India is one of the fastest growing building automation and control systems markets

- Ashish Modi

President, Honeywell Building Technologies - Asia

How do you look at India's transition from traditional to smart building system?

Today, building owners and occupants are more conscious than ever about the health and safety of their building environments. Urbanization has both reinforced and amplified the growing need for sustainable operations and technologies that help enhance the safety of a building, minimize its overall carbon footprint and reduce its energy consumption.

Before the pandemic, building technologies were largely focused on driving efficiencies which reduced energy consumption and saved costs. While these aspects are still important, the definition of a smart building has now evolved to include a spectrum of requirements, including smart zone-based cooling solutions, improved indoor air quality, reduced exposure to contaminants, advanced video analytics, carbon emissions management, remote monitoring and OT cyber security, and real-time data monitoring. These solutions, which use a combination of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, define the future of smart buildings. Smart technologies like Honeywell's Healthy Buildings solutions and Carbon and Energy Management software can help enhance the safety and sustainability of a building and are designed to help building owners support occupant well-being, reduce cost of operations and improve business continuity.

These technologies enable real-time monitoring of critical sustainability and building health key performance indicators (KPIs) and help reduce energy consumption using advanced building control capabilities. They also help facility owners reduce the carbon footprint of buildings without compromising on occupant well-being or comfort.

What kind of demand for building automation is emerging in the country and what future do you envisage going forward?

India is one of the fastest growing building automation and control systems markets, exhibiting double digit growth in FY2022-2027. The market is driven by the integration of technologies such as access control and video monitoring systems, building management systems (BMS), HVAC systems, lighting controls, and energy management systems, with both single as well as multi-site integration capabilities.

Today, more facilities managers and building owners are demanding higher levels of insight and control over building operations. Integrated security systems can improve situational awareness and operational efficiency. Alarm management systems and real-time monitoring facilitate rapid responses in cases of fires and other emergencies. Facility owners are looking beyond occupant safety and comfort into the operational sustainability of buildings to reduce their carbon footprint. Importantly, they are looking at the seamless integration of these technologies and tracking them on a common dashboard, both remote and on-premise.

What are the latest technologies from Honeywell in building automation systems?

Honeywell's building technologies help deliver frictionless experiences, healthier environments, real-time visibility, safety and security, and sustainability and efficiency. These solutions can be deployed through interconnected ecosystems, anchored by a building automation system, to provide actionable insights to facility managers to allow for efficient responses to occupants' evolving needs.

The Honeywell Healthy Buildings suite of ready now solutions enables building owners to help improve occupant well-being, meet energy efficiency goals and, importantly, change the way occupants experience a building.

As green and energy efficient building concept gaining pace, what are the solutions offered in this space?

Recently, Honeywell launched the Honeywell Buildings Sustainability Manager powered by Honeywell Forge a suite of ready now solutions, which helps building owners and operators meet two pressing, yet often conflicting, objectives: reduce the environmental impact of buildings while optimizing indoor air quality to support occupant well-being, with the aim of helping them to meet carbon neutral goals.

Developed by Honeywell engineers in India, the suite of solutions includes Carbon and Energy Management that continuously collects 24/7 energy use data, logged at 15-minute intervals, and sub-meters all energy-consuming assets to collect granular consumption information. This data allows Honeywell to help customers establish a rigorously derived baseline, using up to a three-year usage history, live meter data and environmental factors to determine which assets are driving energy consumption. In addition to providing a real-time dashboard of critical sustainability KPIs, this enterprise-level software aggregates carbon data from energy-related emission sources in a building - gas, electricity and fuel sources; reduces energy consumption using advanced building control capabilities; and reduces carbon footprint without compromising occupant well-being or comfort. Importantly, it helps customers to execute a roadmap to help meet their carbon neutral goals. It also allows building owners to avoid capital outlays for technology upgrades to meet sustainability reporting demands and minimize the time required to implement solutions.

What are your future plans on providing building automation solution in India?

Honeywell has a strong engineering footprint in India with centers spread across Bengaluru, Gurgaon, Hyderabad and Madurai. These engineers develop technologies for India and the world and have contributed significantly to the development of building technologies, including the Honeywell Forge Energy Suite, Honeywell Healthy Buildings suite, Remote Building Manager and Carbon and Energy Management software, to name a few.

We will continue to partner with the government, industry and our customers in region to bring best-in-class, cutting-edge building technologies to India.

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