NEMA’s electroindustry March 2010 - 19

systems when needs change. These also reduce maintenance costs both in labor and materials. Technology is constantly changing and evolving, and the ability to relocate components to accommodate staff changes, to reconfigure systems to support new power and communications needs, and reuse components in new spaces is a critical aspect of sustainable building design. Raised floors are commonplace in sustainable and LEED-certified buildings, and this will hold true in HPBs as well. This is because raised floors facilitate the use of underfloor wiring and raceway systems that can offer improved HVAC efficiency and control, facilitate easy access to power and communications, and reduce the need for large overhead air plenum space that may ultimately result in higher overall building height. Using deep and shallow access floor boxes in the underfloor system is ideal for delivering multiple services in raisedfloor applications. Modular wiring delivers power to workstations in raised-floor applications; furniture feed boxes can be used to transition the power distribution system with powered partitioned furniture or wall outlets. Modular wiring also facilitates the many moves, additions, and changes commonplace in today’s work environment. The plug-and-play nature of these components allows building maintenance personnel to reconfigure the power layout more cost effectively and with less interruption to the workers. Modular wiring components can also be reused or moved to a new location, thus eliminating waste that would be created with conventional wiring. Greater amounts of open space in buildings give occupants a greater sense of freedom of movement. Floor boxes and fire-rated poke-through systems, particularly in meeting rooms, help increase open space by offering a functional and unobtrusive alternative to wall-mounted receptacles and jacks. They can be customized to meet virtually every power and communications application. High-capacity box designs effectively deliver ever-growing requirements for multiple low-voltage and active multimedia applications. Metallic and nonmetallic surface raceways in conjunction with open-office modular furniture and power poles are also available for delivering power and communications in open spaces. The use of open space to maximize interior daylight in high performance buildings depends greatly on the ability to provide power and communications to these environments in innovative ways. Unlike conventional fi xed power and communications systems that require walls and create barriers, through-floor and in-floor solutions are available to deliver power, voice, data, and audio/ video to workstations in open spaces. Furthermore, these systems may provide LEED points in the category of Innovation Design. While energy efficiency, and ultimately net-zero energy consumption, is the cornerstone of HPB design, surface raceway systems, even though they are non-current-carrying products, can win the day in their ability to maximize space, provide greater ease of maintenance, and reduce maintenance costs. ei Mike Leibowitz, Program Manager | mike.leibowitz@nema.org › Moving HPB Forward with Market Potential HPB is a familiar acronym by now. If it’s not affecting your business, it’s definitely starting to affect your life. Google search estimates 76,000,000 results for the three words and acronym. There are entries for the federal government, local governments and administrations, private industry, associations of all kinds, real estate interests, architects, contractors, etc. According to the American Institute of Architects, HPBs are less expensive to operate; save water and energy; and, in the case of commercial buildings, improve worker performance and safety. These reasons are why the largest landlord in the nation, the federal government, has embarked on a very ambitious program to make all its property—not insignificant by any measure—net-zero energy consumers by 2032. Essentially, this means that buildings, individually or in groups, would have to give back to the grid as much energy as they consume. Commercial building owners are following suit. You cannot possibly get there using a silver bullet technology; only a combination of materials, design, and technology will work. On one end, you need to generate some energy locally— preferable via renewable sources. On the other, you have to dramatically increase energy savings. A recent model singlefamily residence using the latest in insulating technologies, for instance, was kept warm during the winter by using, for dramatic effect, a hair dryer! NEMA’s Lighting Systems Division has successfully developed and promoted energy savings at the light-source level. Incandescent light bulbs are being replaced by CFLs, which in turn are being replaced by even more efficient LEDbased products. Lamp design has been revolutionized by the NEMA Premium® Ballast Program. Potential energy savings using these products are in the five to NEMA electroindustry • March 2010

NEMA’s electroindustry March 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NEMA’s electroindustry March 2010