Changing the Game

14 Posts tagged with the buildings tag

Billions (in Canada) and Trillions (around the world) of dollars are being spent each year on the development and renewal of our infrastructure. Roads, bridges, homes, and [commercial, industrial, and institutional] buildings make the physical fabric of our communities. A small, yet growing portion, of this global spending goes to the systems that make this infrastructure work; such as security, mechanical, electrical, and transportation systems.

 

These systems have always been part of the DNA of the underlying infrastructure for our communities (nothing new there). However, the difference is that they are becoming smarter and more capable to have a profound impact on the performance of the infrastructure. Where historically these systems were subservient to the bricks, beams, and concrete they were housed in; it now seems they are being elevated in importance. The intelligent systems have now the ability to make our infrastructure come to life - and provide greater value to those that depend on it.

 

The great enabler of this shift is the world of information and communications technology (ICT), and more specifically the Internet and IP networks. Networks become the new addition to the DNA of our infrastructure. We have seen already numerous examples where connected and smarter infrastructure has the ability to positively impact economic, social, and environmental sustainability. My blogs have covered several of these examples, and please keep reading them as there are more to come.

The trend of smarter and more connected infrastructure is unstoppable as every sensor, device, system (and user) will become a node on the Internet and its worldwide networks. We [as in leaders in the construction, design, development, ICT industries, and many other stakeholders] have now the stewardship to channel this transformation into a direction that is repeatable and sustainable. Together we have the ability to (re)build the fabric of our communities through the intelligent use of technology and innovation. As we see this technology and innovation converge with bricks and mortar, we will end up with infrastructure that meets our, and our children’s, rapidly growing expectations in a resource constraint world.

 

At Cisco Plus in Canada on Wednesday May 16th, a selected group of leaders in the infrastructure industry (architects, engineers, developers, builders) will gather to discuss the implications of “clicks and mortar”, and the opportunities it will provide to all that are interesting pursuing them. The future is here, let’s now optimize and monetize it, together.

 

When you are visiting Cisco Plus, please attend also the Business Session “Managing Unprecedented Change with Business Transformation” by Sandy Hogan (Cisco Vice President of Americas Business Transformation) on Wednesday May 16th at 11am EST.

497 Views 0 Comments Permalink Tags: innovation, technology, networks, transformation, sustainability, buildings, demand, change, s+cre, communities, smart, connected, smart_cities, smart_connected_communities, huijbregts, rick

There has been a lot of activity today on vacant land near the city centre of Edmonton. Public and private sector officials, citizens and press gathered in a make-shift tent to witness the groundbreaking of the Boyle Renaissance project. The crowd included renowned guests like the Mayor of Edmonton Stephen Mandel, TV personality Mike Holmes and officials at the Métis Capital Housing Corporation.

 

The groundbreaking was for a 90-unit residential project that will provide senior-friendly and barrier-free housing for Métis seniors and the disabled. The project is being spearheaded by Mike Holmes’ team, The Holmes Group, and his partners, and will result in an excellent facility that combines the highest quality of design, construction, energy sustainability and innovation.

 

  

 

Two partners joining Mike at the event were Enmax and Cisco Canada. Enmax Energy will provide the necessary infrastructure for district energy and combined heat and power, giving the building an advanced heating and power system that will use cleaner burning natural gas and meet the highest standards of building energy efficiency.

 

We at Cisco Canada will provide the network infrastructure that will form the “backbone” of the facility. The building will demonstrate the latest capabilities in systems convergence and provide for an intelligent, and connected, future-enabled environment. Over the top of this centralized IP infrastructure, the Boyle Renaissance will include Cisco’s Smart + Connected Communities (S+CC) Control4 Connected Home solution to deliver user friendly capabilities for the future residents of the building.

 

In the tent that has been put together for the groundbreaking ceremony, we are demonstrating the possibilities and capabilities of the Connected Home solution. The ability to completely control the home and advanced home applications from a single touch pad interface including turning off lights, lowering blinds adjusting room temperatures and changing channels on the TV– was proudly demonstrated by one of the Métis members.

The technology that will be implemented in the Boyle Renaissance project will provide cutting-edge and user-friendly features and functionalities that will enhance the quality of living for the project’s residents; and will make moving around a lot more effortless.

 

The success of this highly anticipated project (mind you, the first shovel only went into the ground today) is expected to become the model for future construction within the Métis portfolio and the City of Edmonton. I trust it will also spill over in the rest of Alberta and Canada at large.

 

We are all hopeful that together, we are re-calibrating the standards for 21st Century building development. Cisco Canada and The Holmes Group will continue to partner to push the envelope and move the ancient-old design and construction industry onto new, greener pastures with the latest and greatest innovation in design, construction and technology.

