Smart Building Systems: Powering the Path to Net Zero

For decades, ‘smart’ buildings meant little more than automated lights and a scheduled thermostat.

Today, however, thanks to technologies like IoT, edge computing and Gen AI, buildings can not only react to programmed schedules but adapt and learn from the people inside them.

Much of the pressure to convert existing buildings to ‘smart’ ones comes from increasingly-stringent sustainability targets.

Buildings account for nearly 40% of global carbon emissions and, with regulations tightening, property owners face both compliance requirements and serious financial risk.

There’s a catch, though.

Most existing building stock is ageing, disconnected and energy-inefficient, meaning the solution is in retrofitting, rather than tearing buildings down.

Digital twins are proving central to this transformation.

By creating virtual replicas of physical buildings, facility managers can simulate scenarios, predict failures before they happen and optimise energy usage in real-time.

So, now the challenge is software-driven, rather than being rooted in hardware.

The breakthrough happens when HVAC, security and IT systems stop operating in isolation and start functioning as a single, integrated whole.

Siemens: The ecosystem architect

Siemens’ approach to smart building systems centres on openness.

With its Siemens Xcelerator platform, the German tech giant is moving away from proprietary lock-ins to an open digital business platform that accelerates digital transformation.

Its flagship offering in this space, Building X, is a cloud-native smart building suite that acts as a ‘single source of truth’ which eliminates data silos by integrating disparate systems – regardless of vendor – into one cohesive dashboard. 

“Building X breaks down barriers,” says Matthias Rebellius, Member of the Managing Board of Siemens AG and CEO of Smart Infrastructure.

“We can now combine all data generated by systems in smart buildings into a single data pool. This allows us to realise smart buildings faster and brings us closer to our vision of autonomous and climate-neutral buildings.

“Building X creates measurable data-based results regarding efficiency, performance and user experience. In this way, Building X improves how we work and live in buildings.”

Siemens focuses heavily on the ‘grid-interactive’ building, viewing buildings not just as energy consumers, but as prosumers that can store energy and feed it back to the grid.

By leveraging AI to predict energy loads, Siemens helps massive commercial estates flatten their demand curves, saving millions in operational costs while stabilising the local energy grid.

Honeywell: The performance engine

Honeywell has long been synonymous with control systems, but its modern strategy revolves around Honeywell Forge, an Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) SaaS solution.

Forge acts as a layer of intelligence on top of existing operational technologies.

Using ML, it autonomously adjusts setpoints for HVAC and lighting based on real-time occupancy and weather data, rather than static schedules.

Kevin Dehoff, Honeywell’s Chief Strategy Officer, says: “Building operations is evolving at a rapid pace as many customers work to digitalise their facilities. This means they need better integration and enablement capabilities of their smart building applications and solutions.

“We are integrating our purpose-built products that support multiple assets in a building with the SaaS capabilities of Honeywell Forge to create a singular approach to building operations.

“The goal is to make it simpler for our customers to address business-critical outcomes.”

A key differentiator for Honeywell is its focus on the ‘Healthy Building’.

Post-pandemic, its systems prioritise air quality and occupant well-being as heavily as energy efficiency.

Honeywell technology also monitors volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and particulate matter, adjusting airflow instantly to ensure cognitive function and safety for occupants – proving that a smart building is also a safe building.

Johnson Controls: The net zero navigator

Johnson Controls’ OpenBlue platform is a suite of connected solutions specifically designed to drive sustainability, combining a secured and scalable open data platform with AI powered applications to deliver impactful business value across the entire building life cycle.

The company’s Net Zero Buildings as a Service offering allows companies to upgrade infrastructure without upfront capital, paying instead through the energy savings achieved. OpenBlue creates a digital thread that runs through the entire lifecycle of a building, from design and construction to operation and demolition.

George Oliver, Chairman of Johnson Controls, says: “The need for making net zero leadership easier to achieve is immediate and greater than ever.

“Buildings represent about 40% of global emissions and Johnson Controls is uniquely positioned to help customers around the world pursue their net zero carbon goals. 

“Our As a Service model looks to provide our customers with guaranteed outcomes and risk management models to achieve emission reduction commitments that ultimately lead to healthier buildings, people, places and the planet.”

On top of this, by integrating their heritage in chillers and HVAC with advanced AI diagnostics, Johnson Controls can predict equipment failures weeks in advance, preventing the energy spikes associated with degrading machinery and ensuring assets run at peak theoretical efficiency.