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More efficient building ­management

Johnson Controls has expanded the capabilities of its analytical, cloud-based optimisation platform, Enterprise Management (EM), by introducing several new features. The new platform integrates with Johnson Controls’ Metasys Building Management (BMS) solution, as well as a number of other BMS solutions, delivering enhanced functionality including data analysis across the enterprise, easy to interpret visualisations and further optimisation to reduce the cost of a company’s energy bill.

Says Neil Cameron, Johnson Controls area general manager, Building Efficiency – Africa, “the Enterprise Management platform enhances the capabilities of a BMS solution by analysing building data, enabling property owners and managers to improve performance, enhance fault-finding, take corrective action and, as a result, reduce energy costs. It also allows companies to track their sustainability goals, something that is relevant to South African businesses with the imminent enforcement of the Carbon Footprint Tax bill.”

The tool is also ideal for property owners and managers that need to manage multiple tenants. The new Tenant Management enhancement gives tenants and building owners visibility into real energy consumption through personal dashboards, while Kiosk enables building owners to showcase their properties’ energy conservation and sustainability programmes to the public.

With the new Tenant Management feature, tenants can now track their energy consumption and cost and make online after-hour requests. Building owners can compare and analyse the energy consumption and spend of each tenant, track trends and a see a summary of after-hour requests for each tenant. Using this information, a building owner can suggest corrective action to help tenants lower their energy costs.

The Tenant Billing feature calculates true consumption of multiple commodities (electricity, gas and water) and auto-generates bills. This assures tenants pay only for their energy consumption, rather than a flat rate based on square footage.

Kiosk is a powerful, new, public-facing tool that enables building owners to share a dynamic and interactive experience, highlighting real-time energy reduction. It displays live data, including current energy and water usage, reductions in CO₂ emissions and outdoor air conditions. It also informs users and visitors about their organisation’s environmental impact, LEED certification and ENERGY STAR goals.

Enterprise Management works with energy meters, smart devices and building automation systems to continuously extract otherwise overwhelming amounts of energy and equipment data. This data is securely transmitted to the cloud, where it is proactively analysed 24/7, identifying faults and opportunities for improved performance and operational savings. Intuitive, out-of-the-box dashboards display the aggregated data and actionable information. Using the platform, facility personnel can create work orders and then track progress toward the solution.

The Enterprise Management platform is available as an add-on to Johnson Controls’ Metasys BMS and certain other third-party BMSs.

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