 

For more on today’s groundbreaking, please read the press release.

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Contributed by Ron Gordon, Business Development Manager, Cisco Canada
rongordo@cisco.com

 

Effective January 1st, 2012, the Ontario Building Code (OBC) incorporates the ASHRAE 90.1 – 2010 Standards which include a stated goal of achieving a 30% energy savings when compared to the ASHRAE 90.1-2004 Standard.  By all accounts, this is an aggressive target.

 

While I am the furthest thing from an ASHRAE expert, I cannot help but notice the increased reliance on Controls and Sensors in order to optimize HVAC and Lighting energy usage to help achieve the 30% savings.  The utilization of Occupancy Sensors, Static Pressure Sensors, CO2 Sensors, Temperature Sensors and Daylight Harvesting Sensors provides key control data to ensure the Building Automation Systems (BAS) [for the purpose of this blog we refer to lighting, metering, and HVAC] operate at their peak efficiencies and consume less energy. This also translates into the need for the BAS systems to be more integrated than ever before.

 

What if all the information and data acquired from a plethora of sensors and systems was served up for all the BAS systems to share, access and utilize.  Do away with duplication and traditionally closed disparate networks and implement a single, secure, converged network for all to use.  The ideal situation would be to incorporate all sensors onto the same network and provide open access to the information they provide.  To do this, the BAS systems would have to move away from their proprietary closed architectures to something more open and share common data and controls between them.

 

Take this to the next logical step and provide a common dashboard which gives real-time performance metrics and the ability to control the various BAS systems in unison.  Turn down lighting and HVAC systems in unoccupied areas and provide environmental conditioning on an as required basis similar to the way new inventory systems utilize “just in time” delivery controls.  This is a Smart + Connected Real Estate.

 

These steps will not only help meet the ASHRAE 90.1 – 2010 Standards, but also lay a solid foundation to meet new ASHRAE standards as they are designed and implemented.  After all, standards are constantly being updated with new targets and goals and any architecture which future proofs a building, enabling it to adopt new technologies to optimize performance is positive.

 

In summary and simple terms: future-enable your buildings, and be ready for ASHRAE 90.1 and new building codes with convergence of building systems on one IP network.

2,033 Views 0 Comments Permalink Tags: innovation, technology, s+cc, networks, green, energy, sustainability, buildings, systems, energy_efficiency, change, s+cre, connected

Today (November 3rd) was the official opening of the Center for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS) at the University of British Columbia (UBC). The CIRS building is one of the most innovative high performance facilities in North America that will embody green building design best practices and foster research and collaboration on sustainability solutions.

 

CIRS inside and out photo credit: Don Erhardt CIRS at UBC photo credit: Don Erhardt

 

The grand opening of CIRS coincided with the inaugural Celebrating CIRS | Accelerating Sustainability conference, with renowned speakers such as David Suzuki and Steve Rayner (Thursday opening keynote sponsored by Cisco, introduced by Kegan Adams).

 

The conference brought together a wide range of industry experts with a vested interest in the adoption of sustainable practices for the creation of next generation buildings and communities. There were three complimentary themes throughout the conference with in-depth breakout sessions on each of them.

 

The first theme discussed the notion of regenerative buildings and regeneration at a community scale. Regenerative design follows “cradle-to-cradle” processes that “restore, renew or revitalize their own sources of energy and materials, and therefore creating sustainable systems that integrate the needs of society with the integrity of nature”. The second theme dealt with the notion that we have to engage the public and wider eco-system of stakeholders to drive optimized results and continues performance improvements. It’s where buildings and their users work in harmony, where we achieve greatest sustainability.

 

Lastly, the third theme recognized that if we want to accelerate sustainability, we have to build new partnerships and create a platform of innovation. Albert Einstein once said "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results". If we really want to drive (and accelerate) sustainability, we have to change the way we do things---starting with process, people and behavior.

 

Cisco is a proud partner of UBC and CIRS and we are looking forward to our collaboration in search of improved, optimized, and accelerated sustainability. If you want to find out how Cisco and our IP Networks can help make your business, buildings and communities greener, please come and visit our website.

2,143 Views 0 Comments Permalink Tags: innovation, technology, transformation, green, sustainability, buildings, change, s+cre, communities, behaviour, engagement, huijbregts

We are walking into the Rêve, one of Tridel’s latest developments on King West in Toronto. This 14-storey residential building is one of the most advanced, enabled, and green communities in town.

 

As we walk in, we are greeted by the concierge that is not actually there. A high-definition Cisco TelePresence video solution beams the concierge in from some remote location. It’s as if she’s there and provides us directions as no in-person experience would have done any better. [Virtual Concierge]

 

On the 14th floor, we enter the Eco-Suite. This sustainable home combines high quality design, environmental features, and the latest technologies in an effort to augment and improve the experience of condo living as we know it.

