Tag Archives: Control Systems

The Smart City

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“With this unprecedented access to information, Smart Cities will deliver new levels of efficiency, effectiveness, safety, reliability, and higher levels of service. This access enables a city to anticipate and prevent problems in areas like reducing accidents by rerouting traffic, and reducing crime by identifying hot spots. New insight also enables the provision of services like finding a parking spot, monitoring air pollution, intelligent lighting, and others. A sense and respond model (a key future enabler) allows for the delivery of many of these services without human intervention.

A next generation of efficiency is also enabled, as asset tracking will streamline operations and insight will deliver unprecedented levels of efficiency. For example, a recent survey of water utilities found a saving potential between $7.1 and $12.5 billion each year through smart water solutions. The chief globalization officer of Cisco has said that smart cities drive energy consumption savings of 30% and water consumption savings of 50%. These environmental benefits include reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving waste management. Boston University Installed self-powered trash receptacles which wirelessly alerted collection vehicles when they were full, resulting in on-campus trash collection being reduced from 14 times per week to an average of 1.6 times per week.

The Smart City

The Smart City is Defined as a developed urban area that creates sustainable economic development and a high quality of life by excelling in multiple key areas; economy, mobility, environment, people, living, and government. Excelling in these key areas requires strong human capital, social capital, and information and communications technology. We are in the early days of an evolution towards Smart Cities, and IDC Government Insights finds that most cities are deploying these projects department by department. In a recent IDC White paper, they provide a maturity model to describe this Smart City evolution…”

Reimagining the Future

Next up in this ongoing look at disruptive scenarios is the Smart City. For the first time in history, more than 50% of the world’s population lives in cities, and that percentage moves to 70% by 2050. This visual effectively captures the dramatic move towards urbanization:

Urbanization Statistics

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Bosch Buys Arizona Building Technology Firm

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“Climatec is an independent single-source integrator of critical building systems including energy services, building automation and security system integration in the U.S. market. The company provides consulting, planning, implementation and around-the-clock remote management of comprehensive comfort, security, safety and efficiency solutions. Climatec is active in education, healthcare, the public sector, industrial/manufacturing, computing services, office buildings, federal, state and local government, hospitality and energy.”

TechCentury.com

FARMINGTON HILLS — Farmington Hills-based Robert Bosch North America Corp. has acquired Climatec LLC, a Phoenix, Ariz.-based provider of energy efficiency, building automation, security and safety products and services.

Climatec generated sales of $170 million in 2013, and according to preliminary figures hit $190 million in sales in 2014. The company employs 670 people at 12 offices in Arizona, California, Nevada and Texas.

Climatec has been owned by Pegasus Capital Advisors, L.P. since April 2012. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

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Three Common Mistakes in Wireless Systems Design for Buildings

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Although cellular and WiFi networks are not required by code, they are crucial for communication. More than 400,000 wireless E-911 calls are made every day…

 

Image Source:  http://bit.ly/1EqvCDv

Source: www.facilitiesnet.com

>” MISTAKE 1: Thinking it’s someone else’s problem.

Don’t let your architect avoid the issue. Design a building with adequate wireless coverage for public safety, cellular, and WiFi. […] WiFi networks are also widely used for Internet traffic and to support building management systems (BMS), Smart Grid, point of sales, audio visual, security, and more. The impact of wireless devices is only expected to increase. Mobile devices are expected to account for 61 percent of worldwide Internet traffic by 2018, compared to 39 percent from wired devices, according toCisco.

MISTAKE 2: Confusion.

Confusing the types of wireless technologies available and/or facility requirements is another pitfall. You don’t want to plan for one type and learn later that technology for common functions is missing. Technologies have different requirements for power, spacing between devices, type of cables, head-end requirements, etc. Therefore, a key factor is to understand each technology thoroughly so it can be planned and implemented properly.

To put it briefly, there are two major wireless technologies — WSP, which are your wireless carriers networks (AT&T, T-mobile ,Verizon, etc.), and WiFi technology, which is a wireless local area network (WLAN) based on Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards.

Both of these transmit via radio frequencies. WiFi (WLAN), however, uses an unlicensed spectrum that transmits at frequencies 2.4GHz and 5 GHz, which are considerably higher frequencies than used for cellular service, which is on a licensed spectrum transmitting within 698MHz-2.7GHz.

MISTAKE 3: Bad budgeting.

Often, contractors develop their budget based on square footage, but wireless isn’t so simple. The price can vary significantly based on the complexity of the needs, the supporting frequencies, coverage area, number of users, and more. By developing preliminary wireless design, IT consultants can provide the owner/operators with a more accurate cost.

