Smart buildings make for a smart city

Smart buildings deliver integrated lighting, improved comfort, greater security, and better sanitation at the lowest cost, says expert

Dennis Kelsey addressing 12th Indian Green Building Congress2014 in Hyderabad. Photo: Special Arrangement

Soon after the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement of 100 smart cities, there began a buzz about making the buildings smart. Only smarter buildings can make a city smarter, assert those offering smart building solutions.

Dennis Kelsey, Director, Building Technology & Services, Asia, of Johnson Controls, is the latest to say that it is vital for India to make investments in smart buildings, if the goal of smart cities is to be achieved.

“Smart buildings deliver integrated lighting, improved comfort and air quality, greater physical security, and better sanitation at the lowest cost and with less environmental impact over a building’s lifecycle. This enables businesses and occupants to achieve better performance in sustainability, productivity and energy efficiency,” Mr. Kelsey noted, while delivering his address at the 12 Indian Green Building Congress 2014 held recently.

With rise in the rural-urban migration, the need for smart cities to overcome the load on urban land has become a must, he said.

Energy management, integrated communications, and advanced infrastructural facilities will make smart buildings, but there are many forces to be brought together if one is to achieve the smart building dynamics.

Johnson Controls offers the Technology Contracting, an innovative solution whereby the individual systems are converged into a single networking solution, and the intervention by the consultant begins right from the design stage. This trend, currently popular in North America, is now gradually entering Asia, Mr.Kelsey said.

The Fortune 100 company delivers smart building solutions that include design, integration and management of multiple systems under various vendors, contracts and proprietary protocols. Instances of its expertise are in Ave Maria University in the USA, and Shanghai World Financial Centre in China, he informed.

“Johnson Controls has the global expertise in facilitating smart buildings, and our subject matter experts can help India accelerate its transformation to a smart future.”