Andreas Skälegård is an energy strategist at Uddevallahem and a key person behind the real estate company's focus on energy efficiency with technology from several suppliers. More standardized and accessible products have contributed to Uddevallahem's daring leap to build its own ecosystem of products, systems, and platforms that all talk to each other – for open, flexible, and independent building automation and energy management.
One factor making this all possible is open APIs and protocols and the ease with which different systems and platforms have been integrated.
A project shaped by industry challenges
Uddevallahem and Kiona have collaborated for several years through our delivery of Edge. The collaboration has been proactive, and various challenges related to building operations have been discussed and analyzed.
One such challenge that emerged in 2023 was the decision by telecom operators on the future decommissioning of 2G/3G networks.
"We realized that we would need to invest in quite a lot of new hardware to protect our investment and ensure continued optimized operation even after the future shutdown. That's when the idea and ambition to find a software solution was born instead, with open APIs between the different platforms as an important cornerstone," says Andreas.
"This was in mid-2023, and we started the work sometime after that with Kiona and the other companies involved, who really got into the idea. Two milestones were set for the project, where milestone one meant we would have a couple of pilots integrated, tested, and operational before midsummer 2024. The final goal was to have all of Uddevallahem's buildings (already controlled by Kiona via the Edge Hub hardware) operational and ready before the end of September 2024, and we will succeed in that."
The openness of our systems and platforms is incredibly important as it gives us redundancy and security. I don't have to be afraid of the lock-in effect. We can also keep up more with technological developments. Right now, these components are the most cost-effective, but in a few years, a new player might come along – I want to be able to bring in services from there.
"It should be easy to integrate your system with functions from several suppliers. Since the pieces exchange data streams, we can change the address of the data flow and let it go to other suppliers and functions. Avoiding the lock-in effect gives us the security to dare to invest."
The importance of open APIs
Technical installations and buildings require close monitoring and a clear overview to keep energy costs down and ensure smooth operation. To make this possible, systems and platforms need to be open and integrable to create opportunities for end customers with different needs and existing systems and suppliers.
Andreas Skälegård explains that the prerequisites for creating this type of ecosystem are that basically everything is based on code and data streams. A few years ago, various gateways, converters, collection units, and other hardware were required to be installed. This was both time-consuming and difficult to manage. Thanks to MQTT, we can run the data traffic cloud-to-cloud, and cloud->Uddevallahem's IT environment->cloud again. With code and data streams, you can scale up much easier and faster.
"All the puzzle pieces described above have been developed by different companies at different paces. They are industrialized and commercially available to all customers. What is "new" is that all the pieces have been put together into a system that works together and delivers better efficiency than the pieces individually. We've built our own ecosystem of independent pieces and got the most efficient control algorithms where everything is enabled by open APIs."
So, what advice does he have for other property owners who want to connect, automate, and digitize?
Where do you start, and what is important?
- Leave the starting blocks and get started! Many people fear the lock-in effect and are reluctant to jump on the technology bandwagon. But if you wait to decide, it could take another 12, 18, 24 months.
- De-dramatize the choice of a single supplier or technology. Build an ecosystem of proprietary building blocks and open platforms that allow for the replacement of individual devices.
- Machines beat humans in all repeatable tasks, so start with such functions as soon as possible.
- AI is one of the most important tools for achieving major energy savings. Invest in AI.
- Make sure you have a dedicated IT department with good skills that considers the security of data flows. This is a key factor.
- Have someone at your control contractor who is familiar with MQTT and can do the set-up and get the data exchange right.
- The organization also needs a decision-making capacity to budget for purchases and working hours, such as installing the sensors.