Jason Webb, managing director, Electronic Temperature Instruments (ETI) says data is the key for your HVAC.
In many buildings, the HVAC system, the single largest consumer of energy on site, is still managed by instinct and fixed schedules rather than live data. It is often the last major component to be considered 'smart'. That disconnect is costing building operators more than they realise.
With energy costs remaining stubbornly high and ESG expectations tightening, the pressure is on to reduce consumption without compromising occupant comfort or regulatory compliance. The good news is that the solution does not require wholesale infrastructure investment. In most cases, the biggest gains come from simply taking the steps to identify precisely what your system is doing.
The gap between setpoint and reality
Most HVAC systems operate on the assumption that sensors are accurate and outputs are consistent. In practice, neither is reliably true. Sensors drift over time. Thermostats in poorly chosen locations, be that near windows, above radiators, adjacent to server equipment, feed the system misleading data. The result is a building that heats and cools based on a distorted picture of the actual conditions.
Deploying calibrated temperature sensors at strategic points throughout a building closes this gap quickly. High-quality air readings, zone-based temperature mapping and comparison of performance data all reveal how the system is truly behaving. Often, the findings reveal familiar issues – overcooled corridors, overheated south-facing offices or meeting rooms that take 45 minutes to reach a usable temperature. This represents measurable energy waste and a direct drag on occupant productivity.
Smarter control through verified data
Once you have accurate, real-time temperature data speaking to your building management system (BMS), the opportunities for smarter control grow quickly. Targeted heating and cooling becomes possible, reducing output in unoccupied zones, responding dynamically to solar gain or occupancy surges and preventing the kind of blanket conditioning that burns energy regardless of need.
Integrating occupancy data alongside temperature readings takes this further still. A BMS that knows a wing of offices is empty until 10am has no business running full HVAC from 7am. This is a logical, data-driven decision that simply requires the right inputs to execute.
The Carbon Trust estimates that HVAC accounts for 38% of buildings' total energy consumption, equivalent to 12% of all final energy use. Even modest reductions in unnecessary conditioning represent meaningful savings across a portfolio.
From reactive to predictive
The shift from reactive to predictive maintenance is another dimension to this conversation that smart building professionals will recognise. Temperature data can tell you what conditions occupants are experiencing and, more importantly, how your plant and equipment are performing.
Refrigerant leaks typically reveal themselves as subtle anomalies in cooling output before they escalate into system failures. Blocked filters create characteristic temperature differences between supply and return air. Bearing wear in fan motors can be detected through thermal signatures long before audible symptoms develop. A facilities team that monitors these indicators continuously avoids the costs that emergency callouts inevitably bring.
Compliance and sustainability, evidenced
For smart building teams navigating compliance obligations alongside sustainability targets, accurate temperature data serves a third purpose – evidence. Continuous monitoring logs provide a verifiable record that conditions have been maintained within required parameters, invaluable in regulated environments and increasingly expected in offices and commercial spaces where wellbeing commitments are under scrutiny.
The same data feeds directly into energy audits and ESG reporting, transforming vague efficiency claims into demonstrable, time-stamped performance records. This is crucial in a landscape where stakeholders are asking harder questions about environmental credentials.
The case is clear
Smart buildings have the infrastructure and the ambition to do this well. The intelligence already exists in the BMS, the controls, and the connectivity. What is often missing is the quality of the underlying temperature data feeding those systems. Closing that gap, through properly calibrated, well-positioned sensors and continuous monitoring, is not a complicated project. The returns, in energy savings, compliance confidence, and reduced maintenance cost, are anything but trivial. The data to do it is already within reach.