the magazine of the continental

automated buildings association

winter 2010 volume 7, number 4

remote controls will no

longer just control your tV Dashboards for Buildings → 13

There is a new generation of remote controls about CaBa’s Connected Home research Focuses on
to invade the home. Consumer Marketplace → 7

Building automation systems Don’t

PAGE 11 save energy → 19

CaBa’s 2011 Intelligent Buildings roadmap → 16

$25 usd www.caba.org/ihomesandbuildings

 “With all the great things that CABA is doing for my
business, they can count on my support from now to
the end of time! Of all the affiliations we have, our
membership in CABA has proven to bethe most
beneficial.”
Richard Perkins
CEO, Property ControlSystems Ltd.

For more information about CABA Research opportunities

and research services, please contact the CABA Research Your Information Source For
Department and direct you’re inquires to: Home & Building Automation
www.CABA.org
John Hall
CABA Research Director
hall@caba.org
613.686.1814 X227
 the magazine of the continental
automated buildings association
winter 2010 volume 7, number 4

Featu re s
Home Systems..................................................................................................................................................................................... 11
Remote controls will no longer just control your TV by Cees Links
Large Building Automation........................................................................................................................................................... 13
Dashboards for Buildings by Jim Sinopoli

CO L U MNS
President & CEO’s Message............................................................................................................................................................ 3
CABA Research Briefs........................................................................................................................................................................ 5
Consumer Usage Patterns and Attitudes of U.S. FTTH and Broadband Consumers
Toward a Smarter Grid
Research Viewpoints........................................................................................................................................................................... 7
CABA’s Connected Home Research Focuses on Consumer Marketplace by Rawlson O’Neil King
Ken Wacks’ Perspectives............................................................................................................................................................... 16
CABA’s 2011 Intelligent Buildings Roadmap by Ken Wacks
Opinion..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 19
Building Automation Systems Don’t Save Energy by Bruce Rowse

De pa rtm e n t s
New Members.......................................................................................................................................................................................... 4
Events....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 21

CABA NewsBrief
Please go to the CABA Web site at www.caba.org to
subscribe complimentary and sponsor
editorial advisory Board
Dr. Kenneth Wacks,

Join CABA Today!

Ken Wacks Associates (Chair)
Paul Ehrlich,
Building Intelligence Group LLC
Roy Kolasa,
Honeywell International, Inc.
David Labuskes,
www.caba.org
RTKL Associates, Inc.
Martial Maitam,
Marwest Access Controls
Labib Matta,
NeXgen Advisory Group FZ-LLC
Daniel Michaud,
Environmental Systems Design
Harshad Shah,
Eagle Technology, Inc.
Jim Sinopoli,
Smart Buildings LLC

Managing editor
Ronald J. Zimmer

editor
Rawlson O’Neil King

Contributors
Ken Gallinger
George Grimes
John Hall
Gail Stratton

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.
The Continental Automated Buildings Association
provides more information about integrated
systems and automation in homes and buildings
than any other source.
www.caba.org
2 iHomes & Buildings
CABA Board of Directors CABA President & CEO’s
Chair
Satyen Mukherjee,
Message
Philips
Ron Zimmer
Vice-Chairs
Morad Atif,
National Research At this time of year, it is timely to review organizational and individual achievements,
Council of Canada/
Institute for Research but one should also reflect on our good fortune and areas of improvement. CABA, as an
in Construction international industry association, has many thanks to give for the work and accomplish-
Leo DelZotto, ments that were achieved in 2010.
Tridel Corporation CABA has continued to show the world that it is the go-to organization as “Your In-
Roy Kolasa, formation Source for Home & Building Automation.” The work of a special CABA Task
Honeywell Force helped streamline the CABA Councils and Boards. One of the outcomes was the
International, Inc.
establishment of the new CABA Research Program, which will now be more accessible
and affordable to members.
Directors
Scot Adams,
Thanks are extended to the many volunteers in the CABA Connected Home Research
Cadillac Fairview Council and the Intelligent & Integrated Buildings Council, for great work and creating
Corporation leading-edge primary research. Collaborative research projects have recently been
Matt Banach, completed, like the “Energy as a Managed Service” research project and the “Intelligent
Convia, A Herman Miller Buildings Roadmap 2011”. New research like “Aging in Place” and “State of the Connected
Company
Home Market” have just been launched.
Kris Bowring,
Best Buy Co., Inc.
These collaborative research opportunities allow CABA members to gain unique
insights into specific and pertinent research, in a cost-effective manner. We thank the
Michael Clay,
Verizon Wireless many supporting companies, project managers, research firms and volunteers that sup-
Jonathan Cluts, port and utilize this industry research.
Microsoft Corporation Thanks go to many others that have contributed research and white papers to the
Sandra Elliott, searchable CABA Research Library. There are nearly 500 research documents in the li-
Meridian Health brary and this is one of the key benefits for over 300 corporate members of CABA. We
James Gilmore, are pleased that CABA now reaches over 24,000+ industry professionals through vari-
Bell Canada
ous communication vehicles and has reached over one million through its Web site.
Jack Jachner,
Special thanks goes to Martin Cullum, from Bell Canada, for providing great leader-
Alcatel-Lucent
ship as CABA Chairman of the Board and an Executive Committee member. After eight
Elizabeth Jacobs,
Siemens Industry, Inc. years, Martin is stepping down and Dr. Satyen Mukherjee, from Philips, was elected as
Stephane Kirkland, the new CABA Chairman at the recent CABA Board meeting, hosted by CABA member
Direct Energy Convia, A Herman Miller Company.
Noel Lee, Monster CABA is very fortunate to have 19 strong CABA Board members and a waiting list of
Cable Products Inc. organizations that want to join the CABA Board of Directors.
Shahram Mehraban, We also thank the many volunteers and professional staff for work long hours to en-
Intel Corporation sure that the world of “connected homes and intelligent buildings” continues to expand.
Tom Semler, All the best in 2011 and remember…CABA works for you!
Hydro One Networks Inc.
Jon Summers,
Ingersoll Rand
Linda Todd,
Whirlpool Corporation

Winter 2010 3
N e w M e mb e r s

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.
Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA)
Members of the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) share a vision of an interoperable network of personal computers,
consumer electronics, mobile devices and service providers in and beyond the home, enabling a seamless environment for
sharing and growing new digital media and content services.

