Optimizing office space with self-powered wireless sensors
Intelligent building automation is necessary to optimize the energy efficiency of new and existing buildings. Owners and tenants of houses, buildings and industrial facilities can thus sustainably cut costs and reduce CO₂ emissions. However, the use of indoor spaces is also changing, as people’s working and living environments are changing. With battery- and wireless sensors, employers are able to optimize their office spaces intelligently and sustainably.
Sustainably reducing energy consumption in offices
People’s working and living conditions are changing, and with them the way office space is used. Working from home and flexible working time models mean that employees are in the office less and less frequently. And desk-sharing means that existing office space is being used differently than before. Employers are increasingly being called upon to reorganize the use of their office space and make it more efficient, productive and environmentally friendly. If they succeed in optimizing this office space, energy costs in existing and new buildings can be significantly reduced. Alternative energy sources that power themselves from the surrounding energy and sustainable IoT solutions are particularly important success factors.
EnOcean offers companies and institutions a comprehensive portfolio of battery-free wireless sensors. For example, temperature sensors provide information about the temperature and humidity in offices. Motion and activity sensors from the EMDC product family help employers to intelligently control the use of light. The products automatically report changes in room occupancy, light intensity and people activity. They allow efficient lighting control when a room is no longer occupied. In addition, the data recorded by the sensor also enables the occupancy of work and meeting rooms to be tracked and optimized. This also enables service activities to be managed in real time.
Sensors provide digital booking systems with information
The aim of desk sharing is for employees to use the available workstations flexibly. Presence sensors provide information on how many people are in a room and which desks are occupied. This provides employers with precise usage data when analyzing the space of workstations and meeting rooms. The wireless sensors from EnOcean provide a comprehensive database on room and space utilization for intelligent daily and weekly planning.
Wireless sensors reduce installation time immensely, as no cables need to be laid to supply power and communicate with the sensors. The solar cell power supply is environmentally friendly, avoids downtime and reduces the time and cost of battery replacement and maintenance.
The installation time can be further reduced by using existing WiFi access points to connect the wireless sensors, which are already very easy to install, with the data processing application . Crédit Agricole Normandie impressively demonstrates how the use of motion detectors via WiFi access points enables intelligent and automated meeting room management. The bank installed solar-powered sensors from EnOcean in all its meeting and conference rooms, creating a modern ‘smart workplace’. Economical, ecological and sustainable in terms of implementation and ease-of-use for employees (Link: Credit Agricole).
Holistic IoT solutions for a more sustainable future
Such ‘Smart Office’ solutions demonstrate a holistic IoT approach for efficient and sustainable office space management. EnOcean sees office space optimization as one of three megatrends. Together with its partner companies, it has developed sustainable and IoT-based automated solutions specifically for companies and institutions that cost-effectively reduce space requirements and energy consumption in buildings. These solutions are particularly environmentally friendly, as the sensors use energy harvesting technology to intelligently extract energy from the room environment, helping to ensure a future worth living for generations to come.
