Page 471 - Shaping smarter and more sustainable cities - Striving for sustainable development goals

When the fire alarm notifies the access control system of an emergency, provision can be made that
no unauthorized individuals can enter the building while everybody who is already in the building
can exit without constraint. Alarms caused by magnetic locks which have been released owing to
the fire alarm, will be ignored, and lights throughout the building can be automatically energized so
that first responders are not faced with a situation wherein they looking for the light switches.

1.4 Elevators and escalators

Through suitable programming, the number of elevators being used at any one time can be
optimized to address schedules, loads and potentially, emergencies; e.g., if paramedics require an
elevator, it can be automatically configured to provide exclusive use for such purposes under an
emergency situation. There are many advances in elevator programming which have been
pioneered by some of the large elevator manufacturers, e.g., provision of call buttons on the main
entrance floor which allow random selection of elevators which will provide express rides to the
floors identified by each individual's access credentials. Thus, different users going to the same floor
will all be channelled into a common elevator cab, which will then go directly to that, or those,
selected floors. The primary benefit as a result of this intelligence will be the ability to use fewer
elevator cabs, i.e., lower energy costs and provide a faster service.

1.5 Lighting

The traditional large office buildings in which light switches are "hidden" are probably a thing of the
past. The current trend to individually controlled lights, with the ability for each individual user to
select their preferred lighting levels, is potentially a significant power saver and the use of more
modern lighting technologies also reduces the amount of heat generated by more efficient
luminaires. These trends can be integrated with many additional benefits, some of which have been
noted in the foregoing comments; e.g., when an individual arrives, the lights in that person's area
may be illuminated. When the individual goes home, the lights will be extinguished. In an
emergency, activation of all lights will enhance the ability for responders to attend to any situation
without themselves having to activate any lights.
Furthermore, the use of automated lighting controls allows an evaluation of the lighting utilization
so that any re‐lamping procedures can be scheduled based on actual hours of usage, and not based
on calendar activities. Such lighting systems also permit potential charge backs from the building
owners to the tenants based on the actual electricity used. The system can monitor any lights which
have failed and which can automatically be reported to those responsible for maintenance.
Needless to say, the addition of such intelligence will also identify room occupancy and allow for
the measurement of lighting levels and the automated compensation of lighting settings as a result
of daylight shining in through windows or skylights (daylight harvesting). Automated blinds can also
be used to adjust lighting levels to the desired value. It can be noted that electrical switch
manufacturers have all brought very economical, motion activated light switches to the market,
thereby allowing for some measure of intelligence in the simplest of applications.

1.6 Signage

There have been evident changes applicable to signage technology. Signage can readily be shown
on screens, and include any required graphics thereby ensuring that language and situational
variations are readily addressed. Thus standard signage can carry routine messages including hours
of operation or the length of line‐ups or delays. Such signs already appear in large buildings such as
hospitals, universities and museums. The public is surrounded by these "computerised" signs in

ITU‐T's Technical Reports and Specifications 461