AutomatedBuildings.com

Archive of Building Automation Articles

This archive is a compilation of all the Building Automation articles and columns published in our Emag.  If you'd like to submit an article or column for publication please send an email to news@automatedbuildings.com and we'll walk you through the process. It's a great way to share your knowledge and help support others in our industry.

 

 

OAP
[Click Banner To Learn More]

 

We are changing our Article Archives to a linked listing of the monthly articles without categorizing.   The original article archives will remain as originally setup.  Click here to access these.

Articles - September 2010

"Open" It can be argued that the word ‘Open’ is the most fundamental key word that has driven the BAS industry over the last decade and will continue to drive it in the future. Nirosha Munasinghe MBusIT BSc BE (Hons) (Melb), Product Development Manager, Open General

FAVOURITE  From the Silo to Open Collaborative Facility Internetworks  Today we have to anticipate a new kind of network in the facility - The Facility Network. That particular network has to be developed before the building automation subsystem details. Nino Kurtalj, President, Elma Kurtalj Ltd

A Rose  I’m talking about the endless list of buzzwords that have occupied these pages over the past years and represent technologies and initiatives that have—and have not—transformed our industry and environments.  Anto Budiardjo, Clasma

FAVOURITE  Does Owning the Meters Make You Smarter?  Only if you do smart things with them. If we own the smart meter or collection of sub-meters we no longer need to deal with other people politics. Ken Sinclair, AutomatedBuildings.com, Publisher

FAVOURITE  Seeing is Believing  Stay Cutting Edge with Visual Representation  Sarah Erdman, Marketing Director, QA Graphics 

Control Issues  Controls and building management systems have for too long been relegated to the final stages of building commissioning. And they have remained largely misunderstood by most building stakeholders, to the detriment of building performance and overall energy efficiency. But the industry is set to take control, as Sean McGowan reports. Ecolibrium, AIRAH official journal.

Certifications  Why you need to know about the Certified Automation Professional, Jacob Jackson, CAP, CTS, LEED AP, MCP, Assurity Design Group

Columns - September 2010

FAVOURITE  Why is it that control systems don’t work?  Focus on thorough control design and installation, coupled with good training and tools for continuous commissioning and monitoring. These are the keys to the delivery of high performance building operation platforms. Paul Ehrlich & Ira Goldschmidt, Building Intelligence Group

The Power to Control Home Lighting and Appliances comes to your handheld device  Web services are the future of empowering personal power savings. Manny Mandrusiak, Vice President of OPC Marketing, OPC Foundation

Smart Buildings share schedules with Business and Smart Grids  Using WS-Calendar for scheduling things  Toby Considine, T9

Articles - August 2010

FAVOURITE  Monitoring-based Commissioning for Proactive Energy Management  MBCx can provide new opportunities for commissioning providers. Peter Sharer, Founder, Agilewaves, Inc

FAVOURITE  A Window into Shading and Electrically Switchable Glass  There are three systems that need to act in tandem: lighting control systems, the HVAC system and the shading system. Jim Sinopoli PE, RCDD, LEED AP Managing Principal, Smart Buildings LLC

Integrating the BMS on Campuses 150 miles apart Johnson Controls installed a multi-vendor head-end workstation to integrate a number of legacy building automation systems which controlled 28,000 physical points on the Twin Cities and Duluth campuses.  Becky Wacker, Systems Sales Engineer, Johnson Controls

Improving the Construction Process with BIM  The models and intelligent information that BIM can provide offer better visualization of a project as a whole, and allow more information to be included early on in the design stages, ultimately improving the communication among everyone involved in the construction process.  Sarah Erdman, Marketing Director, QA Graphics 

Common Problems of our Industry  As an industry we must address this issue with greater care than what we have done over the last decade. There needs to standards developed to govern a far greater synergy between original specification and commissioned results. Nirosha Munasinghe MBusIT BSc BE (Hons) (Melb), Product Development Manager, Open General

Occupying Yourself with Energy and Occupancy  The most popular technology for counting people at the doorway appears to be thermal sensors or imaging, infrared and video analytics.  Jim Sinopoli PE, RCDD, LEED AP Managing Principal, Smart Buildings LLC

Smart Grid Consolidates to Meet the Challenge  As major electrical giants begin to emerge from the recession, the number of acquisitions in the smart grid space is on the up, according to an executive brief from business intelligence provider Memoori.  Jim McHale, Memoori 

OPC Xi Overview  White Paper This article briefly compares OPC Xi with Classic OPC and OPC UA, and provides an overview of OPC XiRandy Kondor - OPC Training Institute; Lee Neitzel - Emerson Process Management; Thomas J. Burke - OPC Foundation

Columns - August 2010

VFD Retrofit Opportunities  Variable frequency drive opportunities abound!  Steven R. Calabrese, Control Engineering Corp.

When Does Building Automation Become Industrial Automation?  However tempting or logical it might seem to use industrial automation in complex building projects, it usually leads to problems (generally due to the technical and business practices “gaps”) that are greater than the benefits. Paul Ehrlich & Ira Goldschmidt, Building Intelligence Group

FAVOURITE  Smart Buildings & Smart Energy: the Integration Challenge  Toby Considine, T9

Energy – How much do we have, how much do we need, and where do we find it?  How will PROFIenergy be used to balance the energy equation?  Manny Mandrusiak, Vice President of OPC Marketing, OPC Foundation

Looking In On BACnet  Paths Through the BACnet Maze
  Andy McMillan, President and GM, Philips Teletrol

Integrated connected (IC) virtualization Through integrated connected virtualization, the world of large buildings will soon view everything connected differently.  Ken Sinclair, AutomatedBuildings.com

Articles - July 2010

FAVOURITE  Wireless Communicating Controls: The “Shower-Head Retrofit Solution!”  Michael Colicchio, Canadian Regional Development, Viconics Electronics Inc.

Re-Commissioning Facility Management Organizations  FM organizations need to re-examine their mission to determine goals and eventually objectives.  Jim Sinopoli PE, RCDD, LEED AP Managing Principal, Smart Buildings LLC

FAVOURITE  Energy Dashboards and Energy EDUCATION Dashboards  What’s the Difference?  Sarah Erdman, Marketing Director, QA Graphics 

The Benefit of a Virtual Environment to BAS  The bottom line is that studies have proven that using a virtualized server saves 7000 kWh of electricity and four tons of carbon dioxide per year.  Nirosha Munasinghe MBusIT BSc BE (Hons) (Melb), Product Development Manager, Open General

Wireless Pneumatic Direct Digital Control for the Energy Smart Building  Mark O’Hearne, Vice President Business Development and Marketing Millennial Net

More Than One Third of America’s Commercial HVAC Systems Are Broken. Right Now.  …but some HVAC issues can be addressed remotely, and failed units can be temporarily taken offline to save wear and tear. You just have to find the right ones to focus on . . .  Bob Bartmess, VP of Engineering, Site Controls

University Implements EMS in Older Buildings  Western Michigan finds a way to integrate pneumatic thermostats into its BAS  Harry Sim, CEO, Cypress Envirosystems

Energy Benchmarking and Monitoring  for Economic and Environmental Performance  Priscilla Koeckeritz, President and COO, EnergyPrint

Using Real-time Data to Foster Behavior Change  Understanding what you are consuming compared to what your neighbors, peers or classmates are using is important normative information that inspires behavior change.  Andrew deCoriolis, Public Programs Manager, Lucid Design Group

basMaker makes Tridium graphics a snap!  3D animation software has always been priced for graphic artists and movie makers and not cost effective for the construction industry.  Alper Uzmezler, BAS Services & Graphics

Columns - July 2010

Obtaining LEED Credits With Controls  What can we do to make our facility greener?  Steven R. Calabrese, Control Engineering Corp.

BAS as a Tool for Existing Buildings Operations  Operations teams are tasked with running buildings that have minimal documentation and may never have been properly commissioned. New tools, processes, and training can help overcome these issues. Paul Ehrlich & Ira Goldschmidt, Building Intelligence Group

Will Building Automation lead the next energy revolution?  It will be the vertical that will continue to create the products and devices that can make these new sources of energy easy and inexpensive to implement into existing building and factory infrastructures.  Manny Mandrusiak, Vice President of OPC Marketing, OPC Foundation

EMS and Traffic Jam Avoidance  A Systems-level Perspective on Energy Management  Andy McMillan, President and CEO, Teletrol Systems Inc.

FAVOURITE  Smart Energy and the End of Privacy  There is now no reason ever to throw out information. Operational data will be the new battleground for privacy.  Toby Considine, T9

Building Grid Connectivity  Building Connectivity is our future. Ken Sinclair, AutomatedBuildings.com

Articles - June 2010

FAVOURITE  Takeaways from ConnectivityWeek 2010  ConnectivityWeek was a great event - with the largest ever registration of over 1300. Many new grid partners created an increased impact with new energy solutions while showing us improved overall organization and connectivity of our industry.  Ken Sinclair AutomatedBuildings.com

Where The Rubber Meets The Road  Measurement and Verification  Jim Sinopoli PE, RCDD, LEED AP Managing Principal, Smart Buildings LLC

FAVOURITE  The Future of Cloud Connectivity for BAS  It is clear that cloud computing has the potential for the BAS to seamlessly integrate with other business services to provide a user friendly, cost effective and in depth solution to the client, transparent of the underlining technology.  Nirosha Munasinghe MBusIT BSc BE (Hons) (Melb), Product Development Manager, Open General

Saving Time with Image Modules  Improve Your Graphic Development Process  Sarah Erdman, Marketing Director, QA Graphics 

Wireless Energy Management Systems Building Bottom Lines  An entire segment of commercial buildings that was previously unable to afford a sophisticated EMS now has some very compelling options. Davis Watkins, Vice President Commercial Sales, Advanced Telemetry

Technology Park Leverages Technology to Move Beyond LEED Gold  University of Victoria’s Vancouver Island Technology Park turns to Cisco to transform decades-old hospital into modern innovation centre  Rick Huijbregts, Vice President, Vertical Industries, Cisco Canada

FAVOURITE  Kaiser Permanente Qualifies Old Building for Energy Incentives  Advanced pneumatic thermostats connect to EMS  Harry Sim, CEO, Cypress Envirosystems

Columns - June 2010

FAVOURITE  The Saga of Westlake Condominiums  Never underestimate the importance of clear, honest, open, and continuous communication  Steven R. Calabrese, Control Engineering Corp.

Doing things at the right time We created WS-Calendar to create, share, invoke, adjust, and track coordinated response between domains and organizations. Toby Considine, T9

OPC UA sets a solid foundation for systems to reach for the clouds  How does OPC UA illuminate the path to scalability?  Manny Mandrusiak, Vice President of OPC Marketing, OPC Foundation

Intelligent Buildings in the Age of Pneumatic Control?  How intelligent can a building be if most of the temperature control is provided by antiquated controls?  Paul Ehrlich & Ira Goldschmidt, Building Intelligence Group

Articles - May 2010

FAVOURITE  Preview of May 24-27 ConnectivityWeek 2010 Santa Clara  Lots of excitement surrounding the buildup to ConnectivityWeek and I have tried to capture and connect you to the points of interest for our industry. Ken Sinclair AutomatedBuildings.com

Finding the Answer  It is a realization that BAS needs to change to a new business proposition, one that leverages great technology now available, creates significant opportunities in greening buildings, and turns buildings into virtual power plants that add value to owners, power utilities, society at large, and of course, the BAS industry.  Anto Budiardjo, President & CEO, Clasma Events Inc.

Accelerating Wireless Controls in the Retrofit Market  It is the social responsibility of the global community to be committed to making wireless controls work!  Louis Viglione, Eng., President, Viconics Inc.

Pneumatic Integration Wirelessly to IP  New product provides the most advanced pneumatic retrofit solution available on the market today. Jill Fidler, National Sales Manager, Energy Controls Company

Technology Evolves Visual Expectations  When it comes to developing high-end graphics, most control companies don’t have the resources or software tools to develop 3D realistic graphics. Sarah Erdman, Marketing Director, QA Graphics 

FAVOURITE  Virtual Building Energy Management  Moving to Cloud-based Building Energy Management  Michael R. Lavelle P.E., Lavelle Energy LLC & Kimon Onuma, FAIA, ONUMA, Inc.

FAVOURITE  What is a Web Enabled Building Management System?  The philosophy of designing a fully web enabled system is not only to take advantage of the current web technologies available in the market but also to be future ready with concepts such as cloud computing. & Data Integration Levels  The philosophy of the integration device is to obtain required data from different vendors and protocols with minimum use of network bandwidth.  Nirosha Munasinghe MBusIT BSc BE (Hons) (Melb), Product Development Manager, Open General

The Next Gold Rush? Could Be Your Meter  Thar’s gold in your energy data (more than you might think)  Dave Krinkel, Founder EnergyAI

Getting Smarter Lighting Controls into Existing Buildings  Interoperability, Easy Commissioning, Flexibility, Reliability and Scalability for Wireless Lighting Controls  Jason Choong, Chief Solution Architect and Vice President Product Management, Daintree Networks 

Intelligent Buildings in the Institutional Sector  A three-way convergence of building control, consumption tracking (metering) and IT/business systems  Gord Echlin, Vice President Sales & Marketing, Triacta Power 

Using IP Protocol in an Energy Management Interface  Open protocols ease installation of new systems and interoperability of legacy controls  Paul Harris, Proliphix

Wireless Indoor Air Quality Monitoring  Achieve a heath indoor environment Gareth Evans, Marketing Assistant, PPM Technology Ltd

Building Industry Thought Leaders to Converge at ConnectivityWeek  This four-day event provides a unique opportunity for building owners, operators, facility managers, systems integrators and suppliers to learn about the key trends, technologies and solutions driving the BAS industry.  Barry Haaser, Principal, Haaser Associates

 Columns - May 2010

Controls Contracting Operations: Closeout  The final steps to the completion of a successful project Part 3 of 3 Steven R. Calabrese, Control Engineering Corp.

FAVOURITE  Integrated Lighting Control  Providing an efficient building requires good lighting control that includes coordinated scheduling, occupancy sensing, and daylight harvesting.  Paul Ehrlich & Ira Goldschmidt, Building Intelligence Group

Mobile is the new HMI  How an iPad saves money by making procedures lean  Manny Mandrusiak, Vice President of OPC Marketing, OPC Foundation

The Integration Barrier to Smart Energy  These specifications will move the markets in energy management systems into improved interfaces, for users, for enterprises, and for energy marketers. Toby Considine, T9

Building Connections – ConnectivityWeek  This is the place to gain insight into how to unleash opportunities and new business from all of this change. Ken Sinclair AutomatedBuildings.com

Articles - April 2010

ConnectivityWeek Laying Out the New Energy Management  The BAS industry is at the nexus of how we can use energy smartly in the future, and with this, comes enormous opportunity for the BAS industry.  Anto Budiardjo, President & CEO, Clasma Events Inc.

Knowledge - The Essential Foundation for Intelligent Buildings  The convergence of Smart Grid technologies, cloud computing and Internet-enabled applications, plus economic, market, regulatory, and environmental drivers offer unprecedented business opportunities for innovators and established companies to deliver energy management solutions for new and existing building stock. Christine Hertzog, Managing Director, Smart Grid Library

FDD Going Mainstream? Whose Fault Is It?  What has emerged over the last several years, are software tools based on fault detection and diagnostics (FDD) that have taken actionable information and system intelligence to a new level. Jim Sinopoli, PE, RCDD, LEED AP Managing Principal, Smart Buildings LLC

BAS-IT Convergence: Now and Into the Cloud Greg Turner, Honeywell Building Solutions

Cutting Costs and Carbon With Wireless Controls  Wireless can deliver – and generally does deliver a much lower overall installation cost. Alan Braybrook, Sales and Marketing Director, Sontay

A Wireless Solution For Energy Control In Existing Buildings  Costs Could Drop 30 to 70 Percent. Jack Bolick, President and Chief Executive Officer, Adura Technologies

FAVOURITE  What Secrets Lurk In the 98% of Energy Data that’s Never Looked At?  Are your meters trying to tell you something?  Dave Krinkel, Founder EnergyAI

SmartGrid – What it is… Technology to watch… Roy Kok, VP Sales and Marketing, Kepware Technologies

“Change or Die”  Developing a Successful Future for Facility Automation and Integration – Part 1.  Richard K. Warner, PE, LEED AP, President/CEO & William L. Parrish II, BSME (Rose-Hulman),  General Manager, Graphic Services Division, O&M Engineering, Inc.

An Earth Day Reminder: “Go Efficient” Nathan Rothman, Founder and CEO, Optimum Energy

The Tree of Knowledge  Climb it to improve your view, or it might fall on you. Robert Beverly, Editor, Engineered Systems Magazine

Just how safe are those 'standards-based' systems in your enterprise?  “Are all “standards” created equally?” What does it mean when someone buys such systems under the illusion that they’re making the right investment to enable their systems to run efficiently (we hope) and reliably?  Nathan Pocock, Director of Compliance, OPC Foundation

Keeping Customer Service Visible  Customer service is as vital and germane to our business now as it was in the days of automation overlays.  Thomas Hallett

 Columns - April 2010

FAVOURITE  Why Do Open Protocol Myths Still Abound?   We see plenty of opportunities for the industry to educate itself sufficiently to overcome these myths. Paul Ehrlich & Ira Goldschmidt, Building Intelligence Group

Controls Contracting Operations - Installation  Getting from point A to point B, successfully!  Part 2/3 Steven R. Calabrese, Control Engineering Corp.

UA…Xi…OPC...  Can I buy a vowel please Pat?  Manny Mandrusiak, Vice President of OPC Marketing, OPC Foundation

Microgrids and Smart Energy Microgrids, whether virtual or real, are an important organizing concept of smart energy. Toby Considine, T9

Putting the ‘M’ in EMS  Energy management from a management perspective  Andy McMillan, President and CEO, Teletrol Systems Inc.

The next big things: how building automation will change complex installations and commissioning Ken Sinclair AutomatedBuildings.com

Articles - March 2010

FAVOURITE  The Next Big Things  This dynamic duo will eliminate complex installations, provide; self set up, connection, and commissioning while self populating the needed information for web deployment. Ken Sinclair Editor/Owner, AutomatedBuildings.com

Energy Users, The Focus of BuilConn at ConnectivityWeek  Anto Budiardjo, President & CEO, Clasma Events Inc.

A Wired and Wireless Controller For Better ROI  BAS still require the use of several wired devices, which means that wired and wireless technologies need to be integrated together within a single system to enable centralized control. David Lamarche Director of Communication, SCL Elements Inc.

Selecting an Integrated Building Automation System  A solution capable of analyzing the multiple sources of data required to run an entire facility, as well as a system capable of providing collaboration between visualization, alarm management, scheduling, reporting and analysis functions. Tim Donaldson, Director of Marketing ICONICS

The How and Why of Operations Centers in Smart Buildings  The objective of an operations center is to enable and enhance the capabilities of the staff and overall operations.  Jim Sinopoli, PE, RCDD, LEED AP Managing Principal, Smart Buildings LLC

Tunneling and Secure Data Transfer via OPC UA  With over 140 protocols, client interfaces and server interfaces is the ideal solution to bridge your various automation solutions for M2M (Machine to Machine) or P2E (Plant to Enterprise) applications. Kepware Technologies

Advanced Lighting Control Can Reduce Operating Costs and Improve Worker Satisfaction  Lighting is a business asset that should be managed as a critical component of both the building and the organization that occupies it.  Terry Mocherniak, Chief Operating Officer, Encelium Technologies and Howard Berger, Program Director, RealComm

A Gateway to Affordable Dimming  Reliable dimmable fixtures allow buildings to utilize green lighting strategies such as daylight harvesting, motion sensors, occupancy sensors, vacancy sensors, time delay switches and other lighting systems which adjust light levels according to certain prerequisites.    Garth Kullman, Director of Product Development, PureSpectrum

Wireless Integration of Zonal Lighting Management  The lighting energy management retrofit provided instant savings and additional tax incentives for the Ohio-based School.  EnOcean Alliance, Inc & DimOnOff

Bridging the IT- Facilities Gap  Energy Management in the Data Center  Joe Polastre, Co-founder, Chief Technology Officer, Sentilla

Automation and the Smart Grid  Energy Management Today  Courtesy of Opto 22

Young Energy Network  Plugging in at ConnectivityWeek’10 Phil Baltazar, I Will Energy

2010 to be the year of the smart building app  Because of the evolving reach and complexities of building automation, these solutions need to be several services, not one all-encompassing service.  Ken Sinclair Editor/Owner, www.AutomatedBuildings.com

 Columns - March 2010

Controls Contracting - Operations: Preconstruction  What it takes to get the job…started!  Part 1/3 Steven R. Calabrese, Control Engineering Corp.

Fundamental Changes  In June, Engineered Systems and Building Intelligence Group will be conducting the first Sustainable Solutions Conference.  Paul Ehrlich & Ira Goldschmidt, Building Intelligence Group

Pocket tech and a Car wash help build the case for OPC UA  For the Building Automation industry the future is in the intelligent device, and embedding the connectivity needed to securely expose that data to the systems and devices that we need to consume and access it.  Manny Mandrusiak, Vice President of OPC Marketing, OPC Foundation

FAVOURITE  Buildings must get smarter because Smart Grids will be worse  The grid’s reduced safety margins make even moderate adoption of intermittent energy sources risky. By every measure, the quality of the North American grid will get worse. That’s the plan. Toby Considine, T9

Articles - February 2010

Smart Grid and Buildings connected in Orlando  A key part of the future of B2G is how the BAS industry will develop over the next few years. - We were fortunate at the Summit to have representation from two of the major BAS companies (Siemens and Schneider) and a perspective from one of the industry’s leading thought leaders in John Petze.  Anto Budiardjo, President & CEO, Clasma Events Inc.

Raising Your Intelligent Building’s IQ  $195 billion – goes to powering buildings, about half of them on corporate campuses.  Mark A. Ascolese, EDSA

FAVOURITE  Building Automation Considerations  From Assessment to Integration  Andy Stadheim CEO, Barix Technology U.S.

FAVOURITE  Twenty Ten to be a BAD-ASS Year  At events like AHR Expo we get to test to see if the implied sameness of our content has legs or is becoming reality.  Ken Sinclair Editor/Owner, www.AutomatedBuildings.com 

Requiem for an American Industry  This article is meant as more a paean to the Automatic Temperature Controls industry than a eulogy.  Thomas Hallett

Our Clouded Future is Bright  Our clouded future includes new virtual connections to our buildings from the communities they are part of with both physical and social interactions. Ken Sinclair Editor/Owner, www.AutomatedBuildings.com
 

Columns - February 2010

FAVOURITE  Retrofit Strategies  What can I do to make my building more efficient?  Steven R. Calabrese, Control Engineering Corp.

Predictions for 2010 from an OPC Perspective  One of the key benefits of using OPC technology is its ability to robustly move large amounts of data rapidly and securely to an interface that will turn it into the information needed to make key business decisions. Manny Mandrusiak, Vice President of OPC Marketing, OPC Foundation

Is Hospitality at the “Fringe” of the Intelligent Building Industry?  Hospitality-centric products appear to have been immune to the market pressure of open protocols, so we have solutions that do not enjoy the benefits of this advance nor can they readily integrate to the commercial controls. Paul Ehrlich & Ira Goldschmidt, Building Intelligence Group

The Cost(s) of BACnet  Perspectives on BACnet interface pricing  Andy McMillan, President and CEO, Teletrol Systems Inc.

Idle Thoughts on Smart Grids  Musings from the GridWise Architectural Council, Orlando, 2010  Toby Considine, T9

Articles - January 2010

FAVOURITE  Predictions for Smart Buildings in 2010  We can expect energy management systems to evolve for individuals or specific spaces or functions. Jim Sinopoli, PE, LEED AP, RCDD Managing Principal, Smart Buildings LLC

2009, The Year Smart Grid Came To Be  Smart Grid represents an important new business vehicle that BAS players can leverage utilizing existing skills and customer base.  Anto Budiardjo, President & CEO, Clasma Events Inc.

FAVOURITE  Energy Harvesting, Wireless and Next Generation Building Energy Management  Bottomless power generation comes from ambient sources such as linear motion, light and temperature differentials.  Robert Eckery, Marcom Manager, EnOcean, Inc.

Choosing a Submetering Solution  Finding What's Right for You  Part 3-3  Daryl Cowie, Business Development Manager, Wescon Technologies

Bundles Benefit Both  Bundles should be proactive and created based on the building’s function and the owner’s priorities. Jeff Bredeson

How efficient is your building’s resource use? Reviewing a building’s utility usage can improve accountability and help develop more efficient strategies.  Sarah Erdman, Marketing Director, QA Graphics

Canadian Insurance Giant Goes for the LEED “Gold”  Batteryless wireless technology contributes to LEED gold certification of the corporate headquarters of Canada‘s Promutuel insurance group.  Graham Martin, Chairman & CEO, EnOcean Alliance

FAVOURITE  Research Viewpoints CABA Facilitates Intelligent Building Technologies in Government Buildings  Rawlson O’Neil King,  Communications Director, CABA

The Sustainable Solutions Conference  We're expecting! Help Engineered Systems deliver its first SSC this summer. Robert Beverly, Editor, Engineered Systems Magazine

Free Educational Sessions January - Orlando  "Building Automation and the Cloud"  Ken Sinclair Editor/Owner, www.AutomatedBuildings.com 

Columns - January 2010

Common Routines in DDC  The keys to optimization are within your reach Part 2 of 2  Steven R. Calabrese, Control Engineering Corp.

OPC UA Education hits the road  Learn the latest advances in OPC technology at a city near you. Manny Mandrusiak, Vice President of OPC Marketing, OPC Foundation

Holiday Letter  BACnet International year in review  Andy McMillan, President and CEO, Teletrol Systems Inc.

FAVOURITE  Smart Grids and Distributed Energy create opportunities for Diversity in Energy Storage There is no reason at all to limit our concepts of grid energy storage and buffers to electricity and batteries—and many opportunities open up if we do not. Toby Considine, T9

Articles - December 2009

FAVOURITE  How Buildings Will Communicate With The Smart Grid: The Applications and Protocols  Jim Sinopoli, PE, LEED AP, RCDD Managing Principal, Smart Buildings LLC

Those guys always have the wrong price!  But what if the Competition really knows what they’re doing?   Al De Wachter, President,  Independent Control Specialists Inc. ICS

Submetering 101  What exactly should I measure? Part 2-3  Daryl Cowie, Business Development Manager, Wescon Technologies

FAVOURITE  Retrofitting Existing Commercial Buildings for the Smart Grid  Leveraging the latest technologies to perform the retrofits will help to reduce the upfront cost and payback periods. Harry Sim, CEO, Cypress Envirosystems

Construction Engineering Communication and Collaboration  Some ideas about how web technologies might affect communication and collaboration in the design, construction and service of commercial buildings.  Bob MacKie, C3

Top 5 Commercial Energy Management System Considerations  Today’s dashboard touch panel-controlled “smart” energy management systems enable business users to easily view and reduce their resource consumption in real time.  Gus Ezcurra, CEO Advanced Telemetry

Top 5 Reasons Your Business Needs an Energy Efficiency System  All too often, viable opportunities to cut costs are overlooked.  Gus Ezcurra, CEO Advanced Telemetry

Easy-to-use Control System Graphics  Make 2010 the year to gain a competitive edge Sarah Erdman, Marketing Director, QA Graphics

Demystifying Cisco’s role in the Real Estate Industry  As we grow our role in the Intelligent Building space we do face increasing concerns and questions from the established building industry stakeholders. Rick Huijbregts, Vice President, Vertical Industries, Cisco Canada & David Raffetto, Partner Business Development Manager, Converged Building Systems Business Unit Cisco

The 5C’s of Security as a Service  Change, Compliance, Cost, Continuity, and Coverage; these are all basic considerations for any organization.  John Szczygiel, Executive Vice President, Brivo Systems

Measure, Map & Manage 
We Measure and sense almost every piece of building information, then Map to graphical representations to develop strategies for Managing from anywhere, anytime.  Ken Sinclair Editor/Owner, www.AutomatedBuildings.com 

Columns - December 2009

FAVOURITE  Common Routines in DDC  Let the system work for you!  Part 1 of 2  Steven R. Calabrese, Control Engineering Corp.

FAVOURITE  BAS System Tune Ups  Improving efficiency can be fairly complicated and expensive, but many changes can be made simply by tuning up the systems that are already in place.  Paul Ehrlich & Ira Goldschmidt, Building Intelligence Group

BACnet Marketing 3.0  A Short Course in BACnet Product Positioning  Andy McMillan, President and CEO, Teletrol Systems Inc.

Privacy, the Essential Service for Smart Buildings  Privacy issues and privacy concerns became front and center at the Grid-Interop and the Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP).  Toby Considine, Systems Specialist, Facility Services, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

Innovations at the SPS/IPC Drives Show  Everyone in all verticals is taking a look at life a little differently.  Manny Mandrusiak, Vice President of OPC Marketing, OPC Foundation

Articles - November 2009

School Monitors and Improves Building Performance  Chemawa Indian School, located in Salem, Oregon, is using the Energy Efficiency Education Dashboard (EEED) to see how much power, water, and gas is being used throughout the campus, and how this usage can be improved. Sarah Erdman, Marketing Director, Quality Automation Graphics

Yas Island  How the Aconex online collaboration system helped keep the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on track  Will Turbet, Marketing Communications Aconex

Monitoring the Grid  Northwest Iowa Power Cooperative uses Matrox Extio remote graphics extension technology to solve issues related to their legacy KVM solutions  Camille Caron, Matrox Graphics

New Energy Initiatives Energize Submeter Deployment  The myriad of public and private sector energy policies, while at times complicated, provides fertile ground for submeters as energy profilers and program verification tools. This article briefly overviews several key policies now in effect, with an eye to how submeters can help facility professionals comply with the appropriate guidelines.  Don Millstein, President and CEO, E-Mon, LLC

FAVOURITE  The Business Case for Submetering - Part 1-3 Show me the money!  Daryl Cowie, Business Development Manager, Wescon Technologies

A New DC Power Standard  Helps Buildings of Today Meet the Needs of Tomorrow  Brian Patterson
Chairman, EMerge Alliance

FAVOURITE  What is "Smart City"?  "a new scientific research center for intelligent automation in the construction industry"  Andrey A. Golovin, Executive Director of associations BIG-RU (BACnet Interest Group Russia) and KONNEX Russia, Editor in Chief of the magazine "Building Automation"

FAVOURITE  Energy Reporting  It was only a matter of time  Gina Elliott, MBA Project Director, Smart Buildings LLC

Building Transformation  Green has becomes a questionable color, the new true blue of an economical plus environmental bottom line supported with real dynamic data, presented virtually, anywhere, is the proof of our transformation.  Ken Sinclair Editor/Owner, www.AutomatedBuildings.com 

Columns - November 2009

Understanding Specifications (3 of 3)  “The devil is in the details”  Steven R. Calabrese, Control Engineering Corp.

