanks to these three items, you can save up to 50–60% of all building operation costs. And don’t forget about the significant reduction in insurance rates.”
«Intellectualization» of buildings is not only about saving. Building automation systems are also about reducing risks.
The presence of integrated control systems allows classifying the facility as the highest class of office center — A1 (A+).
You must agree that this significantly affects rental rates. A high level of comfort and safety can increase its cost by 10-20%.
By the way, a properly designed and equipped building will retain its investment appeal for much longer than one that is built taking into account only today's requirements.
A simple example: in January 2006, in order to avoid emergency failures due to prolonged cold weather, rolling blackouts began in a number of regions of Russia.
Many enterprises stopped. The economic damage was quite noticeable.
The forecast here is disappointing: the wear and tear of energy system equipment in different regions of Russia is quite high – from 40 to 80% – and the risk of similar accidents and outages is very high.
«Intelligent systems» could also save in such situations.
The same thing happened in May last year, when a short circuit at one of the Mosenergo substations caused a cascading power outage throughout almost the entire territory of Moscow and in a number of regions.
Many enterprises stopped.
The damage is over 2.2 billion rubles.
And here, an integrated building automation and dispatching system could switch to uninterruptible power supplies and diesel generators in a timely manner, completely eliminating failures in the operation of all other engineering and information systems.
The excess of electricity in the past due to the deterioration of the entire energy system of Russia will result in its deficit in the future.
And this forecast is a fairly weighty argument in favor of a wider implementation of energy-saving technologies and control algorithms, which are provided by the «intelligent systems» of buildings.
The technical advantage of complex “intellectualization” and automation of a building is also the ability to “fit in” with the energy limits that municipal services can set for the building owner and eliminate expenses for additional power substations already at the construction stage.
The building automation system optimally solves another global problem – the unification of autonomous systems, each of which solves its own set of problems, into a single information and control space.
There is no need to explain how much the efficiency of all building services and the speed of decision-making increase in this case.
Also, «intelligent systems» practically eliminate any possibility of failure of high-tech equipment, which will work smoothly for several years.
And significantly reduce the influence of the human factor.
And this, by the way, will help avoid errors during operation and reduce personnel costs. Agree, the savings are obvious!
New opportunities for intelligent buildings.
Offers of a fundamentally new type of office buildings have appeared on the commercial real estate market.
For them, “intelligent building” systems are very profitable, since they guarantee tenants a stable level of operation of all life-support systems and significant savings on maintenance.
True, the market for such real estate is already planned to be diversified and also offer cheaper options for class «B» office buildings.
And this idea is stimulated by the unfolding presidential national projects — in particular, the creation of IT technology parks.
Not only business centers, but also hotels are actively working on the implementation of «intelligent systems».
Smart systems are now a fairly common occurrence in most five-star hotels in the capital, where a single automated control system has been implemented that combines all the main support systems: ventilation, lighting, heating, water preparation and supply, power devices, security television and fire extinguishing systems.
By the way, a unique project has been implemented in Moscow, although not in a business center or hotel, but in the Ice Center in Krylatskoye.
A contactless ice temperature control system and wireless data transmission have been installed here. This is truly an event!
Trends and prospects for the development of intelligent buildings.
One of the most interesting trends in the domestic market of «intelligent» systems, which, by the way, is noted by almost all of its participants, is the reduction in the range of technologies offered to customers.
The logic of this trend can probably be explained by the fact that the market is striving for the dominance of two or three universal technologies, which will put everything in its place: other players will either have to leave or engage in «niche» products.
The advanced public has already felt all the advantages of an «intelligent building».
That is why many customers began to contact us about automation at earlier stages.
Many are not building their first building and have seen for themselves that it is most profitable to build “intelligent buildings” from scratch.
The approach to automating all engineering and technical systems of a building is becoming increasingly professional.
Two or three years ago, specialists from integrator companies communicated about the design, installation and automation of engineering systems exclusively with representatives of the developer.
Now, four parties are involved in the negotiations: the building owner, the developer, the designer and those who will operate the building.
Finally, we cannot fail to mention technological innovations, among which the most notable is the transition from closed to open protocols.
The explanation for this is simple — open protocols will ensure compatibility of equipment from different manufacturers, creating the ability to integrate everything into a single system.