As we head into the final quarter of 2023, and we can see the 2024 AHR Expo and Smarter Summit is almost exactly four months away, it’s probably a good time to give an update on the activities, focus, and work that has been happening with the Coalition for Smarter Buildings (C4SB.org).
The foundational principals of C4SB have always been rooted in the pursuit of breaking down barriers that have long existed, hindered acceleration, and limited the of adoption Smarter Building Technologies. For a couple years now, there have been committees of volunteers working on frameworks, structure, guidance, and demonstrations (coming soon!) of technology and processes that will help all stakeholders see that there is a clear path for those that are seeking interoperable alternatives for their Smarter Buildings Journey.
We want to invite you to join us for C4SB Office Hour on the first Thursday of each month at 11:00 eastern. Technical difficulties not-withstanding (sorry to those that were not able to join the zoom call last month), we will host an interactive session for those that want to know more about how to participate, learn, adopt or leverage the work of our community.
In preparation for Office Hours, it occurred to us that we should point out a few documents, links, papers and reference materials that could be helpful in understanding what motivates, underlies, and supports the work and vision of C4SB. Not “required reading”, or a prerequisite for participation by any means, just a glimpse behind-the-scenes. Search for any of these. There’s something here for everyone; techies, designers, entrepreneurs, policy wonks, executives, and builders.
- GEB’s – National Roadmap for Grid Interactive Efficient Buildings
- Harbor Research – Insights
- CSI Master Format – Div2525 Framework v1.0
- CNCF – Kubernetes, Containers, Orchestration – IBB Architecture
We’re confident that there are other significant articles, papers and links that should be on this list. Please don’t hesitate to add a response or DM us. Some of these get pretty deep, some of them might be worth skimming (or have chatGPT skim them for you), but each has a significant role in the mind-set or base-line from which C4SB is operating.
The “GEBs Document”, published by the U.S. Department of Energy has been central to the mission of C4SB from the very beginning. The authors are certainly aware that the benefits of Smarter Buildings extend far beyond “just energy” (ie: operations, occupant experience, maintenance, lifecycle optimization, etc), but GEBs lays out many of the fundamental motivators and desired outcomes of a more digitized built-environment.
The work of our friends at Harbor Research consistently hits-the-nail-on-the-head regarding the massive opportunity that awaits any and all organizations that embrace interoperability and the “System-of-Sytems” approach to technology. Backed by research and deep experience with Digital Transformation Process, the INSIGHTS that Harbor produces never fail to help give context to the wonderful world of technology. We particularly like the “By Invitation Only” and the “System of Systems” papers.
The work we are doing in our “Div2525 Framework” committee is intended as an enhancement to the age-old Procurement and Delivery process that has been evolving for hundreds of years under the watchful eye of organizations like AIA (architects and engineers) and CSI (contractors, buyers, specifiers and their respective legal-staffs). All new technologies, processes, business-models or useful-inventions can benefits from being “adapted” to existing buying/selling methods. Henry Ford’s “Faster Horses” didn’t need hay or horseshoes, but he certainly benefitted and leveraged the existing infrastructure of roads and stables (ev charging locations).
Finally, for the Tech-Curious (and those that want to suggest an alternative career-path for their ambitious middle-schoolers), look into the work of the Linux-community-hosted Cloud Native Computing Foundation. CNCF is an organization that promotes and directs the specific open-source code that is at the heart of the current tech-boom. Kubernetes was originally developed by Google, but now is run by CNCF. Kubernetes has been instrumental in blowing the doors off the previous limitations faced by software and hardware architects. And we’re just at the beginning of the tech-evolution (look up NVIDIA). Brian Collins dropped a great piece on August 11th that serves as a “beginners guide”. Check it out. (https://www.automatedbuildings.com/2023/08/11/cloud-native-a-beginners-guide/)
Can’t wrap this up without giving a shout-out to Lauren Scott for her contributions and specifically the post on September 9th (https://www.automatedbuildings.com/2023/09/09/embracing-the-eco-curious/). C4SB enthusiastically welcomes newbies and OG’s alike.
Written By: Monika Davis and Rick Justis