FAVOURITE  Integrating BAS’s To Everything All The Time?  Equipment or systems integrated to a BAS and how they are integrated is a project-by-project decision based on the needs of the client and the design.  Paul Ehrlich & Ira Goldschmidt, Building Intelligence Group

OPC UA Explained  Quickstarts and Tools for Developers  Manny Mandrusiak, Vice President of OPC Marketing, OPC Foundation

Managed Energy, Collaborative Energy, and Autonomous Load  There are two fundamentally different approaches to Energy Interoperation: managed energy and collaborative energy.  Toby Considine, Systems Specialist, Facility Services, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

A “BACnet System” Procurement Challenge The fallacy of equating “standard protocol” with “standard system”  Andy McMillan, President and CEO, Teletrol Systems Inc.

Articles - October 2009

FAVOURITE  The Real Value of Building Information, Integration and Transformation  It’s not building "automation" but building "transformation" that we are after. Rick Huijbregts, Cisco Canada

FAVOURITE  The Niagara Framework® and Energy  The biggest challenge currently facing existing buildings in reducing energy usage is the lack of manageability for efficiency and critical information about operating systems.  Marc Petock, Vice President, Global Marketing & Communications, Tridium, Inc.

FAVOURITE  The Emergence of Proactive Building Management Automation  All automation systems deployed in the future will require data streams containing all available performance characteristics of a piece of equipment be made available to the customer in a highly useable format.  David Wolins, CEO Scientific Conservation

Functional Mobility  Functional mobility currently provides significant benefit to millions of tech savvy users; placing access to their email, weather updates, text messaging, Global Positioning Services, telephone, etc. in the palm of their hands. Dave Ross, iSYS Automation, Inc.

A New Era of Building Automation Software  This enabling technology will prove to be a powerful tool in optimizing automated buildings even beyond the capabilities of today’s state-of-the-art systems.  Eugene Mazo, Chief Executive Officer, DGLogik, Inc

Five Building Inefficiencies that are Business Opportunities  Five years ago the US National Institute of Science and Technology estimated the lack of interoperability in the construction industry was costing around $16 billion per year.  Jim Sinopoli, PE, LEED AP, RCDD Managing Principal, Smart Buildings LLC

Work Local, Outsource Local  Domestic solutions for graphics needs at a competitive rate Sarah Erdman, Marketing Director, Quality Automation Graphics

ASU Gets Greener through Visibility  In our world of Greener Thinking, Universities play an important role in educating the citizens of the future. ASU takes this responsibility very seriously.  Roy Kok, VP Sales and Marketing, Kepware Technologies

Creating a Safe, Sustainable Community in a Challenging Economy  5 Ways a Well-Planned Technology Implementation Adds Value Joy Clarke-Holmes, Director of Local Government Market & Jim Nannini, Director of Network Integration Solution Sales, Johnson Controls, Inc.

FAVOURITE  Ebb and Flow of Lighting Needs Require Flexible Controls  Realize energy and cost savings with wireless lighting control systems  Kevin Braley, Communications Specialist, Orion Energy Systems

You Can’t Manage What You Can’t Monitor  A Holistic Approach to Monitoring  Jefferie K. Mitchell, Communications Specialist, RLE Technologies

Modular System Delivers Flexible Building Energy Management  This "plug and play" system delivers power by flexible modular wiring, and low voltage components are connected with off-the-shelf cabling and jacks, the entire system infrastructure can be relocated, expanded, or contracted to meet changing requirements. Michael Cole, Product Manager Convia-enabled Products, Legrand/Wiremold 

Monitoring an ”Energy-plus-house”  Prime Project in Sweden has chosen Botech as their partner to measure and monitor the energy use in their Energy-plus-house. Robert Cawood, Botech

Indoor Parking Lots, How to Automate Air Quality  Let the gas sensors do their job of measuring and let the ventilation do its job of clearing the pollutants. Keith Rasmussen, Opera

Vision-based Analytics  Video Analytic technology addresses all the shortcomings of common motion sensors enabling greener energy practices for building operations.   Bob Cutting, Vice President, Product Management, ObjectVideo & Martin Verge-Ostiguy, Marketing Coordinator, Lyrtech

The Cloud Beyond the Network  As more software and computer services move off-site, a look around suggests that the collaborative power of cloud computing has already begun to reign for those looking to harness real-time building information most efficiently.  Ken Sinclair Editor/Owner, www.AutomatedBuildings.com 

Keeping our Feet on the Ground While Working in the Cloud "If we want to continue to be leaders in this industry, we must deliver the goods today, Tomorrow is not good enough."  Ken Sinclair Editor/Owner, www.AutomatedBuildings.com 

Columns - October 2009

Understanding Specifications (Part 2 of 3)  Parts is parts, so they say  Steven R. Calabrese, Control Engineering Corp.

OPC and PROFINET technologies combine for efficient light control  HVAC systems, sprinkle systems, doorway controls, could all be linked together using PROFINET, and then controlled via a protocol like OPC from any PC on the network.  Manny Mandrusiak, Vice President of OPC Marketing, OPC Foundation

FAVOURITE  Smart Buildings Meet the Smart Grid  Keep the Smart Grid in mind as you start to work on your next project and think about how you can make the building a smart part of the Smart Grid.  Paul Ehrlich & Ira Goldschmidt, Building Intelligence Group

BACnet Triple Play  Three ways to win with BACnet Integration  Andy McMillan, President and CEO, Teletrol Systems Inc.

Articles - September 2009

Bringing BIG Building Automation to The Small Building Market  Today’s new building owners have more sophisticated needs and wants. They are looking for big building automation features for their “mid-market” facilities. Trevor Palmer, Director of Marketing / International Sales, Viconics

FAVOURITE  Energy Dashboards Inform and Educate Green Education Tool  Sarah Erdman, Marketing Director, Quality Automation Graphics

Pneumatic Energy Savings Control  Wireless on off auto pneumatic switching control George Fincher, President - Sales and Marketing, Energy Controls Co.

Smart or Dumb Meters  Hundreds of thousands of so called 'smart' meters have been fitted with no interface or even real time display.  Mark Hunter, ION Controls

The Price of Energy  You cannot understand price unless you understand the product you are buying.  Toby Considine in Markets and Innovation, Smart Grid, Standards

How Do We Measure The Performance Of A Building?  The fact is that most buildings are too complex to be evaluated on just energy consumption. Jim Sinopoli, PE, LEED AP, RCDD Managing Principal, Smart Buildings LLC

Brivo ACS Webservice™ Deployed in Project Upgrade 1,300-unit California residential complex improves security, residents’ satisfaction  Bruce J. Doneff, Public Relations, Brivo Systems LLC

Hey, Don't Take My Word For It…  Green Intelligent Buildings Conference - Fall 2009  Robert Beverly, Editor, Engineered Systems

Building Cloud Connections  The identification and use of these valuable industry cloud connectors is essential to propel our industry forward at warp speed so it can radically change to survive. Ken Sinclair Editor/Owner www.AutomatedBuildings.com 

Columns - September 2009

Understanding Specifications (1 of 3)  A breakdown of your typical temperature controls spec  Steven R. Calabrese, Control Engineering Corp.

OPC Technology finds its’ place on the map on the journey to the Smart Grid  Manny Mandrusiak, Vice President of OPC Marketing, OPC Foundation

The Coming Evolution of BAS Design  A good BAS design starts with a well thought-out sequence of operation and point list.  Paul Ehrlich & Ira Goldschmidt, Building Intelligence Group

Smart Buildings and Market Information Enable Collaborative Energy  Collaboration requires able partners; smart grids require smart buildings able to make intelligent decisions about energy use. Toby Considine, Technology Officer, Facility Services, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill

FAVOURITE  BACnet … from the Outside In  Clues to the BACnet Puzzle  Andy McMillan, President and CEO, Teletrol Systems Inc.

Articles - August 2009

FAVOURITE  Automated Continuous Commissioning  The Path to Optimized Operations & Energy Efficiency  David Wolins, CEO, Scientific Conservation, Inc. (SCI)

FAVOURITE  Drilling for Dollars: IT Companies Find Energy Jim Sinopoli, PE, LEED AP, RCDD Managing Principal, Smart Buildings LLC

Track LEED v3 Credits in Project Management Software LEED Requires Strong Document Control  Houston Neal, Software Advice

How Powerful Are Your Graphics?  Powerful graphics catch the viewers’ eye and leave a lasting impression.  Sarah Erdman, Marketing Director, Quality Automation Graphics

After The Keynote? Green Intelligent Buildings Conference, Santa Clara, CA, September 29-30 Robert Beverly, Editor, Engineered Systems

Embedded Flexible Module Solutions  End-to-End Connectivity for Build Out of Intelligent Buildings, OEM Edge Assets and Connected Infrastructure  Daniel A. Drolet, Sr., VP, Business Development, PCN Technology, Inc.

LONMARK® International/ LONMARK® Americas Update August 2009 Heather Deal, Marketing Communications Liaison, LONMARK Americas

My Clouded Thinking Clears  The clouds are open and scalable and are my new tool set. Ken Sinclair Editor/Owner www.AutomatedBuildings.com

Columns - August 2009

Airflow Monitoring Techniques and technologies: the basics for beginners  Steven R. Calabrese, Control Engineering Corp.

Opening the OPC Mailbag  Supplying answers to some OPC email questions.  Manny Mandrusiak, Vice President of OPC Marketing, OPC Foundation

Advanced Controls Optimization for High Performance Buildings – Part II Water Side Last month’s column focused on the control of the air side with the use of strategies including demand controlled ventilation and static pressure reset. This month we would like to explore the control of the water side.  Paul Ehrlich & Ira Goldschmidt, Building Intelligence Group

Distributed Energy Resources and Storage  With the big smart grid standards roadmap conference coming up in Washington on the third and fourth, I am going to stick with writing about what this means for buildings. Toby Considine, Technology Officer, Facility Services, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill

Articles - July 2009

FAVOURITE  My Takeaways from ConnectivityWeek  After each year's event I try to list my takeaways of the things that significantly impacted, impressed me and are likely to change my future.  Ken Sinclair Editor/Owner www.AutomatedBuildings.com

BIMStorm® brings Cloud Computing to ConnectivityWeek  Real-time visualization of sensor data in Excel-generated BIM on Google Earth is a world premier.    Kimon Onuma, FAIA, ONUMA, Inc. and Michael Bordenaro, BIM Education Co-op

Cisco's Mediator Helps Buildings Reduce Energy Use with Internet Intelligence Michael Bordenaro, BIM Education Co-op

Reflections on record breaking ConnectivityWeek and BuilConn  The perfect storm produced a perfect event; a combination of rich subjects discussed, enormous business opportunities for vendors and integrators alike, on a backdrop of solving climate change problems and interestingly an awareness of social changes permeating our world.  Anto Budiardjo, President & CEO, Clasma Events Inc.

Open Automation Object Model  Object Automation Model will enable us to have programming and documentation done in one standard format and location.  Alper Uzmezler, BAS Services & Graphics, LLC.

Maintaining Your Control Valve Investment  Replaceable control valve cartridges allow the preservation of your original labor and embodied energy investment while reducing the total generated waste in facilitating upgrades and maintenance.  Paul Balazovjech, President, Spartan Peripheral Devices   

6 Useful Tips for Smart Meters and Plug Loads  As buildings move to incorporate more sensors and metering to generate data about usage and performance, metering and monitoring the electrical distribution and plug load will be integral.  Jim Sinopoli PE, RCDD, LEED AP, Smart Buildings

Can OPC Bridge the Engineering-IT Divide?  Regular dust-ups between Engineering and IT on the shop floor reveal characteristics and approaches that are strikingly dissimilar on both career and personal levels.  Randy Kondor, President, OPC Training Institute

Park It Here: Smart and Green Parking Garages  Jim Sinopoli PE, RCDD, LEED AP, Smart Buildings

Your Automation System on Red Bull®… Prophet™ Gives You Wings!  Andy McMahon, CSI3

Bright Green Buildings  Convergence of Green and Intelligent Buildings Rawlson O'Neil King Communications Director, Continental Automated Buildings Association (CABA)

It’s 2pm… Do you know how much energy your building is using? David Helliwell, Co-Founder and CEO, Pulse Energy

The Power of the People  The power of the people lies not just in how we innovate, but also how we are able to share knowledge with others through that innovation.  Ken Sinclair Editor/Owner www.AutomatedBuildings.com

Columns - July 2009

BAS Graphics  Take a virtual tour of your building’s mechanical systems  Steven R. Calabrese, Control Engineering Corp.

Advanced Controls Optimization for High Performance Buildings  Strategies that should be considered to optimize the operations of these systems using the control system to dramatically reduce energy usage.  Paul Ehrlich & Ira Goldschmidt, Building Intelligence Group

Making Friends wherever I go!  Companies that are successful in this day and age (of this global economy) are successful because they partner and collaborate with other companies that also are successful. No one company, or consortium, can truly afford to stand alone. Manny Mandrusiak, Vice President of OPC Marketing, OPC Foundation

“The Dawn of Convergence …. Or the Eve of Collision?”  Another Commentary on BAS-IT Convergence  Andy McMillan, President and CEO, Teletrol Systems Inc. & President BACnet International  

FAVOURITE Intelligent Buildings talk to the Smart Grid  Last month, the National Institute for standards and Technology (NIST) unveiled the Interim Smart Grid Interoperability Roadmap. (http://www.nist.gov/smartgrid/) The roadmap defines the smart grid and how it interacts with is smart end nodes. Toby Considine, Technology Officer, Facility Services, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill

Articles - June 2009

Don’t Shoot The Messenger!  Let’s spread the word that achieving and maintaining ultra-efficient building energy system operation is possible, but to do so requires change. Thomas Hartman, P.E. The Hartman Company

Building Information Modeling Continues to Grow in Green Building  Adding Ease to Displaying Building Energy Efficiencies  Sarah Erdman, Marketing Director, Quality Automation Graphics

Are New Real Estate Risks Creating The "Tipping Point"?  Now the risks of doing nothing different may be even greater than rewards of being progressive. Tom Shircliff and Rob Murchison, Co-Founders, IntelligentBuildings®

Thermal Imaging  a key to locating HVAC system leakage Colin Plastow, Industrial Product Manager, Fluke

FAVOURITE  Future of Building Automation with IP Version 6 & cloud networking Alper Uzmezler, BAS Services & Graphics, LLC.

Web Based CMMS Systems  Efficient, Mobile, and Environmentally Friendly David Knight, Sales/Marketing Rep, Web Work by Tero

240 And Counting….  The number of speakers at ConnectivityWeek has now surpassed the total number of attendees at the first BuilConn  Anto Budiardjo, President & CEO, Clasma Events Inc.

Building Automation Networks  This article provides insight to the evolution to date of Building Automation Networks to Enterprise and Web based networks and on into cloud computing.  Ken Sinclair Editor/Owner www.AutomatedBuildings.com

Columns - June 2009

OPC EXPO comes to Connectivity Week!  Join us at the OPC EXPO in Santa Clara, CA, June 8-11 Manny Mandrusiak, Vice President of OPC Marketing, OPC Foundation

Selecting Sensors for BAS  A tutorial on choosing the right temperature sensor for the right job  Steven R. Calabrese, Control Engineering Corp.

“Good Fences Make Good Neighbors”  A Commentary on BAS-IT Convergence  Andy McMillan, President and CEO, Teletrol Systems Inc.  & President BACnet International   

The State of the Building Automation Market  “who makes the best building automation system?”  Paul Ehrlich & Ira Goldschmidt, Building Intelligence Group

Conversation between Intelligent Buildings and Smart Energy  As I write this, the Interim Roadmap for the Smart Grid has not been published. What follows is my view of how this area will develop. Toby Considine, Technology Officer, Facility Services, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill

FAVOURITE  The Reinvention Convention  On June 9, 2009, I will be in Santa Clara, California over seeing the presentation of several sessions on “The Reinvention of Building Automation”.  Ken Sinclair Editor/Owner www.AutomatedBuildings.com

Articles - May 2009

The California Smart Building Association  The California Smart Building Association is dedicated to establishing and strengthening public policies that promote the development of smart buildings in California for commercial, residential and public projects.   Jim Sinopoli PE, RCDD, Managing Principal, Smart Buildings

Once in a Lifetime  We really have to seriously go back to the invention of electricity and the internal combustion engine, and combine that with the changes that we have seen in the birth of the Internet that has changed our lives.  Anto Budiardjo, President & CEO, Clasma Events Inc.

Smart Grids Start With Smart Ideas  Developing smart electric grids requires smart ideas and our industry can be a valuable contributor in developing them!  Thomas Hartman, P.E. The Hartman Company

FAVOURITE  Green Intelligent Buildings… what next?  Energy Business Intelligence will be to buildings what the iPod was to music.  Jack Mc Gowan, CEM Energy Control Inc.

Pain, Tipping, and Leverage The “new” Energy Services Game  Terrence Reynolds, PE Control Technologies

Green Building Control Solutions….Sure to keep you in the Black!  Trevor Palmer, Marketing Manager, Viconics

The Reinvention of Energy Services  To actually turn the tide and reduce the total amount of energy used in commercial buildings will require reinvention. Tim Kensok, Vice President, Market Development, Air Advice

Smart Grid - Taking Our Cue from Nature  Roman Kulyk, Chief Technology Officer, REGEN Energy Inc.

Automation for the environmentally challenged  Electronic and electromechanical thermostats have in the past provided low initial capital cost, device simplicity, but have lacked in the ability to centralize information for energy and maintenance monitoring.  Trevor Palmer, Marketing Manager, Viconics

Opening the Door to IP POE-Powered Access Control Systems  The transformation leverages the existing IT infrastructure, eliminates the need for local power, consolidates and saves labor costs for cable installation, reduces the time to install system devices, is more scalable and provides a large base of management tools and support.   Jim Sinopoli PE, RCDD, Managing Principal, Smart Buildings

Upgrading Prison’s Temperature Control HVAC System Yields Overall Efficiency Debra Biela, Marketing Communications Specialist, Contemporary Controls

FAVOURITE  BIMSTORM® Processes Guide Smart Grid Planning  Award-winning Building Information Model web software invigorates Smart Grid planning and design processes.  Robert Smith, PhD, California State University Professor Emeritus, and Michael Bordenaro, Co-founders, BIM Education Co-op

The Reinvention of Building Automation The complexities of our industry reside with us, but the reinvention and representation of our future resides with the new teams we build.  Ken Sinclair, AutomatedBuildings.com

Columns - May 2009

FAVOURITE  SGIX – Smart Grid Information Exchange  Some feel that direct control of tomorrow’s smart buildings must be in the hands of the utilities. I feel that that building owners must be in control.  Toby Considine, Technology Officer, Facility Services, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill

BACnet by the Numbers  A twelve step program for kicking the proprietary systems habit  Andy McMillan, President and CEO, Teletrol Systems Inc.  & President BACnet International   

Points List Primer  A “pointed” view of hardwired I/O  Steven R. Calabrese, Control Engineering Corp.

The Application my iPhone should have  complete smart home synchronized with my handheld  Manny Mandrusiak, Vice President of OPC Marketing, OPC Foundation

The dawn of the era of the Intelligent Building?  The simple answer is that a convergence that has been building for years is now occurring.  Paul Ehrlich & Ira Goldschmidt, Building Intelligence Group

Articles - April 2009

It’s 1992 all over again!  As there was a driver in the 90s, today there are two of the most significant drivers that we can imagine in play, the Y2K of today if we continue the comparison to the 90s.  Anto Budiardjo, President & CEO, Clasma Events Inc.
Getting There From Here  Here is my list of areas that need our help with fresh thinking for new directions for us to get out of the rut we’re in.  Thomas Hartman, P.E.
The Hartman Company
Diving Into Building Water Management  It is a water management system that monitors and manages water usage that will change the process from simply supplying water to managing the demand for water.  Jim Sinopoli PE, RCDD, Managing Principal, Smart Buildings
FAVOURITE  LEED 2009 and Building Automation Systems  Any sufficiently capable BAS, regardless of whether its protocol is standard or proprietary, can achieve LEED points along with the corresponding energy reductions.  Bill Swan, Buildings Standards Initiatives Leader, Alerton
Read manual dial gauges wirelessly, in minutes  Clamp on Wireless Gauge Reader optically reads needle and transmits reading. Harry Sim, CEO, Cypress Envirosystems
Smart building infrastructure helps manage costs  The value proposition exists for all stakeholders, from the developer who saves from a lower capital cost to the operator and/or tenant who saves from a lower operational cost and to the end user who obtains a better user experience. Bradley Hemphill, Managing Director, Electrical Engineering Solutions

Columns - April 2009
OpenEMS  Creating Value Through Open Systems In An Energy Management Context  Andy McMillan, President and CEO, Teletrol Systems Inc.  & President BACnet International   
Cyber-security, Smart Buildings, and the Smart Grid  We went to a distributed approach for Enterprise Building Management System EBMS, something that looks nothing like the approaches of traditional building systems and of SCADA.   Toby Considine, Technology Officer, Facility Services, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill
What’s New! From This Year’s AHR Expo  Green, IAQ, BACnet, Demand Response, Wireless, to name just a few. Steven R. Calabrese, Control Engineering Corp.
FAVOURITE  Commissioning An Intelligent Building  Interoperability testing is an important key to the success of multi-manufacturer BAS’s and will become even more important to the success of Intelligent Buildings. Paul Ehrlich & Ira Goldschmidt, Building Intelligence Group
How a video store proves the need for real-time data access  Knowledge is power, and having the right knowledge at the right time most definitely improves any company’s bottom line.  Manny Mandrusiak, Vice President of OPC Marketing, OPC Foundation

Articles - March 2009

The Smart Grid: Opportunities and Challenges - Workshop  The 2009 MIT Energy Conference - Accelerating Change in Global Energy - March 6, 2009  Jack Mc Gowan, CEM, President & CEO, Energy Control Inc.
Sustainable Design of Building Automation Systems  A a sustainable BAS is achievable with proper initial design considerations that include the use of open protocols, standardized Network Management tools and open access to product and training.  Patrick Winkelman, Vice President Sales Americas, Distech Controls, Inc.
FAVOURITE  Connecting BACnet Devices to an IP Infrastructure  This paper reveals how all BACnet devices can effectively share a common IP network — thereby enhancing the power and convenience of BACnet. George Thomas, President, Contemporary Controls
Steam Trap Energy Savings  New Wireless Steam Trap Monitor installs in minutes to detect costly leaks, with payback of about one year. 
Harry Sim, CEO, Cypress Envirosystems
A Facility Dashboard for the Rest of Us  Users of the facility – residents, office-workers, students, visitors, etc. – are those that have the greatest potential for impacting operational building efficiency, based on their individual behavior. Greg Barnes, VP of Business Development, co-founder & Paul Ogle, VP Marketing, Product Management, Activelogix, LLC
Video Integrates with SCADA System to Improve Security at Madison,Wisconsin Water Utility  Al Larson P.E., Principal Engineer, Madison Water Utility, Madison, WI
Integrated Lighting Control 101  Integrated lighting control allows a building to take advantage of all possible lighting strategies. Gina Elliott, Smart Buildings
HVAC Contractors The Channel of Choice for Scaleable Energy Services Tim Kensok, Vice President, Market Development, Air Advice
Evaluating Airflow Measurement Technologies  Sources of the differences between expected and actual performance of HVAC instruments.  Leonard A. Damiano, EBTRON, Inc.
A Capital Idea!  The info and ideas flying around our Green Intelligent Buildings conference can help your business, but they can help your career, too.  Robert Beverly, Editor, Engineered Systems

Columns - March 2009
Pay-it-forward  Turning Short-term Stimulus into Long-term Value  Andy McMillan, President and CEO, Teletrol Systems Inc.  & President BACnet International
Energy Interoperability Standards: Smart Buildings, Smart Grid Toby Considine, Technology Officer, Facility Services, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill
AHR Expo Blows Through the Windy City  A local guy’s experiences at the Big Show  Steven R. Calabrese, Control Engineering Corp.
BAS and Advanced, Integrated Lighting Control  New technologies including the use of wireless communications, networking and open standards are making the deployment of advanced lighting control practical in both new and existing building projects. Paul Ehrlich & Ira Goldschmidt, Building Intelligence Group
Mastering middleware for sustainability  When you know how much energy you use, it’s much easier to determine where savings can be achieved.  Ken Sinclair, Editor, AutomatedBuildings.com

February 2009

FAVOURITE  Connected Real Estate Cisco grows Connected Real Estate investment with EnergyWISE and Richards-Zeta Acquisition. Rick Huijbregts, Vice President, Vertical Industries, Cisco Canada
State of the Industry - 2009  If you really want to help move our industry toward a future that works, I invite you to join with those who want a more sustainable future.  Thomas Hartman, P.E., The Hartman Company
Subtle Winds of Change in Windy City  A perfect storm of change if you understand the big picture that has been a constant theme on AutomatedBuildings.com for months if not years.  Anto Budiardjo, President & CEO, Clasma Events Inc.
Count Me In: People Counters  A Simple System for Essential Building Data Jim Sinopoli, Managing Principal, Smart Buildings, PE, RCDD
FAVOURITE  Robots in Every Building? It’s Closer Than You Think Jeanne Dietsch, CEO and co-founder, MobileRobots Inc & Stuart Rich, GIS Practice Manager, PenBay Media, Enterprise Geographic Information Systems
Energy Efficiency Education Display Greets Visitors at Iowa State Capitol: Interactive Screen Highlights Environmental Initiatives at Capitol Complex  Daniel McCarty, President, QA Graphics

The Role of Networked Sensors in Boosting Energy Efficiency  To realize peak avoidance and enjoy significant associated savings, customers must know both when and where power and energy were consumed. Roland Acra, President and CEO Arch Rock Corporation
Wireless Pneumatic Thermostat Ideal for Economic Stimulus Plan Large numbers of older federal buildings with pneumatic controls can now be upgraded to Direct Digital Control (DDC) at 20% of the cost, and less than 20 minutes per zone.
Harry Sim, CEO, Cypress Envirosystems
Buildings, Industry, Automation, and Smart Grids  As wholesale energy markets have developed, and mandates for re-purchase by utilities and power grids of alternate energy such as wind and solar, your building may be a net consumer at one time and a net provider at another.  William Cox, Cox Software Architects LLC
CES09 through “Digital Signage” lenses.  To view the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2009 show through the lenses of digital signage is to see a future of media interactivity, interoperability, integration and presentation... and the direction of some key players.  Lyle Bunn, Principal & Strategy Architect, BUNN Co
Building Automation Sustainability  Whether you view the word “Building” as a noun or a verb the real goal is Sustainability Ken Sinclair, Editor, AutomatedBuildings.com

Columns - February 2009
FAVOURITE  Control Valves – Sizing & Selection  A refresher on choosing the right valve for the right application  Steven R. Calabrese, Control Engineering Corp.
Energy, Innovation, and E-Tech  Current assumptions of a paternalistic utility providing all control will not be sustained. New models of loose integration and symmetric interactions are required. Toby Considine, Technology Officer, Facility Services, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill
Building Automation Wishes for a New Year  As with technology in general each advance seems to reveal the need for more advances to achieve that elusive state of perfection. Paul Ehrlich & Ira Goldschmidt, Building Intelligence Group
Trust: The Primary Currency in an Open Systems World It takes work to earn it, care to nurture it and only one poor decision to lose it. Andy McMillan, President and CEO, Teletrol Systems Inc.  & President BACnet International
The Reinvention of Building Automation (BA) Building Automation is evolving to a web service that is greatly enhanced with online services.  Ken Sinclair, Editor, AutomatedBuildings.com

January 2009

Control Solutions, Inc Obama’s Energy Challenge  The building sector is described by incoming administration insiders as a core element of their new energy independence and global warming initiatives.  Thomas Hartman, P.E., The Hartman Company
2009, Not Business As Usual!   Big things need to happen to force a revolution; what we are witnessing right now with the economic woes, climate change, and the change that the new Obama administration will bring about will drive things forward. Anto Budiardjo, President & CEO, Clasma Events Inc.
FAVOURITE Nine Predictions for Smart Buildings in 2009  “Never make predictions, especially about the future.” Casey Stengel American Baseball Player and Manager, 1891-1975  Jim Sinopoli, Smart Buildings
A New Year’s Resolution for PJM: Sign Up for Demand Response  Peter Kelly-Detwiler Constellation NewEnergy
An Aspect on Networked Area Control  As there are multiple philosophies associated with control through various manufacturers, it has been a challenging task for some manufacturers to relinquish some of their beliefs for the sake of interoperability. Rocky Moore, OEM Sales and Marketing Manager, American Auto-Matrix
OpenLynx: Open Source Software for BAS and the Smart Grid  To solve the daunting energy problems facing the nation federal and state institutions, building automation and smart grid integrators, utilities and ISOs need to support and accelerate development of sound open source initiatives focused on smart grid development, simulation and integration and building automation. Peter Michalek
Introduction to BACnet Routers  Each data link is treated as a separate network and the collection of data links is considered a single BACnet internetwork. George Thomas, President, Contemporary Controls
New Year Resolutions for the Industry  How we will stop smoking, lose weight, start exercising and save money in 2009  Jim Sinopoli, Smart Buildings
Choosing the Right Integrator for Your Building Automation Project  There are many options: Automation Vendors, Distributors, Architectural engineering and construction firms, and Independent control system integrators. Norman O’Leary, Executive Director CSIA – Control System Integrators Association
Top 12 Issue Favourites - 2008  We thank you all as an industry for being our success in providing incredibly current content that is well read by our reinvented industry.  Ken Sinclair, Editor, AutomatedBuildings.com

