Reduce Carbon Emissions

Data analytics continues to be a driving force that helps individuals and organizations around the world gain actionable insights and make better business decisions. It has become such an integrated part of our business world that it is now present in every department, from IT and HR to Sales and Operations. Yet despite this fact, and while office space is noted as a given company’s second or third largest expense, there currently is a lack of data collection abilities and a void when it comes to learning more about how a company’s workplace is used.

It becomes quite hard to truly improve or render workplace facilities more efficient without being able to manage and analyze its usage portfolio. Whether that be knowing how many desks are actually being used, how often meeting rooms are being booked, or whether or not project areas are being taken advantage of, this type of day-to-day information – on both a real time and historical level – is crucial in order to optimize your space, improve energy and utility efficiency, and reduce unnecessary lighting, heating, ventilating and air-conditional (L-HVAC) costs.

While the cost benefits of such information is abundantly clear,  the environmental benefits are just as prominent when organizations bridge occupancy data with building energy management systems (BeMS) to create energy-efficient buildings in an effort to reduce CO2 emissions.

Leveraging Occupancy Data within Your Building Management Solutions
Over 30% of energy is wasted on providing L-HVAC to areas that aren’t being used in real time. Having the ability to track where people are within your workspaces, and automatically having all L-HVAC systems turn off in idle areas, can efficiently reduce energy wastage and contribute to your company’s goal of lowering carbon emissions.

Governments around the world, including in the UK, provide financial incentives to those that cut emissions and participate in making the world a better place. Government organizations, however, require participants to monitor all energy consumption and statistically prove that carbon dioxide emissions are significantly reduced as a result of the operational changes taken on by facility management. Combining multi-sensor based occupancy data within your building management solutions will allow you to establish these reports and showcase immediate value.

Reducing Costs, Increasing ROI
As COVID continues to change our working schedule and habits, more and more individuals are beginning to work part time at home in order to spend more time with the family and to take care of personal matters that they previously never had time for.

This shift in workplace usage results in office spaces that aren’t used at 100% capacity, yet the costs of L-HVAC remain the same for those that aren’t able to track occupancy usage on a real time and historical basis.

For example, a company that has 1,600 desk spaces where only 50% are occupied at a given time can save up to £406,000 on energy expenses per year simply by implementing sensors to manage the area. Roughly 267 sensors would be required to monitor 1,600 desks and each sensor can cost about $179.88 per year, making the total cost of implementing sensors $173,000 for a three-year timeframe. With the average savings being way over this price (£406,000), this company would recoup its investment in only 110 days.

This type of financial savings goes way beyond just the reduction of wasteful energy. It’s estimated that the average full-time employee wastes up to 30 minutes per day looking for an available meeting room. That equals to 3.5 hours each week or 175 hours per year. Let’s say, for example, you employ 2,499 people, this equates to 437,325 man-hours each year (3.5 hours per week x 2,499 staff = 8,746 hours per week x 50 weeks). Being able to understand in real time how many meeting rooms are available, and which rooms are available, is crucial in order to boost efficiency and improve employee experiences.