Page 479 - Shaping smarter and more sustainable cities - Striving for sustainable development goals

systems which are found in larger or more complex buildings. Thus a single family home is not likely
to have a fire alarm system although many homes today have a security system of some kind.
Obviously the security system can in itself monitor for fire, smoke, or even temperature rise. Access
control in a single family unit is limited probably to the front door and since all those normally living
in such a unit are related to each other it is assumed that they would all also trust each other.
Lighting may be automated and most residential HVAC systems use only one thermostat and do not
have any form of direct digital control (DDC) or equivalent although some larger single family
dwellings may indeed have HVAC zones which are controlled in some appropriate manner.
Economic benefits, efficiency benefits or interactions of other kinds are therefore likely to be
minimal.

3.2 Residential multi‐unit

Typically a residential multi‐unit is either a rental building or a condominium building in which
centralized management of electrical usage, HVAC operation, security systems, guests, parking, fire
alarm systems and common area lighting are all candidates for being managed in an effective and
direct manner. By providing the central control with all of the foregoing and possibly also
surveillance cameras the control desk can manage the building with just one single individual who
can monitor, control or adjust as may be required. Without the integration of all the systems this
individual would need several support individuals to review and adjust each of the individual
systems. The intelligent building will allow monitoring and management of ongoing costs including
maintenance activities in a manner, which will provide significant improvement in the services to
the residence. In addition, depending on the configuration of the multiple‐units (Multiple Rental
Unit – MRU) or the individual units there is an opportunity for tenants to adjust their suites to meet
their needs on a scheduled basis allowing special provisions, for example, for any residents who may
be away on vacation, at daily scheduled work or otherwise to provide significant economies by
optimizing the use of the HVAC and lighting systems.

3.3 Commercial buildings

Typical commercial buildings employ a combination of systems including all the systems found in a
residential multi‐unit environment together with a significant number of the functionalities
appropriate to an office or even a retail environment. Some commercial buildings would also
provide locations for retail, restaurants and for entertainment such as cinemas or conference
facilities. Without going into infinite detail all of these functions rely heavily on various forms of
automation ranging from parking and subsidized parking, through inventory management, music
systems, paging systems, escalators and elevators and food storage systems. The integrated building
technology (IBT) systems can provide for monitoring and measuring any or all of these operations
so as to alert individual tenants if their food storage systems fall outside acceptable temperatures
or if sales inventories have been exceeded. According to the policies, which may be appropriate to
any given sales facility, there may be pressures exerted on retail merchants to pay a portion of their
profits or sales volume as "rent" to the landlord. The intelligent building can provide a means of
measuring the income or sales volume in an objective manner which would allow the landlord to
measure his percentage. Evidently lighting, emergency signage and regular signage are all additional
functions which can be readily introduced.

3.4 Hotel

A hotel is normally very open to benefit from IBT technology as, depending on the season, the city
and general circumstances, including the day of the week, hotel rooms may be at a premium or

ITU‐T's Technical Reports and Specifications 469