The First Facility Management Blog

The recently launched EMerge Alliance™ aims to lead the creation and deployment of a new power, control, and device-level technology standard for commercial interiors. This standard is being developed around the use of safe, low-voltage direct-current (DC) power. As the Alliance describes it, today’s workplaces are populated by fixed overhead lighting and a wide variety of electrical devices that are typically wired for a building’s lifetime rather than occupants’ changing needs. Building designers and owners increasingly have been seeking systems to make buildings more adaptable and integration of infrastructure, equipment, and furnishings that can improve energy efficiency.

Addressing these widespread needs for greater flexibility, efficiency, and sustainability is the focus of the EMerge Alliance, according to Alliance Chairman Brian Patterson of Armstrong World Industries. “While the ways in which we use electricity have changed dramatically, the manner in which electricity is distributed for interior devices and control purposes remains largely unchanged since the beginning of the 20th century,” says Patterson. “The EMerge Alliance is drawing from a broad and deep pool of leaders involved in the design, construction, and management of commercial buildings to create an enabling infrastructure that future proofs the workplace through the use of DC power.  The standard is a revolutionary approach to the layout and re-use of interior space.”

Founding Members of the Alliance at the Governing level include Armstrong World Industries, Johnson Controls, Nextek Power Systems, OSRAM SYLVANIA, and WAVE.

Participating Members include Crestron Electronics, Delta Power, Finelite, Kanepi Innovations, Lighting Science Group, Steelcase, WattStopper,and Zumtobel.  Eden Park Illumination is a General Member, and Supporting Members include AVP, Brinjac Engineering, CleanTech Commercialization, EdCampus, Green Plug, Houston Advanced Research Center, JB Electrical, Los Angeles Community College District, Paladino and Company, Sensor Switch, Southern California Edison and Webcor Builders.

The central feature of the proposed EMerge standard is the selective and scaleable distribution of low-voltage DC power within common infrastructures already present in commercial interiors. For example, DC power is ideally suited for integration into the ceiling plane, providing facility managers with the ability to arrange and rearrange lighting, sensors, actuators, and other devices without the need for rewiring.

The EMerge standard also embraces the trend toward using on-site alternative energy, by providing a means of direct and more efficient connection between these new energy sources and interior electrical loads, like lighting and controls.

Patterson sees the development of this new commercial technology standard as providing a platform for innovation to create even more energy efficient and individually controllable devices for the future, such as Light-Emitting Diode (LED) or other solid-state general lighting devices.

“In creating a long-reaching, ‘plug and play’ standard for integrated management and control of lighting and the many digital devices found in commercial buildings, the Alliance is focused on the nexus of today’s top priorities for building owners–energy savings and adaptability. One of the most intriguing aspects is the ability to seamlessly connect a low voltage DC infrastructure to on-site generated alternative energy sources, such as solar and wind power,” said Patterson.  “This provides sustainability-minded building owners on the leading edge of power technologies with a faster return on their investment in clean energy.“

The EMerge Alliance is accepting new members interested in developing or supporting the EMerge standard.  Membership is open and available at a variety of levels, from those interested in contributing to or making products compatible with the new standard, to companies and organizations supