Building controls are a combination of automated software and physical components which control the building's operational systems such as its heating, ventilation, air conditioning, lighting, and alarms.
These systems might be referred to as Building Management Systems (BMS), Building Energy Management Systems (BEMS) or Building Automation and Control Systems (BACS) - there's slight differences between these systems. They are in every building - either added at the design stage or retrofitted into existing buildings.
Control systems are able to:
- enhance the operational efficiency (meaning it wastes less energy, water, and electricity), to meet sustainability goals.
- using weather forecasts to alter the building's temperature ahead of time
- automatically switching off lighting and heating in an unoccupied area
- schedule equipment to turn off when not needed
- schedule maintenance of equipment ahead of time
- adapting the environment by using data on the number of people in the building to control the heating and fresh air supply, switching on eco-mode where appropriate
- re-use waste heat (i.e. from kitchen) to heat water supplies
- simplify the management of the building by reporting any disturbances (such as power outages) to the building technicians.
Who uses building controls?
Everyone who ever steps foot in the building is part of the control strategy, even if they are not the ones turning it on! Building designers, contractors, and manufacturers work together to provide a building with functional utilities, security and access systems, visitor signage, occupant comfort and space management. Occupants might then manually change their environment by switching lighting on/off or the heating up/down.
Building occupants often interact with the building using a combination of hardware (physical) and software (digital) devices. Facilities managers can use the system to plan and preempt maintenance, prolonging its use and potentially reducing costs of breakage. Visitors to the building may use security systems, such as check-in via a screen or using a security pass to get through the electric gates.