Columns - January 2009
Working with the Wind in Chicago  Next week, there will be a lot of wind surrounding the AHR Expo, the largest conference anywhere dedicated to the efficient movement of air, and thereby the biggest energy-related conference of the year.  Toby Considine, Technology Officer, Facility Services, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill
FAVOURITE Standards and Opportunities when Smart Buildings meet the Smart Grid The goal of the new standards efforts is to support new markets that we do not today know or understand. Toby Considine, Technology Officer, Facility Services, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill
Discussion on Descriptors  Commanding and confirming the operation of two-state devices  Steven R. Calabrese, Control Engineering Corp.
BAS Use of Ethernet / IP Infrastructure II  Use of Virtual Local Area Networks Paul Ehrlich & Ira Goldschmidt, Building Intelligence Group

December 2008

Reliable Controls Creatively Address Rising Costs and Environmental Concerns  Building owners can respond to both of these issues by incorporating smart choices into their designs that reduce energy use, lowering costs and lessening the building’s impact on the environment. Sarah Romero, Veris Industries
“31 Tannery Project” – Year 2+ Sustainable Operations maintaining our 2nd Year of Net Zero Electric Operations and Energy Star 100 scores… Moving on… Edward H. Brzezowski, PE, LEED AP Noveda Technologies
Protocol Blenders and Information Creators: Middleware Providers and Implementation Strategy Jim Sinopoli and Neil Gifford, Smart Buildings
Introduction to Modbus Serial and Modbus TCP    Modbus is popular for its simplicity. Because so many users with Modbus knowledge are in the field and because a Modbus-IDA association backs this open standard, it will continue to remain popular. George Thomas, President, Contemporary Controls
Indoor Air Quality Basics  Part 1/2 - IAQ Audits: Are You Missing the Bigger Picture? Christina Inge, Marketing Manager, Spinwave Systems, Inc.
FAVOURITE  2008 Digital Signage Year in Review  Digital Signage “Turned the Corner,” maturing in 2008  Lyle Bunn, Principal & Strategy Architect BUNN Co
The Front End  The chief reason for multiple systems under one Front End is to remove the perceived shackles of the control provider from the end user.  Darryl Trombley, Building Automation Consultant, Metro Environmental, Inc.
Maximizing Boiler Performance and Efficiency  Would you know what to adjust if you realized money and energy were being wasted on an hourly basis?  Sharam Pavri, Forbes Marshall
XML Integration Transforms Telephone Entry System to Web-programmable Appliance Jerry Graciano, Manager of Development Partnerships, Brivo Systems, LLC
Grid Interoperability  Demand response is an important tool in your energy management toolkit. But the future it anticipates could be of even greater benefit to your bottom line.  Ken Sinclair, AutomatedBuildings.com

Columns - December 2008
Cabling for DDC Systems  Specify the proper conductor sizes and cable types for your BAS project  Steven R. Calabrese, Control Engineering Corp.
The Lie in Demand—Response  We encourage only the crudest, least effective energy savings, while denying the market the energy signals that would cause better.  Toby Considine, Technology Officer, Facility Services, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill
BAS Use of Ethernet/IP Infrastructure Simply put, should a BAS use its own dedicated Ethernet/IP system, or should it use that provided for the building’s business-enterprise communications and managed by the IT department?  Paul Ehrlich & Ira Goldschmidt, Building Intelligence Group
FAVOURITE  A Light at the end of the Wireless Tunnel  BACnet-Zigbee for Building Automation has a Bright Future  Andy McMillan, President and CEO, Teletrol Systems Inc.  & President BACnet International

November 2008

FAVOURITEEnergy & Controls…making sense of it all at Grid-Interop Jack Mc Gowan, CEM
contemporary
ECommerce, Buildings, and Energy  How do eCommerce technologies, including contracting, reliable messaging, security, and the application of Service-Oriented Architectures (SOA) fit into the energy and buildings world? Carol Geyer, Director of Communications, OASIS
Blue, Buildings, and Energy The shift from green to blue has started. Laurent Liscia, Executive Director, OASIS, Toby Considine, University of North Carolina, William Cox, Cox Software Architects LLC
B2G and the NIST Workshop at Grid Interop '08  David Holmberg, NIST B2G domain expert working group lead, BACnet Utility Integration working group lead
The Smart Grid and Ongoing Building Commissioning  For building owners, preparing for the Smart Grid starts with initiatives that will benefit them today.  Jim Butler, CTO, Cimetrics Inc.
Transacted Energy End Games  It starts today, with demand response, and continues with transacted energy.  Toby Considine, University of North Carolina
Wireless Interoperability Wireless Interoperable Systems: Enabling the Smart Grid  Christina Inge, Marketing Manager, Spinwave Systems, Inc.
OPC, XML, .NET and Real-Time Applications  DCOM is alive and well. DCOM fills a void that XML web services cannot fill.  OPC DA (based on DCOM) will continue to dominate applications. White Paper, MatrikonOPC
The Virtue of VirtuaWattTM  VirtuaWattTM is an online demand response auction application that is designed to help customers more easily navigate the complex energy market. Joe Franz, Director of Product Management, Constellation NewEnergy & Del Hilber, Director of IT Demand Response, Constellation NewEnergy
Feel the need for total security  Video surveillance, is becoming a sought-after technology to provide security  Steve Rubin, President, Longwatch
Setting Sights on a Standard  In order to support the technology shift toward IP video systems, the market leaders need to work toward creating increased flexibility for end users, integrators and consultants. Dr. Bob Banerjee, Product Marketing Manager, Bosch Security Systems, Inc.
Imagine you could speak to your SCADA system…   Send a text message to your SCADA system.  Michael Meirovitz, CEO, Control See Ltd.
Legacy Building Automation Integration  The BACnet-N2 Router is a network appliance hosted on the Advantech Embedded Automation Computer.
Steve Jones, Managing Partner, The S4 Group, Inc.
Demand response: turning on to new opportunities  The next frontier for demand response is to move beyond curtailment and leverage the power of building automation systems that exist within or across collections of buildings. Ken Sinclair, AutomatedBuildings.com

Columns - November 2008
FAVOURITE  The Three Little (BACnet) Pigs  A Modern Day Fable of Building Systems Integration  Andy McMillan, President and CEO, Teletrol Systems Inc.  & President BACnet International
Sequences of Operation (2 of 2)  An objective look at specified descriptions of control Steven R. Calabrese, Control Engineering Corp.
Buildings, Emergency Response, Energy, and Situation Awareness  The NG911 system, or Next Generation 911 supports better interaction.  Even buildings, and building systems, might act as 911 operators. Toby Considine, Technology Officer, Facility Services, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill
Data Center Building Automation  In many ways data centers come closest to blurring the line between commercial and industrial controls in our industry. Paul Ehrlich & Ira Goldschmidt, Building Intelligence Group

October 2008

The NewEnergy Paradigm  Quite simply, my belief is that energy in buildings has much more to do with automation that it does with any of the other technologies that seem to be in the spotlight continuously. Jack Mc Gowan, CEM, Energy Control Inc.
Buildings and ET  The mantra of energy management in the 21st century has to be Buildings, Buildings and Buildings  Anto Budiardjo, President, Clasma Events Inc.
The Enemy Within  Project engineers must be ready to give up the detailed design work with which they are familiar and provide the flexibility, support, and oversight to others so they can ensure ultra-efficient performance is achieved and maintained over time. 
Thomas Hartman, P E The Hartman Company
Using Structured Cable Solutions For BAS  The largest opportunity to reduce capital costs of installation in building technology systems is the installation of the system’s cable and cable pathways.  Jim Sinopoli PE, RCDD, Managing Principal, Smart Buildings
contemporary OPC Security: Seven Years, Seven Fears  Eric Murphy, BSc, PEng, MatrikonOPC
Save 18% on Energy Costs  with One 15-Minute Change Christina Inge, Marketing Manager, Spinwave Systems, Inc.
FAVOURITE  Wireless Sensor Networks Move Onto The Internet  IP allows different kinds of links to be connected together as a single network, with routers steering each message to its desired destination, crossing different kinds of links along the way.  Brian Bohlig, Vice President of Marketing, Arch Rock Corporation
DDC For HVAC Systems  DDC knowledge has become critical in the current HVAC market, but the only sources of information have been highly technical until now. Barbara Ragusa, LAMA Books

Columns - October 2008
Building BACnet  2008 BACnet International Conference and Award Ceremony  Andy McMillan, President and CEO, Teletrol Systems Inc.  & President BACnet International
Privacy, Price and the Cost of Control As we seek to extend Demand / Response to more systems in the house, we run into what we might call Knowledge Problems, problems of diversity and understanding.  Toby Considine, Technology Officer, Facility Services, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill
Sequences of Operation
(1 of 2)  An objective look at specified descriptions of control Steven R. Calabrese, Control Engineering Corporation
Selecting the Building Automation or Systems Integration Contractor  The process that we use involves a formal “Request for Proposals” (RFP), allowing us to gather information and evaluate it in an impartial manner. Paul Ehrlich & Ira Goldschmidt, Building Intelligence Group

September 2008
Is DR Hype?  Or, is DR real and a potential short-term game changer for building automation? Anto Budiardjo, President, Clasma Events Inc.
DR-Expo Comes To Ontario  The new OPA DR3 program has created significant financial opportunities for Ontario’s commercial and industrial participants. Peter Kelly-Detwiler and Rob Reale, Constellation NewEnergy
The Value of Demand Response and Energy Programs  At DR-Expo in Toronto, October 6-7. I will be leading a track called “DR Technology Planning”  Anno Scholten, Novus Edge
DR on College Campuses  Letting people know that a DR program will reduce the need to build new power plants, and will likely cut the carbon footprint of the campus, can go far in getting students and faculty to support it. Christina Inge, Marketing Manager, Spinwave Systems, Inc.
FAVOURITE An 8-Step Strategy To Making Existing Buildings Smart  An 8-step strategy for improving the performance of existing building stock. Jim Sinopoli PE, RCDD, Managing Principal, Smart Buildings
The Cultural Shift to Measurement and Verification for Buildings “Inefficient buildings and homes account for a third of North America’s greenhouse gas emissions.” Paul Silverthorne, President, Dimax Controls
SmartGrid Domain Experts Workgroup NIST Notes on August 5, 2008 Meeting Toby Considine, Technology Officer, Facility Services, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill
Large Building Automation CABA Unveils Enhanced Building Intelligence Quotient David Katz, Principal Sustainable Resources Management Inc., Member of the BIQ Consortium
Introduction to the Modbus Protocol  Originally intended as a point-to-to interface between proprietary Modicon products, the protocol has found use in multi-drop and peer-to-peer networks like TCP/IP. George Thomas, President, Contemporary Controls
Smart Lighting System Saves Energy   All the lighting system components - ballasts, sensors and controllers - are from different suppliers which demonstrates the interoperability of the DALI  Bradley Hemphill, CEO, Electrical Engineering Solutions
Reducing Travel Costs with Remote Server Access Using remote access solutions, your computers and intelligent devices can be monitored and maintained from anywhere in the world.  Kenneth Dukofsky, Marketing Communications Manager of Minicom Advanced Systems
FORECAST: Increasingly Cloudy and Under Control  As the burden of building data gets heavier, strategies for managing it take to the sky, so to speak, whether it’s sorting your services smartly or learning to use SCADA or OPC, modern building automation aims to help you succeed by keeping your head in the clouds and your feet on the ground. Ken Sinclair, AutomatedBuildings.com
Reaping the Harvest Daylight harvesting and daylighting controls can make a big difference in your energy bill. And solutions are becoming more flexible all the time. Ken Sinclair, AutomatedBuildings.com

Columns - September 2008
The Green Gold Rush  Promoting energy management and building automation systems as important elements in an overall sustainability initiative or green building development is both legitimate and useful. Andy McMillan, President and CEO, Teletrol Systems Inc.  & President BACnet International
Programming Methods  A historical view as seen from one perspective Steven R. Calabrese, Automated Logic Chicago
It’s all too cheap  If we are not going to manage our devices, our systems, and our energy, who will? Toby Considine, Technology Officer, Facility Services, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill
Differentiating an Intelligent Building These three levels of an Intelligent Building system can result in a significant improvement of system operations, operational efficiency, and high level tools for facility assessment and optimization. Paul Ehrlich & Ira Goldschmidt, Building Intelligence Group

August 2008
Economic Downturn, Automation Identity Crisis and Energy Opportunity  …where does your business go from here  John J. "Jack" Mc Gowan, CEM, Energy Control Inc.
Wireless Demand Response Bringing DR to a Broader Base of Customers Christina Inge, Marketing Manager, Spinwave Systems, Inc.
Is IT God?  Does god exist? Yes, there is a god; her name is Communications!  Michael Kirrene, Founder and President, Optimal Energy
How Green IT is.  Efforts like the Green Grid Alliance are looking to help reduce the energy consumption of corporate data centers through education, establishing server power measurement standards and influencing product designs.  Eric Murphy, BSc, PEng, MatrikonOPC
Staying in Touch with Touch Screen Controls  The actual touch screen devices vary, but three classes of devices have emerged. These include touch screen controls from companies traditionally focused on audio visual, touch screens on VOIP telephones and touch screens that are part of wall-mounted personal computers.  Jim Sinopoli PE, RCDD, Managing Principal, Smart Buildings
FAVOURITE  Lynxspring’s JENEsys™ snap! – a New Solution for HVAC Energy Conservation Bob Mealey, Lynxspring’s Vice President,  Marketing and Sales
Object Modeling a Physical BACnet® Device This paper introduces object modeling, object properties, and services as they pertain to a physical BACnet/IP device. Part 1 of 2 George Thomas, President of Contemporary Controls
Achieving BACnet® Compliance To ease the process in determining BACnet compliance, the standard classifies devices into six categories: Part 2 of 2 George Thomas, President of Contemporary Controls
Comprehensive Environmental Monitoring Solution Fortify your Business Continuity/Disaster Prevention readiness through a comprehensive Environmental Monitoring solution. Fred Kemp, Vice President Marketing & Sales, Invetex Corporation
Exploring the Deep End of Video Surveillance Management Design Considerations David Keidar, General Manager, EVT

Columns - August 2008
Open Systems Opens Doors The Secret Sauce in the BACnet Recipe for Success Andy McMillan, President and CEO, Teletrol Systems Inc.  & President BACnet International
FAVOURITE Anatomy of a Typical BAS Analysis of a hypothetical commercial office building DDC system Part 3 of 3  Steven R. Calabrese, Automated Logic Chicago
Clouds and Rain  Cloud Computing is a name for putting computing services, whether traditional, such as CRM applications, or modern, such as SaaS, on computers up in the wider network. Toby Considine, Technology Officer, Facility Services, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill
An Intelligently Green Building  The imagination of the building design team (along with the willingness to research and specify the technology and products involved in this integration) is the only limit to creating intelligently green buildings.  Paul Ehrlich & Ira Goldschmidt, Building Intelligence Group

July 2008
Making Sense of it All  Automatedbuildings.com has not only provided those ideas and contacts for potential partners, products and procedures to help us push our network based energy efficient strategies forward, but it has also played an important role in developing the community of industry professionals. Thomas Hartman, P E, The Hartman Company
The Next 10 Years  "Ken’s theme for the next 10 years is about change .... I would like to propose a way of thinking that may well help you make a decision as to how to proceed".  Anto Budiardjo, President, Clasma Events Inc.
Intelligent Middleware for Intelligent Building Systems  Richards-Zeta and Frost & Sullivan Industry White Paper
FAVOURITE Water Submetering: Wireless Systems  By providing managers with real-time, automatically generated data, wireless water submetering can make monitoring, billing, and reducing water usage far easier than with traditional, manual-read submetering systems. Christina Inge, Marketing Manager, Spinwave Systems, Inc.
Enterprise Access to Building Automation Data Using BACnet and OPC Darek Kominek, MatrikonOPC
Using SCADA Systems in an HVAC Environment  Owners of larger facilities as well as multiple building owners will surely benefit from the SCADA Systems once thought of as only for industrial process control. Ronald D. Padilla, Vice President – Integration Services, Control Technologies, Inc.
Parking Garage Case Study: LonWorks® Delivers Savings On Sunset Blvd  Mike Schell, Air Test Technologies
Be The Change  This year’s ConnectivityWeek offered more than simply updates on building automation technology. It encouraged a new energy revolution. 
Ken Sinclair, AutomatedBuildings.com

Columns - July 2008
Words of Wisdom  Prudent advice from the pages of Practical Controls  Steven R. Calabrese, Automated Logic Chicago
Controlling Demand Response  A building that has been designed for demand response can readily drop electric loads with little impact on the occupants. Paul Ehrlich & Ira Goldschmidt, Building Intelligence Group
FAVOURITE The BACnet Puzzle  Why BACnet can be a puzzle to outsiders – and why it matters.  Andy McMillan, President and CEO, Teletrol Systems Inc.  & President BACnet International
Newton's Fall  Efforts to solve traditional building-grid interactions as command and control interactions will fail if they leave out the human and social factors. Toby Considine, Technology Officer, Facility Services, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill

June 2008
FAVOURITE My 10 Takeaways from ConnectivityWeek in Santa Clara, California Ken Sinclair, AutomatedBuildings.com
ConnectivityWeek Show Daily  The following articles appeared in the ConnectivityWeek Show Daily newspaper, published the week of May 19, 2008.  Each article contains additional information that could not be included in the original publication due to space limitations. Frank Capuano,  Strata Resource Inc acted as manager, editor and photographer for the daily show newspaper for Clasma Events
We need a bigger boat!  Focusing just on building systems or even just controls is simply not going to cut it, the vision outlined at the first BuilConn in 2003 was too narrow.  Anto Budiardjo, President, Clasma Events Inc.
oBIX is alive and kicking…  The people who know oBIX best have been going out and doing things with oBIX. Many of these projects are large. Toby Considine, Chairman oBIX
Wireless Energy Management: Transforming the Energy Costs of the Smaller Building Christina Inge, Marketing Manager, Spinwave Systems, Inc.
Sharpening The Axe: Four Tips for your Controls Contracting Business 
Al De Wachter, President, ICS Inc
Data Center Retrofit Now Able to Handle High-Density Server Applications  Contemporary Controls’ BAS Switch Handles the Traffic Without “Choking”  Debra Biela, Marketing Communications Specialist, Contemporary Controls
Lambeau Field – A Success Story  Lambeau Field Benefits from Building Automation System Interface Erin Tudjan, Sales & Marketing Coordinator, Eagle Technology, Inc.
Open Automated Demand Response Communication Standards  Six years of research, development, and demonstration have led to these standards.Girish Ghatikar, Mary Ann Piette, & Sila Kiliccote, Demand Response Research Center (DRRC), Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL)
Controls + IT + Integrate Evolve 
Integrating to the World of IT  David Oshoway, President, Energetic Concepts Ltd
Verizon Communications  Cogeneration System Monitoring and Energy Management - Case Study David Crump, Marketing Communications Opto 22
BACnet Change of Value (COV) The BACnet COV system is not a mandatory part of the protocol. Each vendor decides if they want to support it.  Peter Chipkin, Partner AGP Support Group.

Columns - June 2008
Unitary Controllers Primer  Typical applications utilizing unit (zone) level control  Part 2 of 3  Steven R. Calabrese, Automated Logic Chicago
FAVOURITE Stop throwing it away – Energy Recycling  Once you start thinking about waste heat as a resource, it will lead a long way from where you started.  Toby Considine, Technology Officer, Facility Services, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill
Campus Automation Presents Unique Challenges  Multiple interfaces makes campus-wide optimization, data mining, and energy and operational analysis difficult.  Paul Ehrlich & Ira Goldschmidt, Building Intelligence Group

May 2008
Preview of ConnectivityWeek 2008  ConnectivityWeek 2008 has collected all of the key subjects that will draw this picture of the future world of connected devices. The tent to encompass this vision is large, very large. Anto Budiardjo, President, Clasma Events Inc.
ConnectivityWeek is the Green Summit  The message to readers is that Green is not just about LEED, and that DR is the opportunity to build a new business model that does not rely on new construction.  John J. "Jack" Mc Gowan, CEM Energy Control Inc.
Load Response as a Potential Economic Force in a Slowing Economy  Load response can deliver a significant return on investment with documented energy savings, enhanced efficiencies and information and intelligence that can be extracted from a facility to make it run even more efficiently. Peter Kelly-Detwiler, Constellation NewEnergy
Smart Grid and Smart Building solutions with the Web 2.0 Technology   A suite of Web 2.0 products and services bringing together demand-side and intermittent resources, power grid operations, and energy markets  Ali Ipakchi, Vice President, OATi
Creating a Sustainable Building Industry Future  Our industry needs to show in the new buildings we construct that achieving ultra-efficient building operation need not be a convoluted, expensive, or hit-and-miss process. Thomas Hartman, P E, The Hartman Company
Convergence 2.0  Technology Convergence is Only the Beginning  Andy McMillan, President/CEO, Teletrol Systems Inc, President, BACnet International
FAVOURITE ARTICLE Open Source  Beyond Open Systems  Anno Scholten, NovusEdge
Efficient Human Convergence for Realizing ROI  One of the most efficient ways for humans to converge when required to implement and maintain new facility and energy solutions is to have strong adaptable integrated tools and processes increasing productivity and limiting the need for any human converge.  Brian Thompson, Founder, Managing Director, SENSUS M.I.
Delivering Enterprise Energy and Facility Management through an Open Architecture  The problem today is that there is a huge capability gap between building systems, their disparate or so called “open” protocols and a scaled enterprise energy management system offering control and management of all building systems.  Edmund B. Richards, President and CEO, Richards-Zeta
Advanced Energy Management Programs Automated Demand Response (ADR). Brooke Raffetto, Richards-Zeta Building Intelligence Inc.
Building a Green America  North America strongly correlates environmental performance with financial gains, boasts of patronizing real estate with at east 3-5 percent higher occupancy rate and who do not hesitate shelling out or commanding at least 3 percent higher rental rate than traditionally.  Konkana Khaund, Research Analyst, Environment & Building Technologies, Frost & Sullivan, North America
What Exactly is "Network Integration?"  “If it's the Psychic Network why do they need a phone number?”  Robin Williams, Actor, Comedian  Jim Sinopoli PE, RCDD, Managing Principal, Smart Buildings
EnOcean Alliance "No Wires. No Batteries. No Limits."  The Wireless Standard for Sustainable Buildings  Graham Martin, Chairman EnOcean Alliance
Energy Saving Solutions - Building IT with OPC  There is a symbiotic relationship between the systems controlling the environment, and the people and systems contained within it. Integration of the systems is needed to fully realize optimization possibilities.  Eric Murphy, MatrikonOPC
Cisco Application eXtension Platform  OSGi Add-On as Universal Middleware for Your Applications  Thomas Forst, Business Development Manager ProSyst Software GmbH
Building automation and intelligent buildings  Using motion detection sensors or security sensors on doors you can receive an instant alert via SMS, telephone call, e-mail or SNMP trap of un-authorized access. Pictures captures by the cameras can be attached to the E-mail or an MMS message so you can instantly see who is entering your building or room without authorization. You could even automatically prevent further access.  Nicholas Barrowclough, Technical Support Manager, AKCP
How to improve the Performance of a Mesh Wireless Sensor Network?  This white paper presents Diversity Path Mesh, a technology designed to maximize the most important performance factors of wireless mesh networks, as well as their trade-off envelope. Virtual Extension Ltd - Technology White Paper
The New Face of Building Automation  Buildings are now expected to be an interactive part of their virtual community and of course the electrical grid. This new face is creating untold opportunities that we all must investigate, understand and support. Published Control Engineering Asia magazine May 2008 issue
The Rise of Virtual Services  Computer applications that integrate information more effectively are giving building managers new tools to manage their energy use.  Published Energy Management Canada magazine May 2008 issue
Brilliant Buildings 
What makes a Building Brilliant? …..Surpassing Excellence that’s what!  Published ES Magazine May issue

Columns - May 2008
FAVORITE Controls Estimating 101  A beginner’s look at labor and material estimating for plan & spec projects  Steven R. Calabrese, Automated Logic Chicago
More on the Challenge of Writing the Controls Specs….   Open/standard communications protocols is probably the most important example of where a specification should contain explicit, prescriptive requirements. Paul Ehrlich & Ira Goldschmidt, Building Intelligence Group
Service Performance, Compliance, and Business Responsiveness  Just as in the rest of business computing, open source is coming to building control systems. Open interfaces such as oBIX make open source programming effective.  Toby Considine, Technology Officer, Facility Services, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill

April 2008
ASHRAE, CSI & OPC at BuilConn  The new face is strangely a combination of the past, the changing, the new, and a heavy dose of socially-driven subjects that together are turning the world of energy and buildings upside down. as ASHRAE, CSI & OPC meet at BuilConn.  Anto Budiardjo, President, Clasma Events Inc.
Getting a Handle on Web 2.0 and the New Services Development Paradigm  John R. Janowiak, President, International Engineering Consortium
Demand Response and the Energy Conservation Spirit  Integrating Demand Response into Overall Energy Efficiency on a College Campus  Steve Schaefer, Senior Vice President Sales & Marketing, EnergyConnect Inc.
Communicating To the Enterprise Isn’t Science Fiction  Far from being science fiction, providing the ability to connect building automation systems to the enterprise using OPC is very much a reality today.  Eric Murphy, BSc, PEng, MatrikonOPC
Total Facility Control  We need a better way to upgrade, enhance, and control what we have. Facility managers need a plan, a partner, and an incentive. Ron Bernstein, Executive Director, LonMark International
End-to-end solutions for business automation  A new site automation software development platform arrives on the market. Lydia Cobo, Marketing Europe, Elutions
Changing the Present Value  (Or Why the Present Value doesn’t change) Peter Chipkin, Partner AGP Support Group.
Mega Video Solutions  Systems are not just cheaper and more flexible they have opened up new opportunities. Barry Keepence, CTO, IndigoVision
FAVOURITE ARTICLE  The Future of Automated Buildings in North America  As published Climatizaçăo & Refrigeraçăo Magazine Brazil  Ken Sinclair, Editor Owner AutomatedBuildings.com

Columns - April 2008
Typical Controllers in DDC  Understand the differences in controller types and applications  Part 1 of 3 Steven R. Calabrese, Automated Logic Chicago
Rent Seeking is Crippling Building System Markets  Rent seeking is defined as when an individual, organization, or firm seeks to make money by manipulating control of the economic environment rather than by making a profit through trade and production of value.  Toby Considine, Technology Officer, Facility Services, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill
Writing the Controls Specs…. One of life’s great challenges  In reality the design of the controls system really starts with the selections made for the mechanical and electrical systems and a good understanding of how the building will be operated. Paul Ehrlich & Ira Goldschmidt, Building Intelligence Group

March 2008
Control Solutions, Inc FAVOURITE ARTICLE  Pushing Green into the Black  Self-powered Wireless Controls Build Financial Cases for Green Buildings Robert Eckery, Marcom Manager, EnOcean, Inc.
How Energy Revolution Affects You!  As in previous revolutions, social change will be significant, impacting everything from our daily lives to commerce and politics.  Anto Budiardjo, President, Clasma Events Inc.
The Number One Thing That Will Grow Your Business in 2008  The time for Energy Engineered Systems (EES) is now because the traditional construction process is broken and it is hard to deliver value without EES.  Jack Mc Gowan, CEM, Energy Control Inc.
FAVOURITE ARTICLE  The Coming Flood of Energy Reporting, Building Sensors and System Meters  In order to meet the challenge of energy management within buildings, maintain and increase the performance and asset value, buildings systems will need to dramatically increase devices that can sense, monitor, measure and manage energy loads and consumption, and weave that data into management reports that provide actionable information.  Jim Sinopoli PE, RCDD, Managing Principal, Smart Buildings
Oops! I Missed a Point  Use your existing Ethernet infrastructure and save money, time, and aggravation.  Joe Stasiek, Sales Manager, Contemporary Controls
BACnet and Interoperability  A coming of age  Rocky Moore, Marketing Lead, American Auto-Matrix
Simply the Best User Interface  The telephone continues to hold claim to the most convenient user interface. Ron Poskevich, General Manager, Lumisys
Innovative touch screen technology for BAS The graphics have to be a little bigger and links, like sequence of operations callouts, require larger navigation links. Dan McCarty, Quality Automation Graphics
An intelligent energy demand management system   ....that automatically predicts, regulates, and lowers peak demand for industries without compromising the operation of connected equipment.  John Reed, Media Relations, Powerit Solutions, Inc.
Build Green and Stay Green with OPC  To fully achieve efficiency and stay Green for the long run, building systems need to be monitored and maintained. If it can be measured, it can be managed and OPC supplies the means to do both. Eric Murphy, BSc, PEng, MatrikonOPC
Helping China Grow a Greener Future  China's Ministry of Construction (MOC) estimates that China will double its current building stock by 2020. The vast majority of these projects are large—commercial office buildings between 100,000 and 150,000 m2 and residential developments that span more than 500,000 m2 of construction area. Mike Williams C.Eng. FCMA, MCIBSE, MSyI, Managing Director, Founder CDC - Central Data Control
Design and Implementation of an Open, Interoperable Automated Demand Response Infrastructure  This article provides an overview of the AutoDR field tests and implementation activities from 2003-2007 and focuses on the concept for and lessons from the development and field-testing of an open, interoperable communications infrastructure to support automating DR.  Mary Ann Piette, Sila Kiliccote, and Girish Ghatikar Demand Response Research Center – Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Spokane International Airport Eliminates Paper Process  Spokane International mainly had problems tracking maintenance information. The main concern in the maintenance department was tracking labor hours spent maintaining airport equipment.  Eagle Technology, Inc.
LEED provides creditability to Smart Building Automation  Smart building encompasses the integration of all of the systems in the building, this additional level of commissioning should be a requirement to ensure the benefits of integrated building technology systems, and in the process, pick up one LEED credit. 
Ken Sinclair, Editor Owner AutomatedBuildings.com

Columns - March 2008
FAVOURITE COLUMN  SOB - the Service Oriented Building  My passion is web services interfaces to the engineered world to let embedded systems be full participants in the enterprise. Toby Considine, Technology Officer, Facility Services, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill
How Safety Devices (Should?) Affect System Components  Simple, albeit important, rules of thumb regarding equipment failsafe modes.  Steven R. Calabrese, Automated Logic Chicago
Green Intelligent Buildings – a Brief History  The original concept of Energy Management, which later became Building Automation, started in earnest as a result of the OPEC oil embargo in 1973.  Paul Ehrlich & Ira Goldschmidt, Building Intelligence Group

