Energy management takes to the ‘cloud’
The Internet ‘cloud’ is rapidly playing a significant role in the monitoring of buildings the energy management, according to BSRIA’s Jeremy Towler. He is senior manager for energy and smart technologies with BSRIA worldwide market intelligence and was speaking at the recent Tridium Niagara Forum in London.
He said, ‘We estimate that 10 to 15% of building monitoring and energy management is already in the “cloud”, and this we forecast is growing at about 10 to 11% a year. If growth continues at that rate, the proportion of such activity on the cloud could exceed 30% by 2020.’
He attributed the growth of such activity as being driven by managers wanting 24-hour universal access to their buildings and the natural way to achieve this being through the cloud.
He also pointed to a host of benefits. They include a higher level of service, accessibility to a building from anywhere at any time , reduced need for expertise on site or, even, on the payroll at all. Capital expenditure can be replaced with more flexible pay-as-you-go or contracted services.
A potential downside is opening up the building the risk of cyber attacks. However, Jeremy Towler offered that reassurance that they can be combatted with proper preparation of the products., process and people.
He warned, ‘People probably represent the biggest potential risk in terms of cyber security. Some independent research has shown that some 97% of cyber attacks could have been avoided with basic or intermediate security measures.’
