By integrating various building management systems (BMS), IoT devices, and operational systems, KODE OS helps reduce energy consumption, lower carbon emissions, and automate building operations. This article will explain how several of its key features, Reports, Schedules, Optimized Start-Stop (OSS), and Commands, work together to achieve these goals.
The BBI feature in KODE OS provides detailed building performance analytics. It aggregates data from various systems like HVAC, lighting, and metering devices to create comprehensive reports. These reports help you visualize energy consumption, identify trends, benchmark performance across different buildings in a portfolio, and track progress toward sustainability goals (e.g., LEED and ENERGY STAR reporting).
The Schedules feature allows users to set and manage operational schedules for building equipment. This is a foundational element for building management, determining when systems like HVAC or lighting should turn on and off based on occupancy. Traditionally, these schedules are static and often lead to wasted energy by starting equipment too early.
Optimized Start-Stop (OSS) is a machine learning-powered feature that takes static schedules and makes them dynamic and intelligent. Instead of starting equipment at a fixed time, OSS analyzes building data, weather patterns, and usage trends to predict the optimal time to start equipment. The goal is to ensure spaces are at the desired temperature or comfort level precisely when occupants arrive, not before. This approach significantly reduces equipment run-time and energy consumption without sacrificing occupant comfort. OSS has three operation modes:
Comfort: Prioritizes having all zones at their setpoint by occupancy start time.
Balanced: Aims to have the majority of zones (e.g., the third quartile) at their setpoint by occupancy start, balancing comfort with energy savings.
Energy Savings: Focuses on maximizing energy reduction by ensuring at least half of the zones reach their setpoint by occupancy start.
The Commands feature gives users direct control over building equipment. Users can remotely adjust setpoints, turn devices on or off, and send other commands to individual systems or groups of devices. This capability is essential for making real-time adjustments, responding to alerts, or manually overriding automated schedules when necessary.
Imagine you are a facility manager for a commercial office building, and it's Monday morning. Here's how you'd use KODE OS to ensure your building operates efficiently.
1. Sunday Night Preparation On Sunday evening, you use the Schedules feature to set the building's schedule for Monday. You have already designated 8:00 AM as the target occupancy start time. This schedule is then fed into the Optimized Start-Stop (OSS) algorithm.
2. Monday Morning - Before Occupancy Instead of the HVAC system turning on at a fixed time like 6:00 AM, the OSS algorithm analyzes the real-time data from the past week, current outside temperature, and even the building's thermal inertia to calculate the ideal start time. Let's say it determines that based on the current weather and historical data, the building's zones will reach their setpoint by 8:00 AM if the HVAC system starts at 7:15 AM. The OSS system then sends a Command to the HVAC system to turn on at that specific time, saving 45 minutes of unnecessary run-time.
3. Monday Morning - During Occupancy A tenant calls to report that their office on the 10th floor is too cold. You can quickly log into KODE OS, navigate to the building's floor plan, and use the Commands feature to override the temperature setpoint for that specific zone. This allows you to address the immediate comfort issue without affecting the OSS schedule for the rest of the building.
4. Monday Afternoon - Analyzing Performance Later in the day, you check the Reports dashboard. You can see a detailed breakdown of the building's energy consumption. The report highlights a significant drop in energy use compared to the previous week, directly attributing the savings to the reduced run-time from the OSS system. The report also flags a consistently underperforming device in a specific zone, which you can investigate further.
5. Monday Evening - Troubleshooting The report from the afternoon shows that the consistently underperforming device is a Variable Air Volume (VAV) box on the 7th floor that is not reaching its setpoint by the scheduled time. Using the platform's features, you can see if the OSS algorithm is repeatedly overriding the device. This insight allows you to send a Command to reset the device or create a maintenance request for your team, addressing a potential fault before it becomes a bigger issue.