February 2008
FAVOURITE ARTICLE  The Energy Revolution is Here!  Let’s understand something: The Energy Revolution is happening around us, it is starting right now, not by this author, not by Al Gore, not by environmentalists, but by the realities of the changing energy paradigm.  Anto Budiardjo, President, Clasma Events Inc.
The Virtual Building Operations Center  How to Implement (VBOC) without a FMS change-out.  George B. Huettel, PE, President, Cyrus Technologies, Inc. 
REALIGNING Where People, Space, Time and Energy Interact  Enabling integration between enterprise software and building systems is only part of the solution. Data presentation, reporting, security, and adherence to current IT standards are the other keys.  John Greenwell, President, CEPORT, LLC
The Multi-Vendor Integrator  The culture of multi-vendor integration is the future.  Julian Smith, Control Network Services, Inc.
Life Cycle Costing Calculator  The Continental Automated Building Association (CABA) and RSMeans*, a Reed Construction Data company, announce the release of their online, interactive, Life Cycle Costing (LCC) calculator for the commercial industry.   Thomas (Thom) Keel, Member CABA Intelligent & Integrated Building Council, Chair Life Cycle Costing Task Force
Convergence & Controls - Grid Intelligence We can learn a lot from the United States’ GridWise — a movement that is re-shaping the American Power Industry. Ken Sinclair, Editor Owner AutomatedBuildings.com

Columns - February 2008
RTU Zoning Systems  Getting more out of your single zone constant volume rooftop units  Steven R. Calabrese, Automated Logic Chicago
FAVOURITE COLUMN  How Automated Are Our Green Buildings?  The new draft “LEED for Healthcare” document is not poised to add any new warmth to our hearts.  A close look at this document (or any LEED rating system for that matter) reveals very little direct reference to the use of building automation.  In fact the term “building automation” appears to be used only once in the entire document!   Paul Ehrlich & Ira Goldschmidt, Building Intelligence Group

January 2008
FAVOURITE ARTICLE Eight Predictions for Smart Buildings in 2008  “Never make predictions, especially about the future.”  Casey Stengel Jim Sinopoli PE, RCDD, Managing Principal, Smart Buildings
Buildings at the Epicenter… Don’t miss B2G in New York  John J. "Jack" Mc Gowan, CEM, Energy Control Inc.
Opportunities to learn Smart Buildings and the Smart Grid at AHR  As part of the AHR Educational panels there will be two free sessions that are must attend sessions for anyone who wants to learn more.  John J. "Jack" Mc Gowan, CEM, Energy Control Inc.
New Year, New Beginnings  “We don’t plan to fail, but often fail to plan”.  Paul Ehrlich & Ira Goldschmidt, Building Intelligence Group
4 Questions To Ask & 4 Tasks for 2008  They are in essence one question, “how does this industry move forward into the 21st century”.  Anto Budiardjo, President, Clasma Events Inc.
Reliable Controls FAVOURITE ARTICLE Out-of-the-Box Energy Monitoring  Earning LEED Innovation in Design Credit  Dan McCarty Quality Automation Graphics 
Using CO2 Feed-Back Control To Stop Costly Over Ventilation Ironically, outdoor air introduction to buildings is one of the few major energy consuming features of a building that is typically not measured or controlled on a real-time basis. Mike Schell, AirTest Technologies Inc.
Join the Interoperability Crusade  Please hear this message as a call for arms and join us in the crusade to improve integration and enable an ever-smarter electricity system.  Steve Widergren, Administrator, GridWise Architecture Council
IP Innovation: Clock, Paging and Messaging Systems  Jim Sinopoli PE, RCDD, Managing Principal, Smart Buildings
Controls Facilitate Lighting System Maintenance at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport  Watt Stopper/LeGrand Case Study
Building Automation Reflections and Projections  Ken Sinclair, Editor Owner of AutomatedBuildings.com provides a reflected review of a very exciting year in the Building Automation Industry as well as some crystal ball gazing into what to expect for 2008.
Ken Sinclair, Editor Owner AutomatedBuildings.com

Column - January 2008
Short on I/O? Try This Out!  Tricks of the trade, time-tested and industry-accepted  Steven R. Calabrese, Automated Logic Chicago

December 2007
GridWise, Demand Response and a Green AHR  Those who want to learn more about these automation opportunities with the electric grid should be at the AHR ASHRAE conference in New York this January 2008. John J. "Jack" Mc Gowan, CEM, Energy Control Inc.
FAVOURITE ARTICLE  How Do Smart Buildings Make A Building Green?  Smart buildings make green buildings greener, and green buildings make smart buildings smarter.  Jim Sinopoli PE, RCDD, Managing Principal, Smart Buildings
B2G Summit  January 21, 2008 – New York, NY  Anto Budiardjo, President, Clasma Events Inc.
Greenbuild is the Future  Enlightened builders and engineers must prove that energy savings are not just another green building tool, but the "big hammer," both economically and environmentally. Denis Du Bois, Editor, Energy Priorities Magazine
Go Big, or Go Home!  Using large format LCD’s allows the corporation to display entire building systems on one centralized monitor, and eliminates the need for multiple smaller monitors. Dan McCarty Quality Automation Graphics 
Sydney Opera House  Information Control for the Full Asset Lifecycle  Aconex Online Document Management
Are you ready for 3D?  When it comes to developing 3D graphics, most controls companies do not have the resources or software tools to design high level graphics.  Dan McCarty Quality Automation Graphics
Grid-Interop Rocks Industry Silos  Systems integrators, business managers, and policy-makers from electric, manufacturing, commercial building, and home automation industries discover common ground for advancing a smarter electricity system.  Steve Widergren, Administrator, GridWise Architecture Council
Wiring and Air Handling Under Raised Floors  A raised floor space is a plenum only if it was specifically fabricated to transport environmental air. Jim Landolina, Wiremold/Legrand
Integrating OPC into Building Automation  The Latest Trend  MatrikonOPC - White Paper
If These Walls Could Talk  Communicating Building Information Across the Enterprise with OPC and BACnet MatrikonOPC - White Paper
Control Panel Upgrade Provides Dramatic Improvement  Lighting Control Panel Upgrade Watt Stopper/LeGrand Case Study
What You Need to Know About GridWise  GridWise improves electric power grid coordination and the refrigeration industry will benefit from it. 
Ken Sinclair, Editor Owner AutomatedBuildings.com
Last Building Automation Column  This Building Automation column has provided me with an industry soapbox to rant on, scolding and generally cajoling the industry while plagiarizing the content of the bevy of authors from our online magazine AutomatedBuildings.com. Ken Sinclair, Editor Owner AutomatedBuildings.com

Column - December 2007
Wiring For Combustion Air  Prove the presence of the combustion air source before allowing the boiler plant to operate  Steven R. Calabrese, Automated Logic Chicago

November 2007
Getting a Handle on Energy Usage  Successful energy retrofit programs take a comprehensive approach to building systems as well as operational and maintenance practices to improve energy efficiency, comfort and productivity. Spinwave Systems, Inc.
The role of video analytics in the automated buildings market  There are now systems on the market that offer a plug-and-play solution that the average automation contractor, designer and security installer can successfully deploy and that don’t cost a tremendous amount of money. Roni Kass, Founder and CEO, ioimage
Truth About Megapixel  This is the third in a series of three articles separating fact from fiction with regard to the fast-growing megapixel camera technology. - Megapixel Network Cameras, Can They Really Save Bandwidth and Storage?  Paul Bodell, Officer, Vice President Sales & Marketing, IQinVision
FAVOURITE ARTICLE Integrated Design Associates, Inc.   Design headquarters is among the first to achieve net-zero energy  Johnson Controls, Case Study
FAVOURITE ARTICLE Ferreira “31 Tannery Project”  First Net Zero Electric commercial building in the U.S. A Post Occupancy Review, Observations & Lessons Learned  Edward H. Brzezowski, P.E. – LEED AP,  Director of Engineering, Ferreira Group
Demand Response and the Path to a Sustainable Energy Future  How the future unfolds, and our ability to pass on a sustainable planet to future generations, is based in large part on our success with shifting to more sustainable energy practices today. Clement J. Palevich, Constellation Sustainable Energy Solutions
Two Critical Steps Toward Sustainability 
(That we need to take now!)  Thomas Hartman, P E The Hartman Company
Standing Room Only at DR-Expo The requests from sponsors, speakers and attendees alike were for DR-Expo to be held at least twice a year in the U.S.  Anto Budiardjo, President, Clasma Events Inc.
Can You Hear Me Now?  Cell Coverage in Buildings  Jim Sinopoli PE, RCDD, Managing Principal, Smart Buildings
Found in Phoenix  The conference focused on opportunities created by connections between topics that used to seem totally disparate: The national electricity distribution infrastructure and my building’s bottom line? My BAS and environmental responsibility? Enterprise management and national security? Huh?  Robert Beverly, Editor, Engineered Systems.
Building the Intelligent Bridge to Sustainability  Intelligence-based solutions can be used to deliver buildings which meet the requirements of the 21st Century, while optimising their environmental performance. Alison Nicholl, Programme Manager ibexcellence, Business Analyst i&i limited
Energy & Power  We all have to be conscious of the fundamentals of energy and only we have the power to conserve.  Ron Bernstein, Executive Director, LonMark International
Harnessing the 4 Cs  Convergence, connectivity, controls and conservation can guide us towards a more profitable, vibrant industrial future.  It's time for new thinking on energy management. Ken Sinclair, Editor Owner AutomatedBuildings.com
Stumbling Towards Sustainability  It’s clear that in the last year our clients and society in general has moved much further in their expectations for sustainable buildings than our industry has moved in ability to effectively implement them. Ken Sinclair, Editor Owner AutomatedBuildings.com

Column - November 2007
Terms & Terminologies – Avoiding Confusion 
A closer look at some of the words and phrases that we sometimes take for granted  Steven R. Calabrese, Automated Logic Chicago

contemporary October 2007
FAVOURITE ARTICLE 
The Killer App is Here  A killer app is defined as being a product or service that is so useful that people will buy particular piece(s) of computer hardware and/or an operating system simply to gain access to the application, one that is so valuable that it transcends any concerns, risks or need to learn something new.  Anto Budiardjo, President, Clasma Events Inc.
9 Tips  On How To Obtain The Best Value In System Cabling  Jim Sinopoli PE, RCDD, Managing Principal, Smart Buildings
Redefining Wireless for Building Systems  ......is it rather “no-new-wires”? The Viconics Sales Team
Turning The Vision of Buildings 2.0 Into Reality  The vision of the Buildings 2.0 white paper states, we "must define tangible tools for Buildings 2.0 to evolve" and it is with this in mind that he communicates this experience.  Bradley Hemphill Pr.Eng B.Sc.Eng, Electrical Engineering Solutions
Connecting ARCNETŇ to Ethernet Infrastructures - Case Study  Contemporary Controls’ AI-SRVR is the Solution for Distance Issues in Multi-Building Installations  Debra Biela, Marketing Communications Specialist, Contemporary Controls
Pressure Independent Valves  - Case Study  Pressure Independent Valves Make Cost Effective Alternative to Reverse Return System for US Census Bureau  Lisa Hickey, BELIMO Americas
Truth About Megapixel  This is the second in a series of three articles separating fact from fiction with regard to the fast-growing megapixel camera technology. - Megapixel Network Cameras, Can They Really Save Bandwidth and Storage?  Paul Bodell, Officer, Vice President Sales & Marketing, IQinVision
Johnson Controls Metasys Enhancement Prevents Building Disasters  Complete One Step Backup for a JCI Metasys Operator Workstation (OWS) and Network Control Module (NCM) using the new MetaBAK™ product insures reliability. David Hagemann, Custom Computer Systems
The Soft Side of Automation  Integrating Window Shades into Automation Systems  David Parrett, Electronic Solutions, Inc. a Hunter Douglas Company
Turning Buzz into Bucks  Now is the time to get involved; learn what the buzz is all about and better understand the opportunities being presented to you with demand response.  Ken Sinclair, Editor Owner AutomatedBuildings.com

Column - October 2007
Electric Duct Heaters – Application & Control 
Avoid application errors and controllability issues when designing EDH control systems 
Steven R. Calabrese, Automated Logic Chicago

September 2007
An Open Letter to the Clinton Climate Initiative  It isn’t just a few who want this Initiative to succeed. All of society wants it to succeed and is watching us to see if we can work together well and hard enough to be certain it will!   Thomas Hartman, P E, The Hartman Company
Commissioning Forever   “The system of nature, of which man is a part, tends to be self-balancing, self-adjusting, self-cleansing. Not so with technology.” E.F. Schumacher, Small is Beautiful  Jim Sinopoli PE, RCDD, Managing Principal, Sinopoli and Associates
FAVOURITE ARTICLE Four steps to make money from DR  Understand - Internalize - Plan - Execute  Anto Budiardjo, President, Clasma Events Inc.
Energy… how do you turn Buzz into Business? The simple answer to that question is that automation is the “enabling technology” for demand response.  John J. "Jack" Mc Gowan, CEM, Energy Control Inc.
FAVOURITE ARTICLE Weather On Demand  A New Way for Building Automation to Leverage Real-time Weather Information  Roy Kok, VP Sales and Marketing, Kepware Technologies
Demand Response Case Study Trojan Battery invested over $500,000 for summer demand response and their utility reimbursed them. Now Trojan gets lower rates that are saving the company thousands on its electric bill every month. Denis DuBois, Editor, Energy Priorities
FAVOURITE ARTICLE Are you ready for changing 21st Century energy markets?  Energy resources will continue to become increasingly scarce, however, their scarcity and attendant price escalation drives technological improvements in building, operating and maintaining the facilities that use those resources. Peter M. Schwartz, Principal, Peter Schwartz & Associates, LLC
Why Building Automation Should Be More Like Football  Good players win games. Can your building “win” with the system that’s currently installed? If not, take advantage of every opportunity to upgrade outdated systems.  Tim Kensok, Director of Business Development, AirAdvice, Inc.
Designing a Daylight Harvesting System (Part 2 of 2)  It is a rule in lighting control that the higher the number of control zones in a space, the more flexibility and control accuracy will be gained, at the expense of cost and more sophisticated commissioning.  Craig DiLouie, Principal, ZING Communications, Inc. & Communications Director Lighting Controls Association
Truth About Megapixel This is the first in a series of three articles separating fact from fiction with regard to the fast-growing megapixel camera technology.  Paul Bodell, Officer, Vice President Sales & Marketing, IQinVision
FAVOURITE ARTICLE Parking Lot Gets Smart with ZigBee  The automation process requires placing ”smart” detection sensors next to the parking spaces throughout the parking lot.   Alex Leonov, Marketing Manager, MeshNetics
Delivering Sustainability  
Sustainability is a complex issue and Intelligent Building technologies are a large part of the solution.  Paul Ehrlich PE, President, Building Intelligence Group LLC
Demand Response: Information Is Power  Patrick Mazza, Research Director, Climate Solutions
The "BUZZ" about ADR  So what’s all the BUZZ about Automated Demand Response (ADR)?  Ed Richards, President and CEO, Richards-Zeta Building Intelligence, Inc
Rapidly Changing Fundamentals of Demand Response  Today’s demand response products are more finely honed instruments that give decision makers the tools to design and implement a proactive energy strategy that helps manage risk every hour of the day.
Peter Kelly-Detwiler, Senior Director of Energy Technology Services, Constellation NewEnergy
NewEnergy AllianceSM   The Alliance will help empower and create immediate revenue opportunities for all who wish to directly participate in demand response with their products, services and technologies. Leighton Wolffe, Principal, Wolffe Technology Consultants
Multi-Site Demand Response Technology Moves Into the Retail Space  Using a multi-site demand response program to control utility costs will be particularly effective if the design of the buildings take into account the need to accommodate this strategy.  Bob Coppenhaver, Director Product Management and Marketing, Novar
Automated Demand Response and BACnet® Buildings that have BACnet-based building control systems are particularly well positioned to participate in DR programs. Jim Butler, CTO, Cimetrics Inc.
Next Generation Demand Response  the Readily Available Green Energy Solution  Steve Schaefer, Senior Vice President Sales & Marketing, EnergyConnect Inc.
Graphical User Interfaces  When web design and building automation graphical user interfaces converge…Alper Uzmezler, Systems Integrator, Building Automation Systems Services
Opportunity Overload?  “The opportunities surrounding Demand Response (DR) cannot be underestimated. These opportunities are available today for building system contractors, integrators and owners.”  Ken Sinclair, Editor Owner AutomatedBuildings.com

Column - September 2007
Pressure Transmitters – Selection & Placement
Understand the concepts behind sizing and locating static and differential pressure transmitters
Steven R. Calabrese, Automated Logic Chicago

August 2007
Lighting Control  Integrate without the Risk of Failure Ron Poskevich, General Manager, Lumisys
Designing a Daylight Harvesting System:  Part One  Daylighting is the use of daylight as a primary source of general illumination in a space. Craig DiLouie, Principal, ZING Communications, Inc. & Communications Director Lighting Controls Association
DALI is Here & Here To Stay  DALI – (Digital Addressable Lighting Interface) has been around for several years. Phillip Hodge, Business Development Manager, Building Technology Integration Control & Engineering
FAVOURITE ARTICLE  Seven Habits of a Highly Profitable Controls Company  We have two basic choices in how we do things: be reactive to things that happen around us, or proactive to ensure things happen as we want them to.  Anto Budiardjo, President, Clasma Events Inc.
Bytes and Bricks: Leaving Data and Money on the Table  “Technological change is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal.” - Albert Einstein  Jim Sinopoli PE, RCDD, Managing Principal, Sinopoli and Associates
Our Industry's Violent DisAgreement  And How to Move Forward Toward a More Efficient Future
Thomas Hartman, P E, The Hartman Company
GridWise The Right Place At An Exceptional Time  With GridWise, IT interoperability will lead to ap’s that start with DR as a basic curtailment (turning electric loads off) program, but then to expand a truly intelligent building functionality that reshapes the load curve by leveraging automation.  John J. "Jack" Mc Gowan, CEM, Energy Control Inc.
Buildings 2.0 Energy and the Grid  Buildings 2.0 is an initiative that cares for the scarce resources we have on planet Earth. Anto Budiardjo, President, Clasma Events Inc.
FAVOURITE ARTICLE  HVAC Control Systems Market   to Reach $12.7 Billion  Jared Malarsky, Research Analyst, ARC Advisory Group
Making Money with BAS Mash-ups  The term mash-up refers to a new breed of web-based applications. Ken Sinclair, Editor Owner AutomatedBuildings.com

Column - August 2007
Rooftop Unit Economizer – Operation & Control 
Perform the economizer functions of a packaged rooftop unit using digital control  Steven R. Calabrese, Automated Logic Chicago

contemporary July 2007
FAVOURITE ARTICLE  The Top 10 List For Successfully Integrating Building Systems  “I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. “ - Michael Jordan, Six NBA Championships, Five Times NBA MVP   Jim Sinopoli PE, RCDD, Managing Principal, Sinopoli and Associates
Sustainable Buildings  Are Industry Groups The Solution or the Problem? Thomas Hartman, P E, The Hartman Company
FAVOURITE ARTICLE  Wireless Control and Automation Made Practical -- Finally  While automobiles may get all the bad headlines, energy-guzzling buildings account for a whopping 39% of all energy consumption in the U.S., according to the Departments of Energy (DOE) and Transportation (DOT); far above the 27% used by transportation.  Mark Walters, Chairman, Z-Wave Alliance
DR-Expo™  Delivering Demand Response Information & Solutions Today!  Anto Budiardjo, President & CEO of Clasma Events Inc.
FAVOURITE ARTICLE  BAS Graphics - Past, Now, and Future  The BAS industry has changed rapidly in the last 5 years. The main improvements have been on connectivity between protocols and the information transfer to the internet Alper Uzmezler Systems Integrator Building Automation Systems Services
NRG Systems Energy Savings  The building is one of only a handful of manufacturing facilities to earn a LEED Gold certification. Joy Null, Director Of Public Relations, Watt Stopper/Legrand
Connectivity + Convergence + Confluence = Change  Connectivity concepts such as the smart grid, the greening of buildings with better connections to everything, coupled with connections to powerful web services plus the notion of Buildings 2.0 are all creating new directions and markets for our industry. Ken Sinclair, Editor Owner AutomatedBuildings.com

Column - July 2007
RTU Operation Via Conventional & Digital Controls  Control a packaged rooftop unit with a thermostat, or digitally via a building automation system  Steven R. Calabrese, Automated Logic Chicago

June 2007
Making Energy Efficiency Accountable  Right now there is no off-the-shelf delivery process in place to develop truly effective energy efficiency improvements with long term performance assurance. Thomas Hartman, P E, The Hartman Company
Smart Parking Garages?  “We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us” Winston Churchill Jim Sinopoli PE, RCDD, Managing Principal, Sinopoli and Associates
Confluence, Convergence, Confusion….Kaboom“  The need to create standards for delivering automated building systems information realtime to first responders en route to an incident.  Allan M. Olbur, Vice President, In-Store Merchandising Solutions, Inc.
FAVOURITE ARTICLE  Truly Brilliant Buildings  The primary principle is to ensure that you collect and store data once when it is generated and then re-use it throughout the lifecycle of the facility.  Deke Smith, AIA, Executive Director, buildingSMART® Alliance National Institute of Building Sciences
Energy Efficiency in the Power Grid  The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that increasing energy efficiency could reduce national energy use by 10% or more in 2010, and as much as 20% in 2020, with net economic benefits for consumers and businesses as a result.  White Paper ABB Inc.
The Connectivity Daily  These contributions provided a balance of industry information that appealed to all conference attendees, whether their focus was BuilConn, M2M, GridWise Expo or the ZigBee Expo.  Frank Capuano, Strata Resource Inc
New Advances in Digital Display Technology  With all of the variation in system capabilities and in the potential for problems within the DDS marketplace, it’s not surprising to find some resistance to the installation of DDS from Building Managers. Wayne Moir, President, Adshift Inc.
Getting Grid Wise at GridWeek  A $900 billion market opportunity was identified for the industry to make the national grid smart and wise with interactive connectivity. Ken Sinclair, Editor Owner AutomatedBuildings.com

Column - June 2007

Interlocking of AHU Safety Devices  Design and fabricate a control panel specifically for the safety device interlocking. Steven R. Calabrese, Automated Logic Chicago

May 2007
The Consensus Conundrum  To be successful in your contribution to this industry at this critical time, more than anything else these good ideas you develop need an effective champion – you!  Thomas Hartman, P E, The Hartman Company
BAS University Establishes Industry Education Resource  From the interested novice to the hardened professional, BAS University offers information field professionals and engineers can rely on for reference on a daily basis. David G. Evans, Computrols
CMMS - Managing Facilities as a Business  If your job hasn’t changed in the last two years, be prepared to change or be replaced. It’s lead or get out of the way.  Harry Kohal, Director of Sales and Marketing, Eagle Technology, Inc.
FAVOURITE ARTICLE The Largest Enterprise Energy Management Deployment in North America  Once completed, Simon will have the ability to understand and manage thousands of control points from an energy potential perspective as well as integrate real time results of any point to match the business strategy of maximizing comfort and performance while minimizing energy costs.  Case Study   Brooke Richards, Richards-Zeta Building Intelligence, Inc.
Demand Response, an Urgent and Significant Opportunity  Demand Response (DR) is without doubt the golden opportunity for building systems integrators and contractors.  Anto Budiardjo, President & CEO, Clasma Events Inc.
Implementation Issues of Open Networks   One can specify and procure an open system, but the system needs to be properly installed, configured and documented to produce the “open” benefits.  Jim Sinopoli PE, RCDD, Managing Principal, Sinopoli and Associates
Integration of Dynamic Facades with other Building Systems  Recent studies have shown that appropriate fenestration/shading design and control, linked with simultaneous control of electric lighting and HVAC components, could significantly reduce peak cooling load and energy consumption for lighting and cooling, while maintaining good thermal and lighting indoor conditions.  Thanos Tzempelikos, M.A.Sc., Ph.D.
Solar Buildings Research Network, Department of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Concordia University
BAS – What do customers want?  Customers for BAS… who they are? How can we determine customers basing on their interests in building automation systems?  Andrey Golovin, Executive Director, Russian BACnet Group
News Maker of the Year  Jack McGowan, CEM, President & CEO, Energy Control Inc, GridWise Architecutre Council Chairman  Ken Sinclair, AutomatedBuildings.com
Beyond BACnet  Grid integrators will work with BACnet data to make it a seamless part of their grid and or enterprise management products.  Ken Sinclair, AutomatedBuildings.com
Thinking Out Loud in an Industry of Change  We all need to think out loud to quickly guide our industry to the next level and set plans for the future.  Ken Sinclair, AutomatedBuildings.com

April 2007
Buildings 2.0  Buildings 2.0 is a vision that intricately intertwines buildings with Internet technologies. It is a vision that the future of buildings is one which is controlled, managed and connected to the Internet, in a way that goes far beyond simply placing a web server to the control system or in the use of IP.  Anto Budiardjo, President & CEO, Clasma Events Inc.
What does it Really Take to be an Intelligent Building?  To get our industry to meet its commitment to owners, occupants and the rapidly evolving energy and environmental performance expectations of our society, we need the connectivity we incorporate into intelligent buildings to add valuable function. Thomas Hartman, P E, The Hartman Company
Smart Building to Smart Grid Success Stories at GridWeek John J. "Jack" Mc Gowan, CEM, Energy Control Inc.
Capex Happiness: Squeezing the Redundancy Out of the Construction Budget  Jim Sinopoli PE, RCDD, Managing Principal, Sinopoli and Associates
Is purchasing costing you plenty?  The hidden overhead cost of the equipment ordering process Al De Wachter, President, ICS Inc
Thought and Reflections on the Status of our Industry  Several meetings held in the winter of 2006 and in conjunction with the AHR exposition provided some valuable and interesting insights into what our industry values and potentially some guidance or steps to follow to transform our industry. Thomas J. Lohner, P.E., Vice President, TENG Solutions
FAVOURITE ARTICLE Intelligent Buildings Roadmap  “The industry needs to get together to integrate or at least educate all of the people that are involved. The owner cannot integrate the industry, the architect cannot integrate the industry, the industry must integrate itself and take the lead…”  Paul Ehrlich PE, President, Building Intelligence Group LLC
Achieving Energy Savings with Building Automation Systems  Unfortunately, just installing a BAS is often not enough to guarantee energy savings, Kristin Kamm, Sr. Associate Research, E SOURCE
Using Your HVAC System to Improve IAQ  Recognizing the Importance of Controlling Key Airflow Rates David S. Dougan, President EBTRON, Inc.
The Next Generation in Thermal Analysis for Reliability, Constant Thermal Monitoring Bob Kern, Product Manager. Power Service Concepts ExerTherm

March 2007
Information Is Power  Delivering Systems and Equipment Awareness With 3D Digital Sensing  Harbor Research, Inc. White Paper
FAVOURITE ARTICLE Certification for Designers and Installers: The Industry’s Path Forward for Credibility Jim Sinopoli PE, RCDD, Managing Principal, Sinopoli and Associates
Automated Demand Response and America’s Energy Future  John J. "Jack" Mc Gowan, CEM, Energy Control Inc.
Streamlining your Controls Submittal Package How many times can you afford to do the job? Al De Wachter, President, ICS Inc
BACnet Releases Access Control Standards  ASHRAE BACnet Standing Standards Project Committee SSPC-135 formally approved for publication for public review a set of proposals which add Physical Access Control capability to the existing standards for Building Automation and Control. ASHRAE BACnet Standing Standards Project Committee SSPC-135
Broadcaster uses Digital Signage Technology  Televisa received the directive from Mexico’s Wal-Mart to place display screens throughout each of their 300 department stores, exposing the multimedia advertising to a monthly audience of 50 million people. David Wiseman, Senior Marketing Writer, Minicom Advanced Systems
AHR 2007 Addresses Issues with Building Automation Systems Jared Malarsky, Research Analyst, ARC Advisory Group
Boilers That Can Take the Pressure Thanks to Setra transducers. Setra Systems, Inc Case Study
The Automated Buildings Industry is ready, willing, and able to bring real GridWise solutions to GridWeek in Washington DC Ken Sinclair AutomatedBuildings.com
Get GridWise at GridWeek Washington DC - April 23-26, 2007 Ken Sinclair AutomatedBuildings.com

Click on Topic for a List of Articles
Favorite Articles
Philosophies / Concepts
Networking / Communication
Internet Evolution
Building Performance
Marketing & Business
General Information

