Using Data to Conserve Energy

The University of British Columbia (UBC) wanted to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 67% from its 2007 levels over the next five years. For any organization pursuing sustainability, building management is a top priority. Buildings account for 40% of all primary energy use, and cutting back often means new ways for structures to respond and adapt to their occupants.

That’s why they brought in Cisco partner Sensible Building Science, to help them meet one of the most ambitious climate targets of any public organization in the world.

Sensible Building Science says…

“The lightbulb moment was when I realized that data could be used to make buildings smart, to make buildings responsive to people” said Stefan Storey, CEO and Co-Founder of Sensible Building Science.

Previously, Wi-Fi analytical systems did not talk to building control systems. Connecting the two enabled UBC and Sensible Building Science to obtain insights from basic Wi-Fi data and turn this information into traffic patterns across campus.

The backbone of UBC’s success and Sensible Building Science’s solution was Cisco.

With over 1,000,000 square meters of floor space, UBC’s campus resembles a small city. And much like a cityscape, spaces ebb and flow with people and use. And during school semesters, 5500 access points power the campus’ daily 70,000 concurrent clients and 130,000 unique devices. Using Cisco CMX, UBC can see in real time when people are coming or leaving, and how busy a space is.

Sensible Building Science saw that this data had the potential to conserve energy use by turning off the heat and AC in spaces that aren’t occupied. The results? An almost instant 5% energy savings. Usually, organizations have to spend large amounts of money to get 5% savings. Instead, the solution worked seamlessly with UBC’s existing infrastructure. Seeing the tremendous success, UBC’s next step is to roll this solution out campus wide.

The story doesn’t stop there…

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