How Johnson Controls Is Helping Microsoft Create Smarter Buildings
Those of you who have been following this series of articles will have already read about how Schneider Electric is driving sustainability in its service operations. However, the energy company is far from the only corporation working to raise its profile through more environmentally friendly practices.
As one of the world’s leading producers of fire, HVAC, and security equipment for buildings, Johnson Controls is recognized as a driving force and a global trailblazer in the quest for smarter, healthier, and more sustainable constructions. The company was included on FORTUNE’s "World’s Most Admired Companies” list in 2022 for precisely this reason.
"To avoid the worst impacts of climate change, the world must work together to limit global temperature increases,” said the company in its 2022 sustainability report. "The United States and the international community must aggressively reduce GHG emissions and create incentives for developing new technologies to achieve these reductions. At Johnson Controls, we know that when we take this challenge on, we will cut emissions, cut costs, and create good jobs and a more resilient, healthy infrastructure.”
Microsoft
One country which frequently draws criticisms for its greenhouse gas output is China, with a 2021 report from the Rhodium Group finding it exceeded all other developed nations combined in 2019 and accounted for 27% of total global emissions for the period.
These findings and more are what led China to commit to a staggering 65% reduction in carbon emissions by 2023 at the COP26 conference held in 2021.
It is this commitment which has led Johnson Controls to partner with Microsoft to retrofit and optimize the latter’s Beijing Campus to make the building more sustainable and contribute towards China’s goal for reduced emissions.
"We were privileged to attend the UN COP26 Climate Conference in Glasgow in November 2021 to support bold policy agreements to accelerate climate action, and while there, to announce a declaration signed by business leaders across many continents aimed at catalyzing climate action,” continued Johnson Controls. "Partnering with like-minded organizations and generating a deeper understanding of the role our built environment plays in achieving climate goals is critical to our mission.”
The Microsoft Beijing Campus consists of two buildings with a total building area of 148,000 square meters. A key strategy in reducing the carbon emissions of the facility lay in creating a more energy efficient operations management process.
To this end, Microsoft created a centralized and integrated digital brain for the campus by migrating power supply, building controls, energy management, and smart management to its cloud-based Azure platform. Johnson Controls meanwhile applied its AI-enhanced OpenBlue Enterprise Manager (OBEM) for more efficient and automated building management, improved user experience, and a significant reduction in the energy consumption of daily operations.
Microsoft Beijing Campus also now uses Johnson Controls Metasys Building Automation System (BAS). By monitoring cooling and heating equipment, Metasys feeds substantial amounts of data into OBEM for analysis. With an increased number of sub-systems connected into the platform, field operations risk was reduced, and HR use was further optimized.
Results
The results of this combination of technology and process from these two industry powerhouses was energy savings of 27.9% through continuous retrofitting and optimization, delivering on sustainable development goals, and a professional service which brought greater than 98% uptime of key equipment – meaning fewer field service callouts and drops in productivity.
These results build on previous achievements by the Johnson Controls and Microsoft partnership which saw the Beijing Campus reduce its power consumption by 30 million Kw/H in the decade between 2011 and 2020.
"China's pledge to ensure carbon emissions peak by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060 places a huge responsibility on its buildings sector to dive deeply into the latest sustainable engineering technology," said President of APAC at Johnson Controls, Anu Rathninde. "In this project, we joined hands with Microsoft to raise the bar on what is possible for energy-efficient buildings, and their faith in Johnson Control AI-enabled OpenBlue Net Zero Buildings solution has been proven out. The energy and emissions savings on their Beijing Campus project help Microsoft and us highlight what is now possible sustainability-wise for retrofit buildings programs in China."
Final Thoughts
With China’s commitment to a significant reduction in emissions over the next decade, it’s encouraging to see large corporations such as Johnson Controls and Microsoft stepping up their sustainability efforts in the region. Those of us who understand the importance of meeting climate goals over the coming years will be watching this space keenly for further efforts and developments.
You can hear Johnson Controls Former Director for Service Operations and Building Solutions, David Bishop speak at Field Service Palm Springs 2023, being held in April at the JW Marriott Desert Springs, Palm Springs, CA.
Download the agenda today for more information and insights.