Network Communications News (NCN) August 2016 | Page 30

S P E C I A L F E AT U R E

intelligent buildings

Building managers should think
about smart wiring systems.

Got to have a system
Kevin Sheldrake at Carlo Gavazzi reveals why a unified approach to control services
such as HVAC and lighting will consequently improve a building’s performance.

I

n the phrase ‘building energy
management system’ the last
word is frequently neglected. But
a dictionary definition of the word
‘system’ is ‘a set of things working
together as parts of a mechanism
or an interconnecting network; a
complex whole.’ And this points to
the seriousness of thinking about the
building energy management systems,
or BEMS, as a single network.

The big picture
This idea that the building, and more
importantly, the building services are
a ‘complex whole’ is significant when
trying to achieve long term energy
efficient operation. A holistic approach
to designing, installing and operating
building services is something that the
sector has been striving for over the past
two decades.

It’s not uncommon to experience
building services working
inharmoniously with each other for
example; heating and cooling running
concurrently and lights on at night
when the building is unoccupied.
The reality of our buildings is that
they are often not systematic at all. A
poorly designed system can increase
carbon emissions unnecessarily and be
unecono