 

Where we once would expect light switches, we now find touch displays that control much more than light. For every room in the suite, we can control our lights, blinds, energy, TV and audio. It provides also the platform for accessing new web-based applications and value-added services. The same features and functionalities (and look and feel) are available on the TV screen, internet, and handheld devices.

 

Solar panels on the roof generate and augment power for the building, and many other environmental features such as green roofs, recycled building materials, and water-saving automatic faucets provide the ideal home for the environmentally conscious residents in the LEED-certified Rêve.

 

Surely, it is not about the technology or the panels on the roof, or even the TelePresence video solutions in the building.  All those are merely a means to an end: creating an environment (both physical and virtual) that becomes an extension and enabler for the rapidly changing expectations we have of life in an increasingly connected world.

 

We are looking for comfort, safety and security (both physical and virtual), health, flexibility and future-readiness, access to friends, family, and information, anytime and anywhere, and the ability to personalize everything around us as we see fit and when we see fit. We want to have all this while using as few resources as possible and leaving a smaller footprint in the world.

 

With the proliferation of connected devices (from tablets, smart phones, laptops, to the intelligence in our cars, and even our fridges and stoves) we can now surround ourselves ubiquitously with enabling technologies that provide the means to that end. Where typically this ability is limited to the devices that we carry; Tridel now made it integral part of the spaces that we live in.

 

Design, technology, the environment, innovation, and life… all becoming one.

2,421 Views 0 Comments Permalink Tags: innovation, networks, transformation, green, sustainability, buildings, change, communities, connected, smart_cities, smart_connected_communities, behaviour, engagement, huijbregts, rick

Today , the first employees of PWC will take possession of the first two floors of their new showcase property in downtown Toronto: PWC Tower @ 18 York. When they will walk into their offices, they will not find a light switch on the wall. Instead, they will now be able to turn on, dim and turn off their lights using the Cisco IP phone in the offices, meeting rooms, and quiet rooms. For any technology person this may not seem a big deal, yet it certainly will be a first for the occupants of 18 York.

 

__watch video on YouTube http://youtu.be/izs2gQlTtQk

 

This capability may appear deceivingly simple. But it is not quite as straight forward as a phone that communicates directly with a lighting system [which has been done before]. What makes this really so unique [above and beyond the CAPEX savings of a couple of hundred dollars per light switch] is the underlying architecture that enables it all to happen. 18 York is one of the first buildings with an end-to-end Building Information Network (converged fiber IP network infrastructure) that communicates with the network edge such as IP Phones, sensors, access points, but also with the lighting system, power meters, blinds, and soon also the building’s HVAC.

 

A gateway technology is used to capture and normalize the data that sits in traditionally silo-ed disparate building systems. A Centralized Management System (CMS) acts as the central nervous systems of the building. Features, functionalities, and policies are set in this CMS with the purpose to optimize the building performance, reduce the building energy footprint, and provide services that will enhance the occupants experience (e.g the ability to personalize lighting levels while maximizing energy savings).

 

The smart and connected real estate approach turned this state-of-the-art building into an information-centric operation that will provide so many more opportunities for facility and experience enhancements. For starters, the CMS will expose the building information to a cloud-based automated fault detection application that will predict the building’s performance and trigger condition-based and preventive maintenance activities. Also, soon we will be displaying the PWC’s energy consumption on the many digital signs in their modern office. With the IP Network as the building’s “Platform for Innovation”, this will just be the beginning.

 

The convergence didn’t stop with the technology alone. The true convergence was how the industry came together to make this happen. As the concept broke through technology silo’s, it also ruffled some of the established relationships and contracting methods. Building 21st Century buildings with 21st Century capabilities requires 21st Century thinking in organization, stakeholders, and teamwork. On this project, we saw GWLRA (landlord) and PWC (tenant) embrace and own the vision and everyone else rallied behind it. A big thanks to EllisDon, Cisco, Lutron, Flexity, FifthLight, Canem, and everyone else involved (www.smart18york.com).

 

Convergence at its best ! Let’s do it again (and again and again).

 

 

 

2,159 Views 0 Comments Permalink Tags: innovation, networks, transformation, energy, buildings, change, s+cre, communities, connected, engagement, huijbregts, productivity

If I received a buck for each time that someone asked me: “Show me the ROI?” – I’d be rich by now. If by “ROI” one would mean “holistic economic sustainability” then it wouldn’t be all that bad. Unfortunately, more often than not, “ROI” just means “lowest first cost, with obvious pay-back times”. By that definition, I wonder if Nikola Tesla and his friends (commercial electricity in 19th Century) would have had the same experience that I have daily; or if Willis Haviland Carrier (electrical air conditioning in 1902) and Elisha Graves Otis (elevators in 1852) would have sold any of their expensive and unproven innovations.

