Performance Of Building Systems Research Articles

Field Assessment for Initial Preparation of Net Zero Building Certification for The Universitas Multimedia Nusantara (UMN) Building: A Case Study On Visual Comfort in C and D Tower

Ensuring optimal physical comfort, the need for a comprehensive evaluation of the performance of building systems was established. This investigation endeavors to meticulously scrutinize illuminance and light power density metrics across distinct temporal segments (morning, noon, afternoon, and night), as well as the dynamism of daylighting and artificial lighting presence within Tower C and D of Universitas Multimedia Nusantara (UMN). Noteworthy for their incorporation of double skin façades, these edifices serve as focal points of inquiry. The empirical findings reveal that illuminance levels within classrooms and offices, irrespective of natural or artificial lighting, consistently fall short of the prescribed 350 lux threshold based on SNI across most floor levels. The efficacy of the double skin façade manifests in a discernible attenuation, diminishing illuminance ingress to the building by approximately 50%, and precipitously by up to 90% about window fixtures. Furthermore, the analysis of light power density underscores an energy efficiency quotient hovering around 60%. These empirical insights are intended to serve as a foundational resource for guiding the initiation of Net Zero Healthy Greenship certification endeavors.

Achieving Energy Self-Sufficiency in a Dormitory Building: An Experimental Analysis of a PV–AWHP-ERV Integrated System

In this study, we investigated the performance of air-to-water heat pump (AWHP) and energy recovery ventilator (ERV) systems combined with photovoltaics (PV) to achieve the energy independence of a dormitory building and conducted an analysis of the energy independence rate and economic feasibility by using energy storage devices. Our data were collected for 5 months from July to November, and the building energy load, energy consumption, and system performance were derived by measuring the PV power generation, purchase, sales volume, AWHP inlet and outlet water temperature, and ERV outdoor, supply, and exhaust temperature. When analyzing representative days, the PV–AWHP integrated system achieved an energy efficiency ratio (EER) of 4.49 and a coefficient of performance (COP) of 2.27. Even when the generated electrical energy exceeds 100% of the electricity consumption, the energy self-sufficiency rate remains at 24% due to the imbalance between energy consumption and production. The monthly average energy self-sufficiency rate changed significantly during the measurement period, from 20.27% in November to 57.95% in September, highlighting the importance of energy storage for self-reliance. When using a 4 kWp solar power system and 4 kWh and 8 kWh batteries, the annual energy self-sufficiency rate would increase to 67.43% and 86.98%, respectively, and our economic analysis showed it would take 16.5 years and more than 20 years, respectively, to become profitable compared to the operation of an AWHP system alone.

Environmental Processes Assessment of a Building System Based on LCA–Emergy–Carbon Footprint Methodology

Sustainable architecture holds research significance as a necessary approach to address climate change. However, the lack of a clear definition and diverse research methods present obstacles in this field. To overcome these challenges, this study adopts an integrated approach that combines ecological and low-carbon aspects and considers the entire life cycle system. The highlight of this article is the integration of two research methods to assess the sustainability of a building system from both ecological and carbon footprint perspectives. This approach has not been extensively explored by researchers thus far. The aim is to quantitatively explore and evaluate the sustainability performance of building systems. The research findings reveal that, among the five life cycle stages, the operational stage of a building exhibits the highest proportions of emergy consumption and carbon emissions, accounting for approximately 89.4% and 90%, respectively. From an emergy analysis perspective, newly constructed building systems demonstrate qualified sustainable parameters (Emergy Sustainability Indicator (ESI) = 2.7 > 1)). However, as the building system ages and operates over time, the overall sustainable parameters gradually decrease, eventually becoming unqualified. Furthermore, carbon emissions analysis indicates that total carbon emissions accelerate with the aging of the building, highlighting the necessity of continuous inputs of material flow, energy flow, and information flow to maintain the building system’s sustainability. The cross-feedback model emerges as the most effective correction method among the input processes, although data collection poses a challenge due to its nonlinearity. This study provides a fresh perspective for architects and building managers, offering insights that contribute to mitigating climate change and promoting sustainable practices in the built environment.