IIR Middle East

IIR Middle East is part of Informa Group PLC and offers high-quality exhibitions, conferences and workshops in various busi-
ness sectors. CABA is endorsing both IIR Middle East’s PALME Middle East and Install Middle East events.

NextGen Home Experience

The NextGen Home Experience is a recognized showcase for previewing the “next” in next generation trends, products and
services for the American home, including: high performance home building, remodeling, do-it-yourself and lifestyle solu-
tions featured in national demonstration homes on site at major trade events, and through online and traditional media.

SmartGrid Canada
SmartGrid Canada is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting a more modern and efficient electricity grid for
the benefit of all Canadians. The organization’s goal is to drive innovation and leadership to advance Canada’s smart grid
infrastructure by engaging stakeholders from multiple industries.

Oracle
Oracle is the world’s most complete, open, and integrated business software and hardware systems company. The firm
assists with implementations of smart grid initiatives by offering utility experts, mission-critical software applications, a
rock-solid operational software suite, high-performance servers and storage, and world-leading middleware technology.

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 iHomes & Buildings

CAB A 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.

Consumer Usage Patterns and Attitudes of U.S. FTTH and Broadband Consumers
The Fiber-to-the-Home Council conducted a survey of 1,000 FTTH customers concerning the impact of TV and Internet de-
livery via fiber optics. Consumer awareness of FTTH is increasing from 28 percent in 2008 to 41 percent in 2009 of those
surveyed. FTTH is used by six percent of broadband customers in the U.S. Those using FTTH are more satisfied than cable or
DSL customers. The Council claims that deployment of FTTH will encourage telecommuting and decrease energy consump-
tion.

On average, fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) users say they work one additional day from home per month because of FTTH.
This is consistent with most previous years, but less than the 1.8 days reported in 2009. As may be expected, the in-
crease in work from home is not uniform among subscribers. In the study, a total of 12 percent said they worked signifi-
cantly more from home (8.3 more days).
Survey respondents were also asked if FTTH added more flexibility to their work schedule, such as allowing more
flexible hours to avoid rush hour traffic. A total of 24 percent of the respondents indicated that the use of FTTH does
add to such flexibility.

Use of Internet Applications Via FTTH

Among FTTH Users Under Age 40 by Year

Shop online

Play single player games

Upload large files

Download or stream video

to computer

Play multi playter games

Upload video content to internet

Use VOIP for audio

Use two-way video conferencing

Transfer files for remote 2009

offsite storage
Download or stream video to 2010
television set
Use remote software /
“cload computing”
Use remote monitoring camera video

Participate in a virtual world

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Winter 2010 5
caba research briefs

Toward a Smarter Grid

ABB presents an overview of the reasons to evolve the electric grid to a smart grid. Among the key motivations are power
outages that cost the U.S. economy $25 billion to $180 billion per year, transmission losses that have doubled in 30 years,
accommodating distributed energy resources, the need for greater power quality to operate digital technology, and en-
vironmental concerns. Some characteristics of a smart grid are two-way real-time communications, digital metering, and
mesh power flow rather than radial from a few generators.

The transition to a fully implemented smart grid brings a host of benefits to a wide range of constituencies.
• Grid operators will enjoy a quantum improvement in monitoring and control capabilities that will, in turn, enable
them to deliver a higher level of system reliability, even in the face of ever-growing demand.
• Utilities will experience lower distribution losses, deferred capital expenditures and reduced maintenance costs.
• Consumers will gain greater control over their energy costs, including generating their own power, while realizing
the benefits of a more reliable energy supply.
• The environment will benefit from reductions in peak demand, the proliferation of renewable power sources, and
a corresponding reduction in emissions of CO2, as well as pollutants such as mercury.

To put a number to these benefits, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) has estimated that an investment of
$165 billion in smart grid technology, integration and development will produce between $638 billion and $802 billion.
That implies a cost-benefit ratio of between 4:1 and 5:1.

Today’s hierarchical power grid Fully realized smart grid

6 iHomes & Buildings

Res ea rch Vie wpoints

CABA’s Connected Home Research Focuses

on Consumer Marketplace
By Rawlson O’Neil King

The connected home has been defined as a living space Industry Members Rating of Consumer Readiness
that allows people to manage all aspects of their homes for the Connected Home
in convenient ways.
Connected homes typically include automation, con- 56%
nection of home electronics and appliances, both within
the home and over the Internet, wireless networking, en-
tertainment, and energy conservation with remote moni-
33%
toring.
Connected homes can also perform operations such
as controlling lighting, heating, air conditioning and se-
9% 2%
curity systems.
Generally speaking, members of the connected home Completely Almost Not very Not at all
ready ready ready ready
industry believe the consumer market is on the cusp of en
mass adoption of technologies related to the connected
home. Consumer’s Rating of their Own Level of Awareness &
Right now, manufacturers and service providers are Interest in the Connected Home
developing connected home products and services. In Top 3 Box on 10-point Scale

general, these are products and services designed to pro-

vide entertainment programming, automate common 28%
household tasks, and let people communicate with each 22%
other more easily.
While the industry has been obviously enthusiastic
about consumer adoption, consumers themselves have Familiar Interested for
been cautious. Consumer research completed by CABA, with idea their home

the Continental Automated Buildings Association, in

2006 found that consumers were not as ready for the
connected home concept as many in industry would be-
lieve.
CABA also found that while the majority of consumers
believed at some point that they would adopt connected
home technologies, many did not think they would nec-
essarily adopt such products and services in the immedi-
ate or near future.
Readiness for connected homes
Source: CABA Connected Home Roadmap (2006)
CABA made these findings when it conducted its first
Connected Home Roadmap in 2005. That Roadmap was
a snapshot assessment of the marketplace and its prob-
able short-term evolution.
Ipsos Reid, one of the world’s leading survey-based
marketing research firms, undertook this Roadmap re-

