Adjusting a thermostat can be a touchy subject in many households. You want to stay comfortable, but you don’t want to waste money. Now scale this challenge up to commercial buildings, and indoor climate becomes a major issue. In Tallinn, Estonia, we at KONE partnered with Mainor Ülemiste and R8 Technologies to come up with a clever idea: using data from our elevators to optimize heating and cooling systems to improve comfort and sustainability. As a result, we reduced energy use and emissions of the test building at the business campus by up to 36%!
The biggest thing in this collaborative innovation is that elevator data can be used to make older buildings smarter without massive investments in full-scale renovation. Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems consume up to 70% of a building’s energy, making their energy efficiency key to reducing emissions. I envision that our solution sets new standards for more sustainable buildings and provides a visible return on investment for developers and building owners.
The power of elevator data
KONE’s equipment and KONE 24/7 Connect already collect data to make elevators run more efficiently. For example, elevators gather information for predictive maintenance and on how people move around the building at different times of the day. This allows cars to be positioned proactively to minimize waiting times and wasted trips.
Mainor Ülemiste is the developer of the largest business center in the Baltics, Ülemiste City, with 185,000 square meters of leasable office space. We had already worked together earlier using data to optimize people flow. Then we wondered together with Rene Klesment, CTO of Mainor Ülemiste, what else could be done with the elevator data. Could it be used to improve energy efficiency in other ways?
A real-life testbed for future technologies
Mainor Ülemiste brings together eager innovators, and they even have a special Test City to trial smart solutions in real-world environments. It is designed to support the ambition of companies to grow within their community.
Ursel Velve, Chief Innovation Officer and Member of the Management Board at Ülemiste City, emphasizes the role of Test City in fostering innovations:
« We provide a dynamic and flexible test environment and a launchpad for new technologies. Our goal is to create an ecosystem where testing is a natural part of product development and service design. With Test City, we support the emergence of new business models through infrastructure, community, and data, whether for a global enterprise or an early-stage startup. »
This was perfect for us, and we decided to use an eight-year-old building with thirteen floors and six elevators to test the idea. The plan was to develop specific algorithms and use elevator sensor data as proxies for occupancy. If everyone went to the fifth floor for a meeting, for example, the HVAC systems could adjust temperatures on each floor accordingly.
The goal of Mainor Ülemiste was to increase energy efficiency while maintaining tenant comfort. Rene Klesment reflected that it was a good project for them, matchmaking with companies to build smarter, data-based buildings. And so it was for us at KONE!
AI solution integrates with elevator data
In collaboration with R8 Technologies, a growing tech company, we developed data-driven innovative solutions to enhance the performance of the HVAC systems at Mainor Ülemiste buildings. R8 Technologies uses general user behavior forecasts while ensuring the management of significant deviations. The system learned that 90% of people typically leave the office by 5 pm on Friday, for instance, but what about holidays when no one comes to work? Or maybe one floor has a big office holiday party at night. We also need to manage these unusual events automatically.
Siim Täkker, CEO of R8 Technologies introduced us to R8 Jenny, a human-centric AI solution that they have developed to optimize HVAC systems. It was an important element needed for success. R8 Jenny communicates with building automation systems, proactively optimizing heating, cooling, and ventilation systems to provide the desired indoor climate with the lowest energy cost.
R8 Technologies’ software integrates with the building’s other digital systems and KONE elevators as a data source were exactly what they needed. It was not necessary to add new sensors or cameras because we could leverage elevators as an information source. All partners agreed that it was a great way to maximize the use of existing infrastructure.
Creating the ideal indoor climate and visible investor returns
The results of the project were impressive. We were able to lower energy use and emissions by up to 36% compared to a non-optimized building. The test building could save up to €50,000 and reduce CO2 emissions by 140 tons annually. R8 Technologies’ Täkker believes it is entirely realistic to see significant savings also in buildings that have been previously optimized by other building management systems.
I feel this is a great example of what can be achieved with partner collaboration. We were able to take our elevator data ‘out of the shaft,’ so to speak, combine it with advanced algorithms, and use these as a KONE secret sauce to optimize HVAC systems.
Exploring the future of win-win solutions
We at KONE are looking forward to finding other innovative ways to use our elevator data and insights. In the future, we can find new uses for this data, such as planning maintenance or janitorial activities to reduce nuisances to the people using the buildings. KONE is already involved in a project where restaurants use predictive analytics to more accurately estimate the dining flow and number of diners and to reduce food waste. There are many opportunities to apply elevator data to broader sustainability topics and better user experience.
The experiment at Ülemiste City also led to a better experience for the people using the building. I’d like to quote Mainor Ülemiste’s Klesment here: “As every property manager knows, if a tenant is unhappy, they will tell you. If someone is too hot or too cold, they will let you know about it. But we never received a single complaint. They never noticed a thing!”
Happy users make happy property owners. This triple partnership proved that smart solutions based on elevator data can be used to optimize not just the elevator use and maintenance but also HVAC systems in the building. This in turn leads to lower expenses and emissions – a win-win for everyone.
Article written by Tero Hottinen, VP of Strategic Partnerships at KONE
