Software and the Data « Noel's Green (make that SUSTAINABLE) Blog

How to Sustain the Energy Efficient Design

I am worried now. A new report just came out showing that 85% of CMMS (Computerized Management and Maintenance System) software being purchased is not being used. This is software that is supposed to be used by facilities managers to streamline their work, but apparently without much eagerness.

An excellent commentary in this [...]

Current Events: Cliches

Here I will get on my high horse again.

A list of words being used too often, and thereby lose their true meaning.
In my opinion, these fit the definition of CLICHE. These words are currently being used in the media and opinion places online frequently and, in my opinion, incorrectly. English language students, [...]

Design firm uses a lot of technology (BIM and cloud computing)

BIM, IPD and “private” cloud computing at Little Diversified Architecture in Charlotte. This firm is on the top of the wave of change, being led by the author of the article, Chris France, CIO of the firm. This firm and its predecessors have always been very very good anyway. [...]

Getting a View of Energy Consumption in your building

Trends: Read the chart on your buildings energy usage. Monthly charts can usually be found on the monthly utility bills. Your utility company can provide them upon request (usually). If and when you can acquire the hourly or daily usage charts, the pattern of usage can be very revealing about whether your building is running at its best. What does a trend chart look like?

ExampleDaily building energy trend chart

An example of a daily building trend chart

The US Department of Energy has a gather and track data process listing the following steps.

STEP 2: Assess Performance
* 2.1 Gather Data
* 2.2 Establish Baselines
* 2.3 Benchmark
* 2.4 Analyze Data
* 2.5 Technical Assessments & Audits

Here I am only discussing Step 2.1, ‘Gather data’. Continue reading Getting a View of Energy Consumption in your building

BIM is a database – Naming is important

Delayed commentary on things learned and shared at a recent RevitDC meeting:

NAMING THINGS and SHARING (it’s a matter of INTEGRITY)
Naming comes up again. “Inconsistent” is the keyword. I am glad that I am not the only one who struggles with it. Shakespeare wrote “What’s in a name? That which we call [...]

ASHRAE building energy rating system

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BIM Adoption – There is a reason it is spreading fast

Money
Factoid heard at the recent Eco-Build conference in D.C.: “The number of contractors adopting Building Information Modeling has quadrupled in the past year. ” Coming from a very small core of early and aggressive users to a large cross section.

Another trend is that BIM is being used on larger projects by the [...]

Designers becoming Expert Users

An important point, when planning a project, is that the skillsets of the users may be the real driver of success. Software skills by the senior experts helps too. Understanding the database may be as important as understanding the data. Its a bit of a hurdle that most [...]

Hearing fatigue in large conferences

In the real world, even with the best (and priciest) hearing aids, hearing and speech comprehension is a bitch. The vague and unpredictable discrepancies of room and object acoustics along with regular social habits makes it hard for hard of hearing and deaf to keep up. Particularly with Type [...]

Calculating the tax benefits

While I was thinking about how to calculate the tax benefits of upgrading and changing or upgrading HVAC systems, lighting and hot water heaters, I decided to see if anyone had made a calculator to analyze it already. Sure enough, General Electric had created this EPact calculator