Smart Buildings are special types of facilities in which contemporary automated systems have been used, along with integrated systems which control the building automatically, including the heating, ventilation, air-conditioning, lighting, security or other systems. A Smart Building uses sensors, supplies and microchips to collect data and control them in accordance with the functions and services of the company. This infrastructure helps the owners, operators and staff in the facility with regard to improving the reliability and performance of the property, which reduces the consumption of energy and optimizes space usage.

Special attention has been paid to reducing the consumption of electricity, a higher degree of security, integrating energy-efficient systems, as well as convenient and simple solutions regarding how to use it. Special attention is paid to designing and installing high-quality materials and the thermo-insulation of the facility, which is the foundation of a rationally-used system of cooling and heating.

• 42% of the world’s energy is consumed in buildings
• 50% of energy used in buildings is wasted due to an inefficient system of controlling the buildings
• In developed societies, it is expected that at least one half of buildings which will be used in 2050 have already been built
• Only 25% of the construction costs are related to capital expenditures, while 75% of the remaining expenses are used for controlling buildings during their life cycle
• Only 20% of the facility managers use 80% of the available capacities in their systems for controlling the building
• 30% of the energy used in the buildings is wasted

Business facilities, hotels, hospitals, shopping malls and sports centers, schools or residential facilities all have the need to make savings and improve comfort and convenience. An increasingly higher price of energy justifies the investment that they can return in a very short period of time, and raising ecological awareness can best be affected by lowering the electricity bills and other forms of energy.
In order for the implementation of this system to reach a high level of facility automation, an adequate and systematic approach is necessary in designing and integrating, which includes:

• the analysis of the clients’ needs
• designing based on these needs and the specific features of the facility it is designed for
• installation within a certain timeframe and at a required quality
• monitoring facilities after running them and preventive and reactive maintenance
• optimizing work in exploitation, which leads to energy savings.

 

Programs for research and development financed by the European Union have, as their goal, the promotion and support of research directed towards different fields of interest.

The first program (FP1) was started in 1984 and one of the largest projects for increasing energy efficiency called Horizon was also completed, whose primary focus was on innovations, increased economic growth and creating solutions for the end users (which are often state agencies). The budget of all the existing programs is almost 200 billion euros, of which more than 80 billion euros has been spent on the last (Horizon) project.

Since 2010, ION Solutions has been participating in these projects as an equal partner with a great number of famous companies, institutes and universities from many European countries.

 

The most important completed projects as of today:

Hospilot

This is a project that aims to increase energy efficiency in hospitals by introducing intelligent control and surveillance. ION Solutions has created software tools for support in making decisions in hospital systems: getting the best advice for new construction and renovation.

 

TEDS4BEE

TEDS4BEE is a project whose main idea is to increase energy efficiency in public buildings, with the help of EMMOS (Energy Management and Monitoring Operational System) ̶ a digital system which enables collecting, storing and analyzing data regarding consumption, as well as different parameters which include temperature, density, NOx, CO2, comfort level, light intensity, etc.

 

 

 

 

 

What is energy efficiency?

What is implied by energy efficiency is the total number of planned and applied measures aimed at reducing energy consumption in a certain facility or area, consequently reducing the costs and CO2 emissions, which, today, is one of the most important goals that our planet has at its forefront. Energy efficiency can be achieved at all stages of construction, starting from civil engineering (through the application of high-quality materials, better insulation, etc.), the installation of equipment (energy saving bulbs, pumps with a high coefficient of positive effects, etc.), to introducing automatic control, which is the core field that our company deals with. The optimization of energy usage, i.e. the reduction of work expenses, makes automatic control very appealing to investors, building owners/managers, companies that provide energy services and many others.

Opširnije...Energy efficiency