Evaluation of seismic performance and design of AAC building systems (autoclaved aerated concrete) with different reinforcement methods

Autoclaved lightweight concrete was produced for the first time in Sweden and after several decades, it has been widely used in most of the industrialized countries of the world, especially in the construction industry. Lightness, effect in reducing forces caused by earthquakes, ease of implementation, low thermal coefficient, fire resistance and sound insulation are among the undeniable advantages of this product. The use of this concrete is very effective in optimizing fuel and energy consumption, and its high compressive strength is considered an important feature, to the extent that it has been recognized as a desirable and suitable product in the construction industry. Obviously, with the growth of demand increasingly, using traditional methods and materials for housing production in Iran is not very effective. Compilation of criteria for the design and implementation of a gravity-bearing and lateral structural system made of AAC autoclaved aerated concrete products (including reinforced blocks and panels) The structure is made based on valid international regulations and considering Iran's seismic standards as follows. Roof and floor design using reinforced AAC roof panels and the combination of AAC roof blocks and regular concrete in place reinforced with steel reinforcements after examining the principles and foundations and modeling based on logical engineering principles and assumptions to compare the results and the outputs of the software have paid. Based on the available results, we can see the effect of the number of floors, plan and height of the floor on the behavior of the structure. According to the values in the table, the probability of the structure passing through the threshold of minor, moderate, and advanced damage is examined in different states. 1- The probability of passing a 1-story structure compared to a 2-story structure from the threshold of partial, moderate, and advanced damage has decreased by 59.7%, 94.5%, 99.3, and 99.8%, respectively. 2- The probability of passing a 2-story structure compared to a 3-story structure It reduces the threshold of partial, moderate, and advanced damage by 55.7%, 93.2%, 99.0%, and 99.7%, respectively.

Seismic Assessment of Unreinforced Concrete Block Masonry Buildings Before and After Retrofitting: A Case Study

Abstract: This article presents the results of a case study on the performance of unreinforced concrete block masonry building system. The configuration and materials used for the single-story building are typical of those found in the northern areas of 2005 Kashmir earthquake. The retrofitting of the building was done using Ferro-cement overlay and cement based grout injection. Combined shear and flexure failure was observed during the test before retrofitting. The lateral load capacity of the retrofitted building was significantly improved and the damage mechanism was transformed from mixed compression-flexureshear to a more stable flexural rocking mode. Damage patterns and deformation behavior of the retrofitted structure are compared to the intact structure to quantify the benefits of retrofitting scheme, which is proposed as an efficient approach for the rehabilitation of the existing buildings. Study data were analyzed and presented in the form of force-deformation loops and envelope curves. Based on the measured data, different performance levels before and after retrofitting of the structure have been established. The results from this study are expected to guide future efforts on development of design recommendations and vulnerability assessment of buildings. Keywords: Earthquake; Unreinforced Concrete Block Masonry; Retrofitting; Quasi Static Test; Ferro-Cement Overlay; Rehabilitation; Vulnerability assessment;

A Semantic Approach for Building System Operations: Knowledge Representation and Reasoning

Artificial intelligence is set to transform the next generation of intelligent buildings through the application of information and semantic data models and machine learning algorithms. Semantic data models enable the understanding of real-world data for building automation, integration and control applications. This article explored the use of semantic models, a subfield of artificial intelligence, for knowledge representation and reasoning (KRR) across a wide variety of applications in building control, automation and analytics. These KRR-enabled applications include context-aware control of mechanical systems, building energy auditing and commissioning, indoor air monitoring, fault detection and diagnostics (FDD) of mechanical equipment and systems and building-to-grid integration. To this end, this work employed the Apache Jena Application Programming Interface (API) to develop KRR and integrate it with some domain-specific ontologies expressed in the Resource Description Framework (RDF) and Web Ontology Language (OWL). The ontology-driven rules were represented using Jena rule formalisms to enable the inference of implicit information from data asserted in the ontologies. Moreover, SPARQL (SPARQL Query Language for RDF) was used to query the knowledge graph and obtain useful information for a variety of building applications. This approach enhances building analytics through multi-domain knowledge integration; spatial and temporal reasoning for monitoring building operations, and control systems and devices; and the performance of compliance checking. We show that existing studies have not leveraged state-of-the-art ontologies to infer information from different domains. While the proposed semantic infrastructure and methods in this study demonstrated benefits for different building applications applicable to mechanical systems, the approach also has great potential for lighting, shading and security applications. Multi-domain knowledge integration that includes spatial and temporal reasoning allows the optimization of the performance of building equipment and systems.

