As we turn the corner and settle down into the 21st century, we find ourselves at a crossroads that is shaping how we look at buildings and facilities in decades to come.

Three major forces are converging; firstly Information Technology has got over the dizzying days of the nineties and is settling down to pragmatic application of technology that is significantly contributing to the efficiencies of today’s western organizations. Secondly, the internet is changing almost everything we are doing in our lives from entertainment, work, shopping and information distribution, our very social infrastructure in being changed by the Internet! Lastly, and arguable a more profound force is the availability of cheap broadband communications reaching out to all corners of the known world via wired and wireless technologies.

There are two significant common denominators that come from the above forces as far as buildings and facilities are concerned, the first is that all buildings (with only minor exceptions) are connectable together and to the enterprise organizations that own and have the responsibility to manage them. Only 5-10 years ago as the 20th century came to a close, the reliance of clunky and ineffective dial-up was the only means to access remote facilities. The information that flowed was limited by the media, only critical data merited the “hassle” of dealing with such a cumbersome point to point communication. Organizations can now get real-time data from all of their facilities world-wide and command them also in real-time. The impact of this cannot be underestimated.

The second common denominator of the above forces is a de-facto common user interface for everything in our known universe. For years, building system integration vendors have tried to develop a common user interface to all things that occur in buildings, it was a difficult challenge. This quest has now been satisfied by the humble Web Browser, a use interface that is common not only to all things that occur in buildings, but to all things — period.

The above changes provide buildings and facilities with an infrastructure for connectivity, a society that is comfortable for the use of a ubiquitous tool — the Web browser, and a significant IT industry that has all of the skills necessary to make it all work.

The Web has all the makings of a game-changer for the building and energy management industry. It is flexible, it is free (or at least has the perception of being so), and it is a tool that everyone is comfortable using (since they buy books on it, order pizza on it and conduct bank transactions with it). Lastly, the Web browser is infinitely flexible, just like a blank piece of paper.

To think that these trends and drivers are not going to change the very fabric of building and energy controls is simply foolhardy. The changes are happening now, the new rules are being created now of how the Web will transform how buildings are managed by the professionals that are responsible for them, but also to the occupants of buildings.

One area of building management that is adopting the web aggressively is web based energy information and control systems, this discipline needs to access information rapidly, remotely, from multiple sources and more importantly in real time. Access to energy information also needs to be made by multiple people within organizations; from energy managers to corporate executives, people that are often based in disparate geographical locations. An ideal application for the web browser and the Internet.

The implementation of the above vision by this industry is far from easy. The Web browser is only a stating place. The industry need to define how the Web is to be used for the tasks that are important to building owners, what type of servers need to be developed to serve up the information to the browsers and more importantly what type of data will be presented, and how. Best practices and standards need to evolve that are effective for professionals to create web pages and useful for the consumers of the information to use.

The area that should be especially interesting to players in the future is the numerous case studies that explore many applications of the Internet and web based systems. Success stories will give us the confidence to explore further cost effective and developing technologies for energy management, and more particularly what is now termed enterprise energy management — the interaction between energy management at the building level to the enterprise systems that are running today’s organizations.

Mundane issues like visual representation of information and navigation of a website need to evolve as they can make of break the success of a website. Having a new “blank sheet of paper” is refreshing and powerful, the difference between scribbles and a work or art on a canvas can sometimes subtle. The challenge is here for the industry to leverage this new powerful tool for the ultimate benefit of effectively managing buildings and energy usage.

• With more than 25 years of experience in technology development, Budiardjo is currently president & CEO of US based Clasma, Inc. He is also founder of BuilConn Forum, an event focused on the networked low voltage electronic systems in today’s buildings.