 

In those transformative instances, it were often other drivers that pushed for the innovation. Things like comfort; demand and expectations; or the aspiration of doing things differently and pursuing new adjacent opportunities triggered some of the most exciting inventions in the construction and real estate industry. Of course, I am not promoting to forget about financial ROI’s and ignore the importance of economic sound decision-making. All I am asking is that we take on the entrepreneurial attitude of 100 years ago where one was willing to take a leap of faith in accepting new and unproven technologies and methodologies.

 

How many of us out there still don’t believe that the Internet and the underlying Networks become instrumental for the performance of our built environment. How many of us still don’t believe that our children and their children will expect connectivity, wireless, and access to a personalized environment when the set foot in a home or building. Home many of us still don’t think that mobility, “cloud computing”, and virtualized compute power will change the landscape of the built environment and everything that we do in it, as we know it.

 

Funnily enough: it is all happening – Corporate real estate professional decide on new leasing space by the number of bars they receive on their mobile phones. Students will come home irritated from their first week in college if it so appeared that there wasn’t any wireless. Building systems in high-end North American properties are monitored and operated from world-class operations centers in India and the Middle East. And oh yes, the ROI has proven to be there – it is cheaper to build a building with one converged building-grade network as opposed to installing multiple silo-ed networks for silo-ed applications.

 

Technology in buildings can simply not be “value-engineered” out of construction anymore in exchange for prettier marble in the lobby areas. Technology in buildings has become the right thing to do; and a critical asset to next generation infrastructure.

 

To keep the conversation meaningful, we have to redirect our attention from pure financial ROI’s to the balance of economic, environmental, and social ROI’s. And that means that “soft” factors will end up weighing as much into the equation as those financial metrics that have become some comfortable with. The financial pro-forma’s need to change to reflect the true value and return of 21st Century infrastructure assets. If we had Excel 100 years ago, we would still be analyzing spreadsheets and be debating with Willis over the financial returns for electrical air conditioning.

 

Thus now: let’s just do it.

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Today we received three powerful presentations of cloud-based application providers in the Smart + Connected space. One is an up-and-coming star in automated fault detection and energy management. Another is leading in dashboards and process optimization through data visualization. The last one showed some impressive analytics for carbon measurement and reporting. All three are nothing but impressive and I look forward doing business with all of them – but they’re also not the first nor alone. I truthfully don’t remember how many cloud-based application providers we have met and whose solutions we have reviewed. One is better than the other, and we may have to see eventually how this market will shake itself down.

 

Naturally, there is nothing wrong with all this. It’s the new way. This is where the future lies for all businesses; and so also for the construction and real estate industry (who by and large - with few exceptions - does not quite understand the impact this will have on business as we know it).

 

Flashback. 18 years ago. In my first conversation with my Harvard professor, I was introduced to the concept of “Islands of Automation”. Interesting concept: there is all this wealth of facility and operational data sitting in many disparate systems and software that seem not able to communicate with one another in an effort to optimize building performance and the eventual experience in the environment. The result is: multiple screens, multiple interfaces, multiple control…lots of cost and inefficiency. There must and shall be ways with which we can better utilize all this silo-ed information and create higher performance buildings.

 

Now, back to today. Yes. We did it. Indeed, a standardized foundational infrastructure is deployed to tap into all these disparate systems and free up the wealth of building data that finds itself locked in proprietary silos: introducing the Network as the Platform for Building Transformation (shameless plug). IP has become the standard to moving bits and bites around to power up these valuable and up and coming cloud-based applications.

 

However….if we (simplistically) break their services down in three layers; we recognize that this new industry is fighting over at least two layers that they all have in common. (1) access to the data and the ownership of the data warehouse. All deploy many (sometimes proprietary or customized) ways to extract the data from the building. (2) the visualization of data through sexy and easy-to-use dashboards. One is prettier than the other. As a customer, do I now still have many different websites to go to in order to access my data (energy, carbon, maintenance, fault detection, etc…..mind you; there is probably not ONE perfect app out there; we’re going for “best of breed”).

 

(3) the actual meat and potatoes—the analytics. It is this 3rd (architecturally considered the middle layer) that really sets the vendors apart. Where the real value is added.

 

If a building owner can’t “standardize” on data collection, aggregation, and warehousing (call it the back-end);  as well as the front end access (dashboards) of the information; and naturally one Network that connects the two together….aren’t we still building Islands of Automation, yet now they’re in the cloud? Different tentacles reach in the building to grab what they need, yet ignoring the possible value of the aggregate? Various data warehouses on different databases around the world capturing bits and pieces of building performance data that is required for the specific service or function? We still may need bridges between the islands of automation. They now have become virtual. Who is going to capitalize on the new bridge construction…and tolls?

