Globe & Mail: New Smart-Building Technology To Take Pulse Of Telus Tower

Prominently displaying the building's up-to-the-minute performance across five categories - energy, water, waste, occupant transportation and human experience ? the plaque will help Telus Tower occupants and building managers monitor things such as resource usage and carbon footprints.

Pioneered at the USGBC headquarters in Washington, D.C., the LEED Dynamic plaque is used in 15 to 20 buildings across the United States.

"We are committed to pushing the boundaries of smart buildings, identifying new methods to leverage connectivity and improve our facilities," said Sonya Buikema, Menkes's vice-president, commercial property management. "Honeywell's technology and services complement our philosophy, and expand the ways in which we're able to drive performance and better serve our customers."

In addition to the LEED Dynamic plaque, the building will also use Honeywell's Attune Services, a cloud-based system which employs software to connect buildings to advanced analytics, allowing building managers to develop action plans to improve energy and operational efficiency.

"Think of it as someone monitoring your building 24/7," said Debra Gondeck-Becker, Honeywell Americas construction industry leader, who went on to describe the pairing of Attune Services and the LEED Dynamic plaque as taking the "pulse of the building."

"We can hook you up to the plaque and see how you're doing and with Attune we can help drive some optimization strategies to improve your performance, ultimately improve your operating efficiency, lower your energy costs and create a better environment for your occupants."

The added technology will also boost sustainability engagement with employees, an increasingly goal for forward-thinking companies as more millennials move into the workplace.

"I think it's absolutely critical to have that engagement," Ms. Gondeck-Becker said. "It's the people and the occupants that come into the building that are really the ones that determine the performance of that building and you need to have their engagement; you need to communicate with them in simple terms and raise awareness about how their actions are impacting the performance of that building."

Both the Attune Services and the LEED Dynamic plaque will be installed this summer, combining with existing technology from Honeywell that already powers the building, including heating, cooling, lighting, security and safety systems.