Investigation of phase change materials (PCMs) on the heat transfer performance of building systems

The energy use of building systems contributes to a large percentage of total energy consumption, which requires consideration. Solutions of improvement to save energy are crucial. Phase change materials have been proved to be good candidates to be used in building envelopes for energy save. In this paper, an extended Explicit Finite Element Method (ex-FEM), which has been previously introduced and improved, is taken for simulation of temperatures and heat transfer in simplified multilayer wall constructions, consisting of PCM and insulation. The method has been validated against experimental data measured in a so-called Hot-Box. Temperature data are measured at different positions in a number of simplified multilayer walls. Our results show a reasonable good agreement between the simulations and the experiments, at both heating and cooling considering the temperature hysteresis effect in the PCM. The temperature stabilization ability of the PCM is clear, in both the simulations and the experiments, and particularly in the data when the transition range of the PCM is fully activated and matching the temperature variation in the wall at that particular PCM position. Our ex-FEM tool has here been proved to be able to predict the thermal performance of simplified wall constructions of multiple layers with PCMs incorporated.

An event-driven multi-agent based distributed optimal control strategy for HVAC systems in IoT-enabled smart buildings

Smart buildings generally adopt a centralized optimal control for heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems to improve the building system performance. As a crucial technology adopted in smart buildings, Internet of Things (IoT) based wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are promising platforms for implementing novel distributed optimal control to achieve distributed intelligence effectively. Such a future mist computing paradigm can be hindered by the limited energy resource of WSNs. The event-driven optimization method activates the optimization only when events occur. It can save the energy resource of WSNs, and thus pave the way for implementing the distributed optimal control architecture in IoT-based WSNs. This study therefore proposes an event-driven multi-agent based distributed optimal control strategy for HVAC systems for implementation in IoT-based battery-powered WSNs. The strategy consists of two novel schemes. First, an event determination scheme determines the event threshold by comprehensively considering the system performance and the total energy consumption of individual sensors implementing the distributed optimal control architecture. Second, an event-driven distributed optimization scheme solves the optimization problems with distributed optimization algorithms in IoT sensors of limited data processing capacity when an event occurs. Comparison and case studies are conducted to compare different strategies and validate the proposed strategy. Results show that different strategies require very different sensor energy consumption. The proposed strategy can provide satisfactory system performance while reducing the energy consumption of IoT sensors.

Investigating effects of urban configuration and density on urban climate and building systems energy consumption

Urban configuration plays a pivotal role in the current energy crisis by providing more thermally appropriate local microclimates leading to the efficient functioning of building systems. In this regard, the present research aims at an important research gap: the simultaneous effect of urban morphology and density on the near-building microclimate and the outdoor-installed cooling systems performance. To this end, a proposed coupling algorithm between CFD and Building Energy Simulation is employed by using two open-source tools of OpenFOAM and EnergyPlus. The main purpose of the coupling process is the accurate simulation of near-buildings microclimate. Experimental data captured by a monitoring campaign validate numerical simulations. Research outcomes of several typical urban patterns demonstrate the urban-layout-independent behavior of split units. Up to 50 K temperature difference between hot sunlit surfaces and low-temperature glass windows creates a trade-off to aggravate and alleviate local Urban Heat Island (UHI) intensity, which stabilizes air temperature near the ambient. On the other hand, the upward movement of warm air and the dominant impact of extremely radiated roofs engender a thermally critical area for rooftop units. It is most striking (UHI intensity of 3.8 K) in the street canyon layout, where long rows of buildings minimize heat removal by entirely deviating the wind flow. However, a cluster of single buildings provides a cooler built environment resulting in the better performance of building systems. Finally, this research concludes that decreasing urban compactness mitigates UHI intensity by allowing thermal wakes evacuation, which eventually provides up to 16.4% energy saving.