Regardless of the facility, it’s no longer a matter of if wireless will be required, just a question of whether you want to plan early before you build, or pay a premium later. IT consultants can help facility managers plan, select the best wireless options to meet end-user needs, and stay to up-to-date with local codes (where required). Furthermore, an IT consultant can better develop a realistic wireless budget for the owner and provide the architect-engineer-construction team with infrastructure requirements, such as pathways, telecom room sizes and locations, power, and cooling, without sacrificing the architect’s vision. Generically speaking, the fee for an IT consultant is insignificant to the overall project cost, and may ultimately save the owner money and headache. Be prepared for what’s to come. Overlooking this need early can often cause a major regret later.

Gislene D. Weig, electrical engineer, RCDD, is a senior consultant at PlanNet Consulting, where her core business involves U.S. and Latin American markets focused on large-scale projects that include voice/data, wired and wireless communication systems, and data network design. She can be reached at gweig@plannet.net.”<

See on Scoop.it – Green Building Operations – Systems & Controls, Maintenance & Commissioning

Applying Intelligent Efficiency to the Transportation Sector

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A new report from ACEEE, Energy Savings from Information and Communications Technologies in Personal Travel,estimates that aggressively incorporating a handful of ICT strategies could reduce energy consumption in transportation by almost 13% by 2030.

Source: aceee.org

>” […] Intelligent efficiency is the use of information and communications technologies (ICT) to improve the overall productivity and efficiency of a given sector.

In transportation, intelligent efficiency can affect the way we travel by providing us with real-time feedback and information on fuel economy, making it easier for us to use alternatives to driving such as public transit and bicycles, and by moving traffic away from peak travel times and consolidating travelers into fewer vehicles.

[…] The strategies discussed in the report include:

  • Car and bike sharing
  • Real-time transit information
  • In-vehicle feedback
  • Vehicle-to-vehicle communications and driver assist applications
  • ICT-based transportation demand management programs (TDM)

The report aims to provide readers with a sense of the relative magnitude of energy savings possible from these strategies, and is by no means a definitive overall estimate. ICT could be incorporated in many additional ways in the transportation sector. The strategies described here are simply the tip of the iceberg when it comes to implementation. Studies from Europe have shown that reductions could be as high as 26% if we consider the whole universe of strategies and options. […]”<

See on Scoop.it – Green Energy Technologies & Development

Energy Efficiency, Smart Buildings & Wireless Control Systems

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Energy efficient technology and services for the building sector will double by 2022, according to a new report …

Source: www.climatecontrolnews.com.au

>”[…] Since buildings account for a large portion of national energy consumption, most of the governments in the Asia Pacific region have taken steps to promote energy management and energy efficiency in both new construction and existing buildings. […]

“With about 40 per cent of the world’s building stock, Asia Pacific represents a major portion of global real estate,” he said.

“Growing concerns about air pollution in Chinese cities, in particular, is expected to further drive investment in energy efficiency technologies to reduce China’s demand for coal-based electricity.

“The market for energy efficient buildings is expected to double in the next eight years, reaching nearly $92 billion in annual revenue by 2022.”

The largest segment of the energy efficient buildings market in Asia Pacific today is advanced lighting […]

“The commercial buildings sector in the region will experience a significant increase in the adoption of these products in the coming years,” Bloom said. Entitled“Energy Efficient Buildings: Asia Pacific”, the report examines the trends for energy efficient building technology and services in the Asia Pacific region.

It covers three main areas of technology – HVAC, energy efficient lighting, and commercial building automation – as well as the energy service company (ESCO) sector.

The convergence of building automation, information technology, and wireless communications is another area of growth identified by Navigant Research.

A separate report examines the state of the global wireless building controls industry, including global market forecasts for wireless node unit shipments and revenue through 2023.

Wireless controls can be used to link devices found in a variety of building systems, including heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC), lighting, fire and life safety, and security and access.

In addition, they often provide networked control in buildings or areas where wired controls are simply too challenging or expensive to install.

Worldwide revenue from wireless control systems for smart buildings is expected to grow from $97 million annually in 2014 to $434 million in 2023.  […]

While the adoption and deployment of wireless systems based on standard technologies and protocols, such as Wi-Fi, Zigbee, and EnOcean, are increasing, most wireless devices and control networks used today utilize proprietary, vendor-specific wireless communications technology.

That is likely to change as the demand for interoperability grows, according to the “Wireless Control Systems for Smart Buildings” report. “<

See on Scoop.it – Green Building Operations – Systems & Controls, Maintenance & Commissioning

BEMS for Smaller Buildings $6 Billion Growth from 2014 to 2022

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The market for building energy management systems (BEMS) for small and medium-sized commercial buildings is expanding as building owners and managers demand more energy savings and easier ways to manage energy use in their facilities, notes Navigant Research.

