Darren Wright, a Director at Arup, has released a video stream of his presentation on the history and future of the controls industry on youtube. It’s a very on-point statement on the topic from the viewpoint of an experienced building commissioning expert. His understanding of the development of control automation goes all the way back … Continue reading ‘Death of Controls Industry’ as Explained by Darren Wright of Arup
Tag: Energy Efficient Buildings
Social Media Tech: Fluff and Foundational at the Same Time
Is this generation of tech innovation just fluff? Media site TechCrunch.com published a plea from Senior Editor Matt Burns for the Tech world to pay some attention to the crisis of contaminated water in Flint, Michigan: “Let’s fix this. Let’s use the tools that allow us to deliver booze on demand and the tools that let … Continue reading Social Media Tech: Fluff and Foundational at the Same Time
Way Forward from Paris is Via Automated M&V for Commercial Building Energy Efficiency
Investment dollars to transform commercial building energy wasters into high performers are there, but won’t be tapped until bankers are confident in the measurement and verification of savings. The Paris Climate Agreement is “the beginning of the end of the fossil-fuel era,” according to one negotiator, Marcelo Mena Carrasco of Chile. I just hope it’s … Continue reading Way Forward from Paris is Via Automated M&V for Commercial Building Energy Efficiency
Six New Routes to Market for Smart Building Technology
The route to Smart Building success may be just around the next turn. Here are six emerging go-to-market strategies for Smart Building technology as identified by Anno Sholten of Connexx Energy.
The Ron Swanson’s and Tom Haverford’s of Green Buildings
Here's hoping that the team from Parks and Recreation will do a Greenbuildings-themed spin-off. I’m putting the idea out there today on the chance it will catch the eye of the show’s creators and sponsors in time for Greenbuild 2015 in Washington DC this week. That would be a great place to put out a casting call. … Continue reading The Ron Swanson’s and Tom Haverford’s of Green Buildings
Of Pitchforks and Haystacks
Hype is just a natural and necessary ingredient in the life cycle of any technology. So says the IT Research firm Gartner Group, and it has been producing yearly Hype Cycle curves for about 20 years. In his book Leadership B.S., Jeffrey Pfeffer, Stanford Professor, writes that the ability to hype, a.k.a. to lie, is one of the traits that makes … Continue reading Of Pitchforks and Haystacks
Navigating the New Landscape of Energy Efficiency, Renewables and Microgrids
The building automation and controls industry sits at the nexus of a building’s solar arrays and its microgrid, as well as at the seat of its transactive energy potential with neighboring microgrids. Automation and control frameworks built upon open architectures have emerged as clear winners among building owners because they allow data to be pulled … Continue reading Navigating the New Landscape of Energy Efficiency, Renewables and Microgrids
For Gourmet Tenant Experiences, Mix Sensor Data and an Open Tech Stack
by Simon Troup, Head of Data Services, OpenSensors.io Expect the early adopters of ‘enchanted’ buildings to be our employers. The World Green Building Council estimates that we spend 10% of our costs on facilities management and 90% on executing our business. You don’t have to be an accountant to realise a 1% improvement in productivity trumps … Continue reading For Gourmet Tenant Experiences, Mix Sensor Data and an Open Tech Stack
Building Controls Beyond Protocol Wars
by Greg Shank, Principal, Altura Associates Does the next phase in building controls have to take on the dynamic of Betamax vs. VHS or Android vs. iOS? First, let’s acknowledge that commercial buildings are a different beast than the consumer marketplace, so analogies to video equipment and smartphones are limited. The goal of this little exercise … Continue reading Building Controls Beyond Protocol Wars
Buildings IoT Architectures and Examples
“Hats Off” to the Realcomm team and to the Intelligent Buildings industry that they represent. They nailed the architecture for the Buildings Internet of Things (B-IoT) about 24 months before the big IT brands at the core of the IIC — Cisco, Intel, IBM, GE — offered theirs. Read my posts on the IIC reference architecture … Continue reading Buildings IoT Architectures and Examples
Building Context 