Impact of surface waterproofing on the performance of brick masonry through the moisture exposure life-cycle

Moisture is one of the major causes of damage to building systems, affecting the hygrothermal performance and durability of building systems. Surface treatment products are available in the market that can influence the hygric performance of masonry facades under water exposure. These are of a wide range of chemical compositions, and they claim to waterproof the masonry surfaces while not diminishing vapour transmissibility. This paper presents and discusses the findings from a series of benchtests carried out to measure hydrophobicity, water absorption and water vapour transmission following the relevant codes for an appraisal of the hygric behaviour change in brick masonry induced by waterproofing through three distinct phases of the life-cycle of moisture exposure, i.e. first contact with water, wetting and drying. To this end, 4 waterproofing products including silane/siloxane blend liquid and cream, and acrylic and stearate-based liquids were selected for testing, along with 3 brick types common in the 50s and 60s to be representative of the majority of the UK building stock. The findings show that the treatment products indeed enhance the surface hydrophobicity and reduce water absorption while allowing water vapour transmission to differing degrees: silane/siloxane blend cream overall was found the most effective throughout the moisture-exposure life-cycle, with an average of ~96% reduction in water absorption and 18% of increase in water vapour resistance in comparison to the untreated case, followed by the stearate-based liquid with 57% reduction in water absorption and 12% increase in water vapour resistance. The acrylic-based product demonstrated good performance in hydrophobicity and water vapour transmission tests, however led to a comparatively higher water absorption capacity than the other treatment products with only ~40% reduction in comparison to the base-case. Finally, silane/siloxane blend liquid was found to lead to the lowest contact angle, demonstrating a lower-than-others capacity to developing surface hydrophobicity, and led to 35% reduction in water absorption and 28% increase in water vapour resistance, making it the poorest product in the dataset to lead to watertight and vapour open systems under water exposure. Based on the test results it was also deemed beneficial to use masonry specimens to account for its composite nature, rather than using results obtained from brick and mortar separately to infer the wall response under exposure.

Deploying 3D scanning based geometric digital twins during fabrication and assembly in offsite manufacturing

Verifying geometric compliance in offsite manufacturing (OSM) is key for ensuring adequate fit-up, structural integrity, building system performance, and assembly alignment on site. The use of a geometric digital twin (gDT) from 3 D scanning can be used to digitize an assembly to detect and resolve potential problems in a prescient manner. The contribution of this article is the development of a framework for deploying and comparing three distinct gDT approaches for use during fabrication and assembly in OSM: (1) a scan-vs-BIM approach, (2) a scan-to-BIM approach and (3) a parametric BIM updating approach. Results from a commercial building project show that scan-vs-BIM is the most accurate approach, parametric BIM updating produces the most semantically rich gDT, and scan-to-BIM is a middle-tiered option, striking a balance between representational accuracy and semantic enrichment. This study concludes that future research should develop a hybrid solution of these gDT approaches and additional more accurate measurement technologies for optimal deployment in OSM.

Operation analysis of the developed building ventilation system using turbofans and mechanical wind energy storage

Ventilation systems have an energy saving potential by making the most of the good advantage of natural ventilation. However, its major limitation is the unpredictability of the driving forces leading to a mismatch between building demand and system performance. This paper presents an analysis of the operation of an innovative building ventilation system (a HiVent system). The developed system provides a ventilation method with the increased functionality of a roof turbine ventilator that can ensure air exchange inside the building, when the wind does not rotate the RTV sufficiently or completely due to a reduced speed. The system is equipped with an isobaric air tank storage and air tank turbofan. The main advantage of this system is that it uses only renewable wind energy. The case analysis has showed that the system functionality (the duration of time when the set exhaust airflow rate is ensured) can be increased by 12–25%. Analytical formalization and experimental testing of the system components has shown how their characteristics should be combined with each other; what improvements have potential to increase the efficiency of the system. This disclosure of the coherence of their interaction contributes to new knowledge about the use of renewable energy sources and ventilation technologies.

Experimental study of the seismic performance of plasterboard partition walls with seismic gaps

It is now widely recognized that the performance of non-structural elements is crucial to the performance of building systems during earthquakes. Field surveys and experimental studies have shown that light steel or timber framed plasterboard partition walls are particularly vulnerable. The objective of this study is to investigate the seismic performance of a novel seismic gap partition system with angled return walls under quasi-static cyclic loading applied obliquely and to investigate the benefits of using acrylic gap-filler in the seismic gaps. Two specimens were tested: a steel stud specimen and a timber stud specimen. Observed drift capacities were significantly greater than traditional plasterboard partition systems. Equations were used to predict the drift at which damage state 1 (DS1) and damage state 2 (DS2) would initiate. The equation used to estimate the drift at the onset of DS1 accurately predicted the onset of plaster cracking but overestimated the drift at which the gap filling material was damaged. The equation used to predict the onset of DS2 provided a lower bound for both specimens and also when used to predict results of previous experimental tests on seismic gap systems. The gap-filling material reduced the drift at the onset of DS1, however, it had a beneficial effect on the re-centring behaviour of the linings. Out-of-plane displacements and return wall configuration did not appear to significantly impact the onset of plaster cracking in the specimens.

