Honeywell (NYSE: HON) today introduced its new Attune™ Advisory Services <http://www.attune.honeywell.com/> , a suite of professional services that combines cloud-based tools and analytics with a global network of operations centers, and energy and facility experts to provide enhancements that can reduce utility bills and operating expenses up to 20 percent.
Attune Advisory Services help building owners wherever they are on the energy- and operational-efficiency spectrum, providing technology and support to gain baseline awareness of building performance, make improvements to reduce energy and operations costs, and define an ongoing strategy to manage and optimise a facility.
“The performance of building systems and equipment can degrade by as much as 5 percent every year, which translates to energy and operating costs that continually escalate,” said Paul Orzeske, president of Honeywell Building Solutions. “Companies are starting to realise the significant impact this can have, as well as the opportunity it presents for bottom-line savings. With Attune, we’re providing the ease and convenience of cloud-based technology with expert advice and actionable guidance so companies can capture and maintain those savings.”
Facility managers are under increased pressure to go beyond simply monitoring building systems and providing base-level comfort. They are being asked to translate facility information into actions that deliver energy, operational and environmental outcomes. However, many don’t have the resources to assess building performance, identify opportunities to upgrade infrastructure and operations, or prioritise retrofits.
In fact, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), buildings account for nearly 40 percent of energy used in most countries. The IEA says the potential for savings is significant, and can often be achieved at low or no costs. However, many barriers work against energy efficiency in buildings, including lack of useful information.
Attune Advisory Services turn building performance data into an action plan that pinpoints potential upgrades and their expected return on investment. The service suite enables facility managers to optimise their budgets, personnel and systems by combining powerful cloud-based tools and analytics with insight and advice from a global team of Honeywell consultants, and customised support provided by skilled onsite technicians.
The services exceed typical facility management software, which often only provides a steady stream of data, but no insight or recommendations. Attune offers three levels of assistance — awareness, improvement and optimisation — with programs focusing on either energy or operational efficiency. The new energy-focused services include:
Attune Energy Awareness
Energy Awareness enables facility managers to access and monitor electricity and natural gas consumption using a Web-based, software-as-a-service dashboard that collects information from utility meters to provide insight on building performance and create a baseline to help identify savings opportunities.
Honeywell also provides lobby signage that allows organizations to showcase the results of their efficiency efforts in clear-cut, graphic-driven terms, helping educate occupants, and spurring them to alter their behavior and energy use.
Attune Energy Improvement
Energy Improvement turns building data into actionable recommendations with the advice of Honeywell’s experienced analysts. Facility managers receive periodic reports that provide information on efficiency opportunities with related recommendations on upgrades and replacements. Building retrofits made as a result of these services can deliver energy savings of up to 10 percent, potentially paying for themselves within months.
Attune Energy Optimisation
Energy Optimisation delivers a powerful combination of improved building knowledge and actionable recommendations, backed by detailed monitoring, measurement and verification to help ensure facilities operate at their peak. Optimisation can deliver energy savings of 10 to 20 percent on average, with the potential for even greater savings in older facilities.
Honeywell plugs into a building to gather systems data and assess performance using cloud-based fault detection and diagnostics. Local service technicians collaborate with a global team of optimisation experts to review the findings and present a plan to help facility managers reduce utility consumption. Ongoing assessment and monitoring allow building owners to see that upgrades continue to deliver results to the bottom line.
Attune Operations Service
The goal of Operations Services is more efficiently run buildings. Facility managers can select different combinations of 24/7 equipment monitoring, remote and onsite response to alarm conditions, and Honeywell consultation for uncovering other potential improvements and lowering equipment life-cycle costs. By providing secure, cloud-enabled support, Honeywell is able to help address the issues building operators routinely face — assistance the company is already providing to more than 3,000 sites that are connected to its global operations centers.
Attune Operations Services provide guided solutions aimed at saving money and reducing downtime, and the improved insight allows Honeywell to dispatch technicians only when needed. It’s a cost-effective way to improve overall efficiency and another step toward optimisation.