Winter 2010 7
research viewpoints

Consumer Indication of their Own Likelihood of Consumer Indication of the Immediacy of

Adopting Connecting Home Technologies their Adoption
Among those who will to Adopt

50%

Never will
Adopt
27% Will Adopt
73% 25%

12% 13%

Within Within 3 to 5 Within 10 to More than

2 Years Years 20 Years 20 Years
Consumer likelihood of adopting connected home technologies
Source: CABA Connected Home Roadmap (2006)

search on behalf of CABA to help the organization’s
member companies within the connected home sector
identify, select and develop technology options to satisfy
future service, product or operational needs.
The report helped facilitate the identification and de-
velopment of business opportunities to encourage main-
stream adoption of connected home solutions and their
enabling technologies. Further, the research project was
formative, as it helped CABA develop its unique, collab-
orative research model.
In collaborative research projects, the association
works to manage projects between multiple partners.
The organization also acts as an agnostic platform to
ensure that realistic and neutral research results are
achieved.
Since 2005, the organization has published a wide
range of studies on the connected home marketplace.
Much of that research has found that while the majority
of consumers believe they will at some point adopt con-
nected home technologies, many do not expect that they
will be using them in their homes in the near future.
In a large tracking study of U.S. consumers conduct-
ed during 2008, CABA asked consumers to rate the ap-
peal of the “connected home.” The results: About one-
in-four consumers considered the connected home idea
“definitely or somewhat appealing,” essentially the same
number as in 2005.
While interest in the connected home idea seemed
stagnant on the surface, CABA noticed that mass market
consumers, those who typically have a “wait and see” ap-
proach to adopting new products and services, were a bit
more neutral and open to the idea than three years ear-
lier. Early adopters on the other hand, ever quick to grasp
the synergies that result from a whole-home system, re-
mained as strongly interested in 2008 as they were three
years earlier.

U.S. 2008 U.S. 2005

Appeal of the
Connected Home Early Mass Early Mass
Total Total
Concept Adopters Market Adopters Market

Definitely/somewhat
23% 51% 2% 22% 51% 1%
appealing

Neutral 61% 48% 71% 57% 48% 63%

Definitely not/
somewhat not 16% 0% 28% 21% 1% 36%
appealing

Source: 2005 and 2008 State of the Connected Home Market Studies. Total sample size Appeal of connected home concept
(n) = 1,800 per wave. Percentages may not add to 100% due to rounding. Source: CABA/Zanthus Home Control White Paper (2009)

