Energy-saving Applications of KNX

As a manufacturer member of KNX China, HDL always provides the market with high-quality KNX products. Most of our KNX products are fit for all types of buildings, such as office buildings, schools and universities, stadiums, urban complexes, residential buildings, etc. At the 2021 KNX Home and Building Control Technology Seminar, HDL Director of Brand Marketing, Ben Young, shared his views in the development and future of KNX technology. He said that all KNX solutions can work together regardless of who manufactures a KNX product, as long as we put ourselves in users’ shoes to offer logical smart solutions, we enable users to control different kinds of applications with only one system to improve energy saving, efficiency and occupant comfort.

KNX is a worldwide standard for home and building control. Solutions based on KNX are widely adopted around the globe. As a comprehensive intelligent control system, KNX products can be applied to residential and commercial buildings, allowing users to control and manage lighting, shading, HVAC or more features in the buildings via smart panels, mobile APP, voice control and other methods, and thus bringing a comfortable and convenient life.

However, people have always enjoyed the comfort created by technology at the cost of the natural environment. With the increase of human activities, global warming brings more threats. According to a report by Berg Insight, the electricity consumed by buildings accounts for 42% of the world’s electricity, and 30% of which is wasted due to inefficient building management systems. It is estimated that by 2025 buildings will produce the most greenhouse gas emissions.

Every time we explore the world, we change it, in doing so we will examine our lives. Now, as addressing climate change and carbon neutrality has become an important subject, people not only consider how to ensure comfort, also how to live in an energy-saving and environmentally friendly style.

Among the appliances in smart buildings, besides HVAC system, lighting accounts for a large proportion of the daily electricity consumption for it also is frequently used in the daily life. To help people remarkably increase efficiency and reduce operation cost, Mr. Yang at the seminar introduced the energy-saving applications of KNX by giving four common scenarios.

More logic settings

That "lights on when detecting people motion, lights off when it’s been empty for a given period " has nothing to do with intelligence, because automatically turning on lights in well-lit daytime is less than smart. But if we consider the illuminance in one area to make more logic settings, we can realize practical intelligent control.

Sensors are like our eyes, ears, and nose that help us acquire information about the external world. they can accurately detect the illumination conditions around and human motions, then feed back to the system, so that the next logic setting will be proceeded, which can meet the actual lighting needs without causing unnecessary waste. For example, in the well-lit daytime, the lights will not be switched on when people pass by while lights will be automatically activated when the brightness level falls below a preset level. Or lighting brightness will be lowered or dimmed when a hallway is unoccupied and return to its normal operational state when approached by someone.

Only when we make more logical settings to implement practical intelligence can automatic control system really bring about energy saving.

Setting more judgments in automatic control

With more logic settings and judgements, the smart control system allows smart devices to automatically run the preset tasks without unnecessary intervention. Taking the TV scene as an example, when the TV is turned on, the TV scene will be automatically triggered. If there is too bright, the system will automatically control the curtains to make the lighting more suitable for watching TV in the daytime, or dim the light and turn on the wall lamp or spotlight at night to create a more exciting experience. The automatic scenes fully combine the comprehensive effects of illuminance, smart appliances, scenes, and time, thus benefits to realize practical intelligence, and improve energy efficiency.

Energy saving by automatic control

The major areas of energy consumption in buildings are heating, ventilation and air-conditioning — 40% of total building energy, so it is necessary for us to intelligently control and manage the HVAC system.

In daily life, it is often the case that air conditioning is turned on with the open windows, now the intelligent system will be able to remind the user to close the windows or turn off the air conditioning, or it automatically switch off the devices to save energy as there is no operation for a long time.

Constant lighting

lighting is one of the crucial factors that affects the quality of life. A study by the American Interior Design Association shows that 68% of people have complained about the lighting in an office.

Constant lighting is to optimize the luminous environment, which enables the intelligent system to adjust the indoor illuminance by sensors, curtains, and lighting equipment in the daytime. Without human intervention, the automatic lighting control system can make heavy use of natural light to keep the brightness at a constant range so that the occupants can focus on their work without being distracted while using the least electricity for lighting.

For example, when lighting is lower than a preset level, the system will automatically open the curtains to take full advantage of natural light, and if there is still not bright enough, the lights will be automatically adjusted to keep brightness at a well level. Or when the natural light is too bright to create better ambience, the system will automatically control the lights and curtains to keep the ambience healthy and comfortable for the occupants.

HDL has applied KNX smart building systems to numerous large-scale smart buildings, which helps the utilization of HVAC and lights be optimized to save 10% to 25% of energy consumption. Therefore Ben Young hoped that more KNX partners who provide practical and logical intelligence to work together for the goal of carbon neutrality and zero-carbon buildings.