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Last month Cisco launched its UPoE (Universal Power over Ethernet), delivering up to 60W to networked end-devices. Now, I am not very technical myself to understand how this all works, but I certainly can see the business implications (for every IT professional and business, but also the developers of buildings and communities) as the journey of PoE continues to develop.

 

Power over Ethernet (PoE)  is a technique that delivers electrical power over Local Area Network cabling to networked devices. PoE itself isn’t new (but not old either). In 2000 we were able to deliver 7W over the network, called “Inline Power”. The term PoE was coined in 2003 when the IEEE approved a standard (IEEE 802.3af) for PoE up to 15.4W. Only 4 years ago PoE was able to deliver 30W to networked devices, enough to power IP Phones, wireless access points, but also video surveillance cameras and access controllers. Last year, Delta Controls was the first building automation company to launch its PoE IP HVAC controller to the market which was premiered at Carleton University in Ottawa. This year, Universal Power over Ethernet (UPoE) leapfrogged the industry to provide 60W per switch port to enable new deployment options in next-generation infrastructure.

 

So, how is all this relevant for those outside of IT (especially for those that build buildings and communities)? UPoE will cut capital and operational cost; simplify facilities maintenance and management; reduce environmental footprint; and provide for future-ready physical environments.

 

(1) As “the Internet of Things” becomes part of the DNA of an infrastructure project (as the 4th Utility), we’ll see more and more devices connect natively to the Network (from IP Phones to LED lighting, HVAC controllers, TelePresence, LCD displays, etc.). Once connected to the Network, many of these devices can, should, and will be able to be powered through this same network. The elimination (or reduction) of electrical cabling and the labor related to it will have a significant positive impact on the capital cost of a networked building. How many power plugs do you need at a desk if your phone, TelePresence unit, and your laptop are going to be powered through the same network that operates them? Consider $300 per door (or more) savings for eliminating the electrical provisioning for each access controller above your ceiling panels.

 

(2) Operational maintenance and management (including Moves, Adds, and Changes or MACs) of networked devices that are powered over Ethernet become much more efficient and cost effective. Especially if you extend the PoE infrastructure with available kinetic technologies (i.e. a kinetic light switch does not need ANY wiring as its kinetic energy communicates over a PoE wireless network) the possibilities of quick customization and change of our physical environments becomes more effortless and instant. One would not need an electrician (as we know them) anymore to add or rewire electrical infrastructure to accommodate new locations for networked devices. A video surveillance camera, LCD display, or LED light fixture can be placed (and powered) in places where no electrical wiring is provided.

 

(3) It is a well established fact that much of our energy loss is due to the many up and down conversions that are needed to move electrons from the power plant to the low-voltage end devices in your building (consider how hot the power plug for your laptop can get). If you add the possibility of adding solar energy or other alternative energy sources, you now can leverage the network to generate in DC and deliver in DC, thus eliminating energy loss due to conversions. Also, the Network is optimized to monitor, manage and control the power delivery and consumption to all its networked devices (see: EnergyWise). UPoE makes energy optimization and reduction part of the buildings DNA.

 

(4) Lastly (yet, there are many more benefits that I’ll discuss in future blogs), UPoE adds to the future-readiness of a networked building. We don’t know what systems and devices will be required for the performance and operation of our physical environments. What we do know is that the Network is the new lifeline of such environments; and end devices will consume less and less energy (maybe 60W or less—wouldn’t that be interesting)?

 

This means that the networks we are building today are able to power, enhance, and enable the features and functionalities of tomorrow.

Maybe it’s time to re-write MasterFormat Division 26? (and consequently also 23, 25, 27, 28, 33).

 

www.rickhuijbregts.com

2,208 Views 0 Comments Permalink Tags: innovation, technology, s+cc, ict, smart_grid, networks, smart_building, transformation, green, energy, sustainability, buildings, systems, change, s+cre, connected, smart_cities, cisco_energywise, smart_connected_communities, productivity, rick, emissions

Last week I attended two industry event: BOMA International in Washington and the ULI National Policy and Practice forum in Chicago (on “The New Transparency in Real Estate: Sustainability Metrics, Asset Performance, and Public Disclosure”). Both excellent events with topics that we probably wouldn’t be discussing at either event only five years ago. “Information” or [performance data] has become a mainstream topic in the real estate sector that now intrigues the most skeptical and least technology savvy individuals in the industry. Shareholders are demanding more detailed performance data as they assess risk and make investment decisions; tenants are demanding more detailed performance data as they need to comply with corporate policies and regulations; and in some instances also governments are demanding more detailed performance data as it has code or tax implications. Consequently, landlords require more detailed performance data, merely to meet the rapidly changing requirements of their property stakeholders.

