=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=None
|storemode=property
|title=Home Users as a Facility Managers: How is Automation Helping?
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-923/paper17.pdf
|volume=Vol-923
}}
==Home Users as a Facility Managers: How is Automation Helping?==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-923/paper17.pdf
Home users as a Facility Managers
How is automation helping?
Cristina Caramelo Gomes1 and Paulo Carreira2
1
Department of Architecture and Arts, Lusíada University of Lisbon
2
Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Technical University of Lisbon
Abstract. In the current economic setting companies are required to the operation of
their facilities therefore making a growing use of technology supported Facilities
Management and Energy Management activities. The same holds true for home own-
ers. In fact we assist to an increasing adoption of Building Management technologies,
most notably Energy Management by households. Therefore, it is expectable that oth-
er aspects of facilities management will end up being adapted to homes in the near fu-
ture. In this paper we briefly discuss into what extend FM activities can be applied to
homes and what is the technological support that can be found for them.
Keywords. Facilities Management, Building Automation, Dwelling Environment,
Sustainability
1 Introduction
The main challenge that the built environment faces today is that of improving its
effectiveness toward efficient usage of resources, among which energy comes first,
while meeting crucial flexibility requirements of living environments towards con-
temporaneous dynamics of functionalities, occupancies and users’ expectations.
The monthly budget expenditure with home facility is one of the major expenses to
the traditional familiar core. The inhabitant, as the one who experiences the built envi-
ronment continuously is best positioned to manage it. For organizations alike, facili-
ties are among the major fixed costs [1], therefore prompting for professional man-
agement. In this context Facilities Management is gaining increasing acceptance
worldwide as discipline and grounding upon a range of specialized tools and tech-
niques. If this is true for the facility supporting the operation of a company, an inter-
esting question is whether it is also significant for the facility that supports the home
environment owned by the individual that inhabits it. Can the Facilities Management
concept be applied to home environment to optimize the functionality of the spaces
and equipment while increasing the user quality of life? Rational choices of areas to
develop activities, due to the available space, light features, electric outlets to plug in
different apparatus, and equipment usage are ways to optimize the usage of a facility.
The human life style and the use of buildings do not remain static, users’ requirements
and expectations change, technology change, the way we perform daily routines
change, the facility manager has to monitor and apply the corrective actions to bal-
ance human and building demands [2]. The sustainability of the built environment is
based on its location, geographic orientation, conceptual planning and construction
process. Overlooking these premises will stimulate uncomfortable environments and
the need of correcting technology to minimize, to the extent possible, the inherent
energy costs.
The contemporaneous social and economic context motivates new approaches to
home environment based on users’ needs and expectancies. The modern lifestyle
demands comfort and the possibility of new functions within home environment con-
siderably supported by technology.
2 FM in the Home
In order to balance individual and/or familiar budgets it is important to manage the
equipment that supports human routine activities and the sense of comfort. The moni-
toring and management of the equipment such as appliances, computers and multime-
dia apparatus can be helped by technology development such as basic home automa-
tion. To promote facility management for housing demands to understand the type of
occupant – tender or owner or social housing – the type of the building, flat, detached
house, different sizes, locations, and access to different facilities [3]. This paper’s
discussion is focused on dwelling environment occupied by the owners, particularly
to existing buildings which require more attention to their sustainable performance.
As an owner the occupant wants to minimize costs without compromising the value of
the building as a profitable asset, or its personal sense of comfort. This reality de-
pends on owners’ voluntary work, competencies and budget. However, once dwelling
environments belong to buildings with different storeys, some transformations require
the validation of the condominium administrative core, which by different factors can
interfere in the desired and proposed initiatives.
2.1 Energy management
The parameters that contribute to the levels of energy demand in residential buildings,
are related with behavioural determinants (concerning occupancy patterns, use of
domestic appliances and users sense of comfort) and physical determinants (depend-
ent on the type of building, flat, semidetached house, size, formal configuration, con-
structive process, etc…) [4]. The regular parameter of successful energy management
is occupants’ commitment. The daily routines must be planned to achieve continuous
improvement. It is important to define the objectives to attain and observe behaviours
to comprehend and establish the best practices [5]. This observation will help to
gather data which must be detailed to permit an accurate analyses to understand ob-
jectives’ accomplishment or by antithesis the need of objectives redefinition to ensure
a successful solution. A system for tracking facility performance can range from a
notepad, a simple spreadsheet to a detailed database and IT systems; in all the availa-
ble solutions is important to define a method that is possible to continue and define
the type of data to be gathered and analysed. The data can be based upon periods of
time, and equipment usage.
