Spring 2015 Volume 12, Number 1
www.caba.org/ihomesandbuildings
CABA’s Intelligent Buildings & Digital Home Forum April 14-16, 2015 The Constantly Evolving Smart Building Jim Sinopoli, PE, RCDD believes that buildings will continue to evolve based upon innovation and technology.
Small Data and the Smart Home Net-Zero Energy Buildings and Automated Technologies Intelligent Home Offices Testing Copper Cabling: Verify, Qualify, Certify
CABA’s Intelligent Buildings & Digital Home Forum April 14-16, 2015 The Renaissance Hotel, Austin, TX Register today at: www.caba.org/caba-forum-2015 Forum attendees can attend all Broadband Communities Summit sessions CABA’s Intelligent Buildings & Digital Home Forum will be held at The Renaissance Hotel in Austin, TX, from April 14-16, 2015.
Collocated with
The Forum will be held in conjunction with Broadband Communities Summit 2015. The Forum will be an opportunity to attend the CABA Connected Home and CABA Intelligent & Integrated Building Council meetings and network with the CABA Board of Directors.
The Forum will feature the following keynote speakers:
Mark Strama Google Fiber’s Austin Chief
Eric M. Free Vice President, Internet of Things Group General Manager, Smart Home and Buildings Division Intel Corporation
Steve Mustard President & CEO of National Automation, Inc.
Dr. Satyen Mukherjee Chief Scientist, Senior Director, Research Strategy North America Philips
As an added bonus, delegates to CABA’s Intelligent Buildings & Digital Home Forum can experience an integrated systems tour of AT&T Labs, IBM MobileFirst Studio, Pecan Street Project or the Austin Technology Incubator.
Through planned tours, workshops, keynote presentations, networking events/receptions, and an exhibit hall, the CABA Forum is being collocated with the Broadband Communities Summit. Join and meet 1,000+ industry professionals at these events. For more information about speaking and sponsorship opportunities, or to attend, contact George Grimes, CABA Business Development Manager: 613.686.1814 x229 or grimes@caba.org
Spring 2015, Volume 12, Number 1 Contents Features Large Building Automation
The Constantly Evolving Smart Building by Jim Sinopoli........................................................................................7
Home Systems
Small Data and the Smart Home by Cees Links...................................................................................................... 9
Columns CABA President & CEO’s Message.................................................................................................................................3 CABA Research Briefs
The Internet of Things: The Future of Consumer Adoption.....................................................................................5
High-Quality Multimedia Distribution in Commercial Buildings............................................................................. 6
Research Viewpoints
Net-Zero Energy Buildings and Automated Technologies by Rawlson O’Neil King.............................................. 12
Ken Wacks’ Perspectives
Intelligent Home Offices......................................................................................................................................... 15
Opinion
Testing Copper Cabling: Verify, Qualify, Certify by Frank Bisbee.......................................................................... 19
Departments New Members.................................................................................................................................................................. 4 Upcoming Events........................................................................................................................................................... 21
CABA NewsBrief
Please go to the CABA Web site at www.caba.org to learn how to freely subscribe and sponsor
EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD
MANAGING EDITOR
CONTRIBUTORS
Dr. Kenneth Wacks Ken Wacks Associates (Chair)
Ronald J. Zimmer, CAE
George Grimes
Stephen Brown CSA Group
Greg Walker
David Labuskes RTKL Associates, Inc.
EDITOR
Labib Matta NeXgen Advisory Group FZ-LLC
Rawlson O’Neil King
Robert Knight Environmental Systems Design Ken Sinclair AutomatedBuildings.com Jim Sinopoli Smart Buildings, LLC Harshad Shah Eagle Technology, Inc. Association Office Continental Automated Buildings Association 1173 Cyrville Road, Suite 210 Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1J 7S6 Tel: 613.686.1814; 888.798.CABA (2222) Fax: 613.744.7833
Further editorial use of the articles in this magazine is encouraged. For subscriptions, circulation, and change of address enquiries email caba@caba.org. For editorial and advertising opportunities: www.caba.org/ihomesandbuildings
The views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those held by the Continental Automated Buildings Association (CABA). CABA shall not be under any liability whatsoever with respect to the contents of contributed articles. The organization reserves the right to edit, abridge or alter articles for publication.
CABA BOARD OF DIRECTORS CHAIR
VICE-CHAIR
Dr. Satyen Mukherjee Philips
Dr. Morad Atif National Research Council Canada DIRECTORS
Jerine Ahmed Southern California Edison Company
Larry Ehlinger Pella Corporation
Zouheir Mansourati TELUS Corporation
Debra Gondeck-Becker Honeywell Building Solutions
Noah Goldstein Navigant Research
Christopher Martin Robert Bosch LLC
Christine Boles Intel Corporation
Sampath Gomatam Support.com
Stephen Nardi RealView, LLC
Fabrice Hoerner Qualcomm Incorporated
Jeff Hamilton Ingersoll Rand
Ryan Rist American Family Insurance
David Claridge Texas A&M University
Raphael Imhof Siemens Industry, Inc.
Tom Semler Hydro One Networks Inc.
Xavier Datin Schneider Electric
Scott McBrayne Cadillac Fairview Corporation
Eric Simmons Rogers Communications, Inc.
Michel Dostie Hydro-Québec
Elizabeth Jacobs Intermatic Incorporated
CABA PRESIDENT & CEO’S MESSAGE Ron Zimmer, CAE Does your organization have a vision, mission or strategic plan? Over the last 27 years, CABA has always operated with a strategic plan. The success and growth of CABA, now representing over 300 members and 15,000+ industry professionals, is directly attributed to these strategic plans. There is an old saying: “If you don’t know where you are going any road will take you there!” CABA and the industry have been fortunate to have many strong CABA Boards that created prescient CABA Strategic Plans. The current CABA Board (as listed on page 2) have also provided their foresight and leadership working on many great initiatives, including strategic thinking. The CABA Board recently finalized the CABA Strategic Plan, which includes this Vision Statement: “CABA advances the connected home and intelligent buildings sectors.” The CABA Mission, Goals and Strategic Imperatives, that were also finalized to achieve this new vision, are more expansive and can be viewed on the CABA Web site. To ensure that this new ‘CABA Roadmap’ is very clear to the CABA Board, Councils, Committees, Task Forces, Working Groups and many volunteers, a new CABA Operational Plan was also created. As a package, these statements define the future work plan and measurable tasks that will be completed by CABA volunteers and staff. CABA members will be pleased to know that the CABA Board and Executive Committee review and monitor the CABA Operational Plan on a regular basis. In addition, these Plans can be modified and adjusted for any significant changes in the “connected home and intelligent buildings” sectors. To illustrate an example of CABA’s success, one only has to examine the largest “Internet of Things, Connected Homes, M2M and Intelligent Buildings” research library in the world. This accomplishment was a direct result of previous CABA Boards setting an objective for gathering knowledge, information and research for this important industry. CABA now works with over 20 international research organizations and the CABA Research Library has over 1,500+ research reports available to industry professionals.
