AutomatedBuildings.com Interview

After a long utility career at Ontario Hydro and procurement at Bechtel Engineering, David has 17 years of experience in the energy services and building automation business. He was an active member of the Continental Automated Building Association and its Intelligent and Integrated Building Council. He is project manager for the CABA Building Intelligence Consortium. David manages the Sustainable Resources Management Group that provides Energy Management and Sustainable Building services. Mr. Katz writes and speaks regularly on energy matters and utility deregulation.

Sinclair: You recently presented an update on the development of the Building Intelligence Quotient (BiQ) 2.0 at the High Performance Building Conference and announced it on many of the Linkedin groups that would be interested in participating. Can you give a brief history of BiQ 1.0 that was developed for the CABA Integrated Intelligent Building Council?

Katz: The initial BiQ 1.0 was developed by three CABA members (BiQ Consortium) who responded to the CABA RFP for a rating system that would developed after the RealComm 2003 meeting where the Appraisal Institute were looking for a means of comparing the intelligence (smart) of buildings in addition to the same challenges they were having on the appraisal of GREEN buildings. It would also provide the CABA members with and independent BiQ rating showing the value of integrated intelligent building automation as the BiQ program provides links to the CABA research library and other independent sources of building automation information. As this project differed from the more traditional CABA research reports written within a short time frame normally paid for by collective sponsorships the BiQ Consortium agreed to develop the rating tool on the cost per building recovery basis similar to the BOMA BESt as it uses the same Green Globes web based platform. The BiQ 1.0 was subsequently developed over the next few years and launched in 2006. It was sold through the CABA store. A number of members purchased them and offered the BiQ 1.0 program to their clients. However since the BiQ 1.0 was competing for attention with the stronger GREEN building ratings of LEED, and Green Globes, at the time, the expected paid uptake was less than expected so the BiQC agreed to provide a FREE BiQ 1.0 to every CABA member and others that were interested in joining CABA to get the benefit of the member discounted pricing and to participate in the CABA IIBC. This produced a database of over 280 BiQ 1.0 registrations and over 80 that used their BiQ 1.0 to rate their building automation intelligence. This effort by CABA members and real estate owners allowed CABA and the BiQC to learn the challenges of getting the BiQ and the validation program needed to confirm the online submission. We did get intelligent buildings participating and were able to present the BiQ 1.0 2012 awards at the IIBC meeting at AHR Expo as I explain in my video.

Sinclair: Can you explain the role of CABA in the transition to the broader industry participation for the BiQ 2.0?

Katz: In the interim ECD Canada, a BiQ Consortium member that operates the Green Globe website that hosts the BiQ was acquired by Jones Lang LaSalle. They agreed to continue to support the BiQ 2.0 development efforts with CABA or other associations interested and the initial BiQ 1.0 consortium agreement was revised accordingly. Since there are a number of other entities developing similar ratings for Smart, Net Zero, Carbon Neutral, High Performance Buildings, and the building automation technology developments are rapidly expanding and converging, the CABA IIBC decided the BiQ 1.0 needed an update and the BiQ 2.0 development should seek the broader participation than CABA. CABA President, Ron Zimmer wrote the following on the BiQ 2.0 development.

The BiQ Tool is also supported by Jones Lang LaSalle and others in the industry. CABA strongly encourages the industry to work with the BiQ 2.0 Development Team. There is a strong need for an updated BiQ and CABA will again considering supporting the BiQ once the v2.0 is complete. Compliments to everyone within the CABA Intelligent & Integrated Buildings Council (IIBC) that has supported and worked with the BiQ Tool.

CABA members did sponsor the Bright Green Buildings report prepared by Frost and Sullivan and available for download at www.caba.org/brightgreen. The report showed the great return on investment when there is the convergence of the GREEN and Intelligent Building objectives and systems. The report reviewed the various building rating programs and noted that the BiQ was the only rating that addressed building intelligence with a comprehensive framework. The BiQ has always indicated that it is complimentary to the other ratings like LEED and Green Globes. It also is not competing with the ASHRAE Building Energy Quotient or the Energy Star as the BiQ includes many areas of system operations, integration and communication that goes to all the information needs of the building.

