These images from the 1960 movie 'The Apartment" capture the office productivity tools typical of the era. Tech analyst Ben Evans pointed me to them in his article Office, messaging and verbs. One of today's smart phones could replace all of those desktop machines and many of the machine operators too. Ben's whole post reinforces a point he … Continue reading As Goes the Work, So Goes the Workplace
Tag: Energy Efficient Buildings
A New Energy Management System
A single, integrated engineering team should collaborate on all software programming and optimization tasks - controls, analytics, and workflow management - during design and construction. The resulting data platform can evolve into a building energy management system that will serve the building’s on-going commissioning needs through its useful life. by Greg Shank, Principal, Altura Associates … Continue reading A New Energy Management System
Buildings IoT Industry Gives Industrial Internet Consortium Something to Reference
On June 17th the Industrial Internet Consortium, with companies like Cisco, Intel, GE and IBM at the core, formally released its IoT Reference Architecture Document, making it available for complementary download. When I wrote about the first public showcasing of the reference model at the IoT World Forum in Chicago in October, the resulting BuildingContext post was … Continue reading Buildings IoT Industry Gives Industrial Internet Consortium Something to Reference
Across the Chasm?
Has support for standardization efforts like BACnet and Project Haystack naming/tagging taxonomy grown to the point that it is providing a pathway for data-driven building operations technologies across the Chasm? It feels like our industry is moving into a higher gear. So to think through the shifting momentum, I took out my Crossing the Chasm … Continue reading Across the Chasm?
Don’t Go It Alone When Retrofitting
by Jim Meacham, PE, Principal, Altura Associates Today, building owners embarking on an energy upgrade have more data and more choice than ever before. Digital data from power meters, HVAC systems, lighting systems, and other building equipment are waiting to be tapped. And there are additional data streams available from the growing number of sensors … Continue reading Don’t Go It Alone When Retrofitting
Genentech Manages Large Portfolio of Critical Facilities by ‘One Set of Numbers’ Rule
Genentech/Roche has innovation in its DNA, and is now showing all the markers of a leader in data-driven strategies for facilities management and building operations. Genentech/Roche cut the ribbon on its latest building in South San Francisco on May 21st, with California Governor Jerry Brown holding the scissors. The Governor came to call attention to how such private … Continue reading Genentech Manages Large Portfolio of Critical Facilities by ‘One Set of Numbers’ Rule
The Mockingjay in Nest
Nest Labs was a portfolio company of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers before it was purchased by Google in December of 2013. The deal was a key talking point for both sides in the recent gender discrimination trial that pitted the VC firm against former Junior Partner, Ellen Pao. But, do we yet understand what that deal says about … Continue reading The Mockingjay in Nest
Round up the Right Data, Not Usual Suspects
“Round up the usual suspects,” is one of the classic quotes from the 1942 film Casablanca. When this phrase is muttered as the plan of action, you’re far from the truth. The 1995 crime thriller ‘The Usual Suspects’ picked up on that thought and built it into one of the most twisted plots of all … Continue reading Round up the Right Data, Not Usual Suspects
Romancing the Rules
Can mastering machine-learning rules for email, messaging, social media feeds and other collaboration tools make us better occupants and operators of intelligent buildings? I didn’t know that using traditional email was so over. But, the following tweet from Ben Evans, capsulizing his reaction to Google Inbox got me thinking: “Lots of people are trying to 'solve' email… Maybe the solution … Continue reading Romancing the Rules
Debunking Top 5 Building Analytics Misconceptions
“Using Analytics is like Information Alchemy. You Can Turn Data into Money,” said John Petze, Partner at SkyFoundry, developer of the SkySpark analytics platform. The statement set the tone of the Cor Advisors’ panel discussion November 12th entitled “Using Data and Analytics to Reduce Operational Costs.” The panel put to rest some of the biggest misconceptions … Continue reading Debunking Top 5 Building Analytics Misconceptions
Building Context 