Effective Concepts LLC.

Your Building May Be Too Smart For Its Own Good

The future of energy savings is putting the tools into the hands of those that can use them. In the May 2009 Issue of Engineered Systems, Jack Mc Gowan and Jeffery Seewald look at the technologies that might finally make a difference the overall energy usage in buildings nationwide.

Mr. Gowan has a great quote about the problem of having tools that no one can use, “.. these tools are only intelligible to people who know buildings.” In other words what good is having an Intelligent Building if you have to hire an engineer to talk to it. Mr. Gowan goes on to say,

The buildings industry has spent the better part of the last two decades trying to wring engineering and implementation labor and cost out of system installations. Now it is time to wring labor out of the day-to-day tasks associated with assessing the effectiveness of building operations.
First and foremost, this is about recognizing that trend logs and alarms do not improve performance, and in many cases they are not effective at pointing out opportunities for improvement. Leveraging a tool to highlight areas for concern is the first step in creating intelligent building management tools that provide an easy intuitive way to see what is happening in the building or on the campus.

Mr. Seewald’s article builds on this point. He gives the example of the 2010 Honda Insight with its Eco Assist, which allows the driver to make good fuel efficient driving decisions. Good decisions could also be made in high performance building operations if the system generated real-time performance feedback and actionable information. Mr. Seewald believes ‘The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’ may be a catalyst for these changes. I’m less optimistic that a government led top down approach ever works.
I think ‘if you build it, they will come.’ I’m sure there are a lot of frustrated managers and owners out there that would love to have control over their buildings.

References

• Green Intelligent Buildings, What Next? by Jack McGowan, Engineered Systems, May 2009 – Beyond the stimulus package and the “plumbing,” let’s look at GEMS and the next logical steps for the industry and the building it serves.
• Shifting To A Smarter Shade Of Green by Jeffrey Seewald, Engineered Systems, May 2009. – A real change in hue? From the GIB Conference to the automotive industry and beyond, the mood rings true.
• System Training: It Starts With The Client by Howard McKew, Engineered Systems, June 2009. – “So often, the O&M staff is left out of all the early building program decisions, and yet this staff will eventually inherit the building. At that point in time, the facility staff can either embrace the building and its systems or not take ownership and begrudgingly operate and maintain it. In the end, they are either part of the solution or part of the problem. Let’s start at the start with the solution and the budget to provide system training.”
• Operations & Maintenance Manuals: It Starts With The Client by Howard McKew, Engineered Systems, August 2009. – “Maybe I’m exaggerating the process, but my point is that although there will be requirements for O&M manuals, no one is going to devote the time needed to compile a useful document for the O&M staff after the design team, contractor, subcontractors, and equipment manufacturers are gone.”

Tags: Honda