Source: www.achrnews.com

>” […]“Lower expenditures on energy management in the small and medium-sized building market, along with the lower penetration of advanced controls and building management systems, has limited the penetration of BEMS in this sector,” said Noah Goldstein, research director with Navigant Research. “Given the increasing importance of energy savings, however, BEMS are poised to be a tool that enables savings in both cost and carbon emissions in small and medium buildings.”

The most rapid growth in the BEMS market for smaller buildings, according to the report, is expected to occur in Europe and Asia Pacific, where new construction and regulation are promoting the installation of BEMS equipment and in turn creating demand for associated services and software. In the North American market, BEMS sales are expected to be concentrated in software, driven by utility and regulatory initiatives that promote energy efficiency and building energy reporting. […]”<

 

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Maintaining High Performance HVAC Control Systems for Cost Savings in Building Operations

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The performance level of a building is directly related to the performance level of its control systems. You cannot manage a high performance building without high performing control systems.

 

Source: www.automatedbuildings.com

>”We rely on control systems to monitor and manage our building systems. For the most part it’s been assumed that once the control system is installed and configured it will work for years with little attention and minimal maintenance. Some systems may be trouble-free, but the majority of them will need regular attention and maintenance. Over time hardware will fail, software parameters and versions change and slowly the control system will “drift” from its original configuration and performance.

The role of control systems is somewhat undervalued. When you examine the most complex system in most buildings, the HVAC infrastructure, you find that it’s the HVAC control system, not the HVAC equipment, which produces the most operational issues and is the leading cause of inefficient energy use. Lawrence Berkley National Laboratories examined 60 buildings and found the highest frequency of common problems with HVAC was in the control system. Texas A&M research determined that of the operational and maintenance measures that could produce significant energy savings, 77% of the savings were from correcting control problems.

Maintaining a high performing control system involves regular maintenance, software and data management and organizational policies. The issues that can cause problems with a building control system are the same challenges all of us have had at one time or another with our computer or smartphone: problems related to software, hardware, communications networking and “user” mistakes. What follows is an overview of some of the typical control system issues and recommendations as to how to keep it performing at a high level.”<

See on Scoop.it – Green Building Operations – Systems & Controls, Maintenance & Commissioning

Industrial networking expands PLC functionality – Energy Efficiency

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Combining real-time Ethernet with visualization, control, and communication capabilities allows PLCs to open the door to a new level of visibility and control for manufacturers.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

>The days when workers served as the brain and brawn in manufacturing are long gone, while human-machine interaction has become commonplace on the factory floor. A prime example of this is the PLC, which has been the workhorse in automation and manufacturing industries across the board for many years. By interfacing with everything from sensors and machine guards to motion control and advanced identification devices, PLCs ensure operations run smoothly (see Figure 1). Through the flexibility offered with PLCs, manufacturers can manage multiple machines at once—achieving a higher level of integration and process automation machines and improving production quality and cost of operation.

The benefits of the PLC are well known. Their contributions toward efficiency enhancement and the behind-the-scenes support of industrial Ethernet make this heightened control possible. Together, these technologies make communication between humans and machine a seamless, profitable combination. Consisting of various protocols, industrial Ethernet was developed with deterministic capabilities to provide a cost-effective alternative to legacy automation systems.

With advanced capabilities, sophisticated functionality, and simplified installation, the PLC is a cornerstone of modern manufacturing. However, to effectively use these devices, users must understand the crucial role networking plays and the individual requirements that must be considered for an effective solution.  […]<

See on www.plantengineering.com

And now, for printed energy storage – with solar : Renew Economy

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See on Scoop.it – Green Building Design – Architecture & Engineering

Australia’s Dyesol teams up with a developer of printed energy storage technology to create self-powering indoor devices.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

Australian solar dye technology develop DyeSol and created a new venture with Singapore based Printed Power to develop combined energy generation and printed energy storage devices designed for the commercial building market.

See on reneweconomy.com.au

Unleash Active Daylighting Benefits for Your Green Building with Ciralight SunTracker | Eco-Business.com

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See on Scoop.it – Green Building Operations – Systems & Controls, Maintenance & Commissioning

Green buildings in tropical regions such as Indonesia will benefit from active daylighting.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

Now, what is active daylighting?

95% of available systems are passive in nature – meaning they use static, non-moving/tracking systems unable to adjust for the sun’s angle throughout the day; creating uneven lighting, roaming hot spots, and obtrusive glare.

Active Daylighting is a system that mechanically tracks the sun throughout the day and redirects sunlight inside buildings at an intensity that allows artificial lighting to be turned off. Ciralight’s active daylighting system significantly outperforms passive systems when comparing the amount of daylight directed into a building; upwards of 300% more.

See on www.eco-business.com