Socio-Ecological Visual Analytics Environment “SEVA”: A novel visual analytics environment for interdisciplinary decision-making linking human biometrics and environmental data

Current architectural design practice is limited in its consideration and understanding of life-cycle energy flows which comprise multiple phases, from material resource extraction, construction, building occupation within the built environment, and after demolition. Furthermore, bioclimatic environmental flows interact with the buildings, particularly at the building envelope, making it a rich interface for shaping energy flows towards buildings that are energy self-sufficient with clean on-site energy resources. The buildings we inhabit directly affect the greater built environment which is an inherent part local ecosystems that compose part of larger ecologies at global scales, ultimately affecting the overall biosphere. As a result, the buildings we construct, directly and indirectly, affect our economies, the health, and well-being of our societies and our natural environments. This paper explores the development of a computational framework that allows designers to visualize, understand and evaluate their design choices in terms of their environmental implications and ecological efficacy. The framework for design analysis offers a more comprehensive ecological analysis than existing sustainability assessment tools by collecting live environmental and human biometrics towards considering the entire comfort cycle. Working with SEVA, Socio-Ecological Visual Analytics, platform a web tool designed to allow for interactive feedback in real-time. This research is proposing to investigate the visualization of human data as a metric to analyze the well-being of the environment, which is an inversion of received perspectives. This paper will use a case study, assessing a built environment unit tracking the environmental conditions, building systems performance and the user human biometrics, demonstrating the qualitative and quantitative environmental impacts of the building design on the users.

Shake table testing and computational investigation of the seismic performance of modularized suspended building systems

Suspended building structures have inherent architectural aesthetics and are able to achieve low seismic-induced displacements of the primary structure and accelerations of the suspended segments. A recently proposed subtype of suspended building structures harnesses discrete prefabricated modules to overcome the fragility originating from inter-story drift within the suspended segment and to enhance the overall attenuation. This paper presents the first shake table experimental study of this subtype to directly evaluate its aseismic performance and develop a physics-based modeling strategy that is validated and therefore is reliable. For this purpose, 1:15 scaled shake table experiments of modularized suspended structures were conducted with three fundamental configurations. Each model in each configuration was subjected to at least five ground motions. Results indicate that displacements at the top of the primary structure are reduced by around 50%; in the structure with discrete modules and inter-story dampers, quicker decay was shown, accompanied by lower accelerations of the modules. The inter-story drift ratio of the suspended segment reached 3.75% under 0.12 g PGA excitation, indicating the potential of drift-induced fragility if a regular structure is adopted and proving the benefit of modularization. Numerical models of the tested structural systems have been developed in OpenSees platform. Simulated responses show satisfactory agreement with the measured ones. Subsequent parametric analyses reveal that the performance is sensitive to both the stiffness and damping values especially when the damper is of viscous type. Optimal stiffness facilitates tuning between the primary and secondary structures while optimal damping enhances dissipation notably. Moreover, it is observed that the inherent friction handicaps dissipation instead of facilitating it.

Influence of Variable Rigidity Design of Piled Raft Foundation on Seismic Performance of Buildings

In order to reduce the costs and improve the overall performance of building systems, the static optimized design with variable rigidity of piled raft foundations has been widely used in recent years. Variable rigidity design of piled raft foundations that support midrise buildings in high-risk seismic zones can alter the dynamic characteristics of the soil-pile-structure system during an earthquake due to soil-pile-structure interaction. To investigate these aspects, a nuclear power plant sitting on multilayered soil is simulated numerically. The paper describes a numerical modeling technique for the simulation of complex seismic soil-pile-structure interaction phenomena. It was observed that the total shear force on top of the piles and the rocking of the raft are reduced after optimization, whereas the displacement of the superstructure is nearly unaffected. The findings of this study can help engineers select a correct pile arrangement when considering the seismic performance of a building sitting on soft soil.

