According to a
recent announcement, Monash University
recently signed a collaboration agreement to use big data to deliver one of the
world’s first cognitive office buildings, enabling buildings to intelligently
and automatically alter the internal environment, transforming the way staff
and students live, work and learn at the University.
The partnership between Monash University and Honeywell Building Solutions brings together
next-generation technology and research to significantly change the way
buildings are managed.
Monash Faculty of IT Dean, Professor Jon
Whittle said the size of the Clayton Campus and its energy requirements are
similar to a small city, making it the perfect place to establish a cognitive
building. environment.
“As Australia’s largest university, with
more than 78,000 students, 16,000 staff and over 150 buildings spread across
four domestic campuses, we’re a significant consumer of energy,” Professor
Whittle said.
“The team at Monash, working together with
Honeywell, are changing the way building performance data can be used to help
mitigate risk, enhance business continuity and reduce operational costs,” he added.
Using the convenience of today’s
smartphones, Monash University’s industry partner will deploy its app
across the Clayton Campus to collect data on how staff and students rate
spaces, how they navigate buildings; report faults, and how often and when
buildings are accessed.
The data gathered from their buildings will
allow Monash to achieve unprecedented levels of optimisation. The data will
feed into Honeywell’s Command and
Control Suite based in the Future Control Room at Monash to connect
key personnel with data visualisations. It will provide simple, intuitive
displays to building operations teams and allow them to enhance facilities and
security management, and to create comfortable spaces for students and staff
while reducing energy consumption.
The research outcomes will contribute to
the broader Monash
University Net Zero initiative, in which Monash aims to achieve net zero
carbon emissions by 2030, the most ambitious project of its kind undertaken by
an Australian university.
Monash University is the first Australian
university to commit to an energy reduction target. By 2020, the University
will build an on-site microgrid at the Clayton campus, allowing it to control
when and how to use energy.