Intelligent building design
April 1st 2008

Intelligent Building Technology Can Deliver Up to 40% Energy Savings Roxanne Ratcliff reports on Siemens KNX control system

Industrial sites consume huge amounts of energy with non dwellings thought to be responsible for around 20% of the UK's total energy usage.New building regulations implemented in April 2006 have gone some to way to encouraging building owners who are refurbishing to install energy efficient technology.However, there are still greater savings to be made, but surprisingly little awareness of how to achieve them.

The KNX solution Managers and engineers in industrial spaces are now turning away from traditional building management systems and instead are looking towards intelligent building control technologies to provide the solution to energy management challenges.

But what is an 'intelligent building'? Today it is widely accepted as a space where all elements lighting, heating, security, access control,ventilation are able to respond in real time to the users'needs and building occupancy patterns.The potential benefits and return on investment from an integrated building are highly tangible lower energy costs, security,and enhanced facilities management.

To achieve this level of 'intelligence' an international building control standard called KNX has been developed.Agreed by the leading manufacturers in Europe, including Siemens, it allows the integration of a range of products from a range of manufacturers using a simple software tool, essentially allowing them to 'talk' to one another and work together.The system has been designed for ease of installation with just a simple twin-core 'highway' cable needed (installed in addition to the mains cabling); none of the layers of cables associated with conventionally cabled systems.

Significant energy savings Siemens KNX control system provides building managers and owners with a highly cost-effective way of ensuring energy is conserved.

Once installed, it allows users to automatically carry out energy management and building control tasks such as the control, monitoring and optimisation of building services and load management. Using features such as room temperature management and zoned temperature control which allows separate heating settings for different areas of the building, Siemens KNX delivers a reduction in a building's energy consumption of up to 40%.

One of the key benefits of KNX is its ability to deliver significant energy savings through lighting control.A lighting control system can be simply configured so that lights are only 'on' when someone is present in a room, or in a zone of a large industrial space.

Russell Downing, specification manager at Siemens, explains:"The system can also monitor natural daylight levels to dim or turn the lights off when enough ambient light is present. In large industrial spaces where there may be several thousand luminaires turned on 24/7, the ability to automatically make use of natural daylight while still providing the level of light needed results in substantial energy savings. By employing these simple measures, effective use of lighting control alone can result in energy savings of up to 30-40%." Breaking down the barriers Mr Downing believes that KNX is not comparable to many other control systems:"Many conventional control systems stop short of delivering the full functionality of an 'intelligent building': A significant human element is required for optimal effective operation even if control systems are correctly specified and installed.Understanding the concept of KNX is vital, in order to appreciate the true benefit of the available functionality and the impacts of being able to control all aspects of a building from a central point." According to Siemens, it does not cost the earth to integrate an Intelligent Building Control system.

With consideration paid to the ever rising cost of energy prices, investment in an open control standard like KNX is a reasonable one.As Russell Downing says,"This is all about future proofing a building.If all buildings had KNX installed as standard,the UK would be well on the way to achieving its energy reduction targets and businesses would benefit from saving money on the bottom line.The concept of an energy efficient building is not only desirable, but for regulators, purchasers and industrial managers it is also essential."