8 iHomes & Buildings


The most recent research that CABA has conducted
has found that opportunities to advance home control
and monitoring capabilities as a comprehensive prod-
uct and service are limited for many manufacturers and
service providers, but that healthy demand exists for the
ability to remotely control all home functionalities, espe-
cially energy consumption.
Until recently, consumers have had no viable way to
identify energy-wasting devices in the home. That how-
ever is rapidly changing, as a number of emerging home
energy monitoring solutions are rolled out across North
America, in conjunction with smart meters.
According to CABA research, there is a substantial
market opportunity for energy management and con-
trol products and services. These are systems that track
where and when energy and water is being consumed
and products that schedule and control appliance usage,
along with products that allow users to centrally control
room temperatures and lighting.
These home energy management systems are de-
signed to provide the consumer and the power company
with information that they need to reduce waste and
schedule demand to avoid peak periods, thereby reduc-
ing the need to increase power generation.
For several high opportunity areas, many consumers
who are dissatisfied with their current energy manage-
ment are willing to pay for improved capabilities, such
as for programmable lighting controls, eliminating phan-
tom energy drains, and individual room lighting and tem-
perature control.
Percent Most Likely To Purchase From Each
34% 34%
31%
27%
Your local utility Your energy provider
company
Who would you be most likely to purchase improved solutions from?
Source: Connected Home Roadmap (2010)
research viewpoints
Not surprisingly, consumers continue to expect en-
ergy management systems to deliver on the promise of
saving money. In a previous CABA survey, four-in-five
expected payback on their investment in a home energy
management system to occur within five years, with just
over half expecting it to occur within two years.
To meet these ambitious goals, consumers expect
their power companies to help underwrite the costs of
needed equipment and improve their home’s energy ef-
ficiency through their own actions.
CABA research found that consumers view utility
companies in high regard and find that they are the ones
that are most engaged by consumers when they require
help managing energy use. Indeed, over one-quarter of
home decision makers look to their energy provider as a
source of energy management products and fewer con-
sumers expect brown or white good manufacturers to of-
fer these products.
Though not covered in CABA consumer studies, in-
dustry players have told us that consumers want control
over changes to their home’s energy consumption habits,
and they do not want to just hand total control over to
the utility company via a demand response system. They
want to compare their overall energy consumption to
neighbors and to similar homes to determine what their
consumption should be, and learn what steps are need-
ed to make improvements. Then, to determine if their
goals are being met, they expect to actively monitor their
usage, at least at first. They want to set a specific ener-
gy usage threshold only to be altered when it has been
US (n=798)
Canadian (n=414)
22% 22%
16%
13%
A major appliance Home electronics
manufacturer manufacturers
Winter 2010 9
research viewpoints
exceeded, and receive month-to-month and year-over-
year energy usage comparisons.
Consumers also want to have a conversation with
their home, without having to learn and remember how
to communicate with each individual device and system.
Effectively, consumers want to ask their home: What
temperature is the house set at during the day? Or does
the furnace need maintenance? Or will the lights come
on when we’re on vacation? They then expect answers
and immediately implementable solutions.
After five years of conducting market research, CABA
has found that there is a gap between consumer percep-
tions of how home technologies should work, and ap-
plications offered by product and services providers.
Through its research, however, the organization has been
actively working with its members to close this gap, by
examining consumer value propositions, price points and
determining consumer return on investment. CABA has
even undertaken early stage product and service research
and development through pilot projects.
CABA has been engaged in such research since 2006,
when it integrated the operations of the Internet Home
Alliance. The Internet Home Alliance was a cross-in-
dustry network of leading companies conducting collab-
orative research to advance the connected home market.
Founded in 2000, the Alliance provided its members with
the real-world testing opportunities required to bring
their home technology products and services to market
more quickly, successfully and cost-effectively.
Under the new arrangement, IHA’s collaborative re-
search program was continued under the CABA umbrel-
la through CABA’s Connected Home Research Council,
which oversaw a wide array of consumer research studies
and real-world pilot projects. In 2010, CABA’s collabora-
tive research evolved and expanded and the Connected
Home Research Council was transformed into the CABA
Research Program, which is directed by the CABA Board
of Directors. The CABA Research Program’s scope now
includes market research for both large building technol-
ogies and home systems.
The Program is scheduled to undertake two large
landmark studies per year, and the first is its most recent
consumer market study that examined all aspects of the
connected home marketplace. CABA’s “Connected Home
Roadmap 2010” project was a large-scale study created
to provide insights into consumer attitudes concerning
technologies, value propositions and future market adop-
tion.
10 iHomes & Buildings
The study was designed to build upon past research
the organization has undertaken on the connected home.
Past research found that about one-in-five online con-
sumers considered the connected home concept very ap-
pealing.
The first phase of the study determined the cur-
rent state of the connected home solution marketplace
through an environmental analysis that considered sales
and other key trends.
The second phase was focus groups in three cities to
uncover unmet needs in the connected home space.
The third phase consisted of a consumer survey of
2,000 North American homeowners designed to deter-
mine consumer needs and to find primary drivers for
consumer adoption.
The fourth phase involved the exploration of existing
sources of information, including articles, industry pub-
lications, trade statistics, financial reports, syndicated re-
search and interviews with industry players, with an aim
to integrate past research with the information learned in
the first three phases of the study to create a vision for the
future.
The Roadmap’s research quantified current business
levels and identified the key players within the connected
home space across multiple segments. Additionally, the
project identified and prioritized consumer needs in the
connected home space by pulling together past connect-
ed home research and converging it with new research
to develop a concise vision of where all the segments are
headed. The research also identified new potential areas
for future research.
The Roadmap research project examined the fol-
lowing market segments: safety, security, health, energy
management, monitoring, entertainment and home con-
trol and automation.
The study was funded by Bell Canada, Best Buy, Stan-
ley Black & Decker, Direct Energy, Hydro One Networks,
Microsoft Corporation, Moen, Ingersoll Rand/Trane,
TELUS and Whirlpool Corporation. The research was
undertaken by Parks Associates, POCO Labs and JLA
Strategic Research.
The research has been released to these funding part-
ners and will be made available for purchase to the rest of
the industry after an embargo period. Companies enquir-
ing for details and pricing can contact John Hall, CABA
Research Director at hall@caba.org or 613.686.1814 x227.
Rawlson O’Neil King is CABA’s Communications Director.
Home Systems
Remote controls will no longer just control
your TV
Cees Links, CEO and Founder of GreenPeak
Technologies, discusses the emergence of new home
mobile dashboard technologies.
There is a new generation of remote controls about to in-
vade the home.
Instead of using decades old “point and shoot” infra-
red beams to provide a connection between the remote
and the device being controlled, the new generation of
remotes are using RF or radio frequency. Actually to be
more precise, they will be using what is known as ZigBee
RF4CE. Similar to Wi-Fi, it provides many of the same
wireless networking capabilities with much less power
requirements.
RF4CE, Radio Frequency For Consumer Electronics,
was formed by four of the top consumer electronics man-
ufacturers in the world: Panasonic, Philips, Samsung and
Sony. In 2009, the RF4CE group was adopted by the Zig-
Bee Alliance and the new ZigBee RF4CE standard was
inaugurated.
The ZigBee Alliance then fine-tuned the ZigBee RF-
4CE standard to transform it into more of a total home
media experience. In addition to controlling all the
home’s media equipment such as TVs, stereos, DVRs,
DVD players, etc., this now includes a smart automated
home theater experience.
When you insert a DVD disk into the player, the play-
er then talks to the entire home via wireless connections.
The TV automatically switches to the DVD input mode,
the remote switches to DVD control mode, the room
lights dim and the curtains close. You are ready to watch
your favorite DVD.
In addition to being smart, the new GreenPeak en-
abled, ZigBee RF4CE remote control can function as the
“home mobile dashboard”, connecting home entertain-
ment, automation, security, HVAC, power use control
and management and health monitoring.
By using the ultra low-power 802.15.4 wireless tech-
nology, a wide range of low data rate devices and sensors
can either directly or indirectly talk to and are managed
by the remote control. The cable companies and service
providers would like to see their set-top boxes, managed
by the remote control, become the centerpiece of the new
smart home with all the homes systems flowing through
it. The home mobile dashboard then monitors and con-
trols all the systems via the set-top box. Another advan-
tage of using the set-top box as the central base station
is its Internet connection to the cloud which enables the
homeowner to remotely access and control the home’s
systems via any mobile device including cell phones.
New Features and Capabilities
The new GreenPeak powered ZigBee RF4CE remote
control also delivers a variety of exciting new functions
and capabilities. As it is using an ultra-low power wire-
less network, its power draw is almost negligible which
makes the device essentially maintenance free.
By using ZigBee RF4CE, it is possible to build remote
controls that never need to have their batteries changed
or recharged.
Aside from the obvious great reduction in batteries
and their load of heavy metals and toxic chemicals, this
means that manufacturers are finally freed from the need
to include battery compartments with battery lids.
Most people, especially those with kids, have had the
experience of broken battery lids, which means wrapping
Winter 2010 11
HOME Systems
the remote with rubber bands or duct tape. Even more
exciting for the manufacturers, without the need to ac-
commodate batteries and battery compartments, is the
ability to design remote controls in exciting new form
factors and shapes.
No more aim and shoot
As ZigBee RF4CE is a radio technology, it transmits
through walls, furniture, and people. You no longer have
to carefully aim your infrared (IR) remote at a tiny target
on the front of your DVR or TV set. ZigBee RF4CE re-
mote controls can manage your entertainment and home
systems from anywhere in the home.
This enables homeowners to hide away their control
boxes. No longer does the set-top box or DVR have to be
out in the open, available for control. These boxes can
now be hidden away in cabinets, in shelves or even in the
attic.
Interactive: ZigBee RF4CE Remotes Provide Two
Way Communication
Maybe the most exciting capability of ZigBee RF4CE
remote controls is their interactive features. This can
12 iHomes & Buildings
include a small display on the remote that let you see
what effect you are having on your TV set or DVR. You no
longer have to watch your TV screen to see what station
you are tuning into, what shows you are programming to
record. All that info can be available on your remote’s dis-
play.
By using low resolution still image grabs transmitted
to your remote control, you could see who is ringing the
buzzer at your front door without getting out of your easy
chair.
Your remote control will also be able to monitor your
home’s climate control settings, power management, and
indicators for windows and doors, determining whether
they are locked or unlocked. The remote control will also
determine whether someone walking around outside,
or whether someone is tampering with an upstairs win-
dow. All of these security sensors could be accessed via
the remote control’s display. By using ZigBee’s RF4CE’s
interactive capability, you could even remotely lock the
unsecured windows. And as this is an ultra-low power
network with minimal energy draw, homeowners won’t
have to change the batteries on these remote security
sensors every year.
• continued on page 20
Large Building Automation

