Boosting the BMS

Karl Cundill, Partner at LitmusFM believes Building Management Systems (BMS) aren’t being utilised to their full capability, and as a result, businesses and organisations are wasting energy

The common issue we see with BMS systems and managing energy efficiency is that businesses often don’t know how to utilise the systems to their full capabilities. It’s rare to find a company that has a specialist, dedicated BMS engineer within their in-house team; it’s a niche skill and across the FM market there is a lack of suitably qualified engineers and apprentices available. This results in businesses typically relying on people within their teams who can operate the BMS on a simplistic troubleshooting level – so they are able to ensure it’s on and working and do basic things such as monitor alarms and increase the air temperature – but that’s it.

This has been exacerbated by developers installing BMS in newer, BREEAM rated buildings (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) simply in order to obtain credits to tick a sustainability box. Although the installation of the system boosts the building’s sustainability credentials, it quickly becomes futile if it’s not set up to be managed correctly on an ongoing basis.

Without proper management, the BMS is, in theory, layered on top of the existing building, as opposed to being woven into the fabric of the operation, leading to inefficiencies.

For example, when users of the building request a warmer environment, engineers will simply just raise the temperature on the BMS, which inevitably leads to increased energy costs. This is reducing the BMS to nothing more than a temperature gauge on a boiler. There is a lot more to it than just that.

BUILDING LAYOUT

Firstly, engineers should check that the BMS still aligns to the building layout. If the building has been upgraded, the layout of the internal walls changed or rooms moved around, and their usage changed, the graphics on the BMS also need to change so it remains a true reflection of the realities of the physical building. So, if a university has reconfigured its lecture halls or event spaces, an office building has mothballed parts of its space due to hybrid working or hospitals have expanded their wards into previously unused spaces, this all needs to be reflected within a revised BMS.

Equally, if new assets or asset systems, such as air conditioning, are installed and the airflows within the building changes this also needs to be recognised on the BMS.

Even relatively low-scale changes, such as the glass screens that were put up in pretty much all buildings when we were in peak pandemic, would need to be updated on the system as these caused lots of issues with the balancing of the internal climate, causing the temperatures of entire floors to be affected.

Not reflecting these changes will result in the BMS being far less effective, not operating at an optimum level, and, over time, even becoming completely outdated.

OCCUPANCY LEVELS

Secondly, the BMS needs to truly reflect the occupancy levels and working schedules of the building’s people. A prime example of this occurred with one of our clients, who had all the supply and extract fans for their production floor operating 24/7, even though the building was not occupied for at least six hours per day. They had major air flow issues, over a number of months, and at one point the differential pressure was so high it was nearly impossible to open the doors into the production area. The engineers thought it was an install or design issue, when it was actually down to the how the BMS system had been operating incorrectly. Plus, they were wasting vast amounts of energy powering the fans when no one was even there.

A lot of this is about proactively updating the BMS as and when elements within the building change. However, there is also the other side to it, which is about reacting and responding to the intel the BMS provides.

The BMS can provide real-time data from various operations within the building, whether that’s IoT sensors, lighting, HVAC, boiler plant rooms and so on. This data can inform engineering teams of any areas of energy usage that can be reduced, such as dimming lights in unoccupied areas or adjusting the temperature in rooms during peak and off-peak usage periods.

These updates don’t even have to involve engineering teams. Systems which have advanced machine learning capabilities can adjust these settings in response to the data automatically.

The BMS can also be linked to renewable energy sources such as solar panels and heat pumps. Peak energy usage times could be powered by renewable sources and charged battery packs, and off-peak re-charging powered by fossil fuels.

SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

The right, skilled and experienced people can ensure the BMS is set up correctly and the real-time data is utilised. The data will identify areas where energy is being wasted and facilities managers can then take action – whether that’s tweaking and adjusting the internal design of the building, rethinking how the space could be used to streamline efficiency or looking at increasing renewable energy access.

Remote controlled monitoring and remote maintenance are all common place and can provide solutions to any lack of on-site or in-house expertise. Remote fix capabilities are a very attractive proposition when it comes to managing the system as a whole. It reduces the need for engineer visits; in fact, engineers can work from anywhere and still do their job in exactly the same way as if they were local. This also gives the opportunity for others members of the team to view the BMS performance at any time.

Remote controlled monitoring also comes into its own for larger scale businesses, which have multiple sites across the country or even globally. For the likes of major nationwide supermarkets, hotel groups or high street retailers it would have been down to the individual store manager to set building controls such as the air temperature or heating levels. Remote monitoring allows this to be managed centrally so a consistent level and standard can be easily achieved across multiple locations.

In short, invest in your team. Review the skillsets you have internally and make a plan to bolster and enhance any areas of weakness. This can be through upskilling your current team, bringing in external expertise and consultancy, or recruiting new in-house members.