Managing buildings under one network could boost energy efficiency

Unifying disparate systems for heating and air, communications, and security in federal buildings under a single computer network could drastically improve energy efficiency, software and hardware manufacturers said during a panel discussion on Wednesday.

Buildings in the United States account for about 40 percent of both energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions, making them a primary challenge for federal agencies trying to comply with an October executive order that requires new goals for reducing energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.

"The goal is to establish an integrated strategy toward sustainability in the federal government," said Shannon D. Sentman, board member of the U.S. Green Building Council's National Capital Region chapter and principal at Sol Vista Consulting, during a McLean, Va., forum on Designing Government Buildings for the 21st Century. "The way to do this is to focus on technology, to make buildings smarter. As it is now, [systems] aren't connected, and people don't know anything about their energy use until they get a bill from the power company."

Often information technology; alarm and surveillance; plumbing; electrical; and heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems function independently. This makes them difficult to monitor and manage for energy efficiency, panelists noted.

"If you're going to set a goal for your organization of saving 35 percent in energy, how you monitor yourself is critical," said Darryl Benson, global solutions manager at software developer Panduit Corp. "[By] taking all of these systems and putting them on one [IT] network that drives information back [and] provides value, that building becomes an asset, and the systems in the building are how you manage that asset."

For example, under a unified system, if the temperature in a building felt particularly high, then an authorized individual could access the network to check the thermostat on the heating unit. A network also could help manage resources efficiently by automatically turning on lights and adjusting the temperature when facilities are in use.

John Schlabach, sales business development manager at networking giant Cisco Systems, pointed to an Army base running an industrial-sized boiler, a chiller, and a computer room air conditioning unit. While the first two were running to full capacity, the computer room unit was competing with the boiler by trying to lower the temperature. Because all three units were managed separately, no one noticed.

"We're trying to make buildings work better, smarter for us," Schlabach said. "The [IT] network is the platform that enables us to do that, [because] if I can't see it, I can't measure it and I can't manage it."

As part of an IT network solution, agencies can take advantage of Power over Ethernet technology, which transports electrical power, along with data, on Ethernet cabling, Schlabach added.

Support by the Obama administration is gradually allowing a more IT-driven approach to energy efficiency in federal buildings, panelists said. The 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provides $4.5 billion to make federal office buildings more energy efficient and $6.3 billion for increasing energy efficiency in federally supported housing programs.

"There's now money, not just talk, behind [these efforts]," Benson said. "Is it coming quick enough? It's never quick enough."