Favorite Articles
ARTICLE TITLE AUTHOR ISSUE DATE
Technology Contracting – The Future Is Now Terry Hoffmann Feb 07
Destination Sydney, Australia - Four For Points for the Industry  Four Points by Sheraton Leading the Way in the Management and Control of its Facilities Management, Workflow, Energy Management, Security and Building  Efficiency Ken Sinclair,  Marc Petock, Mike Marston, Martin Hodder Jan 07
Moving Toward A Sustainable Building Industry   A sustainable building industry will not only require new technologies, but also a vastly improved process for designing, constructing, and operating buildings.  Tom Hartman Dec 06
Help Wanted: Building Systems Architect Paul Ehrlich Nov 06
The HVAC Industry CAN Reinvent Itself!  There is a growing understanding that there will come a point in human history at which society has to learn to continue its progress while it reduces its consumption of resources. That time may be very near. Tom Hartman Oct 06
LONWORKS Converges with IP The future of building systems seems clear. IP has become a key, pervasive element of networking technology at the enterprise/IT level, and LonWorks® technology and products at the field level. Ken Sinclair Sep 06
Service contractors profit from the HEAT with emerging connectivity and FDDI analysis  Brian Thompson Sep 06
Can ASHRAE Reinvent Itself?  “We’re ready, and we’re waiting! Which is it?”  Tom Hartman Aug 06
John Petze leaves Tridium to create another river of change as CEO of Privaris  Not sure if you heard that John Petze is leaving Tridium. John has been and remains an industry icon. Ken Sinclair Jul 06
Artificial Intelligence in Building Automation: Fuzzy Logic Anwer Bashi Jul 06
New Vistas With Relational Control A Three Part Series PART 3: Process Change Required For Effective Relational Control Tom Hartman Jun 06
Honeywell Global Service Response Center  GSRC is a super operator, a kind of outsourced center of excellence and expertise on increasingly complex, automated building control systems. Bob Lahey Jun 06
Open Building Information Exchange (oBIX)  oBIX Unbound Aaron Hansen May 06
New Vistas With Relational Control A Three Part Series PART 3: Process Change Required For Effective Relational Control Tom Hartman May 06
Why your next project should be an Intelligent Building In addition to being a better building to live, learn, work and play in it can also be a very satisfactory investment for any owner. Paul Ehrlich May 06
Building Automation Renaissance  How to survive & prosper from Building-IT Convergence Anto Budiardjo, & Ken Sinclair Apr 06
New Vistas With Relational Control  A Three Part Series PART 2: An Introduction to Relational Control Tom Hartman Apr 06
Wireless! Building Automation Unwired [Abridged]  Using one wireless backbone for several systems can reduce engineering, construction, commissioning and operating cost over the entire life of the building.  John Edler and Weilin Wang Mar 06
Defining The Intelligent Building Control Market  Understanding the true volumetric size of our new industry gets much deeper as we converge. Will biosensors that are tied to the security databases be part of our intelligent building control market? Ken Sinclair Feb 06
Blazing a new trail to Intelligent buildings…  The value proposition in building automation is no longer in installing, programming, maintaining or even integrating building systems. Rather, as with the pervasive internet, the opportunity is in creating services and value propositions that can be offered by using the power of the systems that are installed. John J. "Jack" Mc Gowan Jan 06
Flexible Master's Programme in Intelligent Buildings  The principal aim of the programme is to provide advanced knowledge of intelligent buildings and hence educate those who will commission, design and operate such buildings. Professor Derek Clements-Croome Dec 05
What is an Intelligent Building? Part 2: Intelligent Building Construction and Operation Paul Ehrlich Nov 05
BACnet Conference & Expo  Update: This has allowed us to build a first-class conference while keeping the registration fees at bargain prices.   Jon Williamson Oct 05
Building Automation has become Pointless Our remaining frontier is to insure that all the devices and sub-systems we buy fit nicely into our enterprise managed building automation system. Ken Sinclair Sep 05
What Is An Intelligent Building? Part 1: An introduction to intelligent building design. Paul Ehrlich Aug 05
Hotel PBX: The Road to IP  IP systems deliver advanced communications that enhance the guest experience, improve customer service and optimize operational productivity and costs. Deepak Wanner Jul 05
Power Over Ethernet  Industrial Ethernet is Now a True Fieldbus  George Thomas Jun 05
ES Supplement May 2005 Sinclair/McGowan
/Considine/Zivney
May 05
Hubs versus Switches  Understand the Tradeoffs George Thomas May 05
HVAC Automation and the Light Commercial Market  The key characteristics of an HVAC automation system for this market are low cost, simplicity and reliability. Eldon Ziegler Apr 05
Building Automation with LCN Early 1992, a German company called ISSENDORFF Mikroelektronik GmbH, started to market a building automation system based on a new hard-wired network technology and named it LCN (Local Control Network). Thanh Nguyen Mar 05
Beyond Commissioning: The Role of Automation How is commissioning likely to be performed 20 or 30 years from now? Will technology advance to the state where building systems and equipment are automatically commissioned on an on-going basis as conditions demand?  Michael R. Brambley, Srinivas Katipamula Feb 05
ProtoCessor - A Protocol Solution A cost effective BACnet, LonWorks, Modbus, Metasys and ZigBee protocol solution uses interchangeable modules. Edward Hague Jan 05
Web Services – A New BACnet Standard  ASHRAE SPC 135 adds Web services to BACnet. Steve Tom Dec 04
ZigBee or Not ZigBee In order to standardize the implementation of digital radio telemetry across many markets, including commercial HVAC controls, the ZigBee organization has formed. Guy Zebrick Dec 04
Integrated, Interoperable and Intelligent  …the Buildy targets Next Generation Buildings  John J. "Jack" Mc Gowan Nov 04
Johnson Controls Metasys N2 Networks in an Open Systems Environment  Testing of each device in a live N2 network is critical.   Brian Jones Oct 04
Plan Users Guide - Project Control Successful project control system and project cost intro  Al De Wachter Sept 04
Measuring The Right Thing For Humidity Control…  It's the Dew Point Stupid!  Mike Schell Aug 04
A Wake-Up Call and a Brainer  Ask any economist worth his salt what the total impact on American industry would be if our gross use of energy were to decrease by 15% over the next 10 years. David E. Craven Jul 04
Waking Up to Wireless Wireless…. WAKE UP it is here and it is now!  Ken Sinclair Jun 04
Wireless Mesh Sensor Networks  Enable Building Owners, Managers, and Contractors to Easily Monitor HVAC Performance Issues  Paul Sereiko Jun 04
LonWorks and BACnet System Solution on a Chip  Both protocols have become well established and manufacturers are working to offer building systems supporting both platforms. Al Mouton May 04
Cost Comparison Model - Open vs Proprietary Introductory Article - 9 part series  Paul D.J. Mason Apr 04
Autonomic Wireless Building Networks   The key to reliable ad hoc wireless networking for building automation applications and protocols is an Autonomic mesh network: an Autonomic network is one that self-configures, self-heals, self-regulates, and understands when to apply these parameters.  Weilin Wang, 
Michael Nova
John Edler
Mar 04
Reaping the Benefits of IP  How IP Access Technology is Making 'Intelligent Buildings' a Reality  Deepak Wanner Feb 04
Ethernet: The Common Thread to Total Building Systems Integration  Ease of setup/configuration/use as well as connectivity options are key factors when considering a device server for your building automation application.  Jason Sprayberry Jan 04
Integrating OPC into Building Automation - The Latest Trend  OPC is a viable solution for building automation and is available today.  Randy Kondor Dec 03

Marketing Convergence - Engineered Systems November Supplement
Convergence Will Happen 
Why Is There A Need For Marketing?
Selling Integration and Convergence  

Ken Sinclair
Anto Budiardjo
Jack Mc Gowan
Nov 03
Ending the Blackout Blues  We need (REALLY need) to improve the way our industry delivers more advanced technologies to our building construction projects.  Thomas Hartman Oct 03
Protocol war yields to productive peace  Ironically by narrowing the choice of control protocols the industry can now invest more in well understood, and supported systems that are easy to specify, install, integrate and modify.  Peter Manolescue Sept 03
Internet-based Energy and Security  Most industry proponents believe that energy, security, and IT technology are converging-with the Internet taking center stage.  John J. "Jack" Mc Gowan Aug 03
XML Spells Connection to the Future  An open letter to the Building Controls Industry turned into a reality.  Ken Sinclair July 03
Key Criteria for Selecting Building Controls Web Servers  There are four basic criteria that need to be considered when selecting a web serving solution in order to maintain maximum benefits with the engineering, commissioning and future maintenance of projects.  Gary Bark July 03
"IT" Could be the Start of Something Big  Now, with the growing use of building networks and the convergence of building controls and IT networks, it is becoming far easier to connect building occupants to the building control system by employing a simple "comfort and lighting" icon on each occupant's PC.   Thomas Hartman Jun 03
Ventilation Codes  ICC's International Mechanical Code vs. NFPA 5000, Analysis and Recommendations Leonard A. Damiano May 03
Controlling Convergence  - Engineered Systems April Outsert Ken Sinclair
Tom Hartman 
Apr 03
IIt is Time to Upgrade your DDC System  The transformation of moving from old modem based DDC technology to TCP/IP communication is a time warping sensation.   Ken Sinclair  Mar 03
Web-Based Automation  Access to real-time information anywhere, anytime through an Internet-enabled automation system is the real value of this technology.  John J. "Jack" Mc Gowan Feb 03
ASHRAE STANDARD 62 Ventilation for Acceptable Indoor Air Quality Analysis and Recommendations It should be clear to the design profession that the dynamic nature of mechanical ventilation requires dynamic control. Being a rate based standard, continuous airflow measurement should be a central component of any effective control strategy to assure acceptable indoor air quality.  David S. Dougan, & Leonard A. Damiano Jan 03
A "Black Box"  ...what Building Automation needs!  John J. "Jack" Mc Gowan Jan 03
BACnet - A Marketing Perspective  No one said it was going to be easy to change vertical, product-based thinking to horizontal, performance-based thinking. Thomas Zaban Dec 02
Real-time Energy Dashboard™  the next new thing in Building Automation John J. "Jack" Mc Gowan Nov 02
Industry Focus Shifts to Web Convergence  The first few years of the DDC revolution our industry created a stable of " Awful Mated Buildings " I fear this could occur again with our first attempts at web convergence.  Ken Sinclair Nov 02
Web Accessible Control Systems - Lessons Learned  Web-based systems are not just a concept to be shown at trade shows and discussed in journal articles. They're real, they work, and they are providing unparalleled access to facilities around the world.  Steve Tom Oct 02
Your Building Management System May Be Compromising Your Company's Security  Previously seen as scare mongering, the vulnerabilities of using building control systems remotely have recently come to the attention of federal authorities and now demand our objective attention as a security problem of major proportions.  Jonathan Buckley, Jay H. Hartley Oct 02
Web-Based Control Systems - Doing more with more  More access, more flexibility, more interoperability, wider area integration, but not more cost.  Steve Tom, Sep 02
Specifying Control Systems  Simply, if you specify a scope of work, a points list, and the technology you want you will have specified 99% of a system. (The second in a series of articles on the delivery of BMCSs to our clients.)  Jim Henry Sep 02
Web Based Facilities Operations Guide  Doing more with less by using Web-based anywhere information to amplify your existing building operational resources.  Ken Sinclair Aug 02
The Business of System Integration The challenge for readers of this article is to revisit your definition of system integration and take the time to bring the full scope of services that you offer in better focus. John J. "Jack" Mc Gowan Jul 02
The "Right Stuff"  What it takes to become a true building system integrator in today's world. Will Podgorski Jun 02
Building Systems Commissioning: Let Technology do the Heavy Lifting Having the control network installed early in the construction phase allows the building automation system to do as much of the heavy lifting as possible including centralized data collection, analysis and reporting.  Clay Nesler May 02
All-Variable Speed Chilled Water Distribution Systems: Optimizing Distribution Efficiency  In many large cooling systems, the chilled water distribution system poses a much more immediate problem to overall cooling system performance and efficiency.  Tom Hartman Apr 02

The Evolution and Future of Control Systems  We know where we've been, but where might we be going in the future of control systems?  

Edward H. Brzezowski  Mar 02
Information Model: The Key to Integration  There has been much attention paid to the relative merits of various protocols in the Building Automation industry. The key to successful integration lies not in the protocol, but in the information model that it represents.  Eric Craton and Dave Robin Jan 02
Our Industry Should Support New Division 17  I encourage every reader of automatedbuildings.com to do everything you can to learn about and support this new proposal.    Steve Thomas Nov 01
What's New and Hot in the Building Automation Market?  One of the exciting new trends in Building Automation today is the growing popularity of Direct Digital Control (DDC) as a measure incorporated with Performance Contracts.  John J. "Jack" Mc Gowan Sept 01
Web Based Control Systems The Devil is in the Details  Clearly all web-based control systems are not created equal!  Steve Tom Jul 01
11 Revolutionary Automation Trends in Large Buildings  These 11 trends are having a significant effect on the present revolution or rapid evolution of large Buildings Automation. Ken Sinclair May 01
Seamless Connectivity  One Company's Success Developing and Implementing LonWorks networks based on RF technology.  Tracy Markie  Mar 01
DDC's Future 1-01  ...the Web may have more to do with defining DDC's future than any individual development in control theory, HVAC or building technology. John J. "Jack" Mc Gowan Jan 01
Control Synthesis  There have been number of efforts aimed at creating standard bus-level protocols for automation systems. John J. "Jack" Mc Gowan Nov 00
DDC Networks:...is the question really: BACnet™ or LonWorks™?  The intent here is to answer that question with a simpler question "What are you trying to accomplish, and does one protocol, or more specifically control and network products based upon it, provide a better solution than the other? John J. "Jack" McGowan Sept 00
The "COMFORT INDUSTRY" a 21st Century Opportunity  This new commercial building comfort industry will market to tenants, and products will be installed by office furnishing installers, not building trades.  Tom Hartman Jul 00
Achieving Control System Independence - Controls Computers and Standards Light at the End of the Network..........The demand for interoperability is increasing and manufacturers are responding with LonMark products. With careful specification and resolve on the part of the owners to accept only interoperable systems, they can for the first time achieve "Control System Independence". Earl Gray May 00
The Benefits of Ethernet to Building Automation - Ethernet is the information connectivity utility, and this makes Ethernet running TCP/IP the protocol to bet on for open systems going forward.   John Petze Mar 00
HVAC Control: An Essay on Change   "........ the building controls industry is poised for a leap into the world of network based systems." Tom Hartman Jan 00
Are Automated Buildings Converging or Colliding with the Internet? Is our industry listening to the wake up calls of the information revolution?   Ken Sinclair Nov 99
Combining Wireless Technology and Internet - Seamlessly  Notifact system brings hidden HVAC activity into view. David Sandelman Sept 99
Network Control: A New Paradigm For HVAC   Deals with the leading edge thinking that we have come to expect from Tom. Tom Hartman July 99
Your Building Address as a .com?  More new automated buildings now have their own Internet address. Read all about it. Ken Sinclair May 99
Philosophies / Concepts
ARTICLE TITLE AUTHOR ISSUE DATE
Specifying Integrated Technology Systems in a Fragmented World  “Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” - Steve Jobs, 2003   Jim Sinopoli Feb 07
Intelligent Buildings – Today!  The concept of an Intelligent, Smart or “Next Generation” building has been around for years. Paul Ehrlich Feb 07
The Electric Utility Industry - Missing the Boat on Conservation  Utilities’ business model – dictated to them by their regulators - is tied to selling electricity, not saving and redistributing Thomas Hartman Jan 07
Industry Pow-Wow  An event that will unite the industry must be open, open to all perspectives, open to all potentially valuable ideas, technologies and solutions balanced with objectivity and business development strategies. The event should not exclude any idea, any perspective, or any technology that could be of benefit to building owners .Anto Budiardjo Jan 07
Sustainable Green Connectivity This is what building owners want now from our building automation systems Ken Sinclair Jan 07
Moving Toward A Sustainable Building Industry   A sustainable building industry will not only require new technologies, but also a vastly improved process for designing, constructing, and operating buildings.  Thomas Hartman Dec 06
Help Wanted: Building Systems Architect Paul Ehrlich Nov 06
The Roadblocks and How to Overcome  Benefits need to be made clear to the financial community and a big change needs to occur across the whole world construction community, for and on behalf of the Clients. The necessary way for energy efficiency is through control. Paul Mason Nov 06
Global Connectivity  ConnectivityWeek which started in Palm Springs in May of this year has grown into several international forums/events which are creating global connectivity on several levels. Ken Sinclair Nov 06
The HVAC Industry CAN Reinvent Itself!  There is a growing understanding that there will come a point in human history at which society has to learn to continue its progress while it reduces its consumption of resources. That time may be very near. Thomas Hartman Oct 06
Energy Conservation with a Conscience Decisions on where to apply resources cannot be made unless the value of both the building’s efficiency and its comfort are equally represented.  Kenny Sibley Oct 06
Where’s the DDC? The answer for today’s small building Travis Short Oct 06
What's The Best Radio System for Building Automation?  This article looks at a selection of radio technologies and considers the most important performance parameters – What are the key factors to watch out for? Armin Anders Oct 06
Automating Sustainability  Sustainability is defined as “The ability to provide for the needs of the world's current population without damaging the ability of future generations to provide for themselves.” Ken Sinclair Oct 06
Can ASHRAE Reinvent Itself?  “We’re ready, and we’re waiting! Which is it?”  Tom Hartman Aug 06
What is HOT in Information Technology?  ....energy is critical in the IT world, and based on the growth in this sector this will remain true. John J. "Jack" Mc Gowan Aug 06
What exactly are intelligent buildings?  A common but simple definition of an intelligent building could be: “An intelligent building provides a responsive, effective and supportive environment within which an organisation can achieve its business objectives”.  Mark Griffiths Aug 06
The Importance of Mentorship to ASHRAE  I cannot over express the importance of mentorship. It allows us to grow, evolve, question and simply learn who we are. Ken Sinclair Jul 06
Keeping ConnectivityWeek Strong  This Building-IT industry represents validation from owners and the IT industry to move forward and deliver converged IP-based building systems, taking into account the needs of the new types of stakeholder in the building owner organizations: the IT and enterprise focused groups. Ken Sinclair Jul 06
Honeywell Global Service Response Center  GSRC is a super operator, a kind of outsourced center of excellence and expertise on increasingly complex, automated building control systems. Bob Lahey Jun 06
BuilConn, Tridium and Controls Group North America  Openness and Connectivity  Jim Hayman Jun 06
Harbouring Harbingers in Palm Springs  The Palm Springs event has provided a home for our industry’s harbingers like no assembly has ever done before. Ken Sinclair Jun 06
Realtime Renaissance - Right Now Ken Sinclair May 06
Building Automation Renaissance  How to survive & prosper from Building-IT Convergence Anto Budiardjo & Ken Sinclair Apr 06
New Vistas With Relational Control  A Three Part Series PART 2: An Introduction to Relational Control Tom Hartman Apr 06
The GridWise Buzz…It’s Electric The smart grid envisions an interoperable system that leverages information technology and automated systems to meet demand. John J. "Jack" Mc Gowan Apr 06
Are you going to get what you thought?   What is needed is one electrical contractor who coordinates the entire low voltage electrical infrastructure.  John C. Greenwell Apr 06
Forecast: Connectivity Clouds on the Horizon  Ken Sinclair Apr 06
New Vistas With Relational Control  A Three Part Series PART 1: Why PID Control is Outdated for Modern Building Applications Tom Hartman Mar 06
2005 B+ Report Card for Digital Signage  2006 Outlook Very Strong Lyle Bunn Feb 06
A Healthy Fear of Technology!  What we need to keep in mind, however, is that the benefits of adding technology to buildings will far outweigh any of the risks. Paul Ehrlich Feb 06
2005 A year in review…. Most noteworthy, 2005 has provided the industry with “smarter” field devices to which facilitate the automation process and inherently reduce project cost with little to no effect on functionality. Viconics Marketing Team Jan 06
Smart Buildings By Design  It is the role of the design community to rethink once separate systems and create improved experiences for the occupants and owners of tomorrow’s smart facilities. David Miller Jan 06

The Time is Now for Intelligent Buildings  Learn why at AHR Expo 

Paul Ehrlich Jan 06

The Future is Bright!  As we start 2006 there is a great deal of justified optimism for almost everyone in this industry as well as those the industry serves.

Anto Budiardjo Jan 06

Virtual Value Visions  My virtual value visions for Building Automation in 2006 

Ken Sinclair Jan 06

There are new kids on the block......... and they are giants! 

Ken Sinclair  
Open Platform Technology  The Application of Lean Design Open Platform Technology to Facilitate Integrated Building Projects  Mark Hunter Dec 05
Integrating Intelligence  The end of the year is a fine time to gaze forward, not in terms of decades from now, but in terms of what’s being done right now that will have major effects in the future. The controls industry is undergoing a radical restructuring as technology evolves. Ken Sinclair Dec 05
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? A cultural clash is occurring as major IT folks join our industry.  Ken Sinclair Dec 05
Healthy buildings – a healthier planet  Healthy buildings simply make a healthier planet – world class builders in the knowledge age now have the solution keys in their hands.  Anu Kätkä Nov 05
ADR Research and GridWise Interoperability Constitution Giving our full support  Ken Sinclair Nov 05
Creating Opportunity Out of Crisis  Predictive Load Shedding™ Technology in a More Energy Conscious World  Michael Burdett Sep 05
A View From The Outside Looking In  Building low voltage sub-systems and the future   Anonymous Sep 05
Building Automation has become Pointless Our remaining frontier is to insure that all the devices and sub-systems we buy fit nicely into our enterprise managed building automation system. Ken Sinclair Sep 05

Growing Greener Buildings with Automation  The seeds are being sown with GridWise, LEED®, and The CABA Intelligent & Integrated Buildings Council, and others. ,

Ken Sinclair Aug 05
What’s The Role For Advanced Technologies In Green Building Design?  The latest innovations will disappoint unless the entire project team adapts to work together in a new way that embrace new technology and help the owner make the most of a system’s potential. Thomas Hartman, P.E. Aug 05
What Is An Intelligent Building? Part 1: An introduction to intelligent building design. Paul Ehrlich, P.E. Aug 05
Corporate Enterprises Are Forever Changed With Real-Time Building Information  Some of the greatest movements are in the area of company reorganization independent of geographical location. Ken Sinclair May 05
Integrated Information Technology is the New IT  How is the hospitality industry pushing the boundaries of what intelligent buildings can do? Jack Mc Gowan May 05
Making Collaborative Design Work  The first step toward improvement is to recognize the difference between a committee effort and a truly collaborative process.  Thomas Hartman May 05
CO2 Monitoring Devices with Demand-Controlled Ventilation Systems  Ben Friedle Apr 05
Real-time Data Mining Strikes Pay Dirt  Get your technology picks and shovels in order because there is gold in your existing clients’ buildings that you must mine before your competitors do. Ken Sinclair Apr 05
2005 Building Technologies CEO of the Year Award  Anto Budiardjo, CEO & President of Clasma, Inc. Sanjiv Bhaskar
Sapan Agarwal
Mar 05
2004 Year of the Smart Building  2004 was the year when a whole series of Internet and network communications developments truly elevated average structures to Intelligent Buildings.  Jack Mc Gowan Mar 05
Beyond Commissioning: The Role of Automation  How is commissioning likely to be performed 20 or 30 years from now? Will technology advance to the state where building systems and equipment are automatically commissioned on an on-going basis as conditions demand?  Michael R. Brambley Srinivas Katipamula Feb 05
The Only Thing Constant Is Change - prepare for another exciting year. Ken Sinclair Feb 05
Automating Large Building Security Using Robotics  Never distracted, forgetful or tired; never sick or on vacation; always alert and ready for duty -- mobile security robots, in any number of sizes and shapes, are poised to become the first line of defense against all forms of intrusion. Lloyd Spencer Jan 05
M2M Expo Europe shows how technology changes the way business is done.  Steve Whitehead Dec 04
Maintenance Control - from Zero to Hero  Six Giant Steps to Effective Maintenance Management  Bryan D Weir Dec 04
From Disneyland to Disney World  AHR Expo 2005 - Celebrating 75 Years! 1930 – 2005  Ken Sinclair Dec 04
Growing a Greener Engineering Profession  Like a successful forest, our profession and our industry need to grow tall together. Thomas Hartman Sep 04
Connecting Convergence August Supplement Engineered Systems
Connecting Convergence  Convergence or Divergence 
Ken Sinclair
Anto Budiardjo
Aug 04
Introducing Earthquake Intelligence in Building Automation  Earthquakes are not rare events. On a yearly basis, 70 to 75 damaging earthquakes occur throughout the world. Holly Stump Jul 04
Procurement of the Latest and Greatest  The request for proposal approach allows active solicitation of the innovative approach.  Ken Sinclair Jul 04
Waking Up to Wireless Wireless…. WAKE UP it is here and it is now!  Ken Sinclair, Jun 04
Coopertition Our Industry's Path to A Brighter Future Thomas Hartman May 04
LonWorks and BACnet System Solution on a Chip  Both protocols have become well established and manufacturers are working to offer building systems supporting both platforms. Al Mouton May 04
If Buildings Were Built Like Cars - The Potential for Information and Control Systems Technology in New Buildings Barney L. Capehart May 04
Energy 2004 - Are we really on line?  What has been heralded by the Buildings and Energy Industry as Convergence, System Integration and Internet Digital Control™ is in direct alignment with trends in E-business as a whole Jack Mc Gowan May 04

Getting Honest About Comfort  Comfort and environmental quality complaints top nearly every survey made of building occupants' concerns about their workspaces. 

Thomas Hartman Apr 04
Productivity and Health vs. Energy Penalties - the Outdoor Air Riddle   Len Damiano Apr 04
Perfect We Ain't  But Becoming Better is Surprisingly Easy   Thomas Hartman Mar 04
Selling real-time energy metering up the management chain  Jefferson may have one of the few systems in the country that is able to actually develop reports separating metered energy use for a classroom and a research lab in the same building. Case Study   Jack Mc Gowan Mar 04
Embarrassed to be European? It would be good to be wrong as the EC aims are to be commended. But their process is doomed to fail.  An opinion piece. Madeleine Bath Mar 04
One of our sixteen is missing …  or can Integration be specified?   Jack Mc Gowan Feb 04
Controls Hardware Erosion  The concept of networking to the video screen with browser-based menus seems to be a natural evolution for all these products.  Ken Sinclair Feb 04
What's In A Name? The answer depends on the time frame you’re talking about. Let’s delve deeper.  Anto Budiardjo, Jan 04
Two Separate But Very Important Industry Acronyms XML & oBIX Ken Sinclair Jan 04
Design Team Communications:  Keeping a Perspective on Personalities  Don't ever let team members' personalities override the technical merits of any design development.  Thomas Hartman Dec 03
Convergence  Convergence could be compared to a freeway cloverleaf seamlessly managing the flow of data from one direction, or source, to another and allowing for myriad combinations.  Jack Mc Gowan Dec 03
Applying Advanced Technology Products and Services to Projects  The Process is the Problem!   Thomas Hartman Nov 03
Ending the Blackout Blues  We need (REALLY need) to improve the way our industry delivers more advanced technologies to our building construction projects.  Thomas Hartman Oct 03
Going Global  We are all Going Global in a mind-expanding journey that will result in the cross-pollination of building intelligence for the world.   Ken Sinclair Oct 03
Protection during Electrical Outages; Power Quality Everyday  Electrical Power Quality changes hourly, these changes affect nearly every system's reliability in your facility and the bottom line of your business.   Ramon Esparolini Sept 03
"IT" Could be the Start of Something Big Now, with the growing use of building networks and the convergence of building controls and IT networks, it is becoming far easier to connect building occupants to the building control system by employing a simple "comfort and lighting" icon on each occupant's PC.   Thomas Hartman Jun 03
Deep Integration … the next step  Deep integration is a process rather than a conclusion, but it results in true Energy Web Services that companies can offer to go far beyond traditional DDC and Building Automation.   John J. "Jack" Mc Gowan May 03
Creating Sustainability From Rapid Change The meshing of Broadband, Telephony, and Building Automation has created a powerful new virtual architectural fabric. I call this fabric "Enviromation", a combination of the words Environment, Communication and Automation.  Ken Sinclair May 03
Post Completion Considerations  The final in a series of articles on the delivery of BMCSs to our clients.   Jim Henry Apr 03
Presentations Solely Focused on Integrated Solutions BuilConn - Building Connections - provides the first industry platform to deliver presentations solely focused on integrated solutions.  Anno Scholten Apr 03
The Builconn Story  BuilConn intends to help integrators deliver a pragmatic approach to integration, not product or technology based, but solutions oriented. Heather Deal Mar 03
Repackaging the Large Building Automation Industry  I feel that a general overhaul is necessary and serious repackaging of us as a new industry is required.  Ken Sinclair Feb 03
Commissioning  The fifth in a series of articles on the delivery of BMCSs to our clients.   Jim Henry Feb 03
A Personal Perspective of The Building Automation Industry in Great Britain  What you soon realized is that the "usual" was what we would consider in America a total Energy Management package already built into the strategy of how they would control the buildings.  Robert Hodgson Jan 03
Connect the Dots that are our Industry  (.com & .org)   Ken Sinclair Jan 03
The Construction Process The fourth in a series of articles on the delivery of BMCSs to our clients.  Jim Henry Dec 02
Real-time Energy Dashboard™   the next new thing in Building Automation   John J. "Jack" Mc Gowan Nov 02
Tendering a BMCS  The third in a series of articles on the delivery of BMCSs to our clients. Jim Henry Nov 02
We The People  For the necessary changes in our industry to occur it will take the total effort of "We the People" to insure the transition is all that it can be.  Ken Sinclair Oct 02
Specifying Control Systems  Simply, if you specify a scope of work, a points list, and the technology you want you will have specified 99% of a system. (The second in a series of articles on the delivery of BMCSs to our clients.)  Jim Henry Sep 02
Have We Been Blinded By The Light?  As the spotlight continually focuses on today's "cutting edge" technology, let us not become blind to one of the most basic tenets of the controls industry - that even the most advanced building automation systems can't compensate for, much less effectively control, equipment that doesn't work properly to begin with, or better yet, isn't working at all.   Frank Miraglia Sep 02
You Are The Key  Using body parts for identification authentication purposes is called Biometrics.   Ken Sinclair Sep 02
Reformat Your Hard Drive  All your efforts and hard drive have gotten you to where you are today. Will this be enough to keep you on top of our industry's new directions in the future?  Ken Sinclair Sep 02
Moving Forward!  Are We? Will We Soon, or Ever?   I predict a very strong movement to "occupant integrated" HVAC controls within the next decade.  Thomas Hartman Jul 02
Want Access to Your Building? Please State Your Name  If the voice score is low, the Nuance system says, "I can't verify your voice print," and loops back to give the employee another chance to say his/her name. Priscilla B. Janson Jul 02
Brilliant Security for Intelligent Buildings  The impact of fingerprint biometrics on security is profound - it verifies individuals rather than the cards they carry.  Julia Webb Jun 02
Technology Supports the Village of Effective Work  Information technology specialists must work with designers to ensure that the right technology is in the right places - and that the infrastructure has sufficient flexibility.  Larry Leete  Jun 02
New Generation of Gas Detection Equipment  Far-reaching International Standards and Regulations Requiring Refrigerant Leak Detection Still Not Generally Known   Dr. Lorcan J. Maher Jun 02
Intelligent and Integrated Buildings  Although we as an industry have said the words before we have never reached our potential of providing intelligence or integration in our buildings.   Ken Sinclair Jun 02
All-Variable Speed Chilled Water Distribution Systems: Optimizing Distribution Efficiency  In many large cooling systems, the chilled water distribution system poses a much more immediate problem to overall cooling system performance and efficiency.  Thomas Hartman Apr 02
All-Variable Speed Centrifugal Chiller Plants: Can We Make Our Plants More Efficient?  Why the sudden change in attitude toward variable speed?  Thomas Hartman Mar 02
Information Model: The Key to Integration  There has been much attention paid to the relative merits of various protocols in the Building Automation industry. The key to successful integration lies not in the protocol, but in the information model that it represents. Eric Craton and Dave Robin Jan 02
Standardization & IT Technology will shape the BACS Industry  The application of a standardized and internationally accepted protocol for specific applications is still no guarantee that a device by manufacturer A can be exchanged for one supplied by manufacturer B. For this purpose, further standardization of design and of the exact functionality of a device is necessary.   Hans R. Kranz & Othmar Gisler Jan 02
Trends in Intelligent Buildings in the Asia Pacific  In the Asia Pacific, the notion of an Intelligent Building is becoming inextricably linked to the broader idea of the Intelligent City.  Hari Gunasingham Jan 02
Terrorism and Building Automation Systems - What Makes Sense? There is little from science in this article, but a lot from common sense. It appears to me that common sense is exactly what we need during times like these.  Len Damiano Jan 02
Expanding Horizons for System Integration  As evidenced, it is now possible to Internet-enable everything from electric meters to data loggers, and expand System Integration to new horizons. John J. "Jack" McGowan Jan 02
LonWorks Web Servers  There are now a number of LonWorks Web Servers available in the market place today. We take a look at how this technology is rapidly replacing the traditional GUI software typically installed on desktop PC's to manage a building or facility and what to look for when selecting a LonWorks Web Server.  Gary Bark Jan 02
Building Automation Globalization  Access to global media is everywhere proven by the fact that I am preparing this month's column in Australia.  Ken Sinclair Jan 02
Our Industry Should Support New Division 17  I encourage every reader of automatedbuildings.com to do everything you can to learn about and support this new proposal.    Steve Thomas Nov 01
TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT: A Critical Issue in Industry Restructuring  How these issues are best resolved are determinations that will be made by those who most successfully navigate the uncharted sea of industry restructuring.  Tom Hartman Sept 01
What's New and Hot in the Building Automation Market?  One of the exciting new trends in Building Automation today is the growing popularity of Direct Digital Control (DDC) as a measure incorporated with Performance Contracts. John J. "Jack" McGowan Sept 01
Restructuring for the Componentization Era  Major restructuring of our industry is required and is happening allowing web wise solutions with full integrating of the Componentization Era into powerful enterprise controls. Ken Sinclair Sept 01
Remote Management Solutions: Monitoring Energy Consumption for Hospitals and Schools  The ability to remotely monitor stand-alone serial devices in real time is beneficial in any environment where access to information and reducing downtime is critical. Deepak Wanner Sept 01
Interoperability: Fact Not Fiction  So while these initiatives to create standard communication protocols in new control devices have created opportunities for constructing open system environments, the problem of integration and interoperability still exist because of the economics of inherited systems.  Leo Quinn Sept 01
Industry Restructuring  The capability of today's building automation systems far exceeds the present understandings of the existing implementers.  Ken Sinclair Sept 01

Technology Driven Efficiency (TDE) Could be a Major E-Business For the Energy and Utilities Industry Business and household consumers will pay for performance but not for a commodity.

