Advanced digital technologies to cut energy and maintenance costs for healthcare facilities

To meet the changing needs of our healthcare infrastructure customers, energy distribution and internet connectivity are vital elements. Resilient infrastructure today must be enabled by digitalisation.

Technological innovation is making our cities more liveable, prosperous and sustainable, and the building sector is taking a lead role in embracing digital solutions that enable great efficiency, sustainability and productivity where we live and work. Today’s smarter buildings, which interconnect digital energy monitoring and control devices, have attained levels of efficiency that were never possible before the emergence of the Internet of Things (IoTs) and scalable technology.

Nowadays buildings are not limited to small-scale solutions such as setting the temperature from a remote device or turning off a light automatically. The real benefit of today’s smart building technology, provided through digital solutions such as ABB Ability™, is the power to control everything remotely. Intelligent solutions not only simplify automation in buildings but enable greater energy efficiency while increasing convenience and security.

Building smart doesn’t have to be a challenge to profitability. In fact, smart technology creates significant opportunity to increase return on investment and meet tough environmental targets. Smart buildings also speed the adoption of green technology such as electric vehicles and solar power with clever integration. And for the far-sighted, technology may even change the role that buildings play in your portfolio.

Building owners can experience reduced energy costs while shrinking their building’s CO₂ emission when they cut down energy consumption in buildings. Future buildings will rely more on energy and asset management systems which leverage digital solutions based on common architecture and ‘Internet of Things’ devices connected to dedicated networks and cloud.

Through ABB Ability, we are utilising such the Industrial Internet of Things to help our customers speed up their process of digital transformation, to be more resilient, sustainable, and efficient. Let’s look at some of the top products that are helping our customers thrive utilising digitalisation:

• Energy Management: Countries across the world are sharpening their focus on sustainable use of energy to tackle the impacts of climate change. ABB Ability Energy and Asset Manager, an energy monitoring solution for commercial and industrial buildings, can help businesses save up to 30 percent on operational costs. It identifies waste of energy and reduces energy consumption while also promoting sustainability, helping achieve international certifications of energy management.
• Asset Management: This plays an integral role in increasing the reliability and availability of assets. ABB Ability Asset Health for electrical systems – MyRemoteCare a system that offers condition monitoring of assets and provides access to real-time status of each relay or other appliance within medium voltage switchboard around the world from the comfort of your desk, improving safety and reducing costs.
• Building Management: In today’s environment, maintaining an efficiently managed building is not enough. Intelligent solutions are more important than ever as they provide real time information to multiple stakeholders who need to take swift decisions to ensure security, safety and comfort of occupants as well as to protect the longevity of assets. ABB Cylon BMS includes best in class HVAC control, flexible lighting control, and extensibility to include ancillary building services. This is combined with real-time information on building conditions and powerful energy management.
• E-Mobility: The increase in the use of electric vehicles (EVs) also highlights the need for reliable and fast-charging solutions. ABB Ability connected chargers enable fast global service and pro-active maintenance. ABB has years of experience in creating, installing and maintaining charging infrastructure, including several nationwide charger networks.
   

Digital building automation is changing the way we perceive hospital and healthcare infrastructure, enabling a new era of comfort, health, well-being and sustainability. In the smartest hospitals, intelligent electrification is used to not only monitor but to quickly predict or detect issues and then deploy the right response. All this is complemented with a reassurance in knowing that the power behind it is distributed in the most sustainable way possible.

Scan the QR code below or visit new.abb.com/au/electrify-australia/healthcare to learn more about ABB’s technology designed for smarter, safer and healthier hospitals and healthcare facilities.

Image credit: iStockphoto.com/gorodenkoff