Top of the Class

Thursday, September 11, 2008
Buildings whose systems all talk to each other, sharing information about where energy is being used efficiently, where it's being wasted, and how much is being used compared to yesterday, last week, last month, and last year.

Systems that constantly communicate with those who manage them and those who pay the bills.

And of course systems that monitor whether the CEO's office is too hot or too cold.

A few dozen real estate folks yesterday shared sandwiches and heard how far these systems have evolved, presented by the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA), one of the five legs of the Greater Boston Real Estate Board (GBREB) stool.

Lari Anderson, vice president for strategic development/information technology of BAE Systems of McLean, Va., said buildings need to be "perpetually commissioned," not just once, when they come on line.

How is a building manager supposed to know whether the air-conditioning in a District of Columbia office building is working when the building opens in December? "The vision of the future is about information ... connectivity," he said.

BAE is a partner of Cisco Systems Inc., as is NEC Unified Solutions, Inc., of Framingham, which helped put yesterday's program together.

Anderson showed some bewilderingly complex charts that demonstrate how smart buildings are helping their owners and managers lower both costs and pollution levels.

HVAC systems, "plug loads" (your electrical supply systems), and lighting account for 85 percent of the cost of electricity, he said.

And buildings account for 39 percent of total energy use, including 71 percent of electricity used. They also cause 39 percent of carbon dioxide emissions, 30 percent of raw material use, 30 percent of waste output, and 12 percent of all potable water consumption.

So they need to be dealt with.

Building owners and companies of course historically have focused on "first costs" -- what it takes to get a building up and running. Usually cheaply and often short-sidedly.

Anderson said they need to focus on operations -- on the future.

All the different systems that go into a building -- electrical, climate control, communications, information technology -- get procured separately and without coordination, and they're "proprietary," in the traditional model. They all work independently and ignore each other.

Instead -- and Anderson said some of this will be voluntary and some will be government-mandated, as energy becomes dearer -- they should all work together.

There maybe positions for "master systems integrators" in intelligent buildings. The IT guy and the facilities manager woman will work hand in hand.

Anderson even said he thought the U.S. Green Buildings Council's (USGBC) LEED requirements would change next year -- emphasizing not only environmental efficiency but also production of more real-time information.

An August CoStar Group, Inc. study said LEED buildings command $11.33 more per square foot in rent, and have 4.1 percent higher occupancy.

Returns on investment on intelligent systems, even in older buildings, can materialize in a little over a year, Anderson said.

"Do we care about life-cycle costs? And how to we build that into the design? The right people have to get together to plan from the start," he said.

BIG PARTY

September's monthly meeting of the board of directors of the Rose Kennedy Greenway was this week, focused mostly on the details of the gala celebration planned for Saturday, Oct. 4, starting at 10 a.m.

The inaugural festivities will be preceded by a fund-raising dinner at the Boston Harbor Hotel the night before.

There will be extra Boston Police security, but nobody's agreed yet who will pay for those details.

Alexandra Lee, director of public programs, could hardly contain herself about the plans for the big party. See www.hellogreenway.org

There are 93 separate events planned, and there will be four stages up on the Greenway (including at Milk Street and the Chinatown Park), a climbing wall and fitness program run by the YMCA, ferris-wheel rides, and a Mothers' Walk Dedication to kick it all off.

Steve Anderson, director of park operations, said all of the first 1,000 engraved paving stones that were sold will be in place by then, and maybe even more -- about 1,500 have been sold in all.

There will be an environmental education summit for kids from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Federal Reserve building, the Museum of Fine Art is contributing an arts-for-children event, Dewey Square will feature tents and exhibits, and "we're trying for the BSO, the Boston Symphony Orchestra," said Lee.

There will be a treasure hunt involving text messages on mobile phones, urban art with the Massachusetts College of Art, a film series after dark, and picnic lunches sold at the InterContinental Hotel, and guides at each block -- though traffic on the corridor will not be shut down. The Greenway even has a Facebook page.

"It's just going to be great fun."

The conservancy is looking for about 250 volunteers to make sure everybody has a good time and there are no bad experiences or lost kids. Estimated attendance: up to 70,000.

Speaking of green, the Greenway is not only largely that color but is also destined to be maintained in a green, or sustainable, manner, according to executive director Nancy Brennan.

She introduced Tom Smarr, the conservancy's new superintendent of horticulture, and pledged that the Greenway will eventually be all or almost entirely chemical-free.

Apparently it didn't start out that way, and you can't just stop using toxic chemicals overnight. But the plan over the first year or two is to move to organic and toxin-free chemicals.

We recall from decades ago sitting in the yard, under duress, extracting weeds with our bare, stained hands.

"Nobody pulls weeds by hand anymore," said Smarr.


An improper use of Greenway assets, spotted during the summer.