Katz: The BiQ 1.0 is still very relevant and valuable as it addresses the issues of building intelligence in a holistic way. There are 315 questions totaling 1000 points that cover eight areas of building automation and system integration. They are easy to read, have additional tips where needed and only require the click of the mouse in the YES – NO or Not Applicable circles and a quick submit button on the bottom of the page to save the answers and proceed to the next set of questions. The user can download the complete set of questions as a PDF file and print out the various sections to get the broadest input from all those on the building staff that are responsible for the areas and systems of automation. While the questions were developed before wireless communications was common in large buildings and the smart grid was in its infancy, we do have questions about automation features that are now very applicable for the automated demand response and smart grid real time pricing opportunities. The BiQ 1.0 report generated after all the questions are answered provides the overall BiQ rating in % as well as the ratings in the 8 individual areas making up the total BiQ. Each area I the report provides the user with the highlights of the features that were answered YES and also the Areas for Improvement for the questions answered NO. To expand on the areas of improvement, the BiQ has hot links to a variety of other websites including the comprehensive CABA research library where the user can read the latest reports on the areas for improvement. All the current BiQ 1.0 users are still able to login at www.building-iq.com in continue to use the system. They can generate a new BiQ 1.0 as they upgrade their building automation systems. They can order more BiQ 1.0 buildings at discounted pricing by contacting me directly at dkatz@building-iq.com

Sinclair: How will the BiQ 1.0 be offered now during the development of the BiQ 2.0?

Katz: The BiQ 1.0 website will be revised to allow for direct payments to the Green Globes entity hosting the site now that CABA has agreed to the new direction. All the 280 current users in the BiQ 1.0 data base will be advised that any time restrictions of the previous FREE Demo has been removed and they can login if they have their user ID and password or contact me to get a new FREE BiQ 1.0 and answer a short survey and indicate their level of involvement they can offer for the new BiQ 2.0 development. As with all software development, those that contribute get additional discounts and benefits in the future BiQ 2.0 User group. The BiQ 2.0 will continue to be priced at low costs per building as the intent is not to sell BiQ 2.0 but to achieve the objectives of intelligent buildings and the lower life cycle costs that are needed to be sustainable.

[an error occurred while processing this directive]Sinclair: What are the key areas of new technologies and features that the BiQ 2.0 will address?

Katz: The BiQ Advisory board was established and initially chaired by Tom Lohner until he passed the Chair to Chris Larry, both of TENG Solutions. Now that the LEED and Green Globes have significant new focus on energy management and the use of information technology for achieving all the objective for high performance and Net Zero buildings, the BiQ 2.0 will cover the following new areas as suggested by Tom Lohner of TENG to get the ball rolling.

Tom Lohner suggested the following market, federal and socio-economic issues, trends and requirements must be addressed in version 2.0:

Measurement and verification of building and sub-system performance compared to original high performance building specifications and/or optimized. performance following retro or re-commissioning of systems

Enable continuous commissioning by extracting real-time system data, analyzing data and developing system metrics to assess on-going performance.

Enable predictive maintenance management.

Ability to participate in the Smart Grid.

Employ wireless technologies in a cost effective fashion to improve the occupied environment and optimize energy consumption (HVAC and lighting).

Enable sustainability reporting (Global Reporting Initiative)

Provide an energy and performance metrics that enable continuous improvements and energy reduction goals to be achieved

Provide a foundation for the Net Zero energy building by 2025

In addition to the above as an active member of the NIST B2G DEWG for the SGIP, I see many other areas of how information is critical to the future interoperability of our buildings and smart grid. The recent White Paper on the Energy Services Interface and the current Roadmap Framework with the I2G DEWG all have issues that could be included in the BiQ 2.0. My own efforts with www.firstcarbonsolutions and the CSA Carbon Neutral Building rating program show the expansion of the interoperability. We started in 2003 at RealComm and now the CoreTech 2012 framework I just read about from Jim Young shows the expansion of information exchange opportunities. The Linkedin groups and other social media were not part of the initial large building interface but they are certainly now.

Sinclair: In closing, who do you want to thank and how can our readers learn more about the BiQ, get a FREE Demo and participate in the BiQ 2.0 development?

Katz: In addition to my hard working BiQ consortium partners, Frank Spitzer of the IBI Group and Jiri Skopek, now with Jones Lang LaSalle and the past Chairs of the BiQ Advisory Board mentioned above, I want to thank Roy Kolasa of Honeywell, Chair of the CABA IIBC who was instrumental in the pursuit of recognition of the BiQ as a compliment to the GREEN building ratings. Anto Budiardjo of Clasma Events was also instrumental in creating the BiQ logo and allowing me to attend and present at many of the Connectivity events where the rapidly changing building to grid issues are front and centre. The BiQ 1.0 has a link back to your www.automatedbuildings.com website as it is a great resource on the issues with all the great contributors and your many joint presentations with Jim Sinopoli and others I attended. Thanks Ken. Both the recent presentation that includes instructions for my offer of a FREE BiQ 1.0 to your readers and a video on the BiQ 1.0 Awards ceremony at the AHR Expo 2012 are on my website www.sustainable.on.ca. For those wanting a comprehensive overview of the BiQ 1.0 they can see the initial presentation and information on the www.building-iq.com website. They can also contact me at dkatz@building-iq.com

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