Just remember…CABA has a plan and it includes you!
CABA iHomes and Buildings Spring 2015
3
NEW MEMBERS The Continental Automated Buildings Association is a not-for-profit industry association that promotes advanced technologies for the automation of homes and buildings. CABA members benefit from timely, competitive intelligence on the integrated systems industry. Here is a sampling of our latest members.
Acuity Brands Inc.
Acuity Brands, Inc. is a North American market leader and one of the world’s leading providers of lighting solutions for both indoor and outdoor applications. The company’s lighting solutions are sold under various brands. Canadian Solar Industries Association (CanSIA)
CanSIA is a national trade association that represents the solar energy industry throughout Canada. Since 1992, CanSIA has worked to develop a strong, efficient, ethical and professional Canadian solar energy industry with capacity to provide innovative solar energy solutions and to play a major role in the global transition to a sustainable, clean-energy future. LUXUL
Luxul is a leading innovator of high performance Wi-Fi and wired networking products that are powerful, cost-effective, and easy-to-deploy. We are experts in delivering highly reliable solutions for use in the most demanding network deployments—ranging from residential and commercial LANs and WLANs to mobile Wi-Fi connectivity in heavy industrial and military applications. MaRS Discovery District
MaRS Discovery District is a not-for-profit, public-private partnership headquartered in Toronto. Its primary goal is to commercialize publicly-funded medical research and other technologies with the help of local private enterprises. The aim of MaRS is to help create successful global businesses based upon Canadian scientific, technical and social innovation. SOMFY SYSTEMS, INC.
SOMFY SYSTEMS, INC. is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of specialized motors and control systems for retractable awnings, rolling shutters, interior shades, blinds, and projection screens for residential and commercial use.
A complete CABA member listing with both product and service information and Web links is available at: www.caba.org
Connect with us at www.caba.org
4
CABA iHomes and Buildings Spring 2015
CABA RESEARCH BRIEFS CABA Research Briefs provide a condensed synopsis of specific research papers available in the organization’s research libraries. CABA research libraries provide industry intelligence to the home and large building automation and integrated systems sector.
THE INTERNET OF THINGS: THE FUTURE OF CONSUMER ADOPTION This white paper by Acquity Research provides an in-depth look into consumer behaviour across a variety of areas related to connected technology, including current and future adoption plans and potential barriers to mass consumer penetration. For B2B and B2C companies, the research provides a picture into how consumers view IoT technology and the growth potential of this market in both short and long term. Consumer adoption of network-connected devices, such as in-home smart appliances and wearable technology, is on the rise. Thirty percent of consumers already own or plan to purchase an in-home IoT device in the next two years. In-home IoT devices include smart thermostats, self-driving vacuum cleaners and smart refrigerators. While consumer adoption of connected technology will be more gradual in the short term, widespread adoption will be inevitable over the next five years. Currently, seven percent of consumers own a wearable IoT device and four percent of consumers own an in-home IoT device. Nearly two-thirds of consumers plan to buy an in-home device in the next five years and wearable technology ownership will double by 2015—increasing from seven percent in 2014 to 14 percent by 2015. By 2016, wearable technology is expected to double again and reach a total of 28 percent adoption rate.
Projected New Adoption of Connected Technology by Consumers Smart thermostat Connected security system Smart refrigerator Wearable fitness device In the next year
Smart watch
Five years from now
Self-driving vacuum cleaner
More than five years from now Total expected adoption
Wearable heads up display Smart clothing 0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Percentage of customers expected to purchase device
CABA iHomes and Buildings Spring 2015
5
CABA RESEARCH BRIEFS
HIGH-QUALITY MULTIMEDIA DISTRIBUTION IN COMMERICAL BUILDINGS This CABA white paper was authored by Gabriel Shriki from Valens Semiconductor Inc and Kenneth Wacks, Ph.D. of Ken Wacks Associates. The Continental Automated Buildings Association publishes its own white paper series focused on both connected homes and intelligent buildings through both its respective Intelligent & Integrated Buildings Council and Connected Home Council. This paper was published by CABA’s Intelligent & Integrated Buildings Council. This council specifically reviews opportunities, strategizes, takes action and monitors initiatives that relate to integrated systems and automation in the “large building” sector. The council is made up of leading and visionary representation from all segments of the building industry including manufacturers, service providers, building owners and building professionals. A significant cost for building construction is hiring and scheduling the various skilled tradespeople to install infrastructure components such as building wiring. It is very desirable to have one skilled person install integrated cabling rather than separate installations of power, data, and HD A/V cabling. HDBaseT fulfills this goal by using the same infrastructure as an office local area network including cabling and connectors (RJ-45 type), thus requiring no new inventories of cables, connectors, or installation tools and no special training for installers. HDBaseT is a method for encoding HDMI onto the same type of local area network cabling as used for Ethernet in office buildings. HDBaseT provides a multimedia, control, and power interface suitable for: − Multipoint-to-multipoint distribution up to 100 meters (328 feet) − Star-wired distribution via a matrix switch − Daisy-chain distribution of up to eight HDBaseT links, each up to 100 meters long Furthermore, the HDBaseT technology can include Ethernet signals in the same stream that is carrying the audio, video, control signals, and power. HDBaseT can operate over any of the commonly used LAN twisted-pair cabling infrastructures listed below. These LAN cables are becoming ubiquitous in commercial buildings. In the following list cable bandwidths are included, but data rates are not since they depend on the signal coding chosen. HDBaseT data rates exceed Ethernet rates for CAT (Category) 5e, 6, and 6a cables. Unshielded cabling options include: − CAT 5e (100 MHz) − CAT 6 (250 MHz) − CAT 6a (500 MHz) HDBaseT will also work on higher bandwidth twisted-pair cabling under development. Note that CAT 6a cabling is available unshielded and shielded.
