FEATURE
e future for facilities management?
building control system like KNX is often
Jo Reeves
described as ‘future-proofing’ the building
and can be used in both commercial and achieve them.
domestic properties. The fact is that intelligent building
Dave Watkins, Business Manager for control should be the future for every new
KNX at Siemens believes that premises - not least because of its energy
demonstrating sustainability and putting saving aspect. Lighting that switches off
other drivers in place to protect the when the room is empty, heating that only
environment has to be a very real comes on to regulate a set temperature
consideration for businesses wanting to throughout the building and mechanisms KNX FUNCTIONALITY FOR
achieve stakeholder support and an that prevent equipment from staying on OFFICE BUILDINGS INCLUDES:
exemplary reputation. He considers that standby for extended time periods, all Light regulation that adjusts
they can represent this commitment contribute to lower energy bills and fewer artificial light depending on
through the use of KNX: “Corporate Social emissions. natural daylight, saving on energy.
Responsibility reporting is becoming more According to the European Rooms can be heated or cooled to
important and more desirable for investors Commission as many as 90% of all existing specific temperatures depending
and stakeholders. Businesses need to be buildings have inapplicable or ineffective on occupancy.
open and honest in disclosing their efforts controls, many of which require complete Lighting, heating and cooling
towards minimising environmental refurbishment of existing control systems. can be controlled by motion
impacts,” he says. “Exhibiting the Mr Watkins believes that KNX is not sensors, core usage times,
importance of meeting legislation and comparable to many other ‘similar’ room-based utilisation plans or
protecting the environment – for example systems: “Many conventional control manual controls.
by enhancing energy efficiency – shows systems stop short of delivering the full If windows are left open, heating
that they are not just paying lip service to functionality of an ‘intelligent building’: A is automatically lowered to
going ‘green’.” significant human element is required for ‘frost protection’ level to
Building regulations implemented in optimal effective operation even if control conserve energy.
April 2006 have gone some to way to systems correctly specified and installed. A ‘central off’ function can reduce
encouraging building managers and Understanding the concept of intelligent heating, cooling and ventilation to
developers to install energy efficient buildings is vital, in order to appreciate the protection mode when the building
technology. However – there are still true benefit of the available functionality is out of use at night or weekends.
greater savings to be made, but and the impacts of being able to control all www.siemens.co.uk/smarthomes
surprisingly little awareness of how to aspects of a building from a central point.” www.knxuk.org www.entech-ltd.com
information. As such, it is the ideal starting management, since with a clear picture of section looking at issues like transport
point for property and facilities executives the environmental risks associated with provision, pollution, health and well-
looking to get to grips with environmental their buildings, managers can work being, and adaptation to climate change.
matters. And by using common towards effective mitigation; something These are brought together in an
terminologies, it can be applied to corporate Boards will be increasingly keen Environmental Health-Check Survey
buildings anywhere in the world. to see. But it’s the focus on the collection of
And with a level of environmental the base data that really sets the Code
BENEFITS OF GREEN performance in mind, managers will be apart from other environmental initiatives.
The benefits of using the Code should able to set better, more detailed By doing this, its applicability becomes
not be undersold. Access to high quality environmental specifications for the range global, as the data collected can be
information is invaluable for executives of procurement associated with new sliced, diced, re-jigged and re-used for a
keen to make sound decisions, both buildings or retrofitting of existing ones. range of purposes from compliance with
quickly and confidently – the Code This is, of course, not to forget that national and local regulations, to
supports this. It also provides a ready- the Code will also enable organisations to corporate reporting e.g. using the Global
made platform for executives to report make ‘apple for apple’ comparisons of Reporting Initiative, to the attainment of
and communicate performance (and building performance within their estate, building certification such as BREEAM in
hopefully performance improvements) to a as well as to benchmark this performance the UK or LEED in the US.
growing list of stakeholders, from the against other organisations using the This is very much the vision for the
Board Chairman to NGOs. Code. For many, one of the most Code going forward. Not only as a tool to
Moreover, by using the Code property powerful statements of a firm’s help reduce organisations environmental
and facilities departments will be well environmental credentials. impacts, but also to help reconcile
equipped to support wider organisational national idiosyncrasies and to help
objectives. Not only by helping to ensure WHAT’S IN THE CODE? encourage global solutions to a global
that they ‘do their bit’ to meet the The data items and definitions that problem. No small task, but no one said it
increasing range of environmental make up the Code are split into two would be easy being green.
obligations and regulations, but also sections. Firstly, a ‘Core Measures’ section Ian Jeffries is head of occupier
through the adoption of recognised concerned with the collection of hard environmental services at IPD and author
industry good practice. energy, water and waste data. And of the IPD Environment Code – download
Another benefit is improved risk alongside this, a ‘Qualitative Measures’ free at www.ipd.com/environmentcode.
SUSTAINABLE FM | APRIL 2008
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