Dashboards for Buildings

Jim Sinopoli, PE, RCDD, LEED AP, provides some
tips and guidelines on creating dashboards for facility
and energy management covering what information is
needed, how that information should be presented to a
user, and a couple of industry examples.

Dashboards can pro- In developing a series of dashboards, you need to

vide relevant and timely
information to several
organizational levels or
groups involved with a
building’s performance.
These different users can
be facility technicians,
managers, C-level exec-
utives and even tenants,
occupants or visitors through kiosks or a Web page. The
information provided may cover the specifics of particu-
lar building systems such as HVAC, electrical or specialty
systems, but they tend to focus on energy usage, costs,
KPIs, trends, alarm management, comparisons with sim-
ilar buildings or building uses, etc. So the first and prob-
ably the most important steps are determining the right
information for the intended viewer of the dashboard.
Facility technicians have different information needs
than C-level executives or the general public. For ex-
ample, a facility engineer may be interested in subsystem
alarms and alarm management. In this case the dash-
board needs to display alarm priority, escalation status,
alarm acknowledgment, repetitive alarms, “out-of-ser-
vice” alarms and sub-system communications or compo-
nent failure, etc. C-level executives, such as Directors of
Facilities, Sustainability or Procurement may want infor-
mation on energy usage and cost. In this case the dash-
board should display the usage and costs of a building’s
comprehensive and individual utilities, budgeted versus
actual utility costs, budget deviations, comparisons with
other similar buildings and meter output for alternative
energy sources such as photovoltaic and wind energy.
identify what decisions or insight each user or group
hopes to gain by using the dashboard and what informa-
tion at what time interval is needed to support their deci-
sion process.
Dashboards will be fed from data and that data will
probably need to be collected from several sources:
building automation systems, specialty systems, business
systems, etc. For example, if it’s an energy dashboard
you’re creating, energy usage may be generated in a BAS,
whereas the cost of the energy may be in a database in the
company’s accounts payable system. If you’re a health-
care organization you may be interested in metrics such
as energy use of an MRI machine per patient and need
patient counts from business systems; or, if you are a re-
tail company it may be energy use per customer or per
sale and you need customer and sale data from the busi-
ness systems.
To gather all the information needed for a dashboard
you may need a middleware platform to normalize and
standardize data generated from several sources in pos-
sibly different database formats. This would allow a flex-
ible and consistent platform for the dashboard but also
could potentially trigger additional data management
with large amounts of data. Dashboards in general are
typically used for high-level performance summaries
with some dashboards such as analytical dashboards
needing to “drill down” to specific data, so data manage-
ment can depend on the specific use of the dashboards.
How to present the information
Dashboards are meant to convey essential information
quickly and clearly on one screen. Most importantly, they