6
•
CABA iHomes and Buildings Spring 2015
LARGE BUILDING AUTOMATION The Constantly Evolving Smart Building Jim Sinopoli, PE, RCDD believes that buildings will continue to evolve based upon innovation and technology. Whether it’s a smart building or even a green building, the meaning and standards of smart or green will continue to change as innovations come into the marketplace, and occupants and building owners realize increased value. The “smartest” parts of a building, its systems and materials, are driven by innovation and technology. They may have a focus on long-term building operations and performance but some are simply “game changers”. Inventions such as elevators, construction cranes, and power tools are examples of equipment that changed the way buildings are designed and constructed. While electricity is not a human invention, the commercialization of electricity and its use in buildings was a milestone. One of the latest game changers has to be Building Information Modeling (BIM); designing, fabricating, implementing and managing construction in five dimensions. The backdrop for buildings and related automation is now tied to the relentless penetration of innovative information and communications technology for building systems, building design, construction, operations and building occupants. Many astute building owners embrace the technology and innovation. However, it can be a challenge and uncomfortable for some building owners, architects, engineers and facility managers to innovate and change. It’s always easier to just keep doing what you’ve been doing than to put forth the effort to do something different, some may choose not to innovate based on the rationale that they can mitigate risk. Nevertheless the smart designers and engineers will examine innovations, assess risk and gauge the ultimate value for building owners, as well as include new ideas and products in discussions of a project concept. The larger environment for smart buildings is related to: (a) the habituation of the global society for communications
CABA iHomes and Buildings Spring 2015
and information technology where people expect technology laden buildings and innovative products and services, and (b) the emergence and a somewhat convergence of three related markets: smart buildings, smart cities and the Internet of Things. The morphing of these different markets has happened very quickly and almost without any measured intent of the building, city and IoT industries. What’s driving the transformation is the commonality between the three markets. Each of these entities are “pushing the envelope” to improve and advance the experience and performance for building occupants, city citizens and individuals, using technology as the enabler. The tools being utilized to provide that experience are similar. They include system integration, the acquisition and management of data, the analysis of data, the creation of new software applications, the development of performance metrics, and the visualization of the data tailored to the entity or individual consuming the data. Smart Buildings and Cities
The best and most obvious example of these markets evolving are smart buildings and smart cities. The driver for smart cities is population growth, with the population becoming more urbanized. Predictions are that seventy percent of the world’s population by 2050 will be in cities. Urbanization spawns buildings and requires building owners and the city community to take responsibilities for sustainability, energy management and livability. Here’s a short list of mutual issues for cities and smart buildings: Energy – Cities need secured and adequate energy supplies. Energy also affects the environment of a city and the cost of living. The city’s utility grid needs to communicate
7
LARGE BUILDING AUTOMATION
with the cities’ buildings and both the power grid and individual buildings should acquire, analyze and share energy data. Major buildings and large developments should be encouraged to develop microgrids with a variety of energy sources to improve reliability, stability and efficiency. Communication between the grid and the buildings allows for demand response but also sets up the microgrids as energy sources especially when the grid’s capacity is being taxed. Water Distribution Systems – Humans can live without energy; but they can’t without water. Water is our most precious resource so cities as well as building owners need to undertake water conservation and waste water treatment. Much like energy monitoring, real-time monitoring and managing of water should be required, not only for consumption metrics, but also for leak detection. Transportation – Traffic congestion and a lack of alternative transportation modes are major negatives when it comes to a city’s livability and its economy. Traffic oftentimes is the top thing citizens grouse about in their city. Cities need to deploy intelligent traffic systems such as traffic signal control systems, license plate recognition, and real-time data from other systems to utilize predictive analytics in reducing travel times, however it is critical that the road system be supplemented by alternative modes of transportation. Large developments and buildings are typically part of the transportation plan, some cities require building owners to have a transportation management program and a plan for trip reductions in order to reduce traffic and parking loads. Public Safety – Safety and security is key to a city and its buildings. For the city it involves multiple agencies and organizations, police, fire, emergency, courts, neighborhood groups and more. The city is in a position to collect intelligence, use predictive data analytics, communications and “situational awareness” to help in predicting crime areas. Building owners are generally proactive and do a security risk assessment which involves approaches to protecting building occupants, resources, the building structure, and continuity of operations. While a city and a building owner have the same security and safety goals, their scope is different but complimentary.
Digital Services – Cities as well as buildings need to deploy e-services. This may be smartphone apps for way finding in a building or a city, as well as interacting with a city official or representative or a building manager electronically, essentially providing convenience which increase citizen or building occupant satisfaction. The Internet of Things and Smart Buildings
The Internet of Things (or Everything) is a wild card. It seems to be a concept with little definition. The “Internet of Things” will basically connect everything to everything else using the internet, which will lead to a level of automation for a variety of fields that’s never been seen. The fact that it’s a concept without any boundaries may be a good thing and spawn new ideas and inventions. However, developing standards may be the Achilles heel of the IoT. It may take some time and it may eventually result in multiple standards, including proprietary standards from groups of commercial technology companies. This could delay the IoT market everyone is expecting. This level of connectivity could provide some integration to enhance the level of functionality that none of the systems or devices could provide individually. Or it could simply acquire data from devices and analyze or mine the data for developing and gathering information. This is however essentially what many astute facility management groups are already doing; integrating building systems to provide greater functionality and deploying analytic software applications to improve the performance of building systems. It’s difficult to see if IoT can add much for building owners who already are integrating and analyzing data. If you examine the commercial companies involved in the various associations or consortiums attempting to create the IoT standard, all are technology companies; chip manufacturers, and hardware, telecom and software vendors. It would seem that home automation, wearable technology and IT will be significant sectors of the IoT given the involvement of IT companies. What we don’t see is large building automation companies as part of the IoT movement. One can assume they are either not interested, or simply want to wait to see how the marketplace matures, or are developing products and services that haven’t yet announced. Continues on page 18
8
CABA iHomes and Buildings Spring 2015
HOME SYSTEMS
Small Data and the Smart Home Cees Links describes the emergence of Small Data in the connected home. This article is an excerpt from a white paper written by Cees Links entitled “Sentrollers, and the World of Small Data”, which was published by GreenPeak Technologies. “Small Data” is just in its early stages compared to what is coming. If Big Data is “big”, the emerging Small Data world will be massive and many times larger in total numbers and complexity. Many are predicting that Small Data is the real next big opportunity that will fuel the information technology industry for the coming two decades. Small Data is generated by the Internet of Things (IoT) and are the trillions and zillions of small bits and pieces of information that will be coming from everywhere and continuously. Sensors will extract Small Data from every environment – every location – whether or not there are people in residence or not. Small Data will be processed by sophisticated algorithms; combined, analyzed, interpreted, and Small Data will float back to the controllers in that same environment fulfilling any conclusion that was determined by the algorithms. Sentrollers (sensors, actuators and controllers) will be the devices that monitor and control our environment, our homes, our cars, our offices, our cities; sentrollers will be there by the billions, continuously collecting, generating and distributing “petabytes” of information. The amounts of data generated by the Internet of Things will dwarf that collected by our current “Internet of People”. I expect that Small Data will also drive developments in the smart home. The concept of the smart home has existed for years. The technology for the smart home has also existed for years as well. But it never came together in a practical, affordable manner. There was no connecting technology – there was no connecting intelligence.
