Alliance to Pursue Healthy, Smart Buildings

Jan 5, 2021
Alliance to Pursue Healthy, Smart Buildings

Two major players in the built environment sector announced a strategic alliance late last year to “deploy integrated, smart lighting solutions for commercial buildings.” The joint venture between Honeywell and Signify aims “to improve the occupant experience–focusing on productivity and well-being–and to reduce energy consumption.”

The collaboration integrates Signify’s Interact connected lighting system and software, and its UV-C disinfection lighting, with Honeywell Building Management Systems and the Honeywell Forge enterprise performance management platform. The combined offerings will manage energy consumption while factoring in occupancy along with air quality indicators such as temperature and humidity. Signify’s lighting solutions will complement Honeywell’s Healthy Buildings air quality solutions beginning in early 2021, and can be controlled, measured and monitored via the Healthy Buildings dashboard to understand air and surface cleaning compliance and metrics.

Signify offers additional elements like human-centric lighting to improve productivity and well-being; these elements include its NatureConnect and UV-C disinfection lighting. UV-C breaks down the DNA or RNA of micro-organisms, including viruses and bacteria, rendering them harmless. In laboratory testing, Signify’s UV-C light sources reduced SARS-CoV-2 virus infectivity on a surface to below detectable levels in as few as 9 seconds.

Additionally, building owners and operators will be able to better manage lighting systems and energy efficiency with smart LED lighting systems. Lighting represents 17% of all electricity used in U.S. commercial buildings according to the Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey, making it the largest end use of electricity in buildings. Similar usage rates are seen globally.

Signify’s connected LED lighting system Interact Office can save up to 70% of the energy used for lighting and deploying advanced building controls and sensing, like those from Honeywell, can save up to 30% in facility energy costs.