Building 2.0

Automated buildings has an article on something called Building 2.0.  From what the article describes it seems some real thought is finally going into the next step of intelligent buildings.

The whole concept of integration has become confused by protocols and standards.  I was at a conference about integration and it seemed the majority of the audience was more worried about ziggbee vs. wired sensors, nothing about energy savings.  It would be ridiculous for me to order a computer from dell and ask them what kind of capacitor they had in the power supply, but for some reason in the world of buildings we want to fight over some aspect of the technology rather than focus on providing better answers for customers.

The Building 2.0 movement seems more about objectives.  It includes a change in terminology:

Building 1.0	Building 2.0
BacNet	WebServices
Data	Information
HMI	Fusion
Facility	Enterprise
First Cost	Life Cycle Cost
Integration	Interoperability
Smart Buildings	Smart People

Perhaps there is a conceptual overlap with all things 2.0 oriented (Web 2.0 etc).  The Building 2.0 story feels more aspirational, while still being practical.  Nothing is locked in.  To me, integration is less about protocols (protocols being a necessary detail) and more about integrating Enterprise applications in with devices in a manner that reduces cost of energy, maintenance, operations ,etc.

Comments

[Ken Sinclair]

Thanks for the comments on our Buildings2.0 article.

I would like to share your thougths with our readers.

Please contact me
Ken Sinclair Editor/Owner

www.automatedbuildings.com

sinclair@automatedbuildings.com

250-656-5378

[David Katz]

As noted in the Building 2.0 vision, there is alot of waste in our buildings. This occurs in both new construction and subsequent operations and retrofits. While the Green Globe and LEED efforts are starting to address the more evident environmental impacts during the construction stages and require energy modeling to reduce the physical HVAC hardware and hopefully incorporte renewable energy systems, the Building Technolgy elements are left as an afterthought. If the Intelligent Building system intergrator is not part of the Integtrated Design Process, the subsequent Building Automation systems will not achieve their full Sustainable potential. Having computer screens displaying the energy intensity or carbon footprint on WEB services are a good start but having the right sequence of operations tied to the real energy supply and demand GRID will improve the bottom line to pay for al the Bells and Whistles.