In physical security, knowing how many occupants are in a facility at any given time assists in emergencies and mustering, a process to sequester or direct individuals to a safe part of the building or evacuate. During the pandemic, people counting was deployed to restrict visitors and maintain social distancing, evolving into efficient space utilization and resource allocation.
R-Zero Systems, a Salt Lake City-based healthy building technology company, says entry/exit counting yields higher levels of occupancy data, enabling end-users and facility managers to more accurately gauge space use as compared to traditional methodologies. Those include “worker assignments or seating ratios” and access control badging data, which does not assess whether those personnel work daily, when they leave the workspace or provide metrics on the length of stay.
These and other insights indicate just how specific data is becoming—and how it can assist with occupancy control, operational management and achieving safer, more energy-minded spaces. R-Zero’s white paper “From Guesswork to Precision: Level Up Portfolio Management with Entry/Exit Counting” focuses on the commercial real estate market and how sensor technology is assisting property managers and building owners.
“With entry/exit counting, stakeholders gain insight into the accurate, real-time entry and exit of people within a space, which unlocks a range of new metrics like peaks, floor level utilization, space level utilization and more,” according to the paper. “Entry/exit counting uses anonymous people-counting sensors to understand real-time and historical occupancy levels across entire buildings, floors and/or large spaces. For building tenants, it helps them understand how their spaces are used, enabling them to optimize daily workplace experiences and right-size office footprints. For building owners and operators, it helps identify energy efficiency opportunities and reduce operational costs at the floor, building or portfolio level.”
Occupancy metrics can also be leveraged to boost tenant satisfaction by tailoring spaces to the user and providing services on demand.
Spaces sync with users
With sustainable and energy-efficient green buildings now a key property management feature and benefit, data also allows smart occupancy monitoring to control HVAC, lighting and overall energy consumption. Occupancy monitoring offers real-time cost savings, such as the ability to throttle HVAC systems up or down based on the space’s use patterns; for example, lowering light levels on “low utilization floors to save energy and control HVAC dynamically.”
As sensors and detectors continue to add intelligence, artificial intelligence (A.I.) also plays a major role in gathering accurate occupancy metadata. According to the research article “Leveraging Distributed AI for Multi-Occupancy Prediction in Cognitive Buildings,” monitoring occupancy presence information reduces energy consumption and promotes a healthy and safe environment. The research defines cognitive buildings as smart spaces with sensors, actuators and computer-processing capabilities that leverage the internet of things and A.I. algorithms in smart spaces and buildings and Industry 4.0.
Cognitive buildings able to “learn, reason, adapt and cooperate with each other” can better satisfy users’ immediate needs, boost their productivity and comfort, and optimize energy use and operational costs. Researchers also noted that HVAC management integrated with occupancy data achieves energy savings from 10%–40%, while lighting systems with smart controls realize up to 75% energy savings.
“Such savings can be obtained by simply detecting when a space is unoccupied, however, significant energy efficiency improvements are also possible by knowing or predicting the exact number of people in a room since buildings can be optimized with more precise control of lighting systems, temperature and ventilation,” the researchers wrote.