Relationship between building intelligence and sustainability

A number of buildings worldwide are achieving ‘sustainability scores’ on being assessed by green building rating systems. These buildings employ a range of intelligent building technologies (IBTs) to varying degrees. To determine the relationship between building intelligence and sustainability, it was strategised that the IBTs used in these buildings would be analysed to assess their impact on sustainability scores. Forty Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodology- and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certified buildings were chosen from the UK and Europe. The data was subjected to qualitative and quantitative analysis methods. Bivariate correlation, regression analysis and fivefold cross-validation provided a best-fit logarithmic model that predicts the sustainability score of a building as an estimate value, based on the number of IBTs. Two overarching themes emerged: how the number and type of IBTs affect the sustainability score and how there needs to be an optimisation between the user’s needs, the building’s functionality and the core intelligence function of the technology against the prescriptive parameters imposed by the rating systems. A positive correlation was observed between the variables. The buildings reported reduction of 41% in energy consumption, 39% in water consumption, 36% carbon dioxide emissions and significant economic and social benefits.