 

Interesting studies were presented by both JCI (Institute for Building Efficiency) and Nils Kok (fellow country-man and visiting professor at Berkeley University—interesting blog to follow). Nils cited a study in where he concluded that LEED buildings have on average 7% higher effective rents and 13% increased property value. Although at both events it was clear that “green” [or environmental sustainability] was main topic of discussion; in my humble opinion we missed an opportunity to involve the other critical aspects of true performance. A vacant building that is incredibly energy efficient is wasteful. A building with lowest carbon footprint that reduces workforce productivity is shameful. A LEED building with low operating cost without any internet connectivity to the rest of world is useless. True performance data would constantly (yes; ideally in real-time) present the balance between environmental, economic, corporate, and social sustainability. It may well be the case that you may have to sacrifice a little on one aspect in order to optimize another.

 

Buildings that demonstrate the perfect harmony of all pillars of sustainability will outperform its less optimized peers (hmm. It’s like nature: see my blog on biomimicry). It is important that we recognize the different meanings of “property value” (a sales price for the owner; workforce productivity for the tenant; easy/cost of operations for the landlord, etc) and use all available data (green, utilization, economic, etc) to define the true drivers for high performance buildings. Maybe I do this during my summer vacation

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If you don’t have time to read this blog: at least check this out – www.smart18york.com

 

Ricardo is right: partnerships play a strategic role in making buildings and cities smarter (welcome to the blogging team, Ricardo). When we talk about convergence, integration, and IP-enabled buildings, we may take “the process” by which to put these together a little for granted. Although for most of us this is all not rocket-science anymore; we are, however, dealing with an industry (one that plans and builds cities and buildings) that hasn’t seen much innovation in the last few decades. New and innovate partnerships, and out-of-the-box collaboration is necessary to create 21st century cities and buildings.

 

york_socialbanner.jpg

 

For one of Toronto’s latest high-rise commercial buildings, we’re doing just that. The industry has come together to JOINTLY collaborate on creating a true converged and integrated work environment for PWC’s new Canadian headquarter. This state-of-the art building (www.18york.com) has a fourth utility (IP backbone) that serves as the central nervous system of the property. The integration of lighting, telephony, metering and the supervisory control of the its Centralized Management System will provide PWC immediately with the ability to monitor and control (through web access but also through the Cisco IP Phone) their energy consumption and (initially) also there lighting.

 

This is just the beginning. Because of the future-ready network, PWC and the building owner will now continue to expand on their services to further optimize the performance of the building and reduce energy consumption and cost for operating it.

 

The project team has agreed to share the progress and this exciting collaboration with the world. Talk about transparency. Using social media, we will inform the client, the industry, and everyone who is interested how we are doing what we are doing. Kudos to EllisDon, Flexity, Guild Electric, Mulvey+Banani, Lutron, FifthLight, Canem, A.R.E.A Solutions and Cisco. Follow the progress on www.smart18york.com and visit back often.

1,656 Views 0 Comments Permalink Tags: innovation, networks, collaboration, transformation, buildings, change, communities, huijbregts, productivity, partnerships

A great new video was posted on YouTube that shows the world in transition. http://youtu.be/Rm19GOndDWo. In parts of the world today, people have access to technology before they have access to quality water and electricity. More people; more bandwidth (and the need thereof); more communications devices (e.g smart phones and tablets)…Cisco estimates that the number of devices connected to the Internet in 2020 could potentially reach 1 trillion – driven by sensors on buildings, smart meters, livestock, even your toilet can be connected providing you with a daily health update. This connected fabric of networks and devices allow us to increase productivity; enable new business models and services; and to address the environmental challenges more effectively. The global building stock today tends to not contribute effectively to any of these inflections: they are not productive (underutilized), don’t allow for new and innovative services to accommodate the rapid changing needs of its users (the millennial generation gap), and large contributors to green house gas emissions and environmental inefficiencies (30 – 40% of energy consumption).

 

In today’s connected world, however, this is changing. For the longest time we’ve talked about “intelligent buildings”, but it merely meant more automation in building systems. The notion of connectivity and IP standardization is taking “intelligent buildings” to whole new levels. Real Estate (together WITH information technology) becomes the new platform for innovative services to building users, optimization of space utilization and worker productivity, and for enhanced management, monitoring, and control of all environmental components (not just heating and lighting; but also how the buildings are used and interact with the people and its environment). Smart + Connected Real Estate assumes one converged IP infrastructure as the new utility in buildings that now becomes the platform for heating, cooling, lighting, elevators, meters, security, energy, telephony, business video, mobility, etc. In the connected world where 1 trillion devices will speak the same language and communicate over IP networks, we can even further advance the value and benefits for everyone involved in buildings.

