Engineered Systems - February 2008 - (Page 24) BY JACK MCGOWAN, CEM G GREEN INTELLIGENT BUILDINGS PROACTIVE With Your Profile As energy drives system design everywhere, how are even up-to-speed owners funding further improvements? The next frontier for building and automation systems will be driven by energy, and the primary reasons to engineer systems will be energy-focused. An even more provocative statement is that the future of your business relies on embracing this simple fact. This applies to manufacturers, engineers, and contractors because consumers have made it clear that they will buy from companies that embrace the notion of green. CEOs, mayors, university presidents, and many other leaders buy this idea, offering an unprecedented opportunity to elevate the importance of systems. For many building owners, systems have been out of sight and out of mind. Leighton Wolffe of Constellation NewEnergy said that the “markets are shifting the premise of building automation systems from temperature control to energy control.” Future buildings will embrace energy-engineered systems (EES) where occupants define how much comfort they want based upon cost and other factors. Growing emphasis on LEED®, Energy Star Buildings, and other standards that target the entire design process from site selection to systems, reflects this, too. THE TIME IS NOW So the time for EES is now. Especially as the traditional construction process becomes more broken, it is harder to deliver value with automation and engineered systems. Design specifications are often not enforced and integrators find it difficult to do the right thing while making projects profitable. So what is the next value proposition? Energy, and key to this proposition is that the entry point for automation and technology into buildings is not through design professionals, but through electric meters! The emphasis is that higher energy prices, including $100/barrel for oil, are the most significant thing to happen to system design in decades. Combine that with the impact of the 2030 challenge, an AIA Initiative which states that building contribute 48% of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. Also consider that the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, signed by the president in December, mandates that all U.S. buildings will be highperformance/energy efficient by 2050 with the goal ultimately being to achieve zero net-energy use for new commercial buildings built after 2025 and all commercial buildings retrofitted to fit this guideline by 2050. FREE INFO: 183 24 En gi neer ed S y stem s ESM02084Emon.indd 1 February 2008 1/18/08 1:40:10 PM http://www.emon.com/es2.asp http://www.emon.com/es2.asp
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