While every smart home is a smart building, not every smart building is a smart home. Enterprise, commercial, industrial and residential buildings of all shapes and sizes -- including offices, skyscrapers, apartment buildings, and multi-tenant offices and residences -- are deploying IoT technologies to improve building efficiency, reduce energy costs and environmental impact, and ensure security, as well as improve occupant satisfaction.
Many of the same smart technologies used in the smart home are deployed in smart buildings, including lighting, energy, heating and air conditioning, and security and building access systems.
For example, a smart building can reduce energy costs using sensors that detect how many occupants are in a room. The temperature can automatically adjust, putting cool air on if sensors detect a full conference room, or turning the heat down if everyone in the office has gone home for the day.
Smart buildings can also connect to the smart grid. Here, smart building components and the electric grid can "talk" and "listen" to each other. With this technology, energy distribution can be managed efficiently, maintenance can be handled proactively and power outages can be responded to more quickly.
Beyond these benefits, smart building can provide building owners and managers the benefit of predictive maintenance. Janitors, for example, can refill restroom supplies when usage sensors monitor the soap or paper towel dispensers are low. Or maintenance and failures can be predicted on building refrigeration, elevators and lighting systems.