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Building Lighting Control System

The main message from Earth Day 2012 is that this isn’t about tree-hugging anymore; it’s about the way we live. We need to use our resources in a smarter way. With lighting representing over 40% of our electrical energy usage it is the easiest place to make a difference for the planet and our wallet. It is not just the cost of the electricity but it also puts higher burden on HVAC, wastes lamp life, which all increase maintenance and building management costs. Advanced Control has the technology to help you increase your building’s electricity efficiency and lower your costs with lighting control.

The range of control can be from a basic control system for lighting and equipment switching applications which are ideal for use in facilities where time-of-day control is being managed from a time clock or centralized building management system to a fully automatic lighting control for all of your facilities lighting circuits. Lighting control can be applied to indoor areas such as offices, cubicles, cafeterias, and storage areas as well as outdoor parking lots, garages, walkways, and signs. These lighting control systems can be incorporated as part of a new construction project or retrofitted to your facilities existing lighting circuits to allow all types of buildings to have the efficient control of the lighting circuits.

By using a program like Square D lighting, you gain control over scheduling, occupant control, and dimming control over all the lighting systems in your buildings. This safety and security also saves money when it comes to your energy bill. Advanced Control has programs that give users the freedom to opt for a telephone or an internet based override system.

There are different options when selecting the appropriate Square D Lighting control products for your business. Powerlink G3 has remote operated circuit breakers that control electronics. The Clipsal product has a decentralized control network with input and output lighting control devices. Clipsal allows users to dim lighting as well as turn it off. Occupancy sensors are easy to install and can turn lighting on and off based on occupancy. Occupancy sensors have three parts so it is lost cost lighting control and saves 25% on average electricity bills.

Call Advanced Control Corporation today and let one of our lighting specialists customize a program for your building. Advanced Control provides building automation in South Florida, as well as energy management, access control, CCTV solutions and more. For more information, call 954-491-6660 today.

Building Automation Systems are Energy Management

Building automation systems market will grow continue to grow globally and is expected to reach a total market value of more than $36 billion by 2015 according to a new market analysis by ABI Research. Recessions always bring a re-evaluation of energy management and calls for new ways to ensure organizations and nations use energy more efficiently. The same is true in the latest downturn and it is driving significant interest and activity in the market for building automation systems.

Energy use within commercial buildings has been growing year-on-year for decades and now accounts for up to 20% of national energy consumption in many developed countries. Worldwide, buildings consume approximately 42% of all electricity, surpassing any other asset. This makes it a prime target for energy efficiency and environmental measures. To achieve sustainable energy consumption levels, it is essential that appropriate and effective building management systems be employed. These building automation systems must include applications such as HVAC and lighting controls.

Building automation technology by Advanced Control Corporation provides industry-leading HVAC technology. Temperature control through the proper building automation system is an ideal way to lower energy consumption by insuring that each area is accurately monitored and maintaining the specified set points. The smart building automation software that is used by Advanced Control Corporation analyzes energy use to provide energy savings and still maintain the comfort of the inhabitants. In addition, it has the capacity to receive, store and analyze metering and sensor data provided to optimize and track energy use.

Advanced Control also has the technology to help you increase your building’s electricity efficiency and lower your costs with lighting control. The range of control can be from a basic control system for lighting and equipment switching applications which are ideal for use in facilities where time-of-day control is being managed from a time clock or centralized building management system to a fully automatic lighting control for all of your facilities lighting circuits. These lighting control systems can be incorporated as part of a new construction project or retrofitted to your facilities existing lighting circuits to allow all types of buildings to have the efficient control of the lighting circuits.

Call Advanced Control Corporation today and let one of our energy experts customize a building automation system for your company. Advanced Control provides building automation in South Florida, as well as energy management, access control, CCTV solutions and more. For more information, call 954-491-6660 today.

Tax Reform = Energy Management

As the elections season begins, tax reform is quickly becoming a national focus. With support from both the democrats and republicans legislation should be introduced next year. Simplifying the tax code and eliminating many credits and deductions should be on tap. Tax reform provides us with an opportunity to remove barriers to efficiency investments imbedded in the current tax code and to use the tax code as a tool to support more efficient energy management in the future more than current provisions do.

ACEEE, American Council for Energy-Efficient Economy has begun laying the groundwork for tax reform and energy efficiency with a series of papers. This week they released the second in the series entitled Modifying How Energy Costs Are Treated for Business Tax Purposes in Order to Remove Barriers and Increase Energy Efficiency.

Currently the tax code does not encourage real energy savings by businesses. Since energy bills count as a business expense and are subtracted from the total amount of taxable income, effectively, the federal government is typically “paying” 25% of business energy costs (based on the average effective business tax rate of about 25%). Subsidizing energy costs enables higher energy consumption.

When a firm makes capital investments, these expenses must be depreciated, meaning they are only recovered gradually. In the meantime the firm must carry the un-depreciated value on its books, which can reduce the incentive to make investments.

ACEEE suggests that the tax code should be structured to encourage businesses to reduce energy consumption instead of encouraging energy waste. They suggest three new ways to treat business energy costs in the tax code. The first way would shift business taxes to focus on income, not expenses as the federal income tax does. Tax 3-4% of the revenue instead of the current tax that taxes the profits at about 25%. The second approach is also simple it would eliminate deductibility for just energy costs, although partial deductions would still be allowed for firms with very high energy costs as a percent of revenues, in order to not put these firms at a disadvantage in international trade. The third, more complicated, approach would reward businesses that operate with below-average energy costs relative to the average in their industry, while penalizing businesses that consume large amounts of energy. The paper included examples to illustrate how each of these options might work.

