Posted by Janet Stroud — May 11, 2023 — Global manufacturing and technology company Honeywell recently announced it is working with Urban Visions, a privately owned real estate development firm based in Seattle, to utilize Honeywell technologies to optimize energy usage based on occupancy levels at 200 Occidental, a commercial office building located in Seattle’s Pioneer Square neighborhood.
The LEED Platinum building will leverage Honeywell Buildings Sustainability Manager (HBSM), part of Honeywell Forge for Buildings, a ready-now autonomous controls platform, and indoor air quality (IAQ) sensors that will detect and report air quality factors with real time visibility.
Urban Visions develops and operates office, retail, and residential projects. Its 200 Occidental property is 195,000 square-foot-rentable building with Class A office space and retail on the first floor that brings the total to 216,000-square-feet. Though 200 Occidental targets being fully decarbonized with regards to operational carbon, energy still gets wasted because the HVAC system is set to a daily schedule even if the building is not occupied.
By working with Honeywell, Urban Visions will deploy technologies to help track occupancy levels for each HVAC zone to track energy being wasted when areas are not occupied. Occupancy is tracked with CO2 sensors that also track indoor air quality. In addition, with the HBSM platform, both tenants and building managers will have access to a comprehensive dashboard of the building’s data, including device- and asset-level insights into energy use and IAQ, to track real-time data.
Urban Visions leverages triple net leases, or NNN, where the lessee pays a lower base rent and absorbs the full cost of taxes, insurance and utility expenses. Traditional lease language requires the building HVAC systems to be set to a narrow band of acceptable temperature typically from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. regardless of occupancy levels. Using more precise insight and actual data into how to manage, control and optimize energy use and costs based on occupancy, a capability featured in HBSM, can help triple-net lessees reduce their overall operating costs by identifying opportunities to reduce energy usage, notes Honeywell.
Salone Habibuddin, VP of Development, Urban Visions, stated:
We are now in an era of inadequate energy sources, transmission issues, overall energy insecurity and face the urgent need to decarbonize. Despite 200 Occidental targeting zero operational carbon and meeting the 2050 goals, energy still gets wasted. The one area the built environment must change its behavior is how our leases are written with regards to heat and cooling. They are schedule-based and not occupancy-based and most tenants are not ready to amend their leases. This will go a long way in helping to reduce our energy usage.
Del Misenheimer, president of Honeywell Building Solutions, commented:
Urban Visions’ vision for sustainable development and smart growth of its properties sets it apart from other commercial real estate companies, not just in Seattle, but across the country. We’re thrilled to work with Urban Visions to help reduce its environmental impact and provide its tenants with tools to help better manage property expenses, while creating a healthier environment to optimize energy efficiency.
The Honeywell Building Sustainability Manager, part of Honeywell Forge for Buildings, is a suite of ready-now solutions that help building owners and operators meet two pressing, yet often conflicting, objectives — optimizing a building’s IAQ while still reducing its environmental impact — with the aim of helping them to meet carbon reduction goals.
Find out more about Honeywell Building Technologies‘ (HBT) Sustainability solutions here.