Winter 2010 13
large building automation
do so based on their visual design. Visual design is much
more than nice graphs and spreadsheets. It involves how
human beings perceive and act upon visual information,
a science in the realm of “human factors” and “cognitive
psychology”. Although this may sound like you’ll need a
PhD to understand it, it actually is somewhat intuitive.
It all starts with something known as “pre-attentive
variables”; these are the attributes of the dashboard that
humans subconsciously pay attention to before they
consciously know they are paying attention; thus pre-
attentive attributes. This innate perceptual and cogni-
tive capacity to pay attention unconsciously evolved in
human centuries ago. So if you’re designing a dashboard
to quickly display information, you take into account the
pre-attentive variables to essentially get the user’s atten-
tion before they know they’re paying attention. Here are
a couple of the major pre-attentive variables:
The position of the information on the dashboard
Information can be emphasized or de-emphasized by its
position on a display. The visual dominance is the center
of the screen (gold). Depending on the culture and how
the culture reads (left to right, or right to left) the other
area of dominance will either be the top left or top right
of the screen. The other corners are neutral (blue), or in
the case of the bottom right, actually de-emphasized. So
the most important data, such as key performance indi-
cators, has to go in the center or the top left of the dash-
board – this is especially true if other data on the dash-
board can only be understood after an understanding of
the most important information.
Color
Color is another pre-attentive variable that can aid in
the clarity and quickness of understanding information.
Here’s an example of how easy it is to pick out data based
on the blue color. In fact, if there were many more data
14 iHomes & Buildings
points, the time to scan and quickly pick out the blue data
points would be about the same.
Our perception of color is relative and dependent on
the color or context that surrounds the colored object,
so selecting the color of the object and a contrasting and
consistent color for the background is important. There
are variations of the use of color as a pre-attentive means,
such as color hues, brightness and color saturation.
Shapes and Sizes
Shapes are also a pre-attentive variable that like color can
assist the user in quickly differentiating data sets. The
size of a shape may be used to convey quantities or mag-
nitude. Enclosing a set of data in a border or using icons
to provide meaning or draw attention are also positive
uses of forms and shapes.
• Orientation • Line Length • Line Width
• Size • Shape • Added Mark
The reason pre-attentive attributes are important is
simple. Dashboards should quickly and almost instantly
allow the viewer to grasp the information important to
the user. Pre-attentive features are just a head-start on
that process, providing information to the viewer before
the viewer consciously knows he or she is paying atten-
tion.
Of course, there are many more dashboards to consider
and Smart Buildings LLC makes an effort to source any
and all entrants to this market. Dashboards are the end
result of a lot of work that has to take place to identify,
gather and standardize data and to clearly understand the
roles and the needs of people involved with facilities and
energy. If they succeed in providing actionable informa-
tion in a timely fashion, dashboards have a positive effect
on managing a building’s performance and operation.
James M. Sinopoli, PE, RCDD, LEED AP is Principal of Smart
Buildings LLC. He recently authored a book titled Smart
Buildings.
 large building automation

Industry Examples
Here are a few industry examples of well-executed building and energy dashboards:

This is a Demand Response dashboard EnerNOC created in 2009. It’s one screen
with the most important information in the most-emphasized screen position.
Viewers can also interact with the dashboard to calculate and change timelines.

Lucid Design is best known for their work in higher education and this dash-
board addresses electrical use in a dormitory. Note the positioning, the colors,
the user options and the clarity.

This dashboard, developed by Controlco, is meant for a building engineer to ana-

lyze a system, in this case a chiller plant. It quickly conveys the system setpoints,
alarm status and provides options on the left for further information.

Part of the IBS Intelligent Building Interface System (IBIS®), this module pro-
vides you with real-time data and LEED Point information based on power me-
tering sources (gas and water optional), as well as pre-selected key performance
indicators for your enterprise, site, buildings, systems and equipment. 3-D is op-
tional.

The dashboard developed by Iconics is customizable via color, background,

shapes (gauges, sliders, graphs, charts) and even width, length, captions, and
tooltips.

Sensus MI utilizes its EnergyWitness to benchmark each building’s performance

against an established benchmark. Users can compare more operating param-
eters such as weather independent base load or set energy consumption goals
and benchmark other buildings in the portfolio against it.

Winter 2010 15
Ken Wacks’ Perspectiv es

CABA’s 2011 Intelligent Buildings Roadmap

By Ken Wacks
As a non-profit trade association, CABA is in a unique Steering Committee Members
position to provide collaborative research on behalf of
Company Business Area
its association members. In some cases, these member
companies would not be able to afford such research in- Belimo Air Controls Actuators for heating &
dividually. Nor could they share costs with other compa- cooling systems
nies in an ad hoc consortium without considerable legal Consolidated Edison Electric & gas utility
expenses needed to avoid anti-trust issues. Company of New York
CABA has been conducting research on behalf of the Distech Controls, Inc. Building automaton & energy
building automation system industry. Since 2002, CABA management
has published its Technology Roadmap for Intelligent
Echelon Corporation Automation for buildings,
Buildings, a Best-Practices Guide for Evaluating Intelligent homes, & industry
Building Technologies, the 2007 CABA Intelligent Build-
Honeywell International, Building automaton & energy
ings Roadmap and the Intelligent and Integrated Buildings
Inc. management
Technologies: Market Size in North America 2010 report.
In 2010, CABA launched a research project to revisit Ingersoll Rand / Trane / Building automaton & energy
Schlage management
intelligent buildings. A focus of this investigation was the
impact of smart grid developments on building opera- Johnson Controls Ltd. Building automaton & energy
tions, performance, and energy conservation. This proj- management
ect also included water conservation. Lawrence Berkeley Energy management
This paper summarizes the Intelligent Buildings National Laboratory research
Roadmap 2011 that was completed in December 2010. Natural Resources Development & use of
Canada natural resources
The Steering Committee
Pacific Northwest Energy management
CABA assembled a Steering Committee from among National Laboratory/ research
CABA members whose businesses include building au- DOE
tomaton systems and related products. Each Steering
Philips Lighting systems
Committee member contributed a participation fee. In
exchange, they helped shape the research agenda. Schneider Electric Building automation systems
The Steering Committee members and their primary Siemens Industry, Inc. Building automation systems
business areas are listed in Table 1. The Steering Com- Sloan Monitored Water fixtures & control
mittee and CABA chose Frost & Sullivan to conduct the Systems systems
research and to write the Roadmap. I was asked by CABA
Wattstopper / Legrand / Lighting control systems
to be the program manager. Ortronics