Kathy O McGrath Sept 01
Try the Request for Proposal Approach  Having problems specifying rapidly evolving building automation?   Ken Sinclair Sept 01
A Guide to On Line eDucation for Automated Buildings  The rapid changing Automated Building industry has always required that all players be constantly re-educating themselves to keep current, but never has there been a time when this is so important.  Ken Sinclair Jul 01

Opportunities to Meet the Combined Needs of K-12 Facilites, Technology and Educational Programs  The project will also bring real-time building and energy data into the K-12 curriculum accessible as "read only" data via a web browser. 

Edward H. Brzezowski May 01
Occupant Connectivity for Building Controls The development of low cost wireless data transmission technologies demands a new look at how building control systems can effectively employ such technologies. Tom Hartman Mar 01
Continuous Digital Control (CDC) The term Direct Digital Control therefore no longer describes the industry's goals; rather it wants Continuous Digital Control.  Jack McGowan Mar 01
Steps to a More Efficient Chiller Plant This follow up article to the January 1st article "Improve Chiller Plant Efficiency" describes the steps I recommend to improving chiller plant efficiency in response to several readers who asked me that question.  Tom Hartman Jan 01
Improve Chiller Plant Efficiency!  My preferred solution is to design and implement a simple and economical chiller plant control network for the chillers, pumps and tower fans, that automatically operates and sequences all equipment to meet the load and optimize efficiency.  Tom Hartman Jan 01
DDC's Future 1-01    ...the Web may have more to do with defining DDC's future than any individual development in control theory, HVAC or building technology. Jack McGowan Jan 01
The REAL Costs of Poor Indoor Air Quality "Most feel that "lightning" will always strike someone else;" 

Len Damiano

Jan 01
Little or No Discussion Between Specifiers and Manufacturers will Dehydrate the Humidity Controls Market  Humidifiers and dehumidifiers over the last five years have begun to receive more attention as issues with indoor air quality arise.   Nelly Anderson Jan 01
"Getting Existing HVAC and Building Automation Control Systems to Work...  Why learn pneumatic controls when everything seems to be run by computers?   Luc Szklanecki / Kurt Booth Jan 01

University of South Florida - Case Study  "I still get to work at 6:00 a.m. but when I walk into my office and see a bunch of red lights, I know exactly where to send help," said Oakley. "It's a time-saving and cost- saving solution that we have adopted across the entire campus."  

Michael Troncale  Jan 01
One Liberty Place, Philadelphia, PA Anyone who's seen a Bruce Willis movie has seen One Liberty Place prominently featured in Philadelphia's skyline.  Gil Schonour 
Melinda Bartee
Jan 01
Head Retread - Update on "State-of-the-Art Capabilities in Building Automation" AHR Expo Session in Atlanta   Ken Sinclair Jan 01
Designing Greener Buildings ".....the target audience for greener design should start with the building development and property management community." Tom Hartman Nov 00
Advanced Metering Keeps Duke University Electrical Services Going Strong  “As we started to see results, we added more meters to the system and have about 70 installed now. In time, we plan to have advanced metering for everything on the mains because we are moving towards controlled consumption for the whole campus,” ......  Susan Connell  Nov 00
Cloud Control  Looking for new opportunities?  “Stick your head in the clouds.”  Ken Sinclair Nov 00
The Velcro Relationship  Building Automation New Ways of Thinking - The glue that binds us is dissolving!  Ken Sinclair Nov 00
Creating and Maintaining Your Virtual Image  Send the message to your management; Become closer involved in the care and feeding of the corporate virtual image. Ken Sinclair Nov 00
The "COMFORT INDUSTRY" a 21st Century Opportunity  This new commercial building comfort industry will market to tenants, and products will be installed by office furnishing installers, not building trades.  Tom Hartman Jul 00
Can Improved Indoor Environmental Quality Provide Greater Occupant Productivity The stability and reliability of precision dilution ventilation control will satisfy all requirements of ASHRAE 62-1999 and avoid most of the litigation risks and liability associated with IEQ. Plus, it can be accomplished at the absolute minimum energy cost needed for conditioning any additional outside air required. Len Damiano Jul 00
A Year of Rapid Change at AutomatedBuildings.com Or The Metamorphosis of a Digital Dinosaur  Ken Sinclair Jul 00
ProfitSuites An Introduction For The Property Owner/Manager  By recognizing that technology trends have created a new set of needs in the marketplace, real estate owners and managers can benefit from some very valuable new opportunities.  Kirby Russell May 00
How Notifact will Change the HVAC/R Industry '....eliminates the need for dedicated telephone lines and manned call centers.'  Peter Jowaisas May 00
HVAC Control: An Essay on Change   "........ the building controls industry is poised for a leap into the world of network based systems."   Tom Hartman Jan 00
Graphical Programming- Solving The Interoperability Riddle  'You just look at it and know it' says Richards-Zeta's Chief Engineer Fred Davison in explaining how graphical programming is superior to line code in understanding and working with software that controls modern building automation.  Erik Petersen Jan 00
Virtual Devices Not Only A New Way of Doing But A New Way of Thinking   Maybe a marriage between a web-based survey modified to provide continuously dynamic update and feedback into web based virtual control system could offer a better solution.  Ken Sinclair Jan 00
Integrating the Integrators with BIAS  As the BuildingAddress.com embedded functionality skyrockets, management and integration of this new virtual building material must be given a new profile and an integrator.  Ken Sinclair Jan 00
Implications & Challenges Facing The Intelligent Building Industry  You can not take a building and make it intelligent, the building has to be designed "intelligent" from the first draft on the drawing board. Per Bjorkdahl Sept 99
On & Off Power Grid Systems  Some need to maintain simple emergency power while others desire a seamless transition from one power source to another. Jack Frazer Sept 99
Management's Top Y2K Issues  This top-five summary consists of information that is non-technical in nature. It's intended primarily for those with management responsibility for Y2K projects within their organizations. Donald Coggan Sept 99
Year 2000 Management  BCBC's Y2K Implementation Plan. Outlines the scope of the Y2K problem, clarifies BCBC's roles and responsibilities, and offers information on contingency planning. Jack Meredith Sept 99
Network Control: A New Paradigm For HVAC  Deals with the leading edge thinking that we have come to expect from Tom. Tom Hartman July 99
Intelligent Buildings Simply Explained  This article offers a summarized, simplified explanation of intelligent buildings. Donald A. Coggan July 99
Market Directions for Energy Services in the Deregulated Environment  The sale of electrical energy in a deregulated market is now a reality in parts of the U.S. and other locations throughout the world. Gerry Lands and David Wolins July 99
Graphic Interfaces  Multi-Vender Graphic Interfaces Using Windows 95. Ken Sinclair May 99
O&M Using HTML  HTML as a Documentation Medium for Building O & M. Ken Sinclair May 99
Hospital Graphics  Simplifying Complex Hospital Environment Control with Graphics. Ken Sinclair May 99
Networking / Communication
ARTICLE TITLE AUTHOR ISSUE DATE
Enterprise Building Management for Universities  Unlocking the secrets of facility management systems to access a wealth of actionable information Gridlogix University Whitepaper Feb 07
Modernizing the Grid  Today’s average generating plant was built in 1964 using technology from the 1950s. Utilities have not improved their delivered efficiency in some 50 years. With stagnant efficiency at 33 percent, we essentially burn three lumps of fuel to generate one lump of electricity. Put another way, two-thirds of the fuel burned to generate power is wasted. Richard Munson Feb 07
Online Inside and Out  Some of this technology is WiFi and Internet based and some is cellular or satellite based, but the flavor of wireless is not important Jack Mc Gowan Jan 07
Batteryless Radio Technology  For any control application in buildings Andreas Schneider Dec 06
BACnet Web Services in Action If you are a little curious and you want to see a BACnet Web Service up and running then this article is for you. Chris Gurtler Nov 06
ARCNETŇ/Ethernet Router Right on Target for Building Management System  Contemporary Controls’ Metasys Router Helps to Transform Data into Useful Information - Case Study Debra Biela Nov 06
The 4th Utility…  Unifying building operations using information   John J. "Jack" Mc Gowan Sep 06
“LonMark®/IP-852 Team 2006” Presents Seamless Communication from Field to Management Levels at BuilConn in Amsterdam  Hans-Jörg Schweinzer
Serge LeMen 
Harald Hasenclever
 Gert-Ulrich Vack
Sep 06
LONWORKS Converges with IP The future of building systems seems clear. IP has become a key, pervasive element of networking technology at the enterprise/IT level, and LonWorks® technology and products at the field level.   Ken Sinclair Sep 06
Wireless, the winning solution for building automation!   Wireless devices, once matured will surely offer the most impact, allowing control devices to instantly create their own communicating infrastructure without the extensive wiring costs typically involved with a controls only retrofit. Trevor S Palmer Aug 06
The not so obvious benefits of wireless control networks  These benefits come from the flexibility provided by being able to sense without the need for connecting wires.  Paul Ehrlich Aug 06
LONWORKS Converges with IP  These two worlds; LON and IP are set to converge in a big way in Amsterdam this October 3-5 at ConnectivityWeek Europe.  Tracy Markie Aug 06
The oBIX M2M Web  The Open Building Information Exchange (oBIX) is a specification advanced by the OASIS international standards consortium to provide a standardized foundation for this M2M Web. Brian Frank Jul 06
Optimizing Power Quality Data Analysis Using Data Compression Technology  Data compression technology produces limitless ungapped data for determining what causes power events and why. Daniel Amitai Jul 06
Wireless Mesh Networking  Focused Approach Gets Results Currents Issue #75 Harbor Research, Inc. Jul 06
Chicago Structure Unveils New BAS  Using Contemporary Controls’ Skorpion Switches Debra Biela Jun 06
Open Building Information Exchange (oBIX)  oBIX Unbound Aaron Hansen May 06
Science Fiction No More  What follows is a summary of the speech that was delivered this week at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. While there is much more than stated here, this provides the thrust of my remarks … Glen Allmendinger May 06
Wireless! Building Automation Unwired [Abridged]  Using one wireless backbone for several systems can reduce engineering, construction, commissioning and operating cost over the entire life of the building.  John Edler & Weilin Wang Mar 06
Closing the Loop  Making Success a Standard  Al De Wachter Mar 06
The Market for IT Convergence in Buildings  The first published study on the market for IT-convergence James McHale Mar 06
Connectivity Which Way?   I have quoted industry leaders and linked to content on our web site that demonstrates that there is no one path that exists for connectivity, nor will there ever be. Ken Sinclair Mar 06
The Winds of Change  Blew at AHR Expo in Chicago  Ken Sinclair Mar 06
Harper Community College - UK24LON  Case Study The UK24LON is a LONMARK®-certified gateway from Belimo Aircontrols. Victor Coppola Feb 06
Building IP Network Convergence You will know this has happened when everyone stops talking about protocols and starts building innovative, high functioning, low cost controllers. John C. Greenwell Dec 05
BACnet Conference & Expo  Update: This has allowed us to build a first-class conference while keeping the registration fees at bargain prices. Jon Williamson Oct 05
Planning Your Digital Signage Network  This article describes the digital signage project approach emphasizing the project initiation and development phases.  Lyle Bunn Oct 05
Why are our Buildings so Dumb?  Who is in Charge of the Technology? Tom Lohner, P.E. Aug 05
Multihop Wireless Mesh Networks  for Building Automation  Alexandre Cervinka Aug 05
Hotel PBX: The Road to IP  IP systems deliver advanced communications that enhance the guest experience, improve customer service and optimize operational productivity and costs. Deepak Wanner Jul 05
Power Over Ethernet  Industrial Ethernet is Now a True Fieldbus  George Thomas Jun 05
The Growth of Open Systems  We see many projects where two, three, and sometime four protocols are fed through the same global controller. Mike O'Donnell Jun 05
Web Services For Building Controls At A Crossroads  Look at things from the controls, IT, and facility operator perspectives, and see how we might move from those to a single, successful vision for tomorrow's buildings. Toby Considine May 05
Hubs versus Switches  Understand the Tradeoffs George Thomas May 05
XML / oBIX Demo I was pleased to be able to attend the first ever XML demo based on evolving oBIX standards held at BuilConn 2005. Ken Sinclair May 05
Wireless at M2M and BuilConn  Each demonstration was a testament to the power and possibilities that wireless technologies offers for control networks. Frank Capuano Apr 05
Building Automation with LCN  Early 1992, a German company called ISSENDORFF Mikroelektronik GmbH, started to market a building automation system based on a new hard-wired network technology and named it LCN (Local Control Network). Thanh Nguyen, Mar 05
Building Web Services at a Crossroads  It is said, “Well begun is half done.” Well, we are certainly well begun. Please help us come and begin the rest. Toby Considine Mar 05
IndustryLeaders@BuilConn 2005   This year Anto has captured the attention and presenting power of the “Who is Who in the industry” and put together a particularly informative show. Ken Sinclair Mar 05
ProtoCessor - A Protocol Solution  A cost effective BACnet, LonWorks, Modbus, Metasys and ZigBee protocol solution uses interchangeable modules. Edward Hague Jan 05
2005, The Year of XML?  Maybe it’s better stated that XML could become the enabler and driver for 2005 being the year of Open Systems in buildings.  Anto Budiardjo Jan 05
A New Bee in our Industry  No! It’s not the return of the killer Bees, it is the ZigBee Alliance for wireless networking.  Ken Sinclair Jan 05
ZigBee or Not ZigBee  In order to standardize the implementation of digital radio telemetry across many markets, including commercial HVAC controls, the ZigBee organization has formed.  Guy Zebrick Dec 04
Intelligent Buildings – Capturing the Opportunities  Review of ib2004, two-day conference. Andy Haynes Dec 04
IIPSEC 2005  Europe’s premier networked security event. Kevin Fagan Dec 04
Integrated, Interoperable and Intelligent  …the Buildy targets Next Generation Buildings  Jack Mc Gowan Nov 04
Design Notes  This is the eighth of nine articles where we are introducing the cost benefit for interoperability and that gained from the procurement technique achievable with open systems and choice. Paul D.J. Mason Nov 04
Gridwise...merging Information Technology and Energy  Jack Mc Gowan Oct 04
Johnson Controls Metasys N2 Networks in an Open Systems Environment  Testing of each device in a live N2 network is critical.   Brian Jones Oct 04
Win-Win with Open Systems Building Automation  Paul D.J. Mason Oct 04
Globalization of Building Automation Standards  The global acceptance of these standards will greatly enhance their overall powers.  Ken Sinclair Oct 04
Buying Open Systems (in Building Automation)  This is the sixth of 9 articles where we are introducing the cost benefit for interoperability and that gained from the procurement technique achievable with open systems and choice.  Paul D.J. Mason Sep 04
Compuware Builds New Global Headquarters  Uses Vykon® by Tridium® to Enable Smart Building   Phil Bomrad Sep 04
A Truly Open Chip  For the first time ever it is now possible to develop products for BACnet networks as well as for LonWorks™ networks based on the same hardware and software platform. Ken Sinclair Sep 04
Open Systems Standards  This is the fifth of 9 articles where we are introducing the cost benefit for interoperability and that gained from the procurement technique achievable with open systems and choice. This article sets out some of my opinions, a collection of web-based technical data and then a current market summary opinion. Paul D.J. Mason Aug 04
Building the Building Domain  Moving to the next chapter and getting on with the exciting business of building our clients’ real time data domain will have a profound effect.  Ken Sinclair Aug 04
oBIX Building Blocks  Simple modules. Complex modules. Each self contained.  Each with a well-defined interface for interoperability.   Toby Considine Jul 04
Hydro Tasmania Uses MatrikonOPC Tunnelling Technology  Case Study OPC Tunnelling Technology provides an easy, reliable and effective way to communicate across different network domains and does away with the headaches typically associated with the configuration of DCOM. Joanna Gietz Jul 04
VOIP VOIP or Voice Over Internet Protocol Jack Mc Gowan Jul 04
LonMark International and the LonMark System  This is the fourth of 9 articles on VBHQ where we introduce the building, the cost benefit for interoperability and the cost benefit gained from the procurement technique achievable with open systems and choice. Paul D.J. Mason Jul 04
Cost allocation for campus and industrial facilities  The governing board may set an overall objective to reduce energy costs, but if the responsibility and accountability for the reduction is not measured at the department or facility level, no one owns the goal and it is unlikely to be realized. Jim Lewis Jun 04
State-of-the-art bus technology at Sälipark  When HVAC/building automation planners and system integrators, electrical planners and installers work together efficiently, a win/win situation is created for all those involved. Markus Keel Jun 04
Wireless Mesh Sensor Networks  Enable Building Owners, Managers, and Contractors to Easily Monitor HVAC Performance Issues  Paul Sereiko Jun 04
More Intelligent Building and save money, VBHQ part 2  This is the third of 9 articles on VBHQ where we introduce the building, the cost benefit for interoperability and the cost benefit gained from the procurement technique achievable with open systems and choice. Paul D.J. Mason Jun 04
One Cohesive Protection System for Western Washington University  Utilizing Standardized Components - Ethernet Switches, Comprehensive Hardware and Software  Debra Biela May 04
Intelligent, Intelligent Building This is second of 9 articles where we introduce the building, the cost benefit for interoperability and the cost benefit gained from the procurement technique achievable with open systems and choice.  Paul D.J. Mason May 04
Cost Comparison Model - Open vs Proprietary Introductory Article - 9 part series  Paul D.J. Mason Apr 04
Object Oriented Programming in Control System Software Engineering  Sean Leonard Apr 04
Mission Critical Building Monitoring & Control - The Missing Piece of the Puzzle  Advances in BMCS capabilities are now enabling these separate systems to integrate critical system information into one common protocol displayed at one operator workstation.   Travis Short Mar 04
Autonomic Wireless Building Networks   The key to reliable ad hoc wireless networking for building automation applications and protocols is an Autonomic mesh network: an Autonomic network is one that self-configures, self-heals, self-regulates, and understands when to apply these parameters. Weilin Wang, Michael Nova, and John Edler Mar 04
Reaping the Benefits of IP  How IP Access Technology is Making 'Intelligent Buildings' a Reality  Deepak Wanner Feb 04
oBIXTM Evolves at AHR Expo  Short for Open Building Information Xchange, oBIX is an initiative to define XML and Web Services-based standards for exchanging building systems information with each other and enterprise systems.   Randy Amborn Feb 04
oBIX FAQ  Anaheim - January 26, 2004  Press Kit Feb 04
Ethernet: The Common Thread to Total Building Systems Integration  Ease of setup/configuration/use as well as connectivity options are key factors when considering a device server for your building automation application. Jason Sprayberry Jan 04
Integrating OPC into Building Automation - The Latest Trend  OPC is a viable solution for building automation and is available today.   Randy Kondor Dec 03
What could UPnP possibly mean to Building Systems?  Report from the UPnP Summit, Cannes, France October 28/29 2003   Madeleine Bath Dec 03
Oh, what a month October was!  BACnet Conference / oBIX Meeting in Cincinnati
LonMark Meeting in Munich
Anto Budiardjo Nov 03
Software suite for LonWorks Networks  It is aimed at small network integrators as well as industry professionals who want to access the reliable and high performance LonWorks communication technology.   Serge Le Men Nov 03
Building Controls and BACnet, IT and XML. A report from the BIG-NA conference; BACnet, IT and XML are hot items.  Keith E. Gipson Nov 03
Present versus Future  In other words, facilities management teams will be able to interface with automated building control systems and asset management software, regardless of their location.  Paul Ziek Oct 03
Protocol war yields to productive peace  Ironically by narrowing the choice of control protocols the industry can now invest more in well understood, and supported systems that are easy to specify, install, integrate and modify.  Peter Manolescue Sept 30
Practical Considerations for Using Wireless I/O Technology  The combination of today's wireless I/O devices and field survey tools, along with a modern facility management system, offers a practical way to control and monitor difficult to wire inputs and outputs with minimum risk and experience.  Guy Zebrick Jul 03
Key Criteria for Selecting Building Controls Web Servers  There are four basic criteria that need to be considered when selecting a web serving solution in order to maintain maximum benefits with the engineering, commissioning and future maintenance of projects.  Gary Bark Jul 03
How to Build Automation Control Systems for the Future (and the Past)  A future SCADA system will embrace the use of XML code and free software. The focus will be on producing the most cost efficient "Black Box" for the customer's specific installation and to produce the best XML based HMI.  Robert Holmström Jul 03
BACnet Rapid Development Toolkit  Components that can be used to develop a BACnet application.  Chris Gurtler  Jul 03
XML Spells Connection to the Future  An open letter to the Building Controls Industry turned into a reality.  Ken Sinclair Jul 03
XML Update From Chicago Meeting June 3rd  Helping us find facility managers, energy managers, asset managers, property managers, etc. who would be willing to participate over the next 2 - 3 months would be great.  Paul Ehrlich Jul 03
The Power of Voice Recognition - Why not now? ....why couldn't a building technician or maintenance person use their voice to commission new or repaired equipment, adjust temperature thresholds on an HVAC unit, or be notified of unusual readings on a pressure gauge?  Jeff Barbieri Jun 03
Intelligent Buildings Need Intelligent Solutions  The challenge for this project was two-fold: on the one hand the function spectrum of the building automation system had to be enhanced to an open, facilities-management-oriented service platform. On the other hand, the control system had to be software-based, implementing innovative database, PC and Internet techniques. Case Study Andreas Herde May 03

The Niagara Framework: Measuring up to Open  What exactly is an "open system"? What are the elements . . . ingredients . . . issues? 

Dennis W. Tuft Mar 03
BACnet is now ISO Approved....Now What?  It’s now up to the industry. You are the industry, and now it’s up to you!   Anto Budiardjo Mar 03
An Introduction to Smart, Open Property Automation  This article will explore property automation from a "device-up" perspective beginning with characteristics of a good device network to establishing the benefits of an open system and finally presenting a case for advanced facility management based on open, interoperable device networks.   Kevin Lynch Jan 03
BACnet - A Marketing Perspective  No one said it was going to be easy to change vertical, product-based thinking to horizontal, performance-based thinking.  Thomas Zaban Dec 02
Integration makes sense at WestLB  Interfacing to the sub-systems using a communications approach has proven to be far more cost effective than hardwiring back to the bms using traditional techniques.  Paul Price Oct 02
L-Switch Segmentation of LonWorksŇ networks made easy.   Hans-Jörg Schweinzer Oct 02
DALI Enhances Building Automation  DALI truly brings revolutionary improvements to lighting control - and subsequently, greatly enhances total building system control. Stuart Berjansky Sep 02
Control System Technologies Part 2 in series - If the Open versus Closed argument indicates Open (as it will in most cases) then the choice is effectively between Lon and BACnet. Jim Henry Aug 02
BAS or BS?  Failure in the construction process to deliver working BAS to the client.   Jim Henry Jul 02
Overcoming BMS Shortfalls by Managing Facilities As A Unified Network  Of the hundreds-of-thousands of intelligent devices produced by manufacturers in Building Management System (BMS) space, many incompatibilities exist between these devices and their "device specific" communication protocols.  Jonathan Buckley Jul 02
The "Right Stuff"  What it takes to become a true building system integrator in today's world.  Will Podgorski Jun 02
Managing Waste with Wireless  The solution to the problem has arrived in the form of a wireless remote controlled ballast.  John Gunton Apr 02

Ideal World, Ideal Protocol, Ideal System  Evolving to internet-worked intelligent building services through open communication protocols.  

