Sen. Maria Cantwell’s legislation, introduced last month, encourages more federal agencies to embrace new energy saving technologies, such as digital air conditioning units that automatically react to cooling needs or window blinds that instinctively raise or lower depending on incoming sunlight. However, despite enthusiasm in the private sector for connected buildings, some critics warn against systems that could make federal buildings more vulnerable to cyber attack.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has raised concerns about cyber security risks in high-tech access control systems in federal buildings. In December 2014, GAO issued a report warning that the Department of Homeland Security had not prepared sufficiently for cyber threats to physical buildings and access control systems.

The report highlighted an incident in 2009 when a malicious program was a loaded onto a Dallas-area hospital's computers by a security guard. The program included a system that controlled HVAC on 2 floors. It was deemed able to potentially affect patient treatment and health, according to court records. However, this is seen as a technical issue to overcome according to Casey Talon, senior research analyst with Navigant Research, suggesting that as long as it is handled correctly, the risk should be minimal.

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"Smart building systems can be effectively integrated and utilised without significant cyber security threats by following well-established IT security procedures", Talon said. "People are, however, a fundamental piece of the puzzle, and management must be diligent with security protocols to ensure smart building systems can be fully utilised while the network is protected. For example, simple procedures such as pass codes and authorisations can help secure the networks over which smart building systems operate in the same way they protect the other networked systems in a facility".

The greening of federal buildings has been a target of the Obama administration for some years. On May 14th 2012, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) awarded a contract to IBM to develop and install advanced smart building technology in 50 of the federal government’s highest energy-consuming buildings. As part of GSA’s larger smart building strategy, this initiative will connect building management systems to a central cloud based platform, improving efficiency and saving up to $15 million in taxpayer dollars annually.

Commercial buildings account for nearly 40% of the United State’s primary energy use and GSA owns nearly 182 million square feet of office space nationwide. GSA's plan to meet the requirements of President Obama’s Executive Order 13514 includes a goal of reducing energy consumption in federal buildings by 30% by this year, 2015.

“In line with GSA’s core responsibility of delivering savings to government agencies, this initiative brings together leaders in the building technology industry to install low-cost, high-value, networked technologies in some of the government’s most energy intensive buildings", General Services Administration Acting Administrator Dan Tangherlini said.

Under the terms of the contract, IBM is developing a system to monitor building performance nationwide and stream data to a central facility, allowing faster analysis and more informed decision-making. The project uses innovative building management technology, linking major building controls in real-time to make federal buildings more energy efficient. When fully implemented, GSA will use newly available data and analytics to save energy and reduce building operating costs in GSA’s entire owned inventory.

“The development of this industry-leading smart building system begins a new era in how GSA manages our nation’s public buildings and will prove the feasibility of this technology for the larger industry”, said GSA Acting Public Buildings Commissioner Linda Chero. “This program connects existing building technologies in new ways to improve building efficiency in over 32 million square feet of real estate. Awarding this contract benefits taxpayers, as it will reduce maintenance and operating costs of the federal building portfolio, saving taxpayers an estimated $15 million annually”.

Now in 2015, Sen. Cantwell’s Smart Building Acceleration Act goes one step further by legislation to ensure the continued development of efficiency and intelligence of federal and private buildings. This transformation from BAS to BIoT is explored in Memoori’s new report: The Transformation of BAS into the Building Internet of Things 2015 to 2020

The Department of Energy will have 18 months after the passage of the bill to report to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate on their progress.