Description

 Characteristics
A BMS is most common in a large building. Its core function is to manage the environment within the building and
may control temperature, carbon dioxide levels and humidity within a building. As a core function in most BMS
systems, it controls heating and cooling, manages the systems that distribute this air throughout the building (for
example by operating fans or opening/closing dampers), and then locally controls the mixture of heating and cooling
to achieve the desired room temperature. A secondary function sometimes is to monitor the level of humangenerated
CO2, mixing in outside air with waste air to increase the amount of oxygen while also minimizing
heat/cooling losses.
Systems linked to a BMS typically represent *0% of a building's energy usage; if lighting is included, this number
approaches *0%. BMS systems are a critical component to managing energy demand. Improperly configured BMS
systems are believed to account for *0% of building energy usage, or approximately 8% of total energy usage in the
United States.
As well as controlling the building's internal environment, BMS systems are sometimes linked to access control
(turnstiles and access doors controlling who is allowed access and egress to the building) or other security systems
such as closed-circuit television (CCTV) and motion detectors. Fire alarm systems and elevators are also sometimes
linked to a BMS, for example, if a fire is detected then the system could shut off dampers in the ventilation system to
stop smoke spreading and send all the elevators to the ground floor and park them to prevent people from using