Commercial real estate is an industry unquestionably grounded in the physical world. Malls, office buildings, hotels - you name it - are all physical spaces that consume energy and provide tenants with services. But as technology continues to offer more ways to make the real world virtual through IoT, augmented reality and the latest buzzword, digital twins, building owners are beginning to seriously invest in collecting and operationalizing data to improve the revenue generating potential of commercial properties.

Digital twins come hot on the heels of IoT-enabled smart buildings, making use of all the data sensors and connected devices can relay. Existing building management systems offer minimal insight into building operations, but the use of digital twins can provide a comprehensive view of buildings systems that can offer unique advantages to asset managers and property teams.

To really tap into these advantages, owners and operators need a holistic solution that captures real-time information about a building’s physical equipment, energy consumption and tenant activity. Moreover, the ability to gain actionable insights from this information is what truly drives ROI and can turn assets and processes into income.

In case you missed class last week, a digital twin is the virtual representation of a physical object, process or system. At Aquicore, we understand the importance of this concept and the advantages it provides; that’s why we’ve baked it into so many features in our platform. See for yourself.

Digital Twin: Building Equipment

Aquicore’s Devices & Equipment feature lets you create a profile for each one of your building’s meters, sensors, networking devices and more. Keep track of an asset’s location, load information and data collection at all times.

With this feature you can see data coming in at the device level by any given time interval. It also shows periods when the device is not collecting data - i.e. if the device went offline, or before it was commissioned. You can enter manual meter readings into the platform to validate the data Aquicore receives wirelessly.

Aquicore’s network view allows you to see a map of your devices, how they are linked, data commissioning status and the flow of information. Save time, money and reduce risk because you’ll know instantly if one of your devices is offline or otherwise not functioning properly, with zero reliance on manual processes.

Digital Twin: Energy Consumption

Aquicore’s platform doesn’t guess what your building is doing; it shows actual energy consumption, peak demand, baseload and more. Real-time, minute-by-minute utility tracking is available for electricity, water, gas, steam and heat transfer. Access to this data combined with deep, actionable insights about a building or portfolio’s performance on a granular level allows you to pinpoint problem areas and rapidly make adjustments.

Our recommendations for things like a building’s optimal start time are driven by machine learning and enable property teams to easily manage energy use and ensure tenant comfort in a single building or across an entire portfolio of properties.

Digital Twin: Tenants

Let’s get one thing straight - we’re not here to be Big Brother and create alarming virtual representations of your tenants. What we CAN do is create a digital model of their energy usage profiles and bill them accurately based on the meters or submeters that power their space, without you having to do manual calculations to get their usage.

Building managers are used to complex manual workflows and a lack of visibility but our technology is changing that. Aquicore’s platform automatically and accurately allocates energy consumption to your tenants through the Tenant Billing feature. The anomaly detection function will flag charges that don’t look accurate (anything 30% higher or lower than average in terms of consumption or cost) for review so your tenants can feel confident they are not getting over billed.

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These features are just the start. At Aquicore, we’re always working to maximize the potential of data sharing, IoT and digital twins to empower asset managers and building teams to drive performance improvements.