Seismic performance of prefabricated sheathed cold-formed thin-walled steel buildings: Shake table test and numerical analyses

Cold-formed thin-walled steel (CFS) building systems are widely used in residential construction due to their good seismic behaviour, rapid construction efficiency and high material properties. Although significant work has been conducted on CFS members and subsystems, including studs, beams, shear walls and floors, few researches exist on the seismic performance of full-scale building systems. In order to investigate the seismic response of the CFS building system, shake table tests on a prefabricated full-scale one-story complete building were carried out. The fundamental frequency, damping ratio, displacement response and acceleration response were summarized in this paper. Then a simplified nonlinear finite element model was established with commercial software ABAQUS and validated against the test results. It was found that the developed model was suitable to accurately simulate the dynamic responses of the tested building. Hereafter, parametric studies were preformed based on the validated model to investigate the influence of key parameters on the seismic behaviour of the CFS systems, including sheathing of shear walls, diagonal brace, numbers of stories, aspect ratio as well as plan layout. Finally, based on the test data and numerical analysis results, improved seismic construction measures were proposed to provide more applicable objectives for CFS structures.

Experimental Study on the Structural Performance Degradation of Corrosion-Damaged Reinforced Concrete Beams

It is very important to investigate the effects of the seismic performance of corrosion-damaged reinforced concrete (RC) members, in terms of their strength and lateral deformability, on the seismic performance of entire building systems. Such investigation allows accurate evaluation of the seismic performance of RC structures with corroded members, including beams and columns. However, current techniques for evaluating the seismic performance of existing RC structures do not take the effects of deterioration (including the corrosion of reinforcing bars) on the performance of RC members into account. The main objective of this research is to propose a practical methodology for evaluating the seismic performance of RC buildings with corrosion-damaged members. We extrapolate a structural performance degradation factor from the strength-deformation capability of corroded members to allow direct quantitative evaluation of their seismic performance. In this study, as a first step toward achieving this goal, we experimentally investigated the effect of reinforcing bar corrosion on the behavior of RC beams and the structural performance degradation factor. Our analysis was based on the strength-deformation capabilities of corrosion-damaged beams. We also propose a relationship between the half-cell potential of corroded reinforcing bars and the structural performance degradation behavior of RC beams. Our results indicate that there is a relatively strong correlation between the performance degradation factor and the average potential difference, with coefficients of determination (R2) of the flexural and shear beams of 0.78 and 0.91, respectively. The potential difference, which was measured using the half-cell measurement method, can serve as one of the indicators of relative structural degradation, but we must ensure that the environmental measurement conditions are held constant.

Non-intrusive electric power monitoring system in multi-purpose educational buildings

<span lang="EN-US">Understanding the consumption patterns in a working space is important for evaluating the causes of energy wastage and for developing strategies towards specific energy reduction methods. The intent of metering systems in buildings is to provide adequate data that help improve building systems performance. The results of the analysis offer the potential to improve the energy efficiency of the building and reduce the operation costs. Researchers of Polytechnic University of Madrid and American University of Ras Al Khaimah have developed a metering and control system that processes and analyzes the digitalized signals. This system can collect, analyze and manage the electrical consumption in buildings. It is non-intrusive, can be easily deployed in electric boards and sends data to a central base station located away from the metering device. In this article the system is tested in an educational facility with a wide range of uses. The lighting fixtures, power outlets and HVAC devices are analyzed in offices, classrooms and architecture studios. This article concludes that energy audits for longer time periods help building managers understand device profiles, occupant behavior and environmental context.</span>

Connected Indoor Lighting Based Applications in a Building IoT Ecosystem

Indoor lighting and buildings play a pivotal role in reducing the energy footprint of cities, and in their transformation into digital, smart environments. Connected indoor lighting systems in particular, with embedded sensing, control, and networking technologies, can provide an attractive platform for enabling data to optimize lighting operations and also to improve performance of other building and enterprise management systems. In this article, we provide architectural elements of a connected indoor lighting system. Application programming interfaces (APIs) are described for lighting system control and data access that facilitates easy and scalable integration for services in a building Internet of Things ecosystem. By considering Power-over-Ethernet lighting in office buildings as an example, we present traditional applications like energy monitoring, remote system monitoring, and configuration that are becoming data-driven, as well as new ones like building space management and data services enabled by the APIs.