Jim Henry Nov 01
Wireless Monitoring and Control  Wireless monitoring and control of an EIB fieldbus using PalmV/Bluetooth and iPAQ/802.11b  Trond Lokstad, Neils D. Aakvaag, and Jonny Skalvik Nov 01
Integrated Facilities Management  No longer can the facilities manager, energy manager or financial manager continue to exist independently of the corporate mission.   William J Stermer Nov 01
Wireless Technology and the Internet Converge to Offer Equipment Monitoring Solutions  "..... in an industry where prevention is key and time is money, wireless monitoring provides a strategic advantage for those who want to maximize the potential of their HVAC/R equipment." Kevin Duffy Mar 01
What Should You Be Looking for-- When Choosing a Local Positioning System? "....... a powerful local positioning system must be flexible in its design and in the amount of applications that it can offer. It should be completely open from the component level to the network level and all the way up to the application level."  Ofer Yourvexel Mar 01
Seamless Connectivity  One Company's Success Developing and Implementing LonWorks networks based on RF technology.  Tracy Markie Mar 01
Working Without Wires Imagine how this technology could radically change how we commission buildings. Ken Sinclair Mar 01
Building Automation Capabilities ocal monitoring does not suffice: the communications must go both ways, so every parameter that is monitored can also be controlled, instantly from anywhere.   George Heath Jan 01
Control Synthesis  "There have been number of efforts aimed at creating standard bus-level protocols for automation systems. This only addresses part of the problem of creating truly interoperable systems. Our approach is to go one level higher and create a standard software framework that supports LON, BACnet and legacy systems in an open framework that is full Internet enabled" says John Petze, VP of Business Development at Tridium. John J. "Jack" McGowan Nov 00
Patient Locating System  "Intended to be a tool for emergency and acute situations, this system proved to be a useful and efficient tool even in the ordinary everyday situation where you need to provide any kind of service to a patient."   M. J. Breedveld Nov 00
Achieve Real Choice with Open Systems  Technology and innovation from suppliers continues to reveal new control possibilities with open systems.   Phil Longhurst Nov 00
The CERN and the Birth of the Internet  Case Study The result of the work at the CERN was the development of HTML: HyperText Mark-up Language. HTML was developed as a universal language to enable computers to communicate with each other. Thereafter at the CERN, the first Web browsers and Web servers would also emerge.    Valerie Harding Nov 00
DDC Networks:...is the question really: BACnet™ or LonWorks™?  The intent here is to answer that question with a simpler question "What are you trying to accomplish, and does one protocol, or more specifically control and network products based upon it, provide a better solution than the other? John J. "Jack" McGowan Sept 00
SURVIVOR: The Real Story  A Technology Tug "O" War for Smart Devices.   It is just good to know that there are options, and there are pioneers who believe that it is better to work together than defeat one another.   Keith Scuilli  Sept 00
Z-World and the Capricorn 2000TM Become Your Local Weather Team  "Suppose it is extremely windy, or remarkably hot, this information could drastically change how firefighters prepare."   Tamara Kaestner  Sept 00
Wireless Data Technology Emerges "The best advice is to try the technology at a typical job site before you buy."   Richard Desmarais Jul 00
Coactive Technology Provides Solutions for International Bank Located in London's Broadgate Complex The bank's requirements included support for remote access worldwide, so that systems could be monitored and controlled from anywhere, as well as the option of local control of environmental conditions. Adam Marsh Jul 00
eMation Technology Enables the Shrimp Processing at Heiploeg Meet the Highest Hygiene Standards ".......PCs running Wizcon that communicate over the network through Profibus-FMS and Profibus-DP bus protocols."  Valerie Harding Jul 00
Interoperability  What is it? Is it really important? Are Manufacturers Cooperating? (Convergence) Does Interoperability Describe the Perfect Relationship?  David J. Branson May 00
BACnet and the Internet  This article is an attempt to explain how a building, or collection of buildings with BACnet based control systems, can connect to and utilize the Internet, and what that will mean to us now and in the near future.  Richard A. Fellows May 00
Achieving Control System Independence - Controls Computers and Standards Light at the End of the Network..........The demand for interoperability is increasing and manufacturers are responding with LonMark products. With careful specification and resolve on the part of the owners to accept only interoperable systems, they can for the first time achieve "Control System Independence". Earl Gray May 00
Java and Building Automation Systems Java and other Internet technologies have the potential to greatly impact control and monitoring systems.  Jim Butler and Keith Corbett May 00
Garmatz Federal Courthouse Updates with AlertonR BACnetTM System  The Edward A. Garmatz Federal Courthouse near Baltimore's Inner Harbor is a GSA facility built in the early 1970's. Alerton's BACnet compliant system, BACtalkTM, replaced the early vintage HVAC control system that had long outlived its useful life.  Melinda Bartee Melinda Bartee May 00
Why Standards Matter - And Why It's Taking Our Industry So Long to Implement Them   Terry Hoffmann  Mar 00
GadgetStackTM Multi-platform LonTalkTM Protocol Stack - Because the stack is not limited by the size of Neuron chip’s memory map, developers are able to tailor node memory requirements to their needs.   Bart Boggess Mar 00
Putting Together the Ideal Networked Facilities Monitoring and Control System - ...the future of facility management is clear: it’s putting buildings online.   Gerry Lands Mar 00
Take Off The Handcuffs - With BACnet based systems a customer has the capability to expand or add to the system with products from different control companies. David G. Zavetsky Mar 00
San Jose International Airport - By choosing an open interoperable LonMark control networking solution, future growth for the facility will be simple, flexible and reliable, allowing the airport to continue to serve its constantly growing marketplace. LonMark Interoperability Association LonMark Interoperability Association Mar 00
Implementing Open Control Systems: The Market Has Spoken  The world of control systems has come a long way technologically since the advent of solid state controls. The availability of LONWORKS control network technology has opened the door to a new generation of open, interoperable control systems. Michael R. Tennefoss Jan 00
BacNet and LonTalk: Why We Need Them Both  The fact of the matter is that each protocol has its merits. Both will be vital to the future of interoperability in the building automation systems industry.  Mark Hess Jan 00
The Medium for the Millenium is Fiber for Building Automation Until recently, however, many buildings, owners and systems integrators have resisted fiber optic technology. Brian D. Morrison Jan 00
BACnet™ in MOTION  Delta Controls BACbus Demonstrations at the 2000 AHR Expo.  Delta Controls Jan 00
Interoperability Demo & BACnet Seminar in Australia  Alerton Technologies, Automated Logic, Delta and Simplex got together and put on a BACnet demo in Sydney, Australia.   Melinda Bartee Nov 99
Central Washington University $2 Million Investment  "energy management system consists of 5 native BACnet operator workstations and over 500 native BACnet central plant and VAV controllers."   Melinda Bartee Nov 99
Melbourne Central Installs Native BACnet EMS  The project entails retrofitting the facility with a native BACnet Windows front end workstation and over 700 native BACnet controllers. Melinda Bartee Sept 99
Kent County International Airport has taken off with a TAC Facility Automation System The new TAC Automation System will be a LonWorks network with LonMark open protocol for all controllers used for DDC of the HVAC systems. Steve Karsten Sept 99
Combining Wireless Technology and Internet - Seamlessly  Notifact system brings hidden HVAC activity into view. David Sandelman Sept 99
CHICAGO'S FIELD MUSEUM  Alerton Technologies Inc. explains the benefits of BACnet. Michael Wilbourn July 99
MultiNet and BACnet Help Mounties Keep Their Cool  The project marks the first MultiNet installation utilizing ASHRAE Standard 135 - the BACnet. Tom Zaban July 99
Internet Evolution
ARTICLE TITLE AUTHOR ISSUE DATE
When Form Meets Function  Aesthetically Attractive Digital Solutions for Today’s Buildings Jason Leslie Dec 06
THE Building Technology Conference  A White Paper Outlining an Industry Driven and Sponsored Event Thomas J. Lohner Nov 06
The Challenges of Implementing an Interoperable Grid  Interoperability makes little economic sense if products from the interoperable set of tested products are not used by anyone. Rik Drummond Oct 06
High Rise Building  Life-Safety Private Display Network   Allan Olbur Jun 06
Making a Demand Response Program Work  Demand Response in its most basic form is the commitment by a building operator to reduce the electrical demand of one or more facilities in response to a request by the servicing utility or by market based pricing. David Wolins, Paul Hepperla Jun 06
Simple Fault Detection, Diagnosis & Impact Results  I was impressed, despite the huge amount of data collected, Ferrari’s system would analyze and continuously report this information in a simple manner, so team members with a glance knew not only the problem, but what to do to improve it.   Brian Thompson May 06
Cellular Alarm Snapshots  Alarm snapshots – the next generation alarm notification!  Michael Meirovitz Apr 05
The Changing Face of Security Video Management  Record numbers of people are creating an extraordinary demand for cutting-edge security innovations that deal with a new world. Chris Hills Apr 05
Web Services – A New BACnet Standard  ASHRAE SPC 135 adds Web services to BACnet Steve Tom Dec 04
From Buildings to the Enterprise via IT  The building industry needs to focus on that word “Information” because it is the information that can be extracted out of buildings that will provide the value to the enterprise. Anto Budiardjo Dec 04
Our Convergence Collision with Electronic Signage Networks  The networked digital signage industry is now poised to deliver the logical evolution to central sound - central video.  Ken Sinclair Nov 04
OPC Consideration for Network Security  The most important thing to remember is that existing corporate IT policies must empathize with the requirements of real-time control systems, many rules will have to change accordingly. Donovan Tindill Sept 04
Enterprise Level, Multi-Building HMI – 3rd Party Packages … a work in progress …  Edward H. Brzezowski Sept 04
Vykon Energy – A Platform for Demand Response Phil Bomrad Aug 04
Yakima County Technology Services  Case Study  Its remote unmanned data center was designed and constructed to provide state and local agencies with the business continuity and disaster recovery services that they need. Cam Rogers Jul 04
Tridium takes Building Controls into the 21st Century on Landmark Dubai Project  Standing 53 storeys and 269 metres high, the architecturally striking 21st Century Tower in Dubai is the tallest apartment block in the world Terry Casey Jun 04

Why Connections to Our Clients' Web-Based Enterprise Are Important  Our clients' business models are evolving to enterprise based solutions as the easiest and lowest cost way of doing business.

Ken Sinclair  May 04
Connecting the Dots Surrounding XML / Web Services  For the usually slow moving large building automation industry, the latest XML (extensible markup language) / Web Services movement has been a bit of a blur, spawning a number of dot coms and dot orgs to share information with our industry.  Ken Sinclair  May 04
Entering the Enterprise Through the Office  As we re-examine and better understand the interactive power and mesh-ability of the office backbone of most company enterprises we see evolving standards with simplified presentation.   Ken Sinclair  Apr 04
Facility Management - Better, Faster and Cheaper  Why consulting, integration, implementation, and business process outsourcing are necessary to provide better, faster, and cheaper Facility Management Technology solutions.  Robert Verdun Feb 04
Facilities Are Poised To Become New Sources of Business Information  Automation vendors can now play by the same rules as IT and use modern integration technologies to transform the closed languages of their automation systems into the open and pervasive integration languages of IT. Tim Huneycutt Feb 04
Key Criteria for Selecting Web Servers in Building Control Applications  We consider the options and choices available to consultants, end users and systems integrators alike.  Gary Bark Dec 03
Networked Building Control Enhances Demand Responsiveness  The convergence of IT and building systems technology has produced secure, cost-competitive products that are more effective for demand response than non-networked control.   Rachel Reiss Nov 03
Energy and Wireless Internet …what's the connection?  Wireless Internet is yet one more tool to use in the continual evolution toward Real-time Energy Management.  Jack Mc Gowan Oct 03
UL 864 Recognized Ethernet Switch   A Requirement of Life Safety Systems  Debra Biela Oct 03
Emerging Business Opportunities for Facility Management and Service Providers  Just think of intelligent homes, security/surveillance and health care over Internet. Not to mention the web based supervision and control of HVAC in buildings.  Robert Holmström Sept 03

Internet-based Energy and Security  Most industry proponents believe that energy, security, and IT technology are converging-with the Internet taking center stage.  

Jack Mc Gowan Aug 03
Economy Drives Convergence  The first advantage of convergence is installed cost.  Jeff Gollnick Apr 03
Controlling Convergence - Engineered Systems April Outsert
"Identifying the Complex Components of Convergence" 
Ken Sinclair Apr 03
Controlling Convergence - Engineered Systems April Outsert
"Convergence: What Is It, What Will It Mean, And When Will It Happen?"
Tom Hartman Apr 03

Community Convergence  Our business communities must converge as part of our transition to web-based ways.  

Ken Sinclair Apr 03

It is Time to Upgrade your DDC System  The transformation of moving from old modem based DDC technology to TCP/IP communication is a time warping sensation.  

Ken Sinclair Mar 03
Web-Based Automation  Access to real-time information anywhere, anytime through an Internet-enabled automation system is the real value of this technology.  John J. "Jack" Mc Gowan Feb 03
Improve Facilities and Building Management  Software and Handheld Devices can Dramatically Improve Facilities and Building Management   Eitan Shibi Feb 03
A "Black Box"  ...what Building Automation needs!  John J. "Jack" Mc Gowan Jan 03
Improving Occupancy Integration with Web Technology  It is all about a better interface with the end-user.  Ken Sinclair Jan 03
Online Training: Lessons Learned  Overall, the program has been very well received and use of the e-learning program has exceeded all of our expectations.   Chariti Young Nov 02
Text Books Aren't Any Fun Without Pictures  What was the industry doing before online training? Who cares? Check out this Web-based system and see how learning and working has been made considerably easier.   Nikki Cuban Nov 02
TCP/IP In Building Management Systems  The Network Technology for Today and Tomorrow Ing. Kees van Grieken Nov 02
Web Enabled Gateways: Connecting a Gateway to the Software Application  Part 2  KYZ, 4-20mA, AI, DO, Modbus, BACNet, LONWORKS, SMTP client, Web server, DHCP, HTTP, FTP, CSV, XML, XSL, 10BaseT, RS-485, TCP/IP, ODBC…….Confused by this alphabet salad?   Jack Chadowitz Nov 02
Web Accessible Control Systems - Lessons Learned  Web-based systems are not just a concept to be shown at trade shows and discussed in journal articles. They're real, they work, and they are providing unparalleled access to facilities around the world.   Steve Tom Oct 02
The Inside Story  Pulling It Together: The Facts About Systems Integration   Marti Ogram  Oct 02
Your Building Management System May Be Compromising Your Company's Security  Previously seen as scare mongering, the vulnerabilities of using building control systems remotely have recently come to the attention of federal authorities and now demand our objective attention as a security problem of major proportions.   Jonathan Buckley, Jay H. Hartley Oct 02
Move over PDAs, Laptops, and Web Pads  Here come some multi-ton Chillers! And they're not waiting for a protocol standard.  Nikki Cuban Oct 02
Web Enabled Gateways: How are they used to provide real savings?  KYZ, 4-20mA, AI, DO, Modbus, BACNet, LONWORKS, SMTP client, Web server, DHCP, HTTP, FTP, CSV, XML, XSL, 10BaseT, RS-485, TCP/IP, ODBC…….Confused by this alphabet salad?  Jack Chadowitz Oct 02
Web-Based Control Systems - Doing more with more  More access, more flexibility, more interoperability, wider area integration, but not more cost.   Steve Tom Sep 02

Integrated Facilities Management Is Key  Successful facilities management entails taking a holistic, performance-based approach to building automation and tracking key performance metrics in real time.  

ARC Advisory Group Aug 02

Web Based Facilities Operations Guide  Doing more with less by using Web-based anywhere information to amplify your existing building operational resources. 

Ken Sinclair Aug 02
Can an Extranet Provide a Home for Web Based Facilities Operation?  Where should we locate our Web Based Facilities Operation "WBFO"?  Ken Sinclair Aug 02
The Pervasive Internet: The Future of Building Systems  Building systems present a compelling argument for Pervasive Internet adoption, largely because of the number of disparate systems and the population of players that operate and maintain those systems, including OEMs, building managers, and service providers.   Ian Barkin Jul 02
YourFacility.com  The web based presentation of dynamic building information allows not only operators to operate from anywhere with full functionality, it allows interaction of contractors, equipment suppliers, and consultants to provide valuable feedback and feed-forward information to the building operating equation.  Ken Sinclair Jul 02
Online Automation Training…are you missing something?  This seminar is linking building automation professionals on a global basis with a forum for learning and exploration of building automation and open systems topics.    Jack Mc Gowan Jun 02
Increased Focus on Online Training for Building Automation  We are providing a virtual online classroom for specialized courses about the large building automation industry.   Ken Sinclair Jun 02
Knowledge Management Systems and Computer or Web-based Training  Data has changed from a "hard copy" medium that was discarded on a periodic basis to create office or storage space to a digital medium waiting to be used in creative and useful ways. SQL servers and databases are becoming the roll-top desk of the 21st century.   Edward H. Brzezowski May 02
Maintaining Your .Calm  Let's not panic. Let's maintain our calm. It is just stuff we have to get done as an industry in a transition to today.  Ken Sinclair May 02
High Performance Through Integration: Impact on the Bottom Line  Evolving standards in the world of data systems bring another dimension to integration: integration of the building systems to the data system.  Brady Nations Apr 02
Learning to Deal with IT  The reality is the convergence of facilities management and Information Technology (IT) is well underway.  J. Rand Arnold, P.E. & Darrell Matocha Jul 01
Web Based Control Systems The Devil is in the Details  Clearly all web-based control systems are not created equal!   Steve Tom Jul 01

Using Standard Internet Protocols in Building Automation  In this article we will attempt to introduce the motivation for using open protocols in building automation. 

Mike Donlon Jul 01
Creating a Virtual Building Automation Laboratory For Continuing Education   Building Automation is one technical field where lab-based continuing education programs can be delivered in a distance learning format.  William J. Hutzel Jul 01
Core Systems Integration  Predictions are usually risky, but here's one that could give fortune tellers a good name: the meaning of systems integration is about to undergo a transformation.  John Murphy Jul 01

Automated Buildings and Automated Home Technology  If the home technology market place isn't concerned with HVAC, why should our industry be interested in home technology?  

Bob MacKie Jul 01
How Easy Is It to Connect to TCP/IP?  According to Deepak Wanner, a lot easier than you think. Deepak Wanner Jul 01
Building Automation IS IT  I greatly underestimated the speed at which our industry would migrate to information systems and information technology.   Ken Sinclair Jul 01
Web-enabled Energy Education The question is, will World Wide Web or "Web" change the way that education is delivered?  Jack Mc Gowan May 01
Putting the Leverage in e-Learning e-learning provides an opportunity to deliver cost effective solutions to improve performance.  Chuck Miles May 01
Are (W)eLearning Yet? We call the creation and delivery of learning material by electronic means "eLearning."  David Fisher May 01
New Roads to Interoperability  Oh, and don't forget the IT Industry. David J Branson May 01
An Internet to the Guest Room Solution They need access to e-mail, corporate databases and the World Wide Web and they're ready to base their hotel choice on Internet connectivity.  Allan M. Olbur May 01

eDucation and the Automated Building Evolution The line through the year 2001 on our evolution trend graphic slices though the layers of every control technology known to man. 

Ken Sinclair May 01

Getting Over the Digital Divide  It may be hard to imagine that all the players in an industry that automates large buildings have not yet made it over the digital divide, but it is true. 

Ken Sinclair May 01

11 Revolutionary Automation Trends in Large Buildings  These 11 trends are having a significant effect on the present revolution or rapid evolution of large Buildings Automation. 

Ken Sinclair May 01
The VykonTM Solution: Unlocking the Power of Networks  "We need to encapsulate all systems information into a common object module that can then be accessed or manipulated - without regards to its origin of manufacturer - consistently, seamlessly and from a standard Web browser."  Dennis W. Tuft Mar 01
Building Automation: The Net Effect  Someday, engineers and managers will wonder how they ever got along without it.   Ken Sinclair Sept 00
Bringing the Power of the Internet to Real-time Control and Automation Systems  Perhaps no other technology has had the profound impact on virtually everything we do than the Internet.  Paul Oswald and Gil Rockwell Jul 00
Advanced Failure Notification System by eMation "...Wizcon can be used as OPC server as well as a client, and contain data from almost all conceivable sources, process them and forward them to any other OPC-enabled program."  Valerie Harding Jul 00
Energy Information Services "It's a bit like cable TV subscribers calling their cable company to request Channel X. If enough customers ask for it, the company will eventually start carrying Channel X."   Bob Fesmire Jul 00
XML: Esperanto for Data  XML ( Extensible Markup Language ) is emerging as the standard language for data exchange in many businesses sectors, including building automation.  Richard Desmarais  May 00
TXU Makes a "Konnection" with Top Customers One energy manager at a major clothing company put it simply: "I can't imagine not having this tool to work with." Bob Fesmire Bob Fesmire May 00
Internet Security Application for Industry's First 32-bit Java/Visa Open Platform Card  The name FLEXgate was chosen because the solution is flexible and because it provides a secure gate to the Internet.  Faye Bergemann May 00
WebCTRL - The greater the ability to communicate the highest quality information from operator to system, system to operator, and system to system, with the greatest of ease and simplicity, the more valuable the Web becomes.  Gerry Hull  Mar 00
The Benefits of Ethernet to Building Automation - Ethernet is the information connectivity utility, and this makes Ethernet running TCP/IP the protocol to bet on for open systems going forward.   John Petze  Mar 00

Echelon - Bringing the Internet To Life - Summation of Echelon's Press Conference presentation at AHR 2000

Bea Yormark Mar 00
Web Based Energy and Facility Control - Web-based energy and facility management solutions can help you increase efficiency and improve your bottom line, while making your buildings better equipped for the future. Martha Griddle Mar 00
Browsers, BACnet, and Building Control  "the corporate "spin doctors" are twirling to new heights in their attempts to create definitions of open systems which include their products." Steve Tom Jan 00
"Thin Client" Solutions  But there are times when a "thinner", alternative is needed. Perhaps you need a simple, lightweight interface for an occasional user. Or tenants in your building need to simply view and change their room temperatures and make quick and easy adjustments to schedules. Priscilla B. Janson Jan 00
Are Automated Buildings Converging or Colliding With The Internet?  Is our industry listening to the wake up calls of the information revolution?   Ken Sinclair Nov 99
Three Projects Converge "With Infinity's web access, we can make our facility available to researchers all around the world. It doesn't matter where they are located as long as they have a computer and Internet access."    Priscilla B. Janson Nov 99
Staefa Provides HVAC Control and Building Solutions Online  Staefa designed its Web site to provide important industry, training and company news to HVAC professionals Kristin Mahoney Nov 99
The Internet in The Building  What is the value of "convergence" to Architects and Owners? Has Internet connectivity in some form or other become as mandatory as plumbing in modern design and construction?   Ken Clarke Nov 99
Central Building Utilities Metering System at Yale University  Clients within or outside Yale can access the data available on the Maxnet by browser.   Viktor Boed Nov 99
Your Building.com?  More new automated buildings now have their own Internet address. Read all about it. Ken Sinclair May 99
Stick Handle the Net  Will the internet affect our industry? Ken Sinclair May 99
Just a spec on the net  Check out this automation resource and read how it changed the way we approach automation design. Ken Sinclair May 99
Building Performance
ARTICLE TITLE AUTHOR ISSUE DATE
Fresh Look at Air Filtration and Automation  Every modern Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system is faced with a common question, “when is the right time to replace the air filters Ken Bloom Jan 07
Coordinating the Design of Integrated Building Technology Systems  “Sitting at his conference table and speaking of technology, Mr. Gehry volunteers, “I don’t know how to turn on my DVD. I barely can use the technology in my Jim Sinopoli Jan 07
Washington Mutual Center’s DDC System is More Unique Than Common Contemporary Controls UL 864 Ethernet Switches Serve Up Dependability in Smoke Control System Debra Biela Jan 07
CABA Promotes Building Life-Cycle Cost Analysis  Organization to Introduce Assessment Tool in 2007   Rawlson O'Neil King Dec 06
A Solution For Properly Calibrating Pressure Sensors For Pharmaceutical Plants Terry Troyer Nov 06
Energy Management Systems  ...do you remember when building automation or direct digital control products were called “energy management systems”? John J. "Jack" Mc Gowan Nov 06
Corporate Anorexia and Productivity  Starving yourself to health: Human Anorexia is a pathological fear of weight gain leading to faulty eating patterns, malnutrition, and even death. Sometimes, companies adopt a similar destructive pattern. Al De Wachter Sep 06
Permanently Mounted Instrumentation can be an Advantage for the TAB Practitioner  Len Damiano Jul 06
Artificial Intelligence in Building Automation: Fuzzy Logic Anwer Bashi, Jul 06
Are Your Customers Comfortable? How Do You Know? Bill Gnerre Kevin Fuller Jul 06
Quebec Biotechnology Innovation Center Case Study HVAC systems serving biotechnology facilities must provide for and maintain environments sufficiently well controlled as to provide for worker safety and health, to minimize process defects and to assure quality.  Caroline Cadieux Jul 06
Making Dimension Data’s buildings more intelligent  Case Study The benefits of implementing an integrated IP intelligent building system more than justify the investment. We are already reaping the benefits of improved agility and improved buildings management.   Mark Griffiths Jul 06
Stop Trying  Stop Trying to Solve Business Problems with a Control System   Bill Gnerre Kevin Fuller Jun 06
New Vistas With Relational Control  A Three Part Series PART 3: Process Change Required For Effective Relational Control Tom Hartman May 06
Nothing to Say!  How Can a Building be Intelligent if it has Nothing to Say? Bill Gnerre Kevin Fuller May 06
Cimetrics Inc. and Infometrics The Infometrics service helps building owners to reduce operating costs and improve occupant comfort.  Jim Lee May 06
What's the Point?  The delivery of data and physicality of a "point" complicate things enough; but it really starts getting interesting when Enterprise Facility Management systems incorporate data sources from outside the HVAC/control system.   Keith Gipson May 06
Why your next project should be an Intelligent Building  In addition to being a better building to live, learn, work and play in it can also be a very satisfactory investment for any owner.   Paul Ehrlich May 06
Don't change out that old control system just yet!  Just because a new and more powerful type of product is available doesn’t necessarily justify changing out existing controls.  Jeff Reid Mar 06
Grid Friendly™ Appliances balance system supply and demand. Michael Kintner-Meyer Jan 06
Blazing a new trail to Intelligent buildings…  The value proposition in building automation is no longer in installing, programming, maintaining or even integrating building systems. Rather, as with the pervasive internet, the opportunity is in creating services and value propositions that can be offered by using the power of the systems that are installed.  Jack Mc Gowan Jan 06
Update, Analysis and Recommendations  ANSI/ASHRAE STANDARD 62.1 – 2004, Ventilation for Acceptable Indoor Air Quality  Leonard A. Damiano Jan 06
In Search of the Intelligent Building The quest for technology to enable Intelligent Buildings has been around for almost two decades. Anto Budiardjo Dec 05
What is an Intelligent Building? Part 2: Intelligent Building Construction and Operation Paul Ehrlich Nov 05
Building Automation Industry Cries for Valuation Tools CABA IIBC Delivers Thomas J. Lohner Nov 05
Findings from the 2004 Fully Automated Demand Response Tests   This research has demonstrated that fully automated demand response systems are technically feasible for buildings with a wide range of control systems from highly sophisticated EMCS with telemetry communication to conventional EMCS.  Mary Ann Piette, David S. Watson, Naoya Motegi and Norman Bourassa Oct 05
Applications of Intelligent Energy Technology  Intelligent building applications are close at hand. Jack Mc Gowan, CEM Jul 05
Fully Interoperable Lighting Control through BAS  Jerry Mills Jun 05
Access Control - The Missing Link?  Each building system brings its own history and lessons on the path to creating a more intelligent building. Access control has a unique perspective that can only help HVAC and the other systems as integration continues. Rob Zivney May 05
Realizing the Economic Benefits of Interoperable Facilities Management Systems  The world is changing. Dissatisfaction with predatory pricing practices associated with the traditional branch office delivery paradigm, created an economic opportunity in the marketplace.  Terrence R Reynolds May 05
Cost Effective Biological Monitoring For Buildings   Before a building can initiate a response, there is a need to detect the threat. This article discusses the nature of the biological threat in buildings and what approaches are available to detect these potential threats.    Mike Schell, Charles Call, Ezra Merrill, Amy Gardner May 05
Chilly Enough for You?  Stored cooling energy in the form of ice is tricky to measure. Dave Weigel Apr 05
Higher Performance RH Transmitters  Growing concern about indoor environmental quality issues, including mold, mildew and moisture problems also reinforce the need for accurate humidity sensing devices. Louis Viglione Apr 05
LEED-NC Rating System Draft v2.2 Released for 60-day Public Comment Period  Leonard A. Damiano Jan 05
Greater Use of CO2 is Not Necessarily Better Ventilation  The best controls and air distribution system are no more than useless hardware if the inputs used are not valid, or are so unreliable as to make them ineffective. Leonard A. Damiano Oct 04
Measuring The Right Thing For Humidity Control…  It's the Dew Point Stupid!  Mike Schell Aug 04
Be Cautious when Specifying Multi-Range Pressure Sensors  Everyone likes the inventory savings and installation flexibility that result from “one size fits all” pressure sensors.   Terry Troyer Aug 04
Indoor Climate Control  The European Perspective Simon Fowler Aug 04
Ventilation Needs and the Requirements in the ICC’s 2003 International Mechanical Code, Analysis, Recent ICC Actions and Recommendations  Leonard A. Damiano Jul 04
Variable Frequency Drives Deliver Tremendous Energy Savings...But How Do You Deal With Harmonics? White Paper Siemens Jul 04
Transforming the U.S. Electricity System “Bringing the Electricity System into the Information Age” Rob Pratt, Jun 04
Filtration Monitoring  Lags Behind Advances in HVAC Technology for Automated Buildings  Ken Bloom Mar 04
Water Purification System Connects to Building Automation System using OPC - Case Study  The integration allows plant maintenance personnel to monitor the water purification system from any BAS workstation in the plant.   Brian Neufeld Mar 04
Airflow Measurement for HVAC Systems – Technology Comparison  Designers must understand the true "apples to apples" comparison when selecting airflow measuring devices that utilize different technologies.  David S. Dougan Jan 04
Enterprise Facility Information Systems  Optimization of facility operations lies with the ability to evaluate information from EFIS and dispatch effective controls throughout the enterprise.  David Wolins Jan 04
Unconventional Design Guide for High Performance HVAC Hydronics Systems  Proven solutions to optimize hot and chilled water system performance.   Paul Skoglund Nov 03
Cityport  Tridium Drives Successful Multi-bus Integration at ABB's Intelligent HQ  Case Study   John Houston Sept  03
CO2 Control And the International Mechanical Code  A response to the May Issue article Ventilation Codes  ICC's International Mechanical Code vs. NFPA 5000, Analysis and Recommendations   Mike Schell Jun 03
Rebuttal to Response to May Article  This is my response to Mr. Schell's comments.  Leonard A. Damiano Jun 03
Ventilation Codes  ICC's International Mechanical Code vs. NFPA 5000, Analysis and Recommendations   Leonard A. Damiano May 03
The Big Carrots - Productivity and Health  Productivity and Energy Conservation are NOT Mutually Exclusive Objectives   David Dougan
Leonard Damiano
Apr 03
Taking Responsibility for Success  Part 5 - Strengthening Weak Links to Higher Performing Buildings. This series targets weak links in the chain of building design and construction that require strengthening for these anticipated advances to be realized.  Thomas Hartman Jan 03
The Quest for Environmentally Friendly Control Systems  Measurement of the standby consumption showed the ballasts were actually drawing a massive 6.75 watts each, meaning the tower would burn 162 Kilowatts with no lights on.   Terry Bonham Jan 03
ASHRAE STANDARD 62 Ventilation for Acceptable Indoor Air Quality Analysis and Recommendations   It should be clear to the design profession that the dynamic nature of mechanical ventilation requires dynamic control. Being a rate based standard, continuous airflow measurement should be a central component of any effective control strategy to assure acceptable indoor air quality.  David S. Dougan, & Leonard A. Damiano Jan 03
Everyday Office Environment Exemplifies Energy Efficiency  Echelon has implemented a system that will save money every day through lower operating costs and lower maintenance costs.  Gentry Clements Jan 03
Strengthening Weak Links to Higher Performing Buildings Part 4: The Procurement Process  This series targets weak links in the chain of building design and construction that require strengthening for these anticipated advances to be realized.  Thomas Hartman Dec 02
Strengthening Weak Links to Higher Performing Buildings Part 3: The Design Approach  This series targets weak links in the chain of building design and construction that require strengthening for these anticipated advances to be realized.   Thomas Hartman Nov 02
How to Achieve Proper Indoor Air Quality  The need to maintain proper indoor air quality (IAQ) is a serious concern - the EPA reports that indoor air pollution is ranked as the highest risk to human health among all types of environmental problems.   Staefa Control System Nov 02
Strengthening Weak Links to Higher Performing Buildings Part 2: Design Team Organization  This series targets weak links in the chain of building design and construction that require strengthening for these anticipated advances to be realized.  Thomas Hartman Oct 02
Strengthening Weak Links to Higher Performing Buildings Part 1:  Energy Codes and Standards  This series targets weak links in the chain of building design and construction that require strengthening for these anticipated advances to be realized.  Thomas Hartman Sep 02

Providing "Ventilation for Acceptable Indoor Air Quality"  Requirements for compliance with ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 62-2001. 

Len Damiano  Aug 02
Electrical Demand: Fact versus Fiction  "It costs more to start it so I never turn it off". Often it's just not true.   Charles Faulkner Jul 02
Lighting in the Intelligent Building  Until recent years the intelligent building was virtually inconceivable.  Dannielle Furness Jun 02
Building Systems Commissioning: Let Technology do the Heavy Lifting   Having the control network installed early in the construction phase allows the building automation system to do as much of the heavy lifting as possible including centralized data collection, analysis and reporting.  Clay Nesler May 02
Optimizing All-Variable Speed Systems with Demand Based Control  To ensure that the full measure of savings is achieved, new methods of control along with the new all-variable speed equipment configuration must be incorporated into the design.  Thomas Hartman May 02
Alerton Meets Schlumberger's Specification  The campus being retrofitted is located in the Texas Hill Country and belongs to the Schlumberger Oilfield Services division.    Melinda Bartee May 02
Opto 22 Case Study Minnesota Control Company / Minneapolis-St. Paul Intl. Airport   To date, all the automation projects completed by Minnesota Control Company at MSP have been well received by the customer and have contributed to the airport receiving some very positive recognition.   David Crump Mar 02
Ultra-efficient LOOP Chilled Water Plant Control At Bellevue Corporate Plaza  LOOP control manages valve opening and pump speed to automatically maintain minimum flow at all times a chiller is in operation.   Thomas Hartman Nov 01
Intelligent Variable Air Volume Controllers  Intelligent variable air volume controllers in the most innovative working environment of Scandinavia   Lars van der Haegen Nov 01
Advanced Measurement Labs  In order to provide the level of environmental control required by NIST, the space pressurization and ventilation for the interior of the labs demanded dependable and consistent airflow and temperature inputs.  Len Damiano Nov 01
Real-Time Energy Services  Recent interviews with online energy sellers indicated that they are selling more energy information, consumption histories and profiles by demand interval, than energy! Doesn't that sound like the kind of service that a DDC contractor could provide?   Jack McGowan Jul 01
Energy Savings: The Elusive Concept Finds a Solution  Skyrocketing energy costs have caused building owners and managers to start the search for energy savings.  Mark Moore Jul 01

"Demand-Controlled Ventilation" (DCV) and Intake Rate Control  First, let's get one simple truth out of the way. There is no direct relationship between interior CO2 levels and intake rates. 

Len Damiano May 01

Pressure Measurement Improves Air Quality  There is a misconception that the reason buildings require ventilation is to supply outdoor air so people can breathe oxygen.  

Diane Shaughnessy May 01
The Greening of Buildings with Automation  "Enviromation" - The Art & Science of Communication/Automation Integration with our Environments.  Ken Sinclair Mar 01
Componentization of the Control of the HVAC Industry  The next phase of building automation technology will bring new life to some traditional equipment. Likewise, it will usher in a rethinking of what building HVAC systems do, and how they do it.   Ken Sinclair Mar 01
Designing Greener Buildings ".....the target audience for greener design should start with the building development and property management community."  Tom Hartman Nov 00
The Advantage of Direct Measurement for Ventilation Code Compliance with Energy Optimization  Building energy usage can be limited while still complying with the new ventilation codes and standards. Engineers have found many creative ways that to satisfy these superficially conflicting objectives.  Len Damiano Nov 00
Stoney Creek High School, Rochester Hills, Michigan - Case Study The Facility Office at Rochester Schools wanted an energy efficient system that was flexible for the staff to use in monitoring, troubleshooting problems and had the ability to control costs.  Melinda Bartee Nov 00
Modernization at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle Airport Case Study  More than 200,000 passengers and over 6,000 tons of baggage and freight pass through Roissy Airport each and every day.  Valerie Harding Nov 00
The Advantage of Precise Ventilation Control for Schools  IAQ Can Promote or Sabotage a School's Core Mission - Educating our Children  Len Damiano Sept 00
Providing "Ventilation for Acceptable Indoor Air Quality What are some of the practical implications of compliance with ASHRAE Standard 62-1999? Len Damiano Sept 00
Building Automation System Manages Rapid Growth at Allstate's Dallas Data Center  "The BAS allows us to control, maintain, observe and react to any situations that might occur throughout any of our five buildings from one location, with remote access."  Kristen Pearson May 00
Building Automation System Offers Service Independence; Ensures Proper Indoor Air Quality  "From his office, Tom remotely monitors each school's system daily by calling up the systems from his computer and fixing any problems, whenever possible, before the first student arrives........"  Kristen Mahoney May 00
Isole Controls Plug Load Costs for 3Com - "From our experience, it seems clear that every company should consider occupancy-based control of their plug loads for increased energy savings," Rita A. Renner Mar 00
Tools for Commissioning and Building Tune-Ups - System-wide performance monitoring offers a more powerful, scientific approach to building system analysis. Tracy M. Phillips Mar 00
Sun Protection via LonMark Technology ......in the long run, resources are saved as the well-being and productivity of the employees are increased.  Petra Sauer Mar 00
Setra Pressure Transmitters Help CALMAC'S Ice Bank® System Cool Down Customers Efficiently, Cheaply - When it comes to meeting a building's air conditioning requirements, certain times are better than others. In fact, you might say that the difference is like day and night - literally.   Lawrence Griffin Mar 00
Use of Checklists for DDC System Implementation  As part of the implementation process, project managers can utilize checklists as a management tool to assure orderly conduct during individual phases of the project. Viktor Boed Jan 00
Innovative Lighting System Enabling Load Shedding, Daylight Harvesting and Dimming The project achieved a reduction of 47 kiloWatts, or about a 54 percent reduction. Electronic Lighting Inc Sept 99
Key to Performance   An old AEE seminar with some good advice. Ken Sinclair May 99
Marketing and Business
ARTICLE TITLE AUTHOR ISSUE DATE
Technology Contracting – The Future Is Now  Terry Hoffmann, Feb 07
BAS Controls: How important is a cost estimate, anyway?  Increase your chances of winning ‘good projects’ and avoiding ‘bad projects’ Al De Wachter Jan 07
BuilConn Middle East in Dubai and Riyadh  Anto Budiardjo Dec 06
Technical Summary – Pressure Independent Technology Prevails in Cost Comparison with Standard 2-way Control   Lisa Hickey Nov 06
ibX Forum - Building Value with Intelligence Thursday 5th October 2006 ConnectivityWeek, Amsterdam RAI, 3-5 October 2006
  Oct 06
Building Intelligence One Session At A Time In San Diego  The mix is designed to plumb the depths of today’s intelligent buildings opportunities and challenges, with an eye toward making the most of energy and power management techniques in the real world today and a finger on the pulse of what’s coming down the pike for tomorrow.  Robert Beverly Sep 06
Service contractors profit from the HEAT with emerging connectivity and FDDI analysis  Brian Thompson Sep 06
Building Intelligence: Location Services and the Return on Investment  In the name of fostering in-building wireless technology and adoption, the In-Building Wireless Alliance (IBWA) has formed. Kris Kolodziej Sep 06
John Petze leaves Tridium to create another river of change as CEO of Privaris   Not sure if you heard that John Petze is leaving Tridium. John has been and remains an industry icon. Ken Sinclair Jul 06
Control Projects Out Of Control?  Avoiding those few bad projects can change an average year to a great year.  Al De Wachter Jul 06
A Control Contractors Guide  Incorporating Customizable Standards  Al De Wachter Jun 06
Cisco on Board for Palm Springs  Cisco announces its Platinum sponsorship of BuilConn Americas in Palm Springs, CA, May 16-18.   Anto Budiardjo Feb 06
GridWise, the Convergence Killer App?  I would describe GridWise as a Killer App enabler Anto Budiardjo Feb 06
A Return To Growth  In this overview of the market for environmental intelligent building controls over the next five years, the author looks at the current potential in the North American market, and whether this continent differs from Europe in terms of embracing  convergence.   James McHale Feb 06
Defining The Intelligent Building Control Market  Understanding the true volumetric size of our new industry gets much deeper as we converge. Will biosensors that are tied to the security databases be part of our intelligent building control market? Ken Sinclair Feb 06
Integration Distributors – The Preferred Channel Integration Distributors understand, stock and support multiple manufacturers and they are committed to finding the best products for an application regardless of who makes them.  Jim Hayman Dec 05
Costs Down, Margins Up  Doing things once, and doing them right, is a necessary first step in eliminating waste. Al De Wachter Nov 05
Backing BACnet  It is the only protocol that has been created with its roots in the HVAC industry while achieving global consensus. Ken Sinclair Oct 05

What Next Part IV: Action Stations!  The world of technology in buildings is changing; to do nothing is the same as making a conscious decision to go backwards, at a time where new IT-savvy players are moving forward at greater and greater speed.

Anto Budiardjo Sep 05
Performance Contracting …the next wave and how it will impact Automation  Jack Mc Gowan Sep 05
What Next - Part III Organizing Our Industry  Part 3 will explore what needs to change in the route to market of building system solutions  Anto Budiardjo Aug 05
Application Specific Savings  Cost reductions are being realized by pre-packaged application specific controls and integrated systems. Mike O'Donnell Aug 05
What Next - Part II The Stakeholders  In part 2 we look at the change Convergence will bring to the stakeholders of our industry. Anto Budiardjo Jul 05
Buying Integration Solutions from a Control’s Warehouse  Integration solutions are becoming sought after commodities and the market for them is here now.   Ken Sinclair Jul 05
Elevating our Industry  The time has come to work together to promote and educate end users and owners on the benefits of Intelligent Buildings.    Paul Ehrlich Jun 05
Building-IT Convergence…What Next? In this four part article on the future of Building-IT Convergence, I will cover the driving forces, trends and predictions on how our lives will change as convergence will take root globally. In part 1 this month, we will look at the true impact of the Internet, and in part 2 we will look at the change Convergence will bring to the stakeholders of our industry. Part 3 will explore what needs to change in the route to market of building system solutions and part 4 will tie it all together with some predictions and suggested action for those interested in playing a role in the future of buildings. Anto Budiardjo Jun 05
HVAC Automation and the Light Commercial Market  The key characteristics of an HVAC automation system for this market are low cost, simplicity and reliability. Eldon Ziegler Apr 05
Digital Signage Summit  Buildings Are Generating “New Found” Revenue Amanda Ono Apr 05
The Small Buildings Market - An Integration Opportunity  The Small Building Market (up to 20 000 square feet) makes up 85% of the Commercial Real Estate Market in North America. Mike O’Donnell Mar 05
Lessons Offered By New York Subway Digital Signage Network Lyle Bunn Jan 05
Would You Like Fries With That?  Automation Takes a Bite Out of the $400+ Billion Commercial Food Service Industry Michael Burdett Jan 05
Plan Users Guide - Job Planning and Specific Planning Steps   Better understanding and management of job costs.   Al De Wachter Nov 04
…back to School on Direct Digital Control of Renewable Energy - Case Study   Jack Mc Gowan Nov 04
Plan Users Guide - Controlling Cost  Controlling Material, Subcontract, Miscellaneous Costs, Better understanding and management of job costs. Al De Wachter Oct 04
Plan Users Guide - Project Control  Successful project control system and project cost intro  Al De Wachter Sep 04
Plan Users Guide - Job Planning  Planning is not optional, unless profits are optional. Gaining better understanding and management of job costs. Al De Wachter Aug 04
The Final Frontier for Double-Digit Savings  High-Tech Contractors can achieve better profitability. Al De Wachter Jul 04
A Wake-Up Call and a Brainer  Ask any economist worth his salt what the total impact on American industry would be if our gross use of energy were to decrease by 15% over the next 10 years. David E. Craven Jul 04
Request for Participation - Summer 2004 - Automated Demand Response Test for Large Facilities  Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) is recruiting energy and facility managers of large facilities to participate in the 2004 Automated Demand Response (Auto-DR) research project. This project builds on the methods used in LBNL’s 2003 Auto-DR tests.   Jul 04
Building Automation Systems Legacy  The ability to reconfigure and monitor changes made to an automation system in real time is of tremendous importance to building managers. Brian Jones Jun 04
Successful Contracting: It all starts with an Estimate   Al De Wachter Apr 04
"Do-it-yourself" energy information systems in a Web-based world  Manufacturers of metering products have introduced new metering and data collection products that allow any electrical contractor or building owner to provide Web-based energy information to customers and tenants cost-effectively.  Jim Lewis Mar 04

Marketing Convergence - Engineered Systems November Supplement
Convergence Will Happen 
Why Is There A Need For Marketing?
Selling Integration and Convergence  

Ken Sinclair
Anto Budiardjo
Jack Mc Gowan
Nov 03
Protection, Correction and Connection  If you think the evolution is complete think again.   Ken Sinclair Nov 03
Documenting our Changing World  Our ability to assemble and document the information we are about to change, as well as documenting how we changed it, is cardinal to our successful transition.   Ken Sinclair Sept 03

The Rising Need for Unbiased Market Research  With an increasing number of hardware, software and solution options, the biggest challenge is staying informed.

Frank Capuano Aug 03
Managing Your Building as an Enterprise  Imagine a new generation of building automation systems that will increase profits and pay for themselves. Now, imagine leveraging your existing systems and infrastructure.  Brian Jones Aug 03
How To Estimate Job Costs For Profit  As a business person you too need to reduce your risk to an acceptable level, and to do that you too need to accurately estimate your job costs.   Clifford McGarvey Aug 03
Metamorphic Markets  We cannot expect our traditional markets to lead to our future business model; we must morph our identity and methodology to capture the new opportunities of today's Metamorphic Markets.  Ken Sinclair Aug 03
A Snapshot Of A Changing Industry - Building Control & Homeland Security  In the near term, the homeland security threat to buildings will force the long anticipated integration of building control, fire and security system to truly act as a single, intelligent system in buildings. Mike Schell  Jul 03
The Time and Resource Generator  The black hole of building management and control can be cost effectively transformed into a "Time and Resource Generator".   Paul F. O'Conor Jun 03
Building With the End In Mind  Every building begins with a vision. Now a new approach to construction helps owners fully realize that vision in brick, mortar and technology. It's called Knowledge-Based Integration.   Joel Lehman &
Kim Metcalf-Kupres
Jun 03
Choosing The Right Integrator For Your Building Automation Project  With the trend toward interoperability in building controls, the not-so-subtle differences between product, network, and system integrators take on additional significance.   Will Podgorski Jun 03

Preparing For Your Metamorphosis  Metamorphosis is evolution on fast forward. 

Ken Sinclair May 03
Make the Pieces Fit Together   This entire approach of working as one was a competitive advantage for both companies. It brought together the talents of everybody in making decisions - resulting in a product that met the needs of two company's customers.   Debra Biela Dec 02
Industry Focus Shifts to Web Convergence  The first few years of the DDC revolution our industry created a stable of " Awful Mated Buildings " I fear this could occur again with our first attempts at web convergence.  Ken Sinclair Nov 02
The Business of System Integration  The challenge for readers of this article is to revisit your definition of system integration and take the time to bring the full scope of services that you offer in better focus. Jack McGowan Aug 02
Does Size Really Matter?  At this point size should no longer matter in determining what opportunities we should pursue in the commercial buildings market. Any opportunity should be a good one for all of us.  Frank Miraglia Aug 02
Integrated Solutions  How an improved building process can lead to better buildings  There's a simple way to produce buildings with lower first cost and greater long-term value to the customer: Involve a technology provider up front as an integral part of the process.   Alex Molinaroli Mar 02
Using IP as a Backbone - A New Twist on LonWorks Networks Topologies.  "Internet Protocol has created new opportunities to extend the reach of LonWorks© networks and offers new topology options for LonWorks System Integrators"   Bruce Armstrong Mar 02
The Dawn of a New Age in Energy Management  Solution to the energy crisis ... a true supply/demand-driven market via Internet-Enabled Enterprise Energy Management Systems   Ralf H Edler Mar 02
Continuous Real-time IAQ Monitoring Real-time data viewing is from any Internet connection, anywhere in the world.   Joseph Wolf Mar 02
Synchronic: Extending interoperability and connectivity… The ideal scenario would be one where current automation software does not have to be updated to use remote communication, one where there is no need for a new protocol or standard…    Emmanuel Claus Mar 02
The Evolution and Future of Control Systems We know where we've been, but where might we be going in the future of control systems?   Edward H. Brzezowski Mar 02
Making Our Own Markets  One of the major changes is that we are no longer a specialized industry that is applied as a preconceived part of a building. We are now the innovators that extend the reach and interaction of our client's information enterprise.   Ken Sinclair Mar 02
Web Services - The Next Level  Just like the next level in a video game, moving our Building Automation Industry Information and Interaction to the evolving WEB SERVICES LEVEL changes everything, new rules, new power, and a new Information Model.   Ken Sinclair Mar 02
Successful Contracting: BAS Cost Estimating Issues  It is to the owners' benefit when all contractors are able to achieve their planned profit levels, since in the absence of contractor success, conditions and cooperation can quickly deteriorate.  Al De Wachter Jan 02
Successful Contracting: Beyond the Technical Issues - The best scenario is that the job gets done right, gets done just once, and everybody involved makes a profit margin according to their plan.  Al De Wachter Nov 01
What got you to where you are… won't!  If you are waiting for a manufacturer to differentiate your business, don't hold your breath.  Darrell Matocha and J. Rand Arnold Nov 01
Automation Systems Financing … a new trend?  Now is the time to become a little more aware of the financing options and present these to owners as solutions. Jack McGowan Nov 01
General Information
ARTICLE TITLE AUTHOR ISSUE DATE
Books for the Industry  I am often asked, what current industry text books are there about convergence, connectivity and the new business paradigm this is creating? Ken Sinclair Feb 07

Destination Sydney, Australia - Four For Points for the Industry  Four Points by Sheraton Leading the Way in the Management and Control of its Facilities Management, Workflow, Energy Management, Security and Building  Efficiency 

Ken Sinclair,  Marc Petock, Mike Marston,  Martin Hodder Jan 07
AHR Expo 2007 Dallas  This is our 8th year of Educational Sessions at AHR Expo 2007 Dallas Ken Sinclair Dec 06
Connolly Middle School  Wins Governor’s Award for Energy Efficiency Using Distech Controls Solution - Case Study Caroline Cadieux Dec 06
Fast Forward Freeze Frames  It seems that our complete industry is on fast forward as the events, articles, interviews, reviews, news releases and new products cross my computer screen before finding their way to our rss news feed.   Ken Sinclair Aug 06
Privaris® Launches World’s First Personal Biometric Device for Secure Access to Multiple Facilities, Computers and Networks Megan Prosse Jul 06
Public Spaces Signage  Audience of One Call to Action Via Electronic Message Delivery Allan Olbur Jun 06
Anto Budiardjo wins "Newsmaker and Industry Shaker" of the year award AutomatedBuildings.com is pleased to announce that Anto Budiardjo is the winner of our first Newsmaker and Industry Shaker of the year award. Ken Sinclair May 06
Photocatalysis  Considerations for IAQ-Sensitive Engineering Designs David J. Branson Apr 06
Early Detection Systems  Add Value-Added Opportunities for System Integrators Mark Rizkallah & Paul J. Celauro Apr 06
Perth Airport Domestic Terminal, Perth, Australia Case Study Caroline Cadieux Apr 06
Building Automation 2006 Conference  March to Baltimore to learn more about Building Automation for 2006   Ken Sinclair Feb 06
The Stats on Stats  While we think of the thermostat as one of the simplest components of an HVAC system, there are actually many decisions that need to be made by both the home or building owner and the contactor. Tom Jackson Jan 06
Real World Interoperability  Effective Building Security Systems Interoperate With Other Systems to Reduce Costs and Solve Tough Problems. Scott Howell Dec 05
Flexible Master's Programme in Intelligent Buildings  The principal aim of the programme is to provide advanced knowledge of intelligent buildings and hence educate those who will commission, design and operate such buildings. Professor Derek Clements-Croome Professor Derek Clements-Croome Dec 05
GridWise and the Energy Policy Act of 2005  One key initiative to come from this Act will be a major focus on electricity reliability.  Jack Mc Gowan Oct 05
GridWise Council & Convention FAQ The GridWise Architecture Council was created in 2004 following the August, 2003 Northeast Blackout and in response to Congress and the Department of Energy’s call for a next-generation electric system.   Oct 05
Five Issues When Selecting Ethernet Switches  The Ethernet switch is crucial to control system operation and therefore must perform continuously.  Joe Stasiek Sep 05
"Inside Peek" of what BuilConn is likely to be in 2006  Ken Sinclair Aug 05
Digital Signage Summit Deepens Supply, Content and Core Value Discussions Lyle Bunn Jun 05
Automate To Conserve Water and Reduce Operational Costs  Nelson Warthan Jun 05
Give us a Sign but please make it a digital sign. Ken Sinclair Jun 05
Online Time Management  Improve profitability, productivity with web solution for tracking hours and expenses.  Kelly Sinclair Jan 05
Transducer Technology  A breath of fresh air for rodents. Case Study Noel J. Barrette Dec 04
Building Automation Market in Finland  Building Automation and especially remote monitoring has a strong history in Finland partly because of Finland´s harsh climate conditions and long distances. Jussi Rantanen Oct 04
Are You Ready for the Revolution?  Hosted versus In-house  Bob Verdun Oct 04
Electronic Signage for Safer Buildings  Electronic Signage Networks represent the integration of now available technologies, and at a time when public safety needs are higher than ever before. Lyle Bunn Sep 04
Landscape Sprinklers/Irrigation and Building Automation  Should they be integrated?  Gaylen Atkinson Aug 04
Building Automation Systems and Vibration Monitoring  Vibration is a fundamental problem confronting building owners, design engineers, contractors and facilities managers working in today's commercial building industry. Mark Slebodnik and Steve Crawford May 04
4-way mixing valve? or a pump with variable speed?  When to choose and when to combine?   Christer Johansson Apr 04
Building the Connected Home  Key Trends in the Industry - and a preview of the Connected Home event.  Ian Johnson Mar 04
Building Automation:  Reaching for the Sky  The multi-billion dollar building automation industry is moving on and up as control systems integrate with the latest IT and internet technologies to create powerful networked intelligence.  Ken Sinclair Mar 04
A feeling of cooperation and objectivity in the industry  All of us are very excited about where BuilConn 2004 April 13-16 in Dallas may lead us and what new vibrations and feelings will be transferred to the industry.   Ken Sinclair  Mar 04
Information Technology Basics for Energy Managers and Facilities Managers  I have been amazed and impressed with the widespread recognition of the need for a comprehensive, yet basic and readable book that introduces this topic in a way that is understandable to the average person working in the energy and facility management area that is not an IT trained professional.   Barney L Capehart Jan 04
Engineered Solutions for Modern Buildings  Decorative, Interior Plantscapes and Automated Management Systems   Stuart D. Snyder Dec 03
AHR - Expo 2004 Anaheim Free Sessions  We hope you can make it out to our sessions at the AHR Expo in Anaheim, January 26 and 27, 2004 to share your input on these exciting topics.  Ken Sinclair Dec 03
What the Heck Hardware do I Use for Auditing?  "What type of hardware is recommended for running an audit?" This article works towards explaining the available hardware options and to answer this question.   Bill Shadish Sept 03

The Connected Home Event Preview ‘Linking services to products for tomorrow's lifestyle’ 

Ian Johnson Aug 03
Important Considerations in Buying a Data Logger  No matter what you need to measure, job one is understanding your measurement accuracy requirements.  Evan Lubofsky Jun 03
Tridium provides British Army an efficient foundation for the future!  All building services throughout the AFC, including HVAC, lighting, access control, alarm and security systems are connected through various LONWORKS® compatible control devices from different manufacturers.  Chris Irwin May 03

High-tech Venues  The latest thing in Online Training  

Jack McGowan Mar 03
Innovations in Water Leak Detection Technology  Water leaks can originate from many sources such as air conditioning units, cold-water chillers, water supply and return lines, clogged drains, damaged skylights or windows, construction errors, or even condensation drips.   Cam Rogers Feb 03
Facility Management Information Systems  Integrated FMIS are being implemented by many large organizations in order to more effectively plan, operate and maintain their facilities and capital assets.    Don Dennis Jan 03
Direct Digital Controls  I believe the possibilities of this type of technology for the future is unlimited. From the space shuttle to the refrigerator in our homes, almost every mechanical device we can think of requires some type of control, and in most all cases it will be Direct Digital Control.  Roger  J. Des Rosiers Jan 03
Secure Identification Systems  Policy and Technology Choices for a Privacy-Sensitive Solution Randy Vanderhoof Dec 02
Building Automation Sessions at AHR Expo, Chicago  This unique industry venue allows us to present our sessions free of charge and free of product influence on topics that we hope are of great interest to the industry.  Ken Sinclair Dec 02
America West Flight Simulator Building  The project learning curve was steep, and the road to success hard, requiring the cooperative efforts of all the parties involved. In the end, though, the original vision was realized, with a truly integrated HVAC System controlled and monitored through a single front-end.   Bill Simpkins Nov 02
Complete Infrastructure Picture EMC Corporation Gets the Complete Picture of their Infrastructure Health with e-Guardian® - Case Study   Jonathan Buckley Aug 02
Direct Digital Control - A Guide to Distributed Building Automation  The question that this article is posing to the readership is "Where should AutomatedBuildings.com training begin? Jack McGowan Jul 02
Australia Review  Australia has a yearly air conditioning exhibition called ARBS, which is an acronym for Air Conditioning, Refrigeration, and Building Services. The ARBS show was held in Sydney between 25 and 27 March at the Sydney Exhibition Centre.   Jim Henry May 02
Contact Sensors Losing the Battle Against Non-Contact Sensors  Contact sensors are starting to become an "old-fashioned" way of measuring, detecting, and/or sensing any particular measurement.  Daniela Carrillo Apr 02
CABA and 9/11 It is only by working together that we can affect positive change and improve our buildings of the future.   Ron Zimmer Mar 02
Should Drives be Specified in Division 15 or 16?  This article will document some of the more compelling reasons to place the drive specification in the mechanical or controls section of the specification.   Michael R. Olson Mar 02
Thermistors versus RTDs The challenge in comparing these two sensors is that thermistors are generally specified using accuracy and RTDs are generally specified using tolerance. Steve Allison Jan 02
Selecting HVAC Control Valves  Ball vs Globe - White Paper Jeff Dahnke Jan 02
Free Show Sponsored Sessions on Building Automation  AHR Expo Atlantic City - January 14-16, 2002 Ken Sinclair Jan 02
Making Sense of Sensors  The integration of low cost sensors into our Building Automation Industry over the last few years has helped propel a rapid industry growth. Extremely accurate, low cost solid-state sensors have allowed us to penetrate into many new markets.  Ken Sinclair Nov 01
Second Generation Sensors  - New Johnson Controls Humidity, Temperature Sensors Erika.L.McGinley Nov 01
Perfect Timing  On this kind of chiller retrofit project, your savings are there, says Paul Wolf, chief engineer of One America Plaza. "It would be a very good project for any building, even if energy prices were not increasing." Bob Stojanovic Sept 01
As Common as Thermostats  Once upon a time…there was a simple way to supply conditioned air and ventilation intake air to large buildings.  Len Damiano Jul 01

Frequently Asked Questions about Indoor Air Quality, Dilution Ventilation Control and Thermal Dispersion Measurement Technology  Over time, we have seen the same general questions asked by engineers and control contractors about ventilation control, building pressurization and measurement technologies.

David Dougan & Len Damiano Jul 01
What is a Drive?  Electronic Motor Drives Seem To Be Everywhere, But What Are They And How Do They Work?  Dave Polka Jul 01
How to Maintain a VFD  Maintaining Variable Frequency Drives Can Be Simple, If You Understand and Follow Some Basic Practices   Dave Polka Jul 01
Carilion New River Valley Medical Centre Designed for Tomorrow's Treatments  Case Study Today's medical center is a reflection on how those needs have changed.  The design of the facility reflects the expectation that those changes will continue in the future.   Marketing, Trane  Jul 01
Entering Our 3rd Year - we reflect on our growth and the tremendous industry support.     Ken Sinclair Jul 01
HVAC University  One key area of the program that assists students with HVAC systems concepts is a systems "Help" file which gives the students a basic understanding of HVAC components and systems design.  Joseph V. Simmons May 01

Computer Based Training or CBT, is an effective and efficient form of education for most anyone. CBT is simply a CD-ROM that a student can use whenever and wherever they choose.  

Dr. Malcolm Lewis  May 01

School Improvement Plan DukeSolutions will unveil a strategy to help school districts. 

Erika Heatherly   May 01
HVAC Solution New Mechanical Engineering Software Should Have Major Impact on Industry.  Brad Fullmer Mar 01
Implications of New Fiber Optic Bend Radius Standard in Cabling Pathways  The structured cabling industry is witnessing several major trends, including the increased use of accessible, flexible wire and cable management systems that facilitate moves, adds, and changes.  Kent McCord Sept 00
The Light Commercial Marketplace: Opportunities for Technology Deployment  "........the light commercial arena, comprising more than 95% of the entire commercial market, has gone largely unnoticed."   Steve Harvey Jul 00
Intelligent Fire Notification: A Breakthrough in the Fire Alarm Industry   Lower Cost of Installation and Maintenance, Unobtrusive Compliance Testing, Better Diagnostics  Joe Ouellette Jul 00
eDUCATION for Facility Performance - Smart systems plus smart people result in smarter facility operations.  Chuck Miles Mar 00
Bank of America, Seattle, Wa - Today, the Bank of America Tower is being upgraded to Alerton's native BACnet compliant product line, BACtalk.  Melinda Bartee Mar 00
Keeping It Simple Saves Money in the 21st Century  Over time, most building automation systems have become more complicated and harder to use then they should be.  Royden J. Lynch Jr. Jan 00
Green Guy Goes Global  I'm off on a sabbatical for the next few months (or more!), starting in London, on the way to Shanghai.  I'm shaping the trip around green and vernacular buildings and city planning efforts.  Ian Theaker Jan 00
Control Valve Technology Terminology is the most confusing part of our control industry.   D.S. McIntosh Nov 99
The Use of Low-Cost Data Loggers in Monitoring Building Systems Performance explains the benefits of using low-cost data loggers for monitoring the performance of various building systems.   Gregg M. Daly & Hugh J. Flye Nov 99
Automation as Art  The result is a realistic sequence of environmental effects combined with rainforest animals swinging branches, grunting and moving in fog filled river beds. Richard Goode July 99
What is an Emagazine?  An article about our Magazine. Ken Sinclair May 99
Want out of the box? Building owners impressed by the user ease of the net are demanding more from their automation providers. Ken Sinclair May 99
footer


[Click Banner To Learn More]

[Home Page]  [The Automator]  [About]  [Subscribe ]  [Contact Us]

Events

Want Ads

Our Sponsors

Resources