CABA iHomes and Buildings Spring 2015
The economics for the smart home are now being worked out and are quite challenging. From a distribution model perspective, there are already several contenders providing different go-to-market models. As expected, companies like Apple, Google, Samsung – all with a strong smartphone perspective, are developing market models. In comparison, cable and telecom operators like Comcast, Liberty Global, and AT&T are extending their subscriber services with smart home service like security, energy management or assisted living. There are the retailers like Staples, Home Depot, Walmart, Amazon, etc., positioning themselves for the smart home market as well. There is a great deal of market interest and competition trying to establish which business and technology model will provide the best service at the best price. It is very exciting. The smart home should add simplicity instead of complexity, so it needs to be based on standards, a simple architecture. It needs to be private, secure and easy to install and maintain and totally non-obtrusive. In the same way that the smart systems in a car are not obtrusive, automatically turning on the headlights when it is gets dark or when driving into a tunnel. Also, the economics need to work. Companies that successfully figure out how to extract lifestyle monitoring from Small Data collections and convert that data into non-obtrusive targeted advertising supported models, will be the ones that succeed in the market. Key to this is the economics involved for the cost of developing these products and then the necessary economy of scale to drive down these costs. Essential for these economies of scale are worldwide uniform standardization at all levels, from how the data is collected at the lowest levels, how that data is distributed over the Internet, how and in what format the
9
HOME SYSTEMS
Schematic overview of the basic architecture of Small Data in the smart home
Smart Home Data Analysis & Action System Internet Gateway
Smart Phone
Smart Home Sentrollers
Dual-mode Smart Home Sentrollers
72 Wearable Sentrollers
data is stored, and how it is made available to application builders developing the lifestyle monitoring applications. Standardization is a challenging process although good progress has been made. Small Data at the sentroller level will be collected and transported via ZigBee (Low-power Wi-Fi) for the smart home and with Bluetooth Smart (Bluetooth Low Energy) for the wearables. Long battery life at the end nodes is critical and these communication technologies have been developed especially for long battery life. At the networking level, IPv6 was developed to distribute Small Data over the Web worldwide, and although IPv6 will be a challenge for the cost and the battery life of the end nodes, solutions will be developed to
10
resolve these issues. The advantage of ZigBee, Bluetooth and IPv6 are that they are open worldwide standards, enabling worldwide uniform product implementation, without single source dependency. Another big challenge is that the market needs to become comfortable with privacy and security issues before fully embracing Small Data as part of lifestyle monitoring. Security is clearly a never ending rat race between users and hackers, where every improvement in security is followed by a next level of sophistication of hackers. In general the technologists have realized that there is no ultimate security yet, and possibly never will be, so security will also need to include recognizing whether and how systems have been
CABA iHomes and Buildings Spring 2015
HOME SYSTEMS
hacked and can be secured again. This also fully applies to Small Data. The key devices in the Small Data architecture are (i) the Internet Gateway, connecting the smart home to the cloud, where the Data Analysis and Action System is running and (2) the smartphone, functioning as a dashboard and controlling the interaction with Small Data, like threshold settings and receiving alerts. The Internet Gateway as well as the Smart Phone are both connected to the cloud, via cable (DSL) or wireless: cellular (2G, 3G, LTE, etc.) or Wi-Fi via a hotspot or again a gateway. Within the smart home network, the Internet Gateway connects all the smart home sentrollers via ZigBee to the cloud for data collection and action. The smartphone can connect to the wearable sentrollers via Bluetooth that are going around with a person, whether at home or on the road. Interestingly one can foresee in the smart home so-called dual-mode sentrollers: sentrollers that support both ZigBee and Bluetooth – think for instance about a door-lock. If the Internet Gateway, or the Internet is down, it would
still be nice to be able to open or close the door with the smartphone. This is a basic picture showing the fundamentals of Small Data systems. The big advantage of this architecture is that it seamlessly fits in the overall Internet structure as we know it today and that it uses open worldwide standards (ZigBee, Bluetooth and IPv6). Therefore it can be seamlessly extended as well. For example, many smart home systems today have proprietary dashboards or displays. These can be completely eliminated as essentially with the right security in place, any smartphone, tablet or PC can run cloud-based dashboard applications that can monitor and control a wide range of sentroller applications. Also Big Data and Small Data applications can be mixed without changes in the architecture, like combining a video security camera (from the Big Data world) with a motion sensor (from the Small Data world) – the IoP and the IoT growing into the IoE (the Internet of Everything).
•
Cees Links is CEO of GreenPeak Technologies.
THE GLOBAL LANGUAGE OF LIGHT NEW YORK, NY USA
Javits Center
LIGHTFAIR.COM
PRE-CONFERENCE
May 3 – 4, 2015 TRADE SHOW & CONFERENCE
May 5 – 7, 2015
CABA iHomes and Buildings Spring 2015
PHOTO CREDITS (1) WALL ILLUMINATION FANTASY OF PIOLE HIMEJI, HIMEJI-SHI, JAPAN | LIGHTING DESIGN: UCHIHARA CREATIVE LIGHTING DESIGN INC + TAKENAKA CORPORATION | PHOTOGRAPHY © MASAKI KAWAGUCHI (2) BRANZ KOSHIEN, NISHINOMIYA, JAPAN | LIGHTING DESIGN: AKARI+DESIGN ASSOCIATES | PHOTOGRAPHY © HIROYUKI TSUDA
11
RESEARCH VIEWPOINTS
Net-Zero Energy Buildings and Automated Technologies By Rawlson O’Neil King
Though definitions vary, a net-zero energy building is a term broadly applied to a building that produces as much energy as it consumes over a given time period. Net-zero energy buildings are by design very energy efficient and their remaining low-energy needs are often met by either on-site or off-site renewable energy. A net-zero building is therefore a structure that annually uses no more energy from the utility grid than is provided by on-site energy sources. Such a building is characterized by the implementation of a combination of building energy efficiency design features and on-site clean distributed generation that results in no net annual purchases from the electricity or gas grid. A simple definition of a net-zero building therefore is a building that meets all its energy needs from renewable sources. A zero-energy building is also known as a zero-net-energy building, a net-zero-energy building, or a net-zero building. These buildings are characterized by net-zero energy consumption and net-zero carbon emissions. Buildings that produce a surplus of energy over the year may be called “energy-plus buildings” and buildings that consume slightly more energy than they produce are called “near-zero energy buildings” or “ultra-low energy buildings”. Typical characteristics of all of these buildings are that they have net-zero energy consumption and net-zero carbon emissions. Net-zero buildings are an important development because buildings are the largest energy consumer in the United States. Buildings consume 72 percent of the electricity and 55 percent of the natural gas in the U.S. Energy use is estimated to be increasing 1.6 percent annually, which is faster than energy efficiency improvements that are being implemented. To respond to both environmental pressures from climate change and the concurrent push for more energy production and conservation in the United States, the U.S. Congress passed the Energy Independence and Security Act in 2007. The Act set ambitious goals which
12
included zero net energy for all commercial buildings by 2030; zero-energy target for 50 percent of all U.S. commercial buildings by 2040; and net zero for all commercial buildings by 2050. Various states actively supported the EISA and followed with their own legislation. According to the New Buildings Institute, California will require all new residential construction to be zero-net energy by 2020. All new California commercial buildings must achieve this ZNE goal by 2030; 50 percent of the square footage of existing stateowned buildings must be ZNE by 2025. Washington State will require a 70 percent reduction in energy consumption by 2031. The U.S. Department of Energy also established a goal of creating the technology and knowledge base for cost effective net-zero energy commercial buildings by 2025. The EISA defines a zero net energy commercial building as a high-performance commercial building that is designed, constructed and operated in a fashion that greatly reduces the quantity of energy needed to operate it. According to the Act, the goal of a zero net energy commercial building is to meet the balance of energy needs from sources of energy that do not produce greenhouse gases, in a manner that does not result in the net emissions of GHGs. Another goal of zero net energy commercial buildings, as defined under the Act, are to be economically viable in all climate zones, including marine, hot-dry, hot-humid, mixed-dry, mixed-humid, cold, very cold and subarctic. Most net-zero energy buildings are connected to the electrical grid but some are independent of the grid. Energy is usually harvested on-site through a combination of energy-producing technologies such as solar and wind, while reducing the overall use of energy with highly efficient HVAC and advanced lighting technologies. Net-zero energy buildings therefore often leverage elements of microgrids, intelligent building technologies and myriad green building materials.
