EMAIL INTERVIEW – J. Christopher Larry & Ken Sinclair

J. Christopher Larry P.E., C.E.M., C.E.P., C.I.P.E, LEED AP
Director of Energy Engineering for Teng Solutions in Richmond, VA

Chairman of the BiQ Advisory Board

Chris has spent 25 years working to minimize the building industries Energy and Environmental footprint through refining Building Design, Building Modeling, Performance Optimization and Intelligent Controls. Chris is currently Director of Energy Engineering for Teng & Associates, a top 150 ranked full service A&E firm headquartered in Chicago, Illinois with multiple offices throughout the country to service their clients. The Energy Services work supports the Teng Solutions Group renowned work on Building System Integration. Chris has previous experience as Senior Energy Engineer for Siemens Building Technologies, Mid-Central District Performance Contracting Group, Consulting Engineer for Burt Hill Kosar Rittelmann Architects and Flack + Kurtz Consulting Engineers.

Chris is the Chairman of the BiQ Advisory Board within CABA (The Continental Automated Buildings Association).

This interview was done with the assistance of Rawlson O'Neil King, CABA Communications Director, and also involved David Katz and Jiri Skopek as they are heavily involved in the BiQ Tool.

BIQ website access: http://www.building-iq.com/biq/index.html

Update on Building Intelligence Quotient ( BIQ )

The BIQ™ is also a learning tool, a teaching tool, a Building Intelligence information marketplace and design team collaboration tool.

Sinclair: Why don’t you start by give our readers a background on where the BIQ came from?

Larry: That’s a good place to start. The Building Intelligence Quotient or (BIQ™) is provided by CABA (The Continental Automated Buildings Association). CABA is a not-for-profit industry association dedicated to the advancement of intelligent home and intelligent building technologies throughout the world.

The organization is supported by an international membership of nearly 400 companies involved in the design, manufacture, installation and retailing of products relating to home automation and building automation. Public organizations, including utilities and government are also members.

CABA's mandate includes providing its members with networking and market research opportunities. CABA also encourages the development of industry standards and protocols, and leads cross-industry initiatives.

Sinclair: What is the BIQ?

Larry: The BIQ™ is an online Intelligent Building ranking tool.

Sinclair: That’s a short answer. Can you tell us more about it?

Larry: I did that on purpose so that we get the point across, but you are right; The BIQ™ is so much more than an online ranking tool and I think most people are not seeing its true value.

The BIQ™ is also a learning tool, a teaching tool, a Building Intelligence information marketplace and design team collaboration tool.

The tool is based on a scoring from 0 to 100 so it is very easy to see where you stand by comparison.

Sinclair: Why do you think people are not seeing its true value?

Larry: This tool and the information it is based on is before its time and most people are just now finding out the value in Intelligent Building Design. But I said most people, not all the people. We have some great success stories.

First we have over 200 users and almost 100 buildings in our database. Based upon that database, we have selected the following four (4) buildings as the “Best of Class” and will be part of an Intelligent Building Award to be announced the end of this year.

One great example of how this tool was used as designed and its benefits was at Case Western. Case Western and its design team wanted to renovate its buildings to make them more intelligent. To do this they needed first to evaluate what existing components were intelligent and what could be done to increase intelligence in each area. The owner was knowledgeable about smart buildings and the design team had experience in this area. They used the tool to begin and used the tool to baseline the existing score. With this they found the systems which scored high and which systems scored low. The tool helped the design team open discussions with the owner about improvements and their costs. The design team could refer to this tool as a standard and not their opinion so the owner took their input as a way to move forward. The tool also helped organize the improvements into systems for them to focus their discussions. The tool also had links to additional information, resources, websites, products and other helpful ideas which helped provide a comprehensive project. Using this tool, Case Western went from a poorly performing building to a smart building in a broad sense.

Sinclair: We heard that Green Globes, the system the BIQ™ was based on was sold. Can you tell us more?

Larry: Yes. That is correct. The Green Globes products are owned and operated by ECD Jones Lang LaSalle. CABA is working with Green Globes to develop an agreement to ensure further investment in the tool will benefit CABA and the BI industry.

Once this agreement is approved, the awards which have been planned will be announced and CABA and The Building Intelligence Quotient Consortium will begin working on Revision 2 of the BIQ™.

Sinclair: What will be included in Revision 2?

Larry: That is a great question. First, I will tell you what has been done recently. The links, resources and data supporting the tool and each of the ranking questions have been updated so that they will not expire by linking to supported sites and well known sources.

The changes included under Revision 2 are just now being developed. We are going to determine these changes in a few ways; we will be sending out a questionnaire and ask its users what they would like to see. We would like to work with other IB leaders, industry groups and other ranking systems on ways to meet their needs.

Sinclair: Who are these leaders, groups and ranking systems?

Larry: Well I hope I don’t leave anyone out but we are looking to the CABA members and manufacturers of Intelligent Building systems, Designers, Engineers and building owners. BOMA, IFMA and ASHRAE all have the opportunity to support and become part of the next revision. We are also talking with the USGBC (LEED) to incorporate this tool into the LEED rating system.

Sinclair: Why LEED and have they been receptive?

Larry: There are many parallels between the green building industry and the intelligent building industry. LEED is the leading Green Building rating system but they are losing their hold on the confidence of the public. There are too many LEED buildings which are not performing and they are not smart enough to indicate how they perform. Making Green buildings smart enough to report their performance will build confidence in the rating system. The BIQ™ can be used to help LEED certify these buildings.

LEED has not been receptive but we are still talking with them.

Rev 2 should include pricing of the solutions and we are working with RS Means to help create a database of intelligent building system pricing based on specific templates and comparables. With this we can show our users the economic benefits of building intelligence.

There are major efforts underway to have the GSA and the PWGSC collaborate on the BiQ version 2.0 so that the stimulus funds used to improve government buildings include the increase of building intelligence. Also many of the upcoming utility energy efficiency and demand response programs for buildings will include commissioning and retro- commissioning. The BiQ 2.0 version can be a great tool to address the Building to Smart Grid interoperability.

The BIQ™ site is an affordable and easy to use online Intelligent Building ranking tool. The BIQ™ Certification Process increases market penetrability of Intelligent Building technology with building owners, operators, managers and designers by demonstrating value and providing guidance.  A number of companies and corporations such as Honeywell have purchased licenses for global access to the BIQ database.

FREE DEMOs of the BIQ have been provided for all CABA members. Your demo can be arranged by contacting the Program Manager at dkatz@building-iq.com. 

The BIQ™ is provided by CABA and the Building Intelligence Quotient Consortium (BIQC). The Consortium members are experts in their respective fields who are currently engaging their fellow CABA Intelligent & Integrated Buildings Council (IIBC) members in developing the infrastructure for the Building Intelligence Certification Process.
 

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