What are Smart Buildings, and how can they help create a sustainable future?
Leverage data driven insights for more efficient operations
In Canada, we are known for our wide-open spaces and our love of the great outdoors. Yet the realities of work and life in a cold climate mean that we, like people in much of the rest of the world, actually spend 80% to 90% of our lives indoor1. This fact came into stark focus during the Covid-19 lockdowns. As people return to workplaces, restaurants, gyms, arenas, theatres and other venues, they often have serious concerns over the health and security of their indoor environments. This means that buildings, now more than ever, are under scrutiny. People need to know that the places where they live, work, shop and spend their leisure time are clean and safe, and ready for the future.
The buildings of the future are already here
All of this is possible right now thanks to smart building technology. Smart buildings can meet our existing needs while ensuring that building owners and occupants are prepared for what comes next. The even better news is that the strategic placement of IoT sensors, coupled with AI-enabled solutions, can make any building smarter.
How? Smart, connected sensors can provide extensive information on energy and water consumption, hourly space utilization, and much more. Leveraging near real-time data, building owners and property managers can take timely corrective actions to drive operational efficiency. Solutions that provide better air quality, sanitization, and security increase the safety, comfort and wellbeing of occupants.
At the same time, smart solutions can also help reduce energy and maintenance costs, ensuring equipment is working correctly and extending its lifecycle. This means lower energy consumption, carbon emissions and water usage, and makes it easier to comply with building codes and corporate sustainability goals.
Taken together, this all leads to improved occupant satisfaction, which in turn leads to higher lease rates and better employee productivity.
A suite of solutions for both new builds and existing structures
Rogers growing suite of smart building solutions includes:
Rogers Smart Air Monitoring & Purification enables real-time monitoring and protection of indoor environments. A network of discreet sensors help ensure air flowing through your buildings is monitored and decontaminated – information that can be displayed in high-traffic settings to help assure occupants and visitors they are in a healthy air environment. You’ll also improve energy efficiency by monitoring HVAC systems for optimal performance, with predictive analytics to pre-emptively address any concerns.
Smart Water Leak Detection uses sophisticated IoT devices that provide greater visibility of your water infrastructure, identifying leakage risks, detecting leaks in near real-time, immediately alerting everyone who needs to know, and automatically shutting off water to the affected area.
The Rogers Digital Signage solution helps you effectively engage, educate and empower your audiences with a network of digital displays and touchscreen kiosks. This fully customizable, cloud-based solution allows you to remotely manage digital signage from any web browser and adapt it to your communications needs. Advanced use cases are also enabled, such as digital wayfinding for complex building environments, and service experiences that reduce wait times.
With Smart Security, you can stay on top of your monitoring needs with a state-of-the-art live monitoring and reporting system that includes end-to-end solutions for your security and compliance requirements. Reduce and deter risk in real time with remote monitoring and live communication. Simple to install and activate, smart surveillance features advanced analytics and artificial intelligence to secure your people and assets.
The Rogers Smart Washrooms solution is designed to replace the paper checklists that make up current washroom monitoring practice. Our solution replaces easily lost or torn paper sheets with sensors that are simple to deploy in any washroom to track the level of critical consumables. The sensors also monitor foot traffic and the location of cleaners, streamlining operations with an efficient distribution of resources. This near real-time visibility makes your operations smoother, improves environmental sustainability and makes occupants feel confident in your cleaning practices.
Rogers Smart Energy Management solution improves building performance and reduces energy consumption. We offer a range of customized energy management solutions designed to individual needs no matter the size of the organization, from a single building to a diverse portfolio of properties. By leveraging connected IoT sensors to provide access to better data insights, our solution increases energy efficiency, reduces operational costs and supports sustainable outcomes.
Next steps
To learn how smart building technology can make your buildings safer, more efficient and more intelligent, contact a Rogers for Business representative.
This post is part of a series on transforming buildings and cities with smart technology. Check out the related posts here.