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.