CABA iHomes and Buildings Spring 2015
RESEARCH VIEWPOINTS
Path to Affordable Zero Energy Buildings
• Whole building design and controls • Increased efficiency of all plug loads and subsystems • Integration of renewable onsite technologies (solar power and heating, storage, etc.) to meet remaining annual energy needs
Envelope Phase change material (PCM) Enhanced thermal insulation Climatically tuned weather resistive barriers Thermochromatic roof systems HVAC Air-source integrated heat pump Ground-source integrated heat pump High efficiency electric water heating Windows Highly insulating windows Dynamic solar control Lighting Solid state lighting (SSL) Buildings Systems Engineering Building Simulation Modeling
Microgrids are localized power systems that can disconnect from the traditional grid to operate autonomously and help mitigate grid disturbances to strengthen grid resilience. Microgrids help strengthen grid resilience and mitigate grid disturbances because they are able to continue operating while the main grid is down, and they can function as a grid resource for faster system response and recovery. Microgrids also support a flexible and efficient electric grid, by enabling the integration of growing deployments of renewable sources of energy such as solar and wind and distributed energy resources such as combined heat and power, energy storage, and demand response. In addition, the use of local sources of energy to serve local loads helps reduce energy losses in transmission and distribution, further increasing efficiency of the electric delivery system. According to industry estimates conducted by BSRIA, in 2012 the installed microgrid capacity reached 3.5 GW worldwide, an impressive 75 percent rate of growth compared to the previous year. Concurrently, annual electricity generation from microgrids reached almost 20 TWh, which is six percent of the world’s total small scale decentralized electricity generation. Since small scale decentralized electricity generation is key to net-zero deployments, microgrids will be a key factor, along with automated technologies. “Automated” or “intelligent” building technologies are also central to net-zero
CABA iHomes and Buildings Spring 2015
deployments since they coordinate systems to reduce energy consumption and cost. While many researchers note that no standardized definition of an “intelligent building” exists, six common attributes have been identified that apply to the majority and plurality of intelligent building definitions. Accordingly, most intelligent building definitions highlight: (a) the requirements of building owners and end-users; (b) the integration of building systems; (c) the integration of a sophisticated operational environment within building architecture, structures and systems; (d) the importance of advanced technologies and economics; (e) concerns over the building life cycle and the necessity of flexibility in a changing economy as a result of globalization; and (f) the importance of ecological sustainability. Derek ClementsCroome, an expert on intelligent buildings, advances that the key attributes of intelligent buildings are that they be sustainable, healthy, technologically-aware, meet the needs of occupants and business and be flexible and adaptable to deal with change. Intelligent buildings therefore can be described as the application of an “information technology paradigm” to the built environment in order to extend mechanical mechanisms of control. Intelligent building technologies are powerful, because they can, in effect, coordinate net-zero building operations. Net-zero energy building design actually attempts to
13
RESEARCH VIEWPOINTS
minimize the number of systems involved in energy consumption so that the amount of energy which must be produced on-site to offset the building use is minimized. Intelligent buildings systems are perfect for this task as they can define the quantity and capacity of the site-generated energy required and manage that resource. Intelligent buildings systems in effect enable the enhanced, optimized control necessary to operate a net-zero energy building. Advanced building systems maximize efficiencies by controlling HVAC and other systems, including: lighting, envelope control, transportation, water systems, and plug loads. Intelligent building technologies deployed in net-zero energy buildings should primarily focus on integrating the above components in an integrated, highly-efficient building design so that power consumption is minimal and offset by either solar photovoltaic and wind-renewable power. With net-zero buildings, all energy consumption should have integrated controls, including window and door closure contacts to prevent heating and cooling when windows are opened and then forgotten; advanced occupancy systems in seats, desks, or floors to ensure unoccupied areas are not conditioned or lit; and advanced metering, dashboards, and utility management systems to communicate energy use in real-time. Net-zero buildings can also control power consumption through the use of a wide array of passive technologies and green building materials that include: thermal insulation, low-E glass, passive solar, the utilization of daylight and light colored interior paint, use of green, cool roof and walls, natural ventilation and stairways for elevation. Active technologies that can be incorporated include: demand controlled and energy recovery ventilation, dynamic blinds and windows, night purge, dedicated outside air supply (DOAS), radiant heating and cooling, ground source heat-pumps, air conditioning, ice storage, low lighting power density,
occupancy sensors, daylight photo-sensor controls, lighting environmental controls, advanced plug strips, advanced elevators and energy management systems. In terms of renewables: photovoltaic panels, wind turbines and biomass will be leveraged in net-zero buildings. Though net-zero buildings are not yet prevalent in the United States, industry analysis finds that government mandated goals are attainable. NREL undertook a comprehensive study on a large set of building models derived from the 2003 Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey and found that the zero-energy building goal is largely achievable. Based on projects of future performance levels from currently known technologies and design practices, they found that 62 percent of buildings could reach net-zero. Other industry findings had determined that an additional one to three percent cost added to construction could save up to 60 percent of energy use in new buildings. Due to the current government mandate and possibility of implementation success, the Continental Automated Buildings Association (CABA) is working with the New Buildings Institute in 2015 on a research project entitled “Zero Net Energy Buildings: Building Intelligent Controls Driving Success”. The objectives of the research project is to determine the frequency, types and characteristics of systems in zero-net energy buildings, along with establishing energy saving targets. For more information about this research, please go to: www.caba.org/research. CABA has also published a white paper examining various definitions and technologies. The paper is available at: www.caba.org/caba-white-papers.
