I’m at the annual Greenbuild show, which is like the CES for green builders and architects, and I vowed this year not to write my usual roundup of the few high-tech and electronics companies exhibiting here, which resulted each year in me lamenting the “green” industry’s willful ignorance of all things electronic—despite how the processing power of high-tech systems can help us to be more energy efficient.
But now I have to write about it. Because happily, high-tech and electronics are finding their way into the hearts of green builders, architects and commercial building developers. Finally!
Marching Orders
It all started Wednesday morning, at the opening plenary, with Gen. Colin Powell. Yes, that Gen. Colin Powell. And what does he have to do with green? He talked a bit about how the military has greened its operations and facilities, and he talked a bit about his new work with venture capital giant Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, which has funded fuel cell maker Bloom Energy. But Powell talked mostly about how we can use information technology to help us be more energy efficient, by monitoring and managing our energy use. “What we have to integrate into the rest of the world is information technology,” he said. “We have to find ways to use energy more efficiently and to conserve energy in every way possible.” Very cool.
Powell didn’t get all geeky about it. He interspersed this much-needed call to action between several humorous and self-effacing stories. I can’t enough about what a charming and inspiring speaker he is. He should be the green industry’s premier spokesman. Hire this guy immediately. (You can see the plenary here.)
Also during the plenary, U.S. Green Building Council president and CEO Rick Fedrizzi said the quest for green “doesn’t end on putting a LEED plaque on the wall. That’s just the beginning of a journey” in which building dashboards should be used show energy usage “so you know how much progress you’re making.”
I almost had to pinch myself.
Call for Intelligence (in Buildings)
Later, at a very well-attended educational session on Building Design Strategies to Minimize Plug Load—they give these such dreadful titles, and I’m paraphrasing—panelists told an enrapt audience about ways to reduce energy consumption of electronic devices like computers and gadgets and entertainment systems.
That’s no news here. But at Greenbuild, discussing electronics as a way to save energy may as well have been forbidden—up until now.
David Kaneda of Integrated Design Associates, offers one reason for this green industry change of heart. “As you squeeze efficiency out of a building [by reducing the energy loads of things like lighting and HVAC systems], plug loads become a bigger piece of the pie.”
There are other factors at play as well: government policies and programs like green school buildings are raising awareness of energy management and building automation technology. The cost of sensors enabling building automation has come down, as performance has improved. And architects and developers are realizing that the push to the smart grid means buildings (especially commercial buildings) need to be intelligent.
And, as Kristina Skierka, senior advisor of the Energy Efficiency Strategic Plan for the California Public Utilities Commission says, “An [expected] increase in electrical production is really based on proliferation of electrical devices.
Yet, she admitted, “No one has really been looking at plug loads.”
!#&*!
In addition to promoting energy savings and energy efficient products, Skierka says, “Automatic controls and centralized management of power is one thing we have talked about extensively.
The panelists showed energy monitoring systems like those from Powerhouse Dyanamics, Lucid Design, Google and startups Redwood Design and Enmetric Systems. And they showed—awed gasp here—smart surge suppression strips that cut power to connected devices of a computer or TV to save energy—as if these were magical new technologies.
I am not kidding: Many here think smart strips are the coolest new things. But I applaud the Greenies for starting to embrace energy efficient technologies.
Google’s Anthony Ravitz, who works in the Gorg’s Real Estate & Workplace Services, in charge of the companies expanding portfolio of facilities, said of his very high-tech company’s decision to try to cut its plug load usage: “We have no idea what to do, but it seems pretty important.”
Smart guys at Google without an energy-efficient clue? Maybe I have been dreaming.
Boy, could this industry use some high-tech help.
Show ’Em How It’s Done
The green building industry is getting that help from exhibitors including building automation specialists Siemens, Schneider Electric, Johnson Controls and Honeywell. Crestron is here with it’s new commercial Viridian energy monitoring system. Lutron is showing its commercial Quantum building automation system, as well as some of its residential products. And other electronics companies making the usual trek to Greenbuild include Sanyo Solar, Draper, Somfy, MechoShade, Wattstopper, Philips and LG.
Progress is being made. The green building industry is embracing energy management and building automation. I still can’t believe I just wrote that.