The options presented in this paper would reduce the need for specialized tax incentives currently in place energy efficiency while simplifying the tax code. The ACEEE realizes that tax code reform is not all about energy efficiency but feels we should use the code to encourage business to improve their energy management systems.

Advanced Control can help your business reduce its energy consumption right now! As a leader in building automation, access control, system integration and CCTV systems and service in South Florida, Advanced Control has the expertise to get your company energy efficient. If you are interested in improving your energy management system, contact our specialists today at 954-491-660.

Green Button Initiative

Last month the White House called for power companies to help people in the United States better manage their energy usage. So your electricity bill may be expanding with new support from the private sector and government agencies.

Nine new utilities and electricity suppliers have answered the White House’s call and now more than 15 million Americans are able to view their electricity usage electronically via the Green Button initiative. These suppliers will make their customers’ energy-usage information available on their websites so people can quickly make informed decisions about how to better use their power. Essentially you will be able to click a green button on a website to view your energy usage information.

The feds modeled Green Button after a similar initiative called Blue Button that lets people click a button online to view their personal health data and share it with healthcare providers and other trusted health partners.

On April 5^th the Department of Energy will launch it Apps for Energy challenge on the Challenge.gov website. Sponsored by PG&E and Itron, this challenge will offer a $100,000 grand prize to the best application that leverages open energy data to help people use electricity and other power utilities more effectively.

This data also is spawning new Web and smartphone applications from the private sector that help people perform a number of energy efficiency-related actions, such as choose the most economical rate plan for their usage patterns; choose the correct size for and finance rooftop solar panels; and create a more energy-efficient lifestyle.

As a leader in building automation, Advanced Control Corporation is delighted to the see White House’s effort to help people manage electricity usage. Advanced Control Corporation can help you manage your buildings energy usage and provides smartphone applications with tenant override technology that is personally tailored to fit your building automation needs. The smartphone based override module allows tenants the capability to override HVAC, lighting, and temperature controls. Advanced Control Corporation implements a proven strategy for superior energy management with tools and resources to help each step of the way. If you are interested and finding out more information about energy management contact Advanced Control Corporation at 954.491.6660 today!

Daylight Savings Time- Energy Savings?

Spring Ahead, Fall Back- we all know the routine. Daylight Savings Time started again on March 4^th at 2am. One of the biggest reasons we change our clocks to Daylight Saving Time (DST) is that it reportedly saves electricity. Newer studies, however, are challenging this idea.

Energy use and the demand for electricity for lighting our homes is directly related to when we go to bed and when we get up. In the average home, 25 percent of all the electricity we use is for lighting and small appliances, such as TVs, computers and stereos. A good percentage of energy consumed by lighting and appliances occurs in the evening when families are home and up. Daylight Saving Time “makes” the sun “set” one hour later and therefore reduces the period between sunset and bedtime by one hour. By moving the clock ahead one hour, we can cut the amount of electricity we consume each day. We also use less electricity because we are home fewer hours during the “longer” days of spring and summer. Most people plan outdoor activities in the extra daylight hours. When we are not at home, we don’t turn on the appliances and lights.

Although the amounts of electricity saved per household are small – they add up. Studies done in the 1970s by the U.S. Department of Transportation show that we trim the entire country’s electricity usage by about one percent each day with Daylight Saving Time.

In May 2011 a report by the California Energy Commission recommended that going to a year- round DST could help with the electricity problems of that state.

A report was released in May 2001 by the California Energy Commission to see if creating an early DST or going to a year-round DST will help with the electricity problems the state faced in 2000-2002 Winter DST would cut winter peak electricity use by around 3.4 percent. Summer Double DST would cause a smaller and more uncertain drop in the peak, but it could still save hundreds of millions of dollars because it would shift electricity use to low demand (cheaper) morning hours and decrease electricity use during higher demand hours.

A 2008 report from the University of Santa Barbara concludes that Daylight Saving Time in Indiana actually increases residential electricity demand. It looked at the part of the state that did not observe DST. Now the whole state observes DST. After reviewing this report the state of California does not believe its findings would hold true in California or the rest of the country as Indiana uses little residential air conditioning in the summer, Indiana is located in western edge of the same time zone as Maine and Florida, but the sun actually comes up at an earlier time than those other two states and Indiana’s north-south location will affect how long the days are in the summer and might very well lead to different results in different areas of the state.

We do know for sure that turning off lights, appliances and air conditioning does save electricity and money any time of the year. Lights left on in an unoccupied office building are a waste of resources and money. Advanced Control Corporation provides the ability to expand your building automation system to include lighting control for your building. The range of control can be from a basic control system for lighting and equipment switching applications which are ideal for use in facilities where time-of-day control is being managed from a time clock or centralized building management system to a fully automatic lighting control for all of your facilities lighting circuits. Advanced Control Corporation implements a proven strategy for superior energy management with tools and resources to help each step of the way. If you are interested and finding out more information about lighting control and energy management contact Advanced Control Corporation at 954.491.6660 today!