•
Rawlson O’Neil King is Communications Director at the Continental Automated Buildings Association.
Join CABA Today! The Continental Automated Buildings Association provides more information about integrated systems and automation in homes and buildings than any other source. www.caba.org
14
CABA iHomes and Buildings Spring 2015
KEN WACKS’ PERSPECTIVES
Intelligent Home Offices By Ken Wacks
In my article for the fall 2014 issue of iHomes and Buildings I summarized the variety of information on home and building systems that CABA offers members in the form of: • Reports on research studies funded by CABA members. • A library of papers reviewed by the CABA Information Council. • Original white papers developed by the CABA Connected Home Council (CHC) and the Intelligent & Integrated Buildings Council (IIBC). I chair the IIBC White Papers Sub-committee. I am pleased to report the approval of another important IIBC white paper on energy conservation in commercial buildings entitled “On Intelligent Home Offices – A Model and Potential Impacts”. This paper, which I have summarized here, was proposed by Dr. Albert So from the Asian Institute of Intelligent Buildings and Dr. Kwok C. Wong, Department of Real Estate and Construction at the University of Hong Kong. Additional contributions were provided by David Katz of Sustainable Resources Management Inc. and me. Telecommuting candidates Telecommuting or working from home is not new, but had been limited in practice. Expansion of telecommuting would benefit the company, the quality of life for the employees, and society. The best candidates for telecommuting are those whose work is information-based. Even though such employees may often communicate remotely by cell and smart phones, there are challenges to the cultural acceptance of telecommunications in many businesses because clearly defined guidelines for telecommuting have not been established. The thesis of this CABA white paper is that the concept of home offices would become popular quickly if:
CABA iHomes and Buildings Spring 2015
• The employer encouraged the employee to establish a designated workspace at home, possibly with an employer subsidy for office furniture, computer, and communications equipment. • Real-time high speed Internet access and high-quality video conferencing were available for the employee to access corporate servers or other information infrastructures for interactions with supervisors, peers, subordinates, and clients. Telecommuting may impact various aspects of society including the rental price of offices in the central business districts, traffic congestion, and air pollution on highways, rental price of low-rise office buildings in the suburban area, and the emergence of a new industry of multi-purposed conference centers. Eventually, employees working at home would be contributing to their employers through cost savings, increased productivity, and enhanced creativity. This complements the concept proposed in the previous white paper by these authors that I summarized in an iHomes and Buildings article last fall, “Toward Zero Net Energy (ZNE) Super High-Rise Commercial Buildings.” Measurable benefits of telecommuting
The measurable savings from telecommuting depend on the ratio of at-home versus at-office work. If two adults in a household work at home and commute to their corporate offices only one day per week, about 80 miles of travel on each of the four remaining weekdays could be saved. This is based on an assumption that each driver travels 20 miles each way. With an estimated fuel consumption of about 20 miles per gallon (considering city mileage), the fuel savings from telecommuting would amount to four gallons of gasoline per day. This fuel could be used at an electricity power plant to generate 48 kWh per day based on the energy
15
KEN WACKS’ PERSPECTIVES
capacity of regular gasoline and an average efficiency of 33 percent for a typical oil-fired power plant. 48 kWh provides more power than the 31 kWh of electricity used per day by the average residential utility customer in the U.S. in 2012. A reduction in commuter travel would also mitigate traffic congestion and air pollution from automobile exhaust. The previous CABA white paper on ZNE buildings concluded that it is almost an impossible mission to turn a 50-story super high-rise office building into a ZNE building (ZNEB) by utilizing contemporary technology. One solution proposed in the article addresses a collaborative plan that all managers working inside the office building have an obligation to contribute to making it ZNE by feeding electrical power generated at their homes from wind and solar sources to form a ZNEB cluster. If all homes of these managers were associated with the super high-rise office building where they work to achieve ZNE, why not extend this association and contribution to ZNEB by using a home office regularly? Pros and cons of working at home
According to research conducted in 2009 by Herman Miller, working from home can improve the morale of employees since their company trusts, respects and appreciates them, and wants to help them pursue the work/life balance they seek. It was suggested in the article that telecommuting could also be a crucial component of corporate cost savings by reducing real estate and utility costs, generally estimated to be about $10,000 per employee annually. Also, telecommuting can be a key element to improving the environment by reducing fuel use, pollution, and carbon emissions. Working from home can facilitate focused, efficient work on projects and reduce traffic congestion. According to Sun Microsystems, employees who worked at home gave back to the company about 50 percent of the time they saved by not commuting and used the other half for themselves and their families. A study was done in 2010 by the Executive Office of the President of the United States about flexible workplace arrangements considering when one works, where one works, and how much one works. Such flexible arrangements may include job sharing, phased retirement of older workers, and telecommuting. Some of the key findings: • Lower skilled workers had less workplace flexibility in terms of scheduling when they work than do more
16
highly skilled workers. • About 15 percent of workers reported working from home at least once per week. • Lots of employers considered costs and limited funds as obstacles to implementing workplace flexibility arrangements. The following table highlights the pros and cons of telecommuting that affect employees and employers. Challenges of Telecommuting Pros
Cons
Reduced absenteeism
Loss of status in office
Lower turnover
Isolated from manager
Improved health
Loss of community
Increased productivity
Less home technology
More personal time
Loss of supervision
More housing choices
24/7 telecom support
Impact of technology Some of the challenges with telecommuting can be overcome with technology. Over the past decade, changes in technology have had a dramatic impact on the way we work. Mobile devices such as smartphones, laptops, tablets, and powerful social, video, and teleconferencing applications for collaboration have made it possible for us to work wherever we are, provided that the devices are online. With sufficient communications bandwidth, the performance of this technology should be the same whether at work or at home. Issues of data storage and data protection on corporate servers and synchronization with employees’ devices are being addressed. Evidence so far indicates that “working at home” is totally feasible with all available technologies and a growing culture of acceptance. Most information-based workers can work at home for a substantial portion of time. But in order to tackle the obstacles, appropriate design and planning are necessary. As employees assume more flexible working hours, corporate IT (Information Technology) must ensure that
CABA iHomes and Buildings Spring 2015
KEN WACKS’ PERSPECTIVES
Features of a home office
An ideal home office should offer the following features: Features of a Home Office Data access
Seamless access to the data pool of the organization since telecommuting is mainly applicable to workers who process information, which accounts for a majority of workers in offices.
