Enabling the smartification of buildings through continuous innovation and collaboration

By Mike Mustapha, Division President of ABB Smart Buildings

As our industry experts come together at Light + Building 2024, it’s important to recognize just how much progress there has been since our last meeting there 15 months ago.

At ABB, we are in constant collaboration with partners and customers to create new technology and solutions to accelerate the smartification of buildings. We showcase the innovations enabling this at events like Light + Building and other global exhibitions.

The smartification of buildings, along with the new technologies to enhance them, is increasing rapidly, and the importance of connectivity and interoperability through open systems is becoming ever more critical. In the residential sector, our acquisition of Eve Systems last year has powered a huge leap in retrofitting capabilities thanks to the wireless connection through the open connectivity standard, Matter. With Matter-enabled devices, it's easy to expand building automation systems for greater flexibility and interoperability.

center

Advancing technology and efficiency goals drive smart buildings' progress

Not only do we now have powerful technology, but the smart buildings market is also growing rapidly. Fortune Business Insights¹ predicts global growth from $80.62 billion in 2022 to $328.62 billion by 2029 and I expect we will see an increase beyond these projections. Ongoing volatility in energy markets is only applying more pressure and increasing investment in energy efficiency solutions makes sound commercial sense.

Our own global Energy Insights survey of businesses revealed that 92 percent of business leaders believe that fluctuating energy costs and instability still pose a threat to business competitiveness. This drives a focus on energy efficiency, particularly in Europe, that brings with it reductions in energy costs and carbon emissions. One-third of firms surveyed have already increased investment specifically focusing on improving their energy efficiency, with 40 percent of businesses looking to install on-site renewable energy generation to become less dependent on the grid.

In the commercial sector, the challenge of realizing sustainability goals was not always a priority when faced with drops in occupancy along with higher operating and refinancing costs. The new economic reality however, from increasingly unpredictable energy prices to the growing capability, availability, and affordability of new technology, means we’re seeing encouraging signs that the sustainable transition is accelerating.

Investment in energy efficiency is becoming ever more compelling in commercial buildings. Not only does it translate in lower energy consumption and operating costs, but smart, automated buildings with reduced CO2 emissions are more attractive to both investors and a talented workforce.

center

From setting targets and goals to achieving them

Ultimately, a lot can be done to manage energy consumption in the built environment and investments in energy efficiency bring cost savings over the long term. There are positive and encouraging signs that we’re now shifting from setting targets and goals to delivering them.

We can expect more businesses to see the potential of retrofitting their buildings with the latest digital technologies, adding real-time monitoring tools, and upgrading systems. There is also an opportunity to show customers that the technology to achieve this is already available.

Our partnership with London Land Group to redevelop a large South London building into a cutting-edge, energy-efficient, mixed-use living and working space, showcases the retrofitting capabilities enabled by open systems and technology. And our pioneering, energy-efficient smart community project in Brobyholm, Sweden is another example of just how much can be accomplished with collective ambition.  

Consistently standing by our customers

These are just some of the many ways we’re developing new products, partnerships, and services to meet the pressing needs of today’s buildings, while responding to the requirements of tomorrow’s residents. We’re here to guide our customers on their building transition journeys, and we have the solutions to help them get there even faster.

And while we are at the forefront of digitalization, we value every opportunity to personally meet our customers and partners to celebrate our commitment to sustainability, technology advancement and joint success.

The ABB walk-through experience at Light + Building demonstrates smart building solutions from across the ABB portfolio integrated with our partners, working seamlessly together to improve efficiency and comfort.

¹Source:  Fortune Business Insights

About the author

right

Mike Mustapha
Mike is the Division President of ABB Smart Buildings and was appointed in February 2022. In this position he has full accountability for the performance of the global Smart Buildings business in ABB, which includes a broad portfolio of market leading home and building automation solutions as well as the portfolio for energy distribution systems and products. After starting his career in the U.S. in 1990 as an Application Engineer with Rotoflow Corp. Inc., a leading supplier of high-speed rotary and cryogenic machinery for process industries, Mike built global leadership experience with Altas CopCo, a multinational industrial company, where he held various leadership positions. In January 2009, Mike founded the new Pre-Engineered Buildings and Hot Rolled Structured Steel Group, headquartered in Jeddah, KSA with its own independent Board. Mike assumed overall accountability for the company, overseeing the Middle East. Mike joined ABB in August 2011 as Low Voltage Division Regional Manager for India, Middle East & Africa. In June 2014, he was promoted to Global Managing Director for the Building Products Business Unit prior to his 2018 appointment as Head of Global Markets for the Electrification business. Mike currently resides in Dubai and holds a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Southern California (USC), U.S.