Page 475 - Shaping smarter and more sustainable cities - Striving for sustainable development goals

2 Intelligent sustainable building roadmap

Cars are very heavily integrated with alarms and information messages all displayed through a single
driver interface which may inform the driver of issues related to tire pressure, bulbs which have
failed, engine performance issues and many other components.
Current generation airplanes are all designed to operate using "fly by wire" meaning that
communications for all of the operational aspects of the aircraft are carried over one or more
communication backbones in a manner not dissimilar to that being advocated for an intelligent
building.

The difference between these two examples and the building industry is however the legislative
requirements for reliability, safety, and accountability which do not apply in the same manner in
the heavily divided building industry.

Many of the concepts which have been described briefly in this document may be found in
documents such as the Technology Roadmap adopted by Industry Canada and subsequently
updated and reissued through Continental Automated Building Association (CABA) which has been
a market driver in the development of industry discussion and cooperation related to intelligent
building technologies.

2.1 Subjective versus objective evaluation

The objectives of intelligent buildings have been described in general terms but nevertheless there
are often strenuous professional arguments as to what should be the primary objectives of an
intelligent building. For example:

 Is it more important that the building be more efficient, i.e., that the operating costs are
reduced?

 Or, is it more important that the effectiveness of individual occupants in the building are put as
the most important objective.
Depending on the particular structure, its purpose, the technologies that are prevalent in the
building, and other factors, there will often be different objectives. With ever rising energy and
labour costs it is obvious that if those costs can be kept in check, or preferably reduced,
opportunities for financial savings will provide an immediate return on any extra investment of
building an intelligent building. A building which is operated continuously e.g., a hospital, or which
is operated by individuals who pay fees such as condominiums are less likely to see immediate
benefits from the functions available in intelligent buildings.

By contrast when the building is one which should respond rapidly to dramatic changes, clearly the
intelligent building will respond more effectively.
The other significant component in deciding the evaluation and benefits of intelligence relates to
whether the building is occupied by a consistent population such as in a residential building or
whether the building is occupied by an itinerant population such as a sports arena, a concert hall,
or even a hospital. In the latter example, the occupancy and therefore the building operating mode
will change dramatically depending on whether there is an activity currently in progress or whether
the activity is one which is not in progress.

ITU‐T's Technical Reports and Specifications 465