 

Until recently (and unfortunately mainly still), the “unknown” of this transformation prevented building architects, engineers, developers, and owners to embrace this new thinking of IP-enabled sustainable real estate. Well, this is changing also. I am proud to be part of a strong and rapid growing Canadian eco-system of industry partners that are seeing the opportunities and have dealt with the challenges. In the last few weeks alone, we’ve seen some great milestones where we have demonstrated that (a) converged IP infrastructures versus the traditional many silos is CHEAPER. Depending the use cases we’ve seen savings of 3 – 10% on the low-voltage package. (b) IP edge devices are readily available to round out the cost-effective and future-ready solution for 21st Century buildings. (c) the partner eco-system has build capabilities to now effectively design, implement and manage the new dream of Smart + Connected Real Estate. At Cisco’s Networkers Solution Forum in Toronto this week we have showcased several of our partners and demonstrated the ease and value of IP connected buildings. I look forward to blog about those buildings that we are collaborating on and will open their doors in the next few months. Big things are happening. Stop the status quo. Let’s make it right  (copyright from our great partner Mike Holmes and Holmes Group) TOGETHER.

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...and a Greener World because of Networked Buildings.

 

Written for www.automatedbuildings.com

 

 

Introducing the Internet of Things—including Sustainability

It started early 90s when businesses took on the Internet to support their marketing and drive early-adopter productivity measures into their organizations (websites, emails, extranets). When in the late 90s the consumers moved onto the Internet the World Wide Web became a place to connect, interact, and transact. The consumerization of the Internet accelerated innovation, business transformation, and subsequent growth.

 

Just at the beginning of this last decade, approximately 400 million devices communicated over the Internet. The Network had proven to be the platform that connects people to people, people to machines, and machines to machines.

 

The turn of the decade marked the industrialization of the Internet. EVERYTHING is getting connected. It is estimated that, not many years from now, more than 1 trillion devices will be communicating over the Internet driving more than ½ a zettabyte of traffic over the Network. From cars, to refrigerators, to shopping carts and consumer goods, to more and more mobile devices, as well as smart meters, streetlights and light bulbs, toilets and soap dispensers, sensors, HVAC controllers [check out video from Controls & Equipment that shows the state of IP and POE controllers in the industry], and so forth—everything will be connected to the Internet of Things. There is no stopping this.

 

So, what does that mean to us [the building automation and real estate industry], and how does this make for greener buildings? Let’s look at the benefits that an inexhaustible Networked World can have on environmental sustainability through three lenses:

 

Sustainable Work

 

We build buildings to support the way we learn, live, work, and play. We work smarter, live smarter, learn smarter, and play smarter; why would our buildings not need to be smarter? Therefore, why don’t we first explore how a Networked World can help us optimize the experience we have in our buildings? Ultimately, a building is only truly intelligent if it helps advance user experience and productivity. Mobility and business video are among the two biggest drivers that empower people to be productive anytime and anywhere. The rapid growth of tablet devices is merely proof of the increasing desire for people to have access to productivity tools, anywhere they want. It is surely transforming everything we do.

 

Cisco has fully embraced business video [Telepresence] to keep people out of planes and improve their individual and group productivity. Since the launch of Telepresence in 2009, the company has installed more than 1,000 video end-points across its 400-building portfolio. As of February 13, 2011, 32% of all meetings at Cisco avoided travel, saving the company $782M and 422,092 metric tons of GHG emissions. Simultaneously, the company measured $293M in productivity cost savings. The Telepresence rooms have a 63% overall average room utilization—making them among the most utilized and productive environments within our real estate portfolio. The improved means of communication (in quality, quantity, and interactions) have resulted in the shortening of sales cycles by nearly 10%. You can arguably forget about everything else in this article—Business video is Sustainability At Work.

 

Sustainable Place

 

Mobility, business video, and numerous other ways in which we transform the way we live, learn, work, and play has a corresponding impact on the actual space that we need. The utilization and productivity of buildings can increase dramatically. At Cisco we are measuring a 33% improvement of utilization because of the changes in the way how we work—which means that we can “do more with less”… less desks, less cabling, less floor space, less heating and less cooling. The impact of technology on design and functional programming has to be considered by any space planner and corporate real estate department. There are big savings to be had if only technology and innovation are taken into account in the planning, design, and construction phases.

 

Sustainable Buildings

 

The Networked World allows us to access and address all people, systems, and devices that in their own right contribute to our carbon footprint. As we now –and only now— are able to holistically measure their impact on the environmental sustainability in real time, we find true ability to monitor and subsequently control environmental performance and outputs. THE CLOUD is giving us virtual means to consistently and continuously optimize the performance and productivity of our buildings.