16 iHomes & Buildings

 K en Wacks ’ Perspectives

Frost & Sullivan analyzes new market opportunities for
corporate growth with research in technology, markets,
economics, corporate best practices, training, custom-
ers, competitive intelligence, and corporate strategy. The
company was founded in 1961 and now has more than
1,800 industry consultants, market research analysts,
technology analysts, and economists operating from
more than 40 global offices.
The Steering Committee participated in many tele-
conferences in 2010 to plan the project and to review in-
terim results. A meeting was held last November at Frost
& Sullivan in San Antonio, Texas to discuss the contents
of the final report. Each Steering Committee member had
the opportunity to submit written comments for improv-
ing the report. All comments were thoroughly reviewed
and addressed in a formal “resolution of comments” pro-
cedure to produce the final report.
trends in building design and operations. Among these
factors are:
• The push for an electric smart grid to enhance
reliability and security by integrating IT with the
electric grid.
• The U.S. publication of the NIST Framework and
Roadmap for Smart Grid Inter operability Standards
in January 2010.
• Electric utility investigation of demand response
technologies for buildings.
• Water conservation goals for buildings.
• National goals in some countries for reducing
greenhouse gas emissions, including carbon dioxide
reduction initiatives.
• Programs planned for energy labeling, mandatory
compliance with energy guidelines, and certifications
for building performance.

The project mission Research methodology

The objectives of the Intelligent Buildings Roadmap are Frost & Sullivan developed the Intelligent Buildings
to enhance industry knowledge and perspectives on the Roadmap 2011 based on research conducted for this proj-
following topics: ect (called primary research) integrated with existing re-
• The impact of energy efficiency, renewable search data (called secondary research). Sources of sec-
technology, information technology (IT) ondary research include government agencies and labs,
convergence, and the integration of buildings with think tanks, industry associations, Internet sources, plus
electric utility smart grids on building operations and research publications and databases developed by Frost
automation systems. & Sullivan.
• The trend towards an Integrated Design Process for Five Steering Committee members offered informa-
BAS integration and efficiency. The availability of a tion about buildings to complement the research and to
trained and skilled workforce and the role of master demonstrate practical energy management, water con-
system integrators. servation, and building automaton features. The demon-
• Existing and emerging smart technologies stration projects and features are summarized in Table 2.
and solutions, market preferences, and
commercialization plan for improved energy Demonstration Projects
performance of buildings. Company Project Description
• The role of regulatory mandates to accelerate the Consolidated Edison Upgrade office building
development of intelligent building products and Company of New York for Energy Star and LEED
technologies for energy management. certifications
• The potential impact of water conservation on Johnson Controls Inc. Renovate corporate
building operating costs. headquarters with major
energy savings and
• The current and future direction of the intelligent
greenhouse gas reduction.
buildings market in North America, and the
Natural Resources Canada Automated demand
opportunities it represents for participants in the
response for energy
value chain. management in an office
building
The reason for the focus of this Roadmap on energy Sloan Monitored Systems Flush control system for
management and efficiency comes from government water conservation in a
programs, potential regulatory mandates, and industry public school

Winter 2010 17
K en Wacks’ Perspectives
Wattstopper / Legrand / Lighting control system for
Ortronics expanded cancer research
center
BAS trends
Building automation systems (BAS) enable buildings to
respond effectively to energy management programs for
conservation and greenhouse gas reductions. Building
automation has been evolving gradually since the late
nineteenth century when the thermostat was introduced.
Technologies for sensors, actuators, controllers, users in-
terfaces, and communications networks have been up-
graded incrementally.
Some major technology transitions were pneumatic
to electronic signaling, analog to digital control, and in-
tegrated applications. The state of the art in BAS archi-
tecture is illustrated in Figure 1. Most buildings do not
use the latest technologies since continuous reliable op-
eration is paramount and trumps the introduction of new
features and operational efficiency.
The Intelligent Buildings Roadmap 2011 report inves-
tigates the eventual impact of new technologies on the
BAS industry including:
• Convergence between existing building control
infrastructures and IT.
• The role of Internet Protocols on BAS
communications.
• BAS management: local versus remote versus cloud-
based (“software as a service”).
Figure 1 – Building Automation System Architecture
18 iHomes & Buildings
The Roadmap audience
As explained, the Steering Committee members who
funded the Roadmap represent electric utilities, govern-
ment agencies, and building equipment supplies. Those
who will benefit from this report also include:
• IT companies.
• Building architects and specifiers.
• Energy service companies.
• Equipment installers and facility managers.
• Regulatory authorities and legislatures.
• Energy management service providers beyond
utilities, such as telecommunications companies and
new companies.
The Intelligent Buildings Roadmap 2011 will be offered
for sale through the CABA Web site starting in June 2011.
Until then, the report is embargoed for the exclusive use
of those CABA members that paid a research fee for this
project.
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.
opinion
Building Automation Systems Don’t
Save Energy
By Bruce Rowse
Building automation systems (BAS), otherwise known
as building management systems (BMS) or direct digital
control (DDC) systems don’t save energy. But their op-
erators can.
A BAS system will often cost the equivalent of around
one year’s worth of energy bills. But unless it is well oper-
ated it may never pay itself off.
BAS systems are complicated. In this respect they are
similar to a jet airplane. But unlike airline pilots, in far too
many cases the operators of the BAS systems have little
or no experience, minimal training, and often very little
time to operate it.
You wouldn’t buy a jet airplane without having appro-
priately trained and experienced pilots to fly it. But far
too often organizations buy BAS systems without making
the necessary investment in the people who operate it.
Unlike airplane pilots, where serious mistakes can be
fatal, if the BAS operator makes a mistake the chances are
very few people, if any, will know about it. Your build-
ing won’t crash and burn if the operator manually over-
rides a time schedule and leaves a large fan running all
the time. (I haven’t seen a BAS system yet where fans that
should be on a time schedule have had their schedule by-
passed.)
In many organizations, with energy costs equaling
one percent or less of total operational expenditure, the
chances are that the accountant won’t be watching to en-
sure that any savings put forward in the business case for
installing the BAS are actually achieved. Usually the only
thing that everyone will know about, and have an opinion
on, is the temperature inside the building. In response to
this many BAS operators do everything possible to keep
the building at a temperature that generates the least
amount of complaints, no matter what.
In some cases the energy implication of this are like a
pilot flying from Melbourne to Brisbane via Alice Springs
to avoid a bit of turbulence, rather than making intelli-
gent small deviations to the direct Melbourne – Brisbane
route to minimize discomfort to passengers.
And if you’ve outsourced the management of your
BAS, are you auditing the performance of your contrac-
tor? How do you know your BAS contractor is operating
your building for high-energy efficiency? The contractor
doesn’t pay your energy bills – and again may end up with
the sole focus of keeping the building at a temperature
that minimizes complaints, without necessarily consid-
ering the increased energy consumption that this may
cause. One of our customers has us auditing their con-
trols on a regular basis, and we rarely fail to identify valu-
able energy savings because of wastage caused by short-
cuts taken by their contractors.
Also unlike an aircraft, when an alarm is raised by the
system, the chances are that it will be ignored, particu-
larly if there are dozens or even hundreds of alarms going
off every day, which is the norm rather than the excep-
tion in larger BAS systems.
And unlike a new jet, the chances are that your brand
new BAS system may not have been correctly commis-
sioned. For example, one or more sensors could be in
the wrong position and thus giving erroneous readings.
An example is a recent customer’s building where the
building manager couldn’t figure out why the system was
running on 100 percent outside air most the time. After
a great deal of investigation, it turned out that the CO2
Winter 2010 19
opinion

