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Retrofitting a Building with Building Automation

The Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ 2012 audit of energy found that the State of Florida has benefited from the investment of ARRA funds with emission reduction, energy savings, energy cost savings, and job creation and retention. “Some recipients, such as local governments, reported progress in energy savings in areas that involved building retrofits, equipment upgrades, and the installation of more efficient lighting. These returns resulted in reductions in greenhouse gases and electric and natural gas consumption, as well as overall dollars saved through increased energy efficiency.”

A key component of retrofitting a building for cost effective energy management is building automation. Building automation controls energy costs by giving you control over lighting and HVAC equipment- the systems that use the most energy. Ideal business automation is seamless, without interrupting the daily routine of inhabitants. Advanced Control Corporation delivers seamless integration in a cost effective manner. Via various open protocols, our building automation systems can be installed in buildings with existing HVAC equipment and other building automation components. Our featured systems can communicate to the entire building by interfacing with the systems of other manufacturers and sharing information between systems including fire alarms, lighting controls, CCTV systems, and more.

Advanced Control Corporation provides industry-leading HVAC technology to help you increase your building’s electricity efficiency and lower your costs. Temperature control lowers energy consumption by insuring that each area is accurately monitored and maintaining the specified set points through building automation. The smart building automation software used by Advanced Control Corporation analyzes energy use to provide energy savings while maintaining the comfort of the inhabitants. It also provides the capacity to receive, store and analyze metering and sensor data provided to optimize and track energy use.

Whether you are on the grounds or away, a complete building automation solution will give you total control of your structure. Automatic after-hourstenant override via the internet or a touch-tone phone after business hours is Advanced Control Corporation’s customized solution that enables tenants to override preset building automation scheduling and HVAC systems. Advanced Control’s systems have the ability to accommodate a high volume of tenants with ease. Our systems assign equipment to specified zones, allowing multiple tenant access to the same mechanical equipment.

Advanced Control provides building automation in South Florida, as well as energy management, access control, CCTV solutions and more. Contact Advanced Control Corporation at 954-491-6660 today and let one of our energy experts customize a building automation systemfor your company.

A Website for Buildings, Honestly

Really a website for buildings? Yes, Honest Buildings is a brand new beta website that allows users to find and compare information, rating and reviews for every commercial or residential building in the U.S. Search an address in one of 5,570 cities, and ratings on the building’s walkability, energy use, and LEED compliance shed light on its green performance. Join the network, and you can review, comment on, or add photos of a building. Members who design, build, and repair buildings can showcase particular projects and link them to the building’s profile page. The website tools have been billed as a Yelp for buildings and a Linked-In for building professionals. As the site matures, the creators see it developing into an organic gathering place for discourse on the built environment – a social media hub just for buildings.

The project started when founder Riggs Kubiak sought to help property owners adopt energy efficiency measures but lacked the tools to help owners see how similar buildings performed. The website has partnered with the Environmental Defense Fund, ENERGY STAR, Building Operator’s Certification, and CUNY High Performance Building Lab for data and is seeking even more partnership with groups to make plugging performance and other metrics for a building easy – from skyscrapers to houses. Because Honest Buildings gets their data directly from these sources it’s reliable. Plus, anyone can augment or dispute incorrect information.

Honest Buildings is not just about rating a building’s energy use and green status. It is also a marketplace where owners can shop for qualified building service providers, from HVAC to solar. Vendors post project portfolios on the site, linking them to buildings. This creates a “health record” for individual buildings, and it also allows owners to review the track record and capabilities of vendors.

Yes, even if you do not own a large, green office building Honest Buildings is for you. If you’re trying to sell your home, you could upload photos and advertise amenities that would be attractive to buyers. Looking for a new house, apartment or office space, you could review the buildings efficiency and feedback from the current tenants on that building. The availability of this data should ultimately drive competition for buildings to be greener, which is a good thing for everyone.

So go ahead, check out your home, office building see who is the greenest in your neighborhood.

As a leader in building automation, Advanced Control Corporation is delighted to that this information will be available to everyone. Want to up your building’s status? If you are considering increasing your building’s efficiency, reducing your carbon footprint and saving money, contact Advanced Control Corporation today. From lighting control and air quality control to energy management and small building solutions, Advanced Control has the knowledge, skill and expertise to find the ideal solution for you. To learn more, call 954.491.6660 today.

Incentives That Can Make Your Company Energy Efficient

Various state incentives have dramatically increased their business programs that are aimed at helping companies shift over to going green by reducing the use of conventional energy sources, which will help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Such incentives will greatly help companies achieve their environmental effects. Buildings constructed between 2006 and 2013, taking into account the energy cost of building envelope, heating, water heating, cooling and lighting systems can benefit from the tax relief in an effort to have all new builds “Go Green.” Continue reading “Incentives That Can Make Your Company Energy Efficient” »

Energy Efficient Grants and Building Automation Provide Hope for Cities with Poor Energy Management

Urban cities with a high concentration of renting tenants tend to face a number of energy management and building energy efficiency problems. One such town plans to make a stronger move towards building automation and energy efficiency upgrades that not only decrease the amount of energy wasted, but helps lower the energy bills of tenants. Boston, Massachusetts is hoping to put into place a city-wide program benefitting from federal funds to provide incentives that encourage landlords to invest in retrofitting their buildings and focusing more on energy management.

Governor Deval L. Patrick and his administration is seeking to upgrade energy efficiency practices for entire neighborhoods throughout Massachusetts through an application for a federal stimulus grant in the amount of $60 million. Boston plans to target a specific high-rental area that could potentially face energy bill savings of $8.6 million within 5 years of beginning the program.

Massachusetts plans to put $45 million toward energy-efficient retrofits throughout the state, and $15 million toward an energy retrofit program in Boston’s Blue Hill Avenue corridor, an area with a high amount of rental properties. The administration estimates energy upgrades would produce over $41 million in energy bill savings by the end of the project’s third year. Within the three-year period, the projects is estimated to create or retain nearly 5,000 green economy jobs throughout the state, including HVAC vendors and installers, weatherization contractors,energy assessors, and project support employees.

Over the next three month, the United States Department of Energy is reported to be rewarding funds for 20 projects costing anywhere from $5 million to $75 million to help perpetuate energy efficiency upgrades throughout the nation, and Massachusetts hopes to be among recipients.

Advanced Control Corporation offers a large selection of environmentally-sound, energy-efficient building solutions for building automation, energy management, access control and CCTV Security Solutions. Our experience in building automation solutions and security automation solutions give us the skill set necessary to produce optimal results every time for our clientele.

Climate Change, Green Energy, Building Automation Top Political Priority

Climate change is back in the spotlight politically, as legislation plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions and add a $3.4 billion budget towards clean energy funds. Hearings have begun in a congressional committee on “cap-and-trade” bill, which would require a decrease in emissions by more than 80 percent over the course of the next forty years. New energy management plans will include building automation and building energy efficiency

In recent years, global warming-related issues have been a.mong top political debates. Democrats tend to be more welcoming to proposals created to slow climate change, while governing Republicans express concerns not only about whether there is a need for decreased energy consumption, but about what the financial impact on the economy these changes would create.

Current legislation is pushing for an increased investment in a clean energy agenda within the United States. With hopes to run with that agenda, hearings have begun with the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, speaking on the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act. Those in favor of the bill believe the bill would decrease domestic greenhouse gas emissions by 20% before 2020, and by over 80% by 2050 by enacting a cap-and-trade program through which companies could purchase and sell emissions credits.

About30% of the emissions credits would be granted to the electric power sector for the next 17 years, in attempt to rid detrimental economic effects. Democrats believe the bill will stimulate the creation of new jobs in the “green energy” field.

Recently the president announced the largest investment toward energy grid modernization in U.S. history. At a solar energy center in Florida, he announced an investment grant worth $3.4 billion dollars to go toward Smart Grid investment awards. This grant will support the installation of “smart meters”, created to help consumers monitor and control the energy consumption of their homes and businesses.

Advanced Control Corporation offers an array of environmentally sound solutions for building automation, energy management, access control and CCTV Solutions. Our experience and continuing work in building automation solutions and security automation solutions give us the skill set necessary to produce optimal results every time for our clientele.