Green Tech Advocates

Is ‘Smart’ the Right Term?

Steven Castle — Mon, 20 May 2013 21:42:06 +0000

I attended a green conference last week and during a round-table discussion, an industry professional said she didn’t like the term “smart building.” It seemed she didn’t like “smart” because it implied intelligent technology, and … well … a building can be green without that. A smart building for example, could employ passive design principles such as a southern face to collect solar gain in the winter or an east-west axis to promote natural ventilation. And it’s super-smart to design a building that way. I completely agree. And I believe it’s another reason we should use the term smart—as mush as possible. Finally, a Smart Marking Term? Smart may be the best marketing term the green industry has come up with. Already we have smart buildings, smart homes, smart cars, smart charging, smart cities, a smart grid and smart appliances—and they can all be operated by smartphones, which are great tools for selling green tech and efficiency. We have a whole emerging smart infrastructure—and when you talk about smart anything, green and technology and energy efficiency are almost always a part of equation. That’s why I love the smart prefix. It works. It works as a phrase people understand and [...]

Overcoming Efficiency Engagement Hurdles: Can It Be Done?

Steven Castle — Thu, 16 May 2013 20:58:20 +0000

Could there be any more hurdles to engaging consumers, building tenants and business execs in energy efficiency initiatives? Execs at the recent Verge Conference in Boston offer up some solutions to this pressing problem.

What Are Smart Buildings?

Steven Castle — Wed, 15 May 2013 20:23:08 +0000

What makes a building “smart”? Is it intelligence, automation, technology or something more? We got some ideas at the Verge conference in Boston this week, and of course have some of our own.

4 Keys to Building Sustainability

Steven Castle — Tue, 14 May 2013 20:35:35 +0000

Building sustainability requires a cultural shift as much as a technological shift, says Harvard Business School professor Rebecca Henderson at the GreenBiz Verge Conference in Boston.

Is Wireless the Answer to EV Charging?

Steven Castle — Thu, 09 May 2013 13:37:33 +0000

Massachusetts-based startup WiTricity believes it has the answer to electric vehicle (EV) charging. But first, WiTricity vice president of sales and business development David Schatz has a torso to show me. It’s the first time WiTrcity has shown its torso, which is really a gel mold that resembles human flesh. Inside it are lights that represent medical devices like heart pumps that could require 10 to 20 watts of power, neurostimulators needing few hundred milliwatts to a few watts, and implanted drug delivery pumps requiring anywhere from milliwatts to several watts. Instead of implanting batteries or having wires running out of a person, WiTricity says it can charge the in-body devices wirelessly, with its technology. Schatz places the torso on the table, holds a magnetic resonator device under the table, and the objects in the gel torso light up. Pretty cool. What does this have to do with green tech and energy efficiency? The same can be done to wirelessly charge electric vehicles (EVs), consumer electronics devices, TVs, computers, you name it. WiTricity is an OEM manufacturer of wireless charging systems that use magnetic resonance (actually “highly resonant magnetic coupling”). Some other wireless charging technologies use magnetic induction, a technology [...]

GTA to Host #EEChat

Steven Castle — Wed, 08 May 2013 20:30:46 +0000

Interested in energy efficiency or energy management? The weekly Twitter chat #EEChat will resume this Thursday, at its regular time of 9 pm EDT, and will be hosted by Steve Castle (@GreenTechSteve) of GreenTech Advocates. Just filter your Twitter feed to #EEChat to follow along and participate by using the hashtag #EEChat.

Plug Loads A Growing Concern

Steven Castle — Tue, 07 May 2013 15:37:47 +0000

Plug loads from electronic devices, mobile chargers, and vampire power are becoming a larger problem and one that green buildings and homes must address. So what's being done? A couple of the greenest and smartest buildings in the world offer us some clues.

Highlights from Smart Energy Summit Available

Steven Castle — Thu, 02 May 2013 16:50:19 +0000

If you missed research firm Parks Associates’ annual Smart Energy Summit back in February, you can catch up on the details with a summary released by the company, as well as some video interviews of key executives who were present, such as keynoters Roy Perry of Alarm.com and Ted Reguly of San Diego Gas & Electric, who have partnered on a “Reduce Your Use” Thermostat Pilot Program, as well as Jeremy Eaton of Honeywell and Robbie Simpson of GE. We’ve grouped some of the key takeaways from the summary below, but for more details download the summary itself. Time of Use rates Living a green life does not provide a strong economic incentive. Rather, saving money is important to people, and TOU rates will change that value proposition. Salt River Project in Arizona says its TOU tariffs have been adopted by nearly 30 percent of its residential customers, by offering a credit if they did not save money in TOU. Overall residential consumers saved 7 percent. The Importance of Mobile Four years ago, the focus was on devices and how they’ll be used, but now there is agreement that mobile devices are the portal to the consumer. More than 80 [...]

Energy Management Stars at one of the World’s Smartest Buildings

Steven Castle — Wed, 01 May 2013 19:48:53 +0000

If you want to see one of the smartest buildings in the world, trek just north of Toronto to the Earth Rangers Centre for Sustainable Technology. The building has earned dual LEED designations and is a showcase of energy-saving and renewable technologies. There’s 85-plus kw of solar, with 57.6 kw of panels in the parking lot on six trackers that move to collect power from the sun. There’s a geothermal ground-based heating and cooling system, automated lighting systems and a state-of-the-art energy monitoring and management system that works in conjunction with the building automation system. Earth Rangers is a conservation organization for kids, but you won’t find any kids at its headquarters. The organization goes out to schools and other organizations to show young people the animals it houses at its center and teach them about ecology and protecting animal habitats. The 60,000-square-foot Earth Rangers Centre is the place where anyone interested in sustainable technology can feel like kids, by touring the facility and seeing its very cool green tech initiatives. Schneider Electric regularly brings in visitors to see its Energy Management Information Systems (EMIS) including energy monitoring, management and building automation, starting with a lobby display of its StruxureWare [...]

ZigBee SEP 2 is Done. Now What?

Steven Castle — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 12:12:42 +0000

The much-ballyhooed ZigBee Smart Energy Protocol (SEP) 2 has finally been completed and ratified, and the standard is available for download. We could even see devices with SEP 2 by the end of the year and availability in 2014. “The technical work is done, and it’s up to companies to determine what they’re going to do with it, says Tobin J.M. Richardson, ZigBee Alliance chairman and CEO. The ZigBee wireless mesh network’s SEP 2 is IP-based, meaning devices with the SEP 2 can reside on local area networks like home area networks (HANs) and communicate with them. That should open up many more energy-saving opportunities and home energy management with devices like smart appliances and thermostats. SEP 2 supports new capabilities such as control of plug-in and hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) charging, deployments in multi-dwelling units (MDUs) such as apartment buildings, support for multiple energy service interfaces into a single premises and support for any transport based on IETF IP compliant protocols such as the recently announced ZigBee IP. SEP 2 is built with IPv6 compliance, which is better known as the Internet of Things, allowing virtually everything to have a separate IP address. Can you say energy information orgy? [...]