Our vision of the future often encompasses thoughts of what our lifestyle will be like in modern homes and buildings. Over the years we have seen a depiction of our future through the eyes of animated cartoonists proclaiming an automated society of the future filled with various gadgets and systems designed to automatically take care of the occupant’s environment.
The fantasy of a cartoonist’s imagination has become reality today. As it is sometimes stated, science fiction becomes science fact. The astounding imagination of science fiction writers has become the accepted norm in so many cases these days.
In a relatively short time of about 66 years we progressed from the marvel of Wilbur and Orville Wright completing the first powered flight over a distance of 37 metres in 1903 to breaking the sound barrier and then flying more than 400,000km to the Moon and return in 1969. How quickly we can change a dream to reality.
In the world of building control and automation we have seen developments that may have seemed unrealistically futuristic become commonplace in a very short space of time. Not long ago we thought the humble light dimmer gave us the amazing ability to set an ambient lighting mood. Nowadays this can be achieved automatically and is considered commonplace.
Smart Home and Building Control systems integrate lighting controls, comfort and environmental elements, as well as energy monitoring, all within the definition of a smart building management system. We have to remind ourselves that this system is not new and has been available for more than 30 years.
In Europe the research and development engineers and technicians are looking to the future trend where a building controls (including lighting, heating, cooling, security, comfort and household appliances), industrial control systems and city infrastructure systems can all work together for a solution that offers energy efficiency as well as the highest possible supply availability.
An important step to ensure the possibility of all of these applications working together is to utilise technology that is open to all manufacturers yet independent to any manufacturer. The greatest security for the industry is to enshrine the technology into a standard. One technology that has adopted this approach is the KNX Home and Building Automation Control system that complies with the requirements of ISO/IEC 14543-3 as well as the European standards CEN50090 and CEN EN 13321-1, the US ANSI/ASHRAE and has recently being adopted as the Chinese standard GB/T 20965.
Complying with a standard means the technology is backward compatible as well as being future proof. This means users, integrators, installers and consumers have the security and assurance that the technology and the protocol cannot be changed according to the desires of a single manufacturer. Compliance with the standard also guarantees compatibility and interoperability between products, applications and manufacturers.
In simple terms Brand ‘X’ gadget is guaranteed to work seamlessly with Brand ‘Y’ widget and be controlled from Brand ‘Z’ touchscreen. In the case of KNX there are about 320 individual manufacturers of devices that all work together. This provides the contractor/integrator with competitive choice for a device with the features to suit the application.
A recent concept introduced in Europe is that of the KNX City. This concept from European designers is where an intelligent power grid (smart grid) is working with intelligent buildings. The goal is to ensure the available grid capacity is managed in conjunction with the required building comfort, security and environmental levels together with energy efficiency targets, to achieve a reliable and uninterrupted supply.
In Australia we have been encouraged to revise our lighting habits for some time. This has brought about the introduction of energy efficient lamps to replace the classic light bulbs in nearly all households. We have also utilised basic lighting controls for some time in an effort to conserve energy consumption. Each step that we take is a step in the right direction however we are viewing the problem like an island rather than looking to the bigger picture.
The smart grid takes care of the demands on the network via information derived from smart electricity meters and matching network capacity with demand. The traditional smart home or building tries to conserve energy and increase comfort levels through lighting controls, effective use of sun shading as well as efficient heating and cooling appliances. The increased use of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind energy also can be individually controlled with smart technology.
We are making good progress with the smart use of these individual solutions, but are we really looking at the model of an intelligent city that will adequately see us to our future requirements.
Technological convergence is a term entering into the language of systems. Essentially this refers to the ability for different technological systems to evolve toward performing similar tasks on a common platform. KNX Home and Building Automation systems already provide this level of convergence through the standardisation of a variety of building management functions.
The systems currently converging in a KNX solution are:
- Illumination
- Shutter/blind control
- Heating
- Air conditioning
- Ventilation
- Display and signalling
- Monitoring
- Security
- Load management
So now we have linked all of these electrical components and systems to provide an intelligent approach to the building management and automation. With all of these building automation systems already available through the KNX common platform we can now look to the next step.
The KNX City concept looks to the bigger picture beyond the level of individual buildings or separate energy conservation measures. As the system from one building to another is on a common platform following a recognised IEC standard, we can provide simple communication between these buildings so that the intelligent building is becoming part of an intelligent neighbourhood. Renewable energy resources for example can be shared at the neighbourhood level. An excess supply of renewable energy at one building can be communicated to neighbouring building so that the neighbours load profile can efficiently utilise the extra resource locally. This could take demand away from the limited resources of the grid.
This could also then extend to a suburb and further, to the entire city.
Working in reverse if the smart grid has an issue with demand or another situation that could compromise the supply availability, a request could be sent to the linked neighbourhood for a reduction in demand in order to ensure supply availability.
One command from the grid could ask the neighbourhood to adjust an air conditioning set point by 1 to 2 degrees across multiple buildings. Lighting levels could be dimmed by 2%. Certain loads could be delayed from coming on line until the grid capacity if better placed to cope with this. All of these minor adjustments over the neighbourhood, suburb or city can have a small and potentially unrecognisable impact on the environment for the occupants of the building, but it could have a dramatic effect on averting the risk of a grid outage.
As can be seen, utilising KNX and the concept of the KNX City, the building necessities of lighting, heating, ventilation, air conditioning, window shading, security and comfort controls can be integrated with energy measurement and demand monitoring, grid capacity requirements and total city infrastructure services management.
Energy efficiency and energy conservation without intelligent building services engineering is an island approach. To have a variety of incompatible systems in building automation applications introduces unnecessary protocol conversion and risk. To use a system that is not compliant with an international standard lacks security of product supply and future design changes.
A “smart power grid” electrical network without utilising an intelligent building is also lacking a holistic approach to the needs of an intelligent city.
KNX Intelligent Building Control with the KNX City concept provides a solution that is not only smart, but is also intelligent and clever.
Does it all sound like another episode in a futuristic science fiction or fantasy?
The building blocks exist today. By applying the model we can work towards not only an intelligent building, we can seize the opportunity to develop the true city of the future.
The KNX City.