 

It is not about building systems anymore; it is about building intelligence (or analytics). Building automation is becoming a means to an end. We can all (user, owner, operator, etc) benefit from the ability to do something more intelligent with all the valuable data that already resides in the many systems and devices within the built environment. Sustainable Buildings can extract this information and provide real-time feedback as to the necessary performance improvements that will drive down energy consumption and GHG emissions. This connectivity and interoperability between everything in our buildings can be achieved by integration and convergence onto one single IP Network—and the normalization of the many protocols in the building automation, security, and technology industries.

 

Convergence, integration, and inter-operability have proven to reduce energy consumption by 25%, and reduce operating cost by up to 10%.

 

Convergence

 

Those that occupy real estate should consider the convergence of “work”, “place”, and “buildings” and seek to optimize the total rather than a part. The environmental, economic, and social benefits of energy savings, no matter how cleverly it has been achieved, may simply be dwarfed by the benefits of changing how we work, or how we use our spaces. Embrace technology and innovation to help meet the sustainability objectives.

The capabilities and technologies; the companies that can help build, install, and maintain them; and the processes by which to use them to reduce a company’s—community’s—, or country’s carbon footprint are all there.

 

Nothing discussed here is “new” or bleeding edge. All it takes is a persistent owner and customer; willing and cooperative industry participants; and the appreciation that the status quo won’t get us the change we need.  Hmmm…did we just put our finger on the real problem the industry is facing?fighting-a-battle.gif

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In a stunning event last month (at least, to me), Ontario had to pay Quebec and the US more than $1.5M to have them take excess energy that was produced. The extreme “warm” weather was blamed for the over-production and reduced demand of energy in Ontario. Really, what are we doing? This $1.5M of our tax payer’s money could have been put to better use in education, healthcare, or even energy reform.

 

Clearly, once again, this demonstrates that the system is broken; both the supply and the demand side. Why was the system not able to anticipate the change in consumption? Consequently, why was the production of energy not adjusted to take this reduction into consideration and thus only produce what we actually need?

 

You would think that all the information one needs to make such decisions is readily available. There is weather information (we knew it would warm up); there is consumption and demand information (we have trending data of the buildings and others that use energy—at least, so you’d think); aren’t there analytics out there smart enough to see the correlation and trigger a signal to the producers of energy? Of course there are.

 

Surely, this is a topic that warrants many conversations—so let’s just focus on the demand side. The buildings that we build and occupy consume their fair share of energy, more than 40% of all consumption to be precise. They’re also known to be not effective in optimizing its energy performance. It won’t be the first time that we seen baseboard heaters trying to heat up a space while at the same time air-conditioning systems are trying to balance it out in order to make for a comfortable environment. This (among much other inefficiency) is proving to waste 20% to 30% of our energy in buildings. Now, if we would like to control this, we need to monitor it 24/7, thus measure it in real-time, and consequently we will need to have ubiquitous access to energy and usage information in our buildings.

 

Convergence and integration allows us to tap into the wealth of information that is currently being stored in disparate systems that make our buildings work. Once we have consistent access to all this information (regardless of its source and regardless of its protocols) we can add analytics to the opportunity in front of us. It is this intelligence that makes our buildings smarter and more dynamic part of its environment. Building information can correlate with data from the weather channel as well as real-time utilization data. Combined, we can add policy to our built environment that will automatically optimize the energy performance and productivity of the building and the people and systems in it.

 

Turn lights off if nobody is using the space and adjust the thermostat accordingly. Lower blinds if the sun glares into a floor and results air-conditioning to work overtime. Optimize lighting levels based on day-light harvesting and the appropriate temperature levels based on occupant preferences. Inform the users of the space of their individual contribution to the buildings’ energy consumption and consequently trigger behavioral change that will even further reduce the energy demand. All this and more can be reactive as well as pro-active. Predictive modeling can actually recommend environmental settings that will even further drive optimization in the built environment.

 

All this, and much more is possible if people, systems, and devices become connected over one open and common infrastructure: the building information network, or the ‘fourth utility’. Let’s have them all speak the same language and give them the ability to interact with one another as they collectively contribute to the optimization and productivity of our spaces.

 

Now, how does this resolve the problem that Ontario faced last month: having to “beg” our neighboring provinces and country to buy our excess energy?  Well…simple: you make the demand side of the equation smart enough that it can intelligently inform the supply side as to when and how much energy needs to be delivered to meet its performance requirements. The capabilities and technologies that enable this two-way communication are largely available today. Then, what is it that prevents this from happening?

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