2.2 Policy enforcement
Some considerations can be raised to improve home energy performance to a sustain-
able solution. Windows and doors must be insulated to minimize thermal exchanges,
as well as chimneys; old appliances, lighting and HAVAC systems should be upgrad-
ed by new high-efficiency ones that are more environmental friendly, without ques-
tioning their functionality and the sense of comfort. Green electric outlets and differ-
ent hours’ rates can contribute to the difference. Furthermore, to increase the home’s
efficiency the inhabitant can decide for adding renewable energy systems such as
solar electric (photovoltaic) or solar hot water, to increase the reduction of the bills
and the ecological footprint.
Household routines. Home routines concern individual and familiar activities plus
professional and leisure ones [6]. Home gained new activities to be performed within;
if individual and familiar activities demand appliances technologies and functional
environments the professional and leisure activities motivated the spreading of tech-
nology aiming for different ambiences, where lighting – which intensity, chromatic
reproduction index, and distribution [7]are crucial to guaranty visual acuity [8] and
functionality of the spaces – and temperature promote interiors quality of life. The
dependence from technologic apparatus demands more devices such as electric outlets
and electric power.
Automated control. The majority of today’s home automation solutions present
the same set of ranging from security control to the possibility to create different sce-
narios based on luminic contrast where the intensity and the CRI of the light are the
major issues to manage.
The possible scenarios created based on artificial light, intensity and CRI can per-
form scenarios oriented to work and to relax. For example, it has been demonstrated
that intensity and CRI can contribute to balance the circadian cycles, can ameliorate
the visual acuity, and promote warm and relaxing interior environments or by oppo-
site more cold and concentrative working environments. The intensity of the artificial
light can be related with the intensity of the natural light and then contribute to the
rationalization of the energy use and costs. These scenarios can strongly improve
human quality of life. Beyond the quality of life is important to manage the energetic
resources towards lower consumption and smaller ecological footprint. The automatic
harvesting of natural light to minimize artificial light a way of doing it. Another use
of automation is in green sockets, which are programmable schedule switches. The
control of different devices like luminaires can be performed by remote control and
from a central digital panel where the information can be presented in different modes
such as daily control, equipment control. Ubiquity of control helps occupants to make
more adjustments leading to higher comfort levels and lower energy consumption.
The integration of data in the same device can be interesting to understand the func-
tioning of the facility and enable the creation of interfaces with higher usability there-
fore being comprehensible by a major number of individuals. The control of equip-
ment audio-visual can improve the different scenarios; moreover, the equipment re-
mote itself may control other devices. A unique remote control can minimize a set of
required remote control contributing to the usability of the system and the inclusion of
individuals’ with some technologic difficulties and people with special requirements.
Security solutions deal with the control of the main entrance as well as the win-
dows. The quality of the equipment can present video surveillance where the quality
of the image, the capacity of the buttons and the connection with security entities may
contribute to the sense of security. On the safety side the prevention of flood or smoke
detection with automatic cut of electric energy is another interesting feature.
In a new construction, these items can motivate the choice of the future owner. The
inherent costs related with the equipment and the employment of domotics can be
recovered by the energy savings and an increase in the comfort for the inhabitant.
This equipment can be dissimulated within constructive process, guarantying the
sense of home and comfort for the inhabitant. However current wireless technologies
are becoming mature enough to install these solutions in every environment without
any cables and/or constructive work, thus without compromising the existing interior
layout.
2.3 Maintenance
The maintenance of the building is responsibility of the owner and/or landlord. The
objective of maintenance is to avoid any kind of facility’s obsolescence and promote
occupants quality of life. There are different types of maintenance ranging from the
reactive to the planned one. Both attitudes require knowledge and financial resources.
Dwelling environment is sustained mainly by reactive maintenance, the immediate
solution to emerged problems, mostly the ones related with infrastructures and con-
structive process diagnosis, neglecting repeatedly the ones related with the update of
the facility to user’s requirements and expectancies.
Equipment and plant installed within a building or dwelling environment require
regular servicing and the replacement of consumables to keep them in working order.
Usually, they have particular servicing and maintenance requirements, which are
provided through a service contract, usually with the supplier. Planning maintenance
requires the understanding of the problems and the schedule of the required actions to
achieve their resolution. Planned maintenance is better as it can anticipate diagnosis
and resolution, thus minimising costs. Providing maintenance is a way to ensure the
functionality, the perceived image and the value of the facility. Planned maintenance
can also minimise subjective decisions due to required emergency decision making.
Facility performance by systematic monitoring and assessment can also be performed
to some extent by current home and building automation systems. These automation
solutions already are capable of counting the number of operating hours and to track
the number of starts of several types of devices.
3 Discussion and open issues
Facilities management is not a common resource applied to home environment; how-
ever, each occupant aims to ensure its best performance, being unconsciously a facili-
ty manager.