air quality sensor was positioned in a copier room which
had no mechanical ventilation and was thus reading too
high, with the result that the system was running on 100
percent fresh air - at huge energy cost - to try and reduce
CO2 levels.
To get the most from you BAS system, invest in the per-
son who runs it. Make sure they know the principles of
energy efficient HVAC and building operation. Make sure
they are well trained in operating your system. Set energy
performance targets and monitor them. Make sure they
have enough time to actively operate the system and are
not just spending all their time dealing with alarms. Bring
in experts to help configure the system and review it on a
regular basis if necessary. Or else outsource management,
but with clear performance targets and regular audits if
necessary. Only then will the investment in your BAS re-
sult in energy savings.
Bruce Rowse is founder of CarbonetiX, an Australian firm that
assists organizations in cost-effectively reducing energy use,
emissions and energy bills.

h ome systems – continued from page 12

Home energy management is an interesting new
development. Imagine being able to view your home’s
energy consumption on a
single graph and then re-
motely turn on and off the
various appliances. Turn
off the AC upstairs and
watch the home power
consumption decrease.
Turn on the outside light-
ing system and watch the
power consumption tick
upwards. It could be fun
to be green.
your favorite sporting event is about to begin or that your
bid on the TV shopping channel was accepted. Your ap-
pliances could talk to you as well. You are out of beer and
you need to go shopping. The load of clothes in the dryer
is done and needs to be folded!
In 2011, the first ZigBee RF4CE powered remote con-
trols and TV sets will be hitting the market. At first, they
won’t feature the full feature set but within a short time,
it will be possible to control your entertainment system,
your home and maybe your world, from the remote in
your hand.
It is no longer “just” a remote control.

GreenPeak’s “Find Me” application
for remote controls, TVs and set
top boxes makes it easy to find lost
remotes, no matter where they are
hiding.
Other cool interactive fea- Cees Links is CEO and Founder of GreenPeak Technologies.
tures include “find me” energy consumption on a single graph and then remotely turn on
and push messaging. Have and off the various appliances. Turn off the AC upstairs and watch
you ever lost your remote the home power consumption decrease. Turn on the outside
control? Press the new lighting system and watch the power consumption tick upwards.
“Find Me” button on the It could be fun to be green.
TV set or set top box, and
your “lost” remote can
start buzzing, flashing or
playing your favorite song,
making it easy to find.
Push messaging enables
your TV and entertain-
ment system to talk to you
- to send you alerts that

20 iHomes & Buildings

Upcoming Ev e n t s

Canadian Water Meter Summit ISC West

February 13-15, 2011 April 5-8, 2011
Toronto, ON Las Vegas, NV
www.spintelligent-events.com/cwms2010/en www.iscwest.com

Smart Energy Canada 2011 FIATECH 2011 Technology Conference and Showcase
February 13-15, 2011 April 18-20, 2011
Toronto, ON Chandler, AZ
www.smartenergy-canada.com/en www.fiatech.org

SST Moscow ISC Brasil

February 15-18, 2011 April 26-28, 2011
Moscow, Russia Sao Paulo, Brazil
www.tbforum.ru/en/home www.iscexpo.com.br

CABA’s Digital Home Forum PALME Middle East

February 17, 2010 April 26-28, 2011
St. Paul, MN Dubai, UAE
www.caba.org/digital-home-forum www.palme-middleeast.com/PALME/Home/

FC EXPO 2011 Install Middle East

March 2-4, 2011 April 26-28, 2011
Tokyo, Japan Dubai, UAE
www.fcexpo.jp/en/top/ www.palme-middleeast.com/install/Home/

4th Int’l Photovoltaic Power Generation Expo Broadband Properties Summit 2011
March 2-4, 2011 April 26-28, 2011
Tokyo, Japan Dallas, TX
www.pvexpo.jp/en/ www.bbpmag.com/2011s

1st Int’l Green Building and Eco-friendly LIGHTFAIR International 2011

House Expo May 15-19 2011
March 2-4, 2011 Philadelphia, PA
Tokyo, Japan www.lightfair.com
www.ecohouseexpo.jp/en/home/
infoComm 2011
Electronic House Expo June 11-17, 2011
March 17-19, 2011 Orlando, FL
Orlando, FL www.infocommshow.org
www.ehxweb.com

Need information on upcoming industry events?

Go to: www.caba.org/events
Intelligent and Integrated Buildings Technologies
Market Size in North America 2010

Sponsored by CABA and:

Research Report Now Available

More information available at www.caba.org/market-size-2010
Research conducted by: