AutomatedBuildings.com - Editorial Comments December 2008

December issue is our “Countdown Chicago” issue with a preview of new products, services, education sessions plus even more of what you will see at http://www.ahrexpo.com/ January 26-28 in Chicago. Be sure to take a look at our preview of our large building automation industries’ involvement at the World’s largest HVAC&R Marketplace. We will be adding more information as the countdown continues with press releases and new products. A request for all of our industry participants, I know you are very busy preparing for Chicago but please take a few moments to share with our readers the fruit of your labors and show them why they cannot miss seeing your booth at this event.

If you have never been to an AHRExpo in Chicago, I strongly recommend that you attend. The size and scope of this event is truly amazing and Chicago has always been a record breaker in attendance and sheer number of displays. Dave Branson and I are doing our 10th consecutive year of free education sessions for International Exposition’s AHR Expo. As our Greener Sustainability Buildings become an interactive part of the Electrical Grid we have a lot to talk about so please join us. Our contributing Editor Jim Sinopoli and columnist Toby Considine will be joining us in our free education sessions increasing the scope of the sessions. Jack McGowan’s GridWise sessions are dove tailed between our four sessions to provide two complete days of sustainability discussion. Please join us and provide your input during and after the presentations.

2008 has been a year of change and there is no sign that 2009 will be any less traumatic, the new global economy coupled with the need to implement the radical change of how buildings interact with our existing electrical grid will be the centre of all our sustainability discussions.

We have added a new Blog tab to our navigation menu which links to related industry blogs of interest. We created an Industry online Forum many years before blogging was conceived and have combined these.

The news just keeps flowing thru our web site and RSS feeds daily, and of course the only way to truly find what you are looking for in the vast quantity of information on our site is with our site search engine http://www.automatedbuildings.com/search/sitesearch.htm

Tell our sponsors you saw their ad on the AutomatedBuildings.com web site and thank them for supporting your free access to evolving Automated Building Industry information. Click on their ads and view their valuable products and services. Please review all Our Sponsors.

This is the second Grid-Interop conference www.grid-interop.com/2008 focusing on Interoperability technology for the electric grid, and will be the first time that the conference is held in partnership with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

In our cover picture the perplexed look on some street art in Montreal gives a sense of the bewilderment that we are all feeling. Jack McGowan asked if we would make the November issue our Grid-Interop issue and many of the presenters at the event have joined in to help us make sense of Grid-Interop and provide a sneak preview of what you might learn at this event. If you are unable to attend the event our November issue will provide you a toe hold on how important Grid-Interop with complex and simple Building to Grid relationships are going to be.- (B2G for short)

Be sure to read Jack’s opening article Energy & Controls as he provides insight to the fact that B2G starts with Demand Response, a multi-billion market that requires automation technology to work, but will expand to a broad-based opportunity for system manufacturers and integrators to really make money from energy.

Under the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA), NIST has the primary responsibility for coordinating development of a framework to achieve interoperability of Smart Grid devices and systems that includes protocols and model standards for information management. Interoperability is a key challenge to achieving the vision of the Smart Grid. Find out how B2G and the NIST Workshop lead by David Holmberg NIST expects to come away from Grid Interop with an initial per-domain roadmap of what interoperability issues matter and specific action items to address the interoperability standards' gaps and weakness or overlaps.

Carol Geyer, Director of Communications,OASIS explains; How do eCommerce technologies, including contracting, reliable messaging, security, and the application of Service-Oriented Architectures (SOA) fit into the energy and buildings world? in her article ECommerce, Buildings, and Energy

From the article Blue, Buildings, and Energy comes this observation "According to Werbach, each decision and each transaction should be made mindful of price, purpose and process—and the benefits of economic growth can be guided by the ethos of sustainability. He named this new synthesis Blue, invoking the earth as seen by the astronauts."

Be sure you understand The Virtue of VirtuaWatt^TMwhen directly connected to Constellation Energy and the Independent System Operator (ISO), VirtuaWatt^TM allows customers to login to view a projection of their load and specify what hours they will be able to decrease power below their projected load and at what price. This feature provides customers the opportunity to participate in markets where incentives have been established for curtailing load on a real time basis.

In Jim Butler of Cimetrics article The Smart Grid and Ongoing Building Commissioning He advises; Savvy building owners are saving money now while positioning their facilities to take advantage of future smart grid opportunities.

Toby Considine provide insight to where overall interop may be going in his article Transacted Energy End Games

Be sure to read The Three Little (BACnet) Pigs A Modern Day Fable of Building Systems Integration by Andy McMillan, President and CEO, Teletrol Systems Inc. & President BACnet International

As always lots of new products, plus be sure to check our event calendar to see the number of events we have in our future.

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