Virtual campus
The employees must feel that they are actually participating in the corporate activities though they are physically at home. The home office offers flexibility that may encourage an increased focus on work rather than wasting time with breaks and “water cooler gossip.” Workers are more willing to work overtime at home rather than at the corporate office, for example, by attending midnight international teleconferences, etc., because the home and office are only steps apart.
Connectivity
Uninterruptible connections between the home workers and the corporation must be maintained continuously so that an at-home worker does not get any feeling of being isolated. With high-speed Internet connections and video conferencing software, at-home workers can participate in effective video conferences with anybody working in another home office or at the corporate campus.
Efficiency
Working at home is not a penalty; it is just for efficiency. Some companies have reduced corporate office space by encouraging telecommuters to use offices from a pool that accommodates the percentage on campus. The manager can designate certain days, or parts of days, when telecommuters return to the campus to participate in traditional office activities in person.
servers and business data are available 24/7. An emergency maintenance team should be established within the organization, which is always available to tackle any technical problems encountered in these remote offices, such as machines failure, network failure, soft-ware failures, virus attack, etc. Some employers may provide a subsidy for home office furniture and environmental control to promote comfort and productivity. Power for some of the equipment would be provided by roof-top photovoltaic panels if the employee’s house were participating in the corporate ZNEB program. A well-equipped, comfortable, and personalized home office will enhance employee productivity at home and may encourage work beyond the usual working hours such as evenings and weekends if needed. Impact on real estate market A rapid growth in popularity of home offices may mean the demand for large office space in the central business district (CBD) decreases. Usually, these large enterprises tend to occupy at least several to tens of stories of office space in a super high-rise office building in the CBD, though not necessarily the whole building, as their headquarters or regional head offices. Telecommuting at 80% of the time allows a connected shared workspace policy to be adopted.
CABA iHomes and Buildings Spring 2015
The same seat in a regular office can accommodate five officers instead of one. When the demand for large office space decreases, the rental price of these offices decreases accordingly. Once the rent of large office space in the CBD decreases due to less demand, middle-sized companies tend to enter the CBD. Super high-rise office buildings in the CBD are then subdivided and occupied by more small or middle-sized companies. Multi-tenancy in commercial centers of the CBD, versus the traditional limited tenancy by anchor tenants, will become the norm. The commercial real estate market outside the CBD will also be affected. Office buildings in the suburban area, initially occupied by middle-sized or small companies, may gradually become vacant because those companies moved into the CBD to achieve a higher reputation and better image due to the existence of rapid transportation systems. Some land in the suburban area may even be converted to residential use, and the rent for commercial real estate would decrease. There would be a general decline in CBD office rentals. This will enable enterprises in the CBD to be more competitive, i.e., firms can produce at generally lower costs. Rents in the CBD would fall, but those in suburban areas may rise
17
KEN WACKS’ PERSPECTIVES
due to the addition of home offices. Gross rental income in the region may rise because both urban and suburban lands are much better utilized. Hence, there would be positive effects on employment rates and on the GDP. A new industry may emerge: the construction of multi-purposed conference centers. These centers are located at the malls of residential communities, close to where people live. Since employees no longer work in the CBD for most of the time, they may choose to meet their clients and colleagues in conference rooms inside these multi-purposed conference centers nearby. The low-rise office buildings originally located away from the CBD may be converted into such conference centers so that employees of different companies can reserve rooms for meetings and seminars etc. on an ad hoc basis. These centers must be fully equipped with IT services and office automation systems. The IT security level must be high as employees from different companies may use the same system at different times. These facilities are like hotels for business activities, not for accommodation. Besides commercial real estate, the residential market will also be affected by the popularity of home offices. Newly built houses designed with one or two designated rooms for a home office with cabling and related facilities will sell for a higher price because of increased demand and higher construction costs. Eventually, more existing residential houses will be renovated to attain the same quality in order to command a higher price.
Impact on traffic As telecommuting increases, traffic during rush hours will be significantly decreased. The overall transportation network will extend further away from the CBD and the network coverage will expand to cover the suburbs. As the total traffic demand decreases, the overall emissions from vehicles decrease proportionally, and the overall air quality is improved. Office-at-home trends
According to Global Workplace Analytics and the Telework Research Network, telecommuting increased 80 percent from 2005 to 2012 and will continue to increase. The provision of a high-quality home office for the employee can save costs, increase productivity, and show respect and trust by the employer. A corporate strategy for supporting offices in the home can make a significant contribution to the success of the organization.
•
Dr. Kenneth Wacks has been a pioneer in establishing the home systems industry. He advises manufacturers and utilities worldwide on business opportunities, network alternatives, and product development in home and building systems. In 2008, the United States Department of Energy appointed him to the GridWise Architecture Council. For further information, please contact Dr. Wacks at 781.662.6211; kenn@alum.mit.edu; www. kenwacks.com.
LARGE BUILDING AUTOMATION continued from page 8
What effect or influence will the IoT really have on building management? If the initial products are related to wearable technology and home automation there will not be much interest by facility managers unless a building is mixed use, in which some apartments or condominiums require home automation to be deployed. Facility management can and will deploy additional sensors if needed without thinking much about IoT. With the building automation industry’s long history of a handful of well-known global communication protocols and the excellent gateways and middleware in the market, facility managers have the tools
18
to take their buildings to a higher and more valuable level of building automation, with or without the IoT. Whether it’s a smart building or even a green building, the meaning and standards of smart or green will continue to change as innovations come into the marketplace, and occupants and building owners realize increased value.
•
James M. Sinopoli, PE, RCDD is Principal of Smart Buildings, LLC.
CABA iHomes and Buildings Spring 2015
OPINION
Testing Copper Cabling: Verify, Qualify, Certify By Frank Bisbee
The Continental Automated Buildings Association and Communication Planning Corporation have developed a cable test guide to assist you in testing copper cabling. The excerpt below examines the types of tools available for proper testing. Copper testing tools can be classified into one of three broad hierarchical groups – verification, qualification, and certification. There is also a fourth category but it is not actually a tool: Visual inspection for each cable run after the cable has been pulled in and prior to termination lets you check for factors such as damage to cable and incorrect bending radii. Visual inspection of all cable runs and immediate repair of obvious errors will eliminate needless troubleshooting later. Verification Tools
Verification tools are often used by network technicians and contractors as a first line of defense for cable troubleshooting. Verification test tools allow you to see if each wire pair in the cable is properly connected. Verification test tools perform basic continuity functions (for example, a wiremap test, toning). These verification test tools sometimes include additional features such as a time domain reflectometer (TDR) for determining length to the end of a cable or to a trouble spot (open connection or break) or short circuit. They may also detect if a switch is connected to the cable under test or check coaxial connections. Verification tools are ubiquitous, simple-to-use, low-cost tools that should be the first test for new cabling installations. Qualification tools
Qualification tools are more sophisticated tools that network technicians use to troubleshoot and qualify cabling bandwidth. Qualification test tools give you the information
CABA iHomes and Buildings Spring 2015
you need to decide if existing cabling will support your technology requirements like 100BASE-TX, VoIP, Gigabit Ethernet, and others. For example, let’s assume you have two cables of unknown capability. Both cable A and cable B pass the verification wiremap test. However, a qualification test may show that cable A is only capable of supporting 10BASE-T, while cable B is able to support 1Gb/s Ethernet. Qualification tools are much more powerful than verification tools and are designed to enable even the most novice technician to see the data rates that an existing cabling link can support to quickly isolate cabling problems from network problems. This means network techs can close trouble tickets faster and reduce on-call time. However, qualification tools do not perform certification required by cable manufacturers. A unique feature of many qualification test tools is the ability to diagnose common cabling problems that may limit the cabling bandwidth. An example of information provided by the qualification tester is the distance to an impedance mismatch where two cables are joined. Now the user knows what level of performance the cable can support, the reason the performance is limited, and what needs to be done to fix the problem. Certification Tools
Certification test tools demonstrate if a cable complies with cabling standards (such as TIA-568-B Category 6 or ISO 11801 2nd Edition Class E). These tools are used by commercial datacom installers/contractors and enterprise facility managers, and are required by cabling manufacturers to ensure that a newly installed cabling system fully meets cabling standards and the cabling manufacturer’s warranty. Enterprises often require certification testing before signing off on an installation. Certification is the most rigorous of all cable testing.
19
OPINION
A certification tester takes many types of measurements across predefined frequency ranges and compares the detailed results to standards set by the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) or International Standards Organization (ISO). The results from these measurements determine if a link is compliant with a category or class of cable (for example, TIA category 5e, category 6, or ISO Class D). Certification tools are the only tools that provide “pass” or “fail” information on the cabling, in accordance with TIA or ISO standards. Additionally, certification testers commonly support optical fiber test options, provide advanced graphical diagnostics, and offer feature-rich reporting capabilities. Testing the Permanent Link Versus the Channel When a new cabling system is installed, the installation crew is typically not responsible for the patch cord or equipment cords. This crew pulls the cables, labels and terminates them, and certifies the performance of the permanent link. The permanent link (PL) is that portion of the installed cabling that becomes a permanent part of the infrastructure in the building. The cable itself is routed though hidden pathways within walls, under floors, and in ceilings or in cable trays and conduit. Upon completion of the installation, each permanent link is certified from the termination in a telecom room patch panel to the telecom outlet or jack in the work area or office at the other end. The PL is a subset of the linkage between network devices. It does not represent the complete end-to-end connection between network devices. Most modern certification test tools offer the choice to certify the PL or the channel. Testing the channel would be acceptable if you can guarantee that the patch cords used for the channel certification are going to remain in place for the life of the cabling system – a very unlikely scenario – or you make the commitment to re-certify each channel whenever patch cords are replaced or exchanged. For this reason, the PL test is used most often. It offers two significant advantages:
1. The PL certification fits with the typical installation process as described above. The installation crew seldom, if ever, deals with patch cords. And with any greenfield installation it is impractical to even consider leaving patch cords attached to each outlet.
20
2. Proper testing of the PL delivers true results of the permanent link performance and guarantees that a passing PL will yield a passing channel when known good patch cords are attached to create the channel. This is true for category 3 cabling and for all other levels of performance including augmented category 6 (Cat 6A) cabling. Troubleshooting
Knowing that a test failed is only the first step. The link must be fixed so it will perform as intended. The reasons for failing certification tests fall into two distinct categories –connection problems and transmission performance problems. There are many tools that can provide information regarding the connection problems such as an open, a break, a short, etc. The user should select a tester that can properly locate a break or a short in the cabling as well as identify problems caused by improper pairing of the wires. In addition, certification testers should include advanced troubleshooting diagnostics that identify and locate transmission defects. With this diagnostic information, the installer can dramatically improve troubleshooting productivity and help to restore service quickly. The cable testing guide in its entirety on CABA’s Web site at: http://http/www.caba.org/resources/documents/testing.pdf The Cabling Resource Guide was developed by Communication Planning Corporation to provide industry with one of the most in-depth, reliable and up-to-date structured cabling resources available. The Cabling Resource Guide contains project checklists, codes, standards information and product and design guidelines. The Guide covers every major facet of installation, including: security, cabling, hardware, equipment, power grounding and bonding and environmental safety considerations such as abandoned cable removal.
•
Frank Bisbee is President of Communication Planning Corporation.
CABA iHomes and Buildings Spring 2015
UPCOMING EVENTS Need information on upcoming industry events? Go to: www.caba.org/events
IWCE (International Wireless Communications Expo)
IoT World Forum 2015 April 28-29, 2015
March 16-20, 2015
London, UK
Las Vegas, NV
www.m2mconference.com‎
www.iwceexpo.com/iwce2015
SMA Home 2015 Building Energy Summit
April 28-30, 2015
March 25, 2015
Taipei, Taiwan
Washington, DC
www.secutech.com/15/SMAhome
2015.buildingenergysummit.com
LIGHTFAIR International CABA Intelligent Buildings & Digital Home Forum
May 3-7, 2015
April 14-16, 2015
New York, NY
Austin, TX
www.lightfair.com/lightfair
www.caba.org/caba-forum-2015
Haystack Connect 2015 Broadband Communities Summit
May 18-20, 2015
April 14-16, 2015
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Austin, TX
www.haystackconnect.org
www.bbcmag.com/2015s
CONNECTIONS 2015 BACnet Global Roadshow 2015
May 19-21, 2015
April 21, 2015
San Francisco, CA
Seattle, WA
www.parksassociates.com/events/connections-us
bacnetroadshow.org
Solar Ontario 2015 2015 Canadian Printable Electronics Symposium
May 25-26, 2015
April 21-22, 2015
Niagara Falls, ON
Montreal, QC, Canada
www.solarontarioconference.ca
cpeia-acei.ca/category/events
Realcomm / IBcon Expo Technologia 2015
June 9-10, 2015
April 21-23, 2015
San Antonio, TX
Mexico City, Mexico
www.realcomm.com
expo-tecnologia.com
Guangzhou International Lighting Exhibition CxEnergy 2015 Conference & EXPO
June 9-12, 2015
April 27-30, 2015
Guangzhou, China
Las Vegas, NV
bit.ly/1k1yPLJ
www.cxenergy.com CABA iHomes and Buildings Spring 2015
21