A sustainable solution has economic and social responsibility; the rationalization of
the inherent costs associated to home while supporting human occupancy patterns
cannot question the feeling of functionality, security, safety and comfort.
Besides all the technology apparatus that contribute to daily routines, home auto-
mation is a new paradigm to handle the home environment, particularly in energy
management, security and the possible scenarios to respond to user preferences. At
the limit these technologies can be complemented by renewable energy systems to
optimise energy consumptions. These technologies can be implemented upon new and
existing buildings. However, the total costs required by these technical solutions are
prohibitive for most homes’ owner, and if chosen based on a condominium decisions
positive decision is hard, sometimes impossible, to be reached. A paradox emerges
because if these technologic systems can be useful and required to promote an effec-
tive and efficient dwelling management, their costs of acquisition and maintenance
are too high to be spent by an individual or even by the association of owners, such as
condominium. Yet, the dwelling environment ought to be managed to maximise its
performance by answering to the user’s occupancy patterns, and to achieve sustaina-
ble goals minimising ecological footprint.
Reality illustrates the need to modernise the habitat’s built environment by the
functional, social and economic obsolescence presented by apartments, buildings and
neighbourhoods. Dwelling environment as a real estate asset definitely requires its
management. Otherwise, dwelling environment will be the investment / property of
the poor, once everyone wants/ expects to become an owner but do not have the fi-
nancial resources and competencies to manage it, depreciating its value continuously.
4 Conclusions
An attentive survey of the dwelling environment shows that it is a piece of built envi-
ronment that presents significant levels of functional, economic and social obsoles-
cence. Dwelling built environment, like industrial and tertiary built environment
needs to be managed to dignify and enhance its life cycle without undermining the
users’ needs and expectancies. Dwelling built environment is an asset (the biggest
investment and expenditure of its owner) that requires its evaluation.
Considering traditional functions at the home environment, comfort emerges as the
main issue regularly neglected by conceptual models and constructive processes;
beyond the traditional activities performed, attached to individual and familiar re-
quirements, home environment gained, along the recent decades, new functions com-
prehending professional and leisure performances, which by their nature depend sig-
nificantly from technologic developments. Facing this reality, technology is an an-
swer to promote comfort, throughout appliances that help to perform household tasks;
systems to guarantee the desired level of temperature and humidity; devices to pro-
mote security and equipment to develop work and leisure activities. The addition to
technology, spatial environment implies significant costs on its acquisition, imple-
mentation and operation. The present-day status regarding different levels of obsoles-
cence is due to the fact that dwelling environment do not benefit from maintenance
and update policies, once there is no administrative motivation and obligation. Most
apartments are occupied by their owners, who can’t afford refurbishing to adapt them
to contemporaneous life styles.
The sustainable awareness developed to minimize ecologic footprint motivates a
rationalized use of energy resources along with the optimization of dwelling function-
al and comfortable performance. To achieve such goal the user needs to act as a facili-
ty manager to avoid and/or minimize any kind of home environment obsolescence
and optimize the costs of its performance. Building automation appears as a trend to
answer to users’ needs and mostly to users’ expectations. However, the solutions
available are very expensive to individual investment; the inexistence of municipal,
fiscal or administrative advantages implies that the time to reimburse such systems is
not compatible with their life cycle.
From the reality experienced and its technical optimization, some actions can be
implemented. From maintenance policies based on planning actions and not just reac-
tive attitudes; communitarian solutions that can be applied in all the storey’s of the
building; individual behaviours more attached to sustainable principles; energy sup-
pliers policies to motivate different uses and schedules rates; technical systems,
equipment and devices suppliers to a rationalization of energy resources and inherent
costs, can be the first step to achieve a more sustainable dwelling environment and a
better human quality of life.
5 References
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Available at: http://www.facilities.ac.uk/j/cpd/62-facility-management/118-strategies-
for-facility-management. Assessed 8 March 2012
[2] PARK, A. (1994) Facilities Management – An explanation. MacMillan Press
[3] NIELSEN, S. B., JENSEN, P. A. and JENSEN, J. O. (2012) The strategic facili-
ties management organisation in housing: Implications for sustainable facilities man-
agement. International Journal of [4] Facility Management Vol. 3, No. 1, March 2012
[5] YAO, R. and STEEMERS, K. (2005). A method of formulating energy load pro-
file for domestic
buildings in the UK. Energy and Buildings, 37, pp.663-671.
[6] ENERGY STAR (2012) Guidelines for Energy Management Overview.
Available at: .
Accessed 11 July 2012
[7] MITCHELL, W. J. (2000) E-topia. The MIT Press
[8] BRANDSTON, H. M. (2008) Learning to See: A Matter of Light. Illuminating
Engineering
[9] LICHT W. (2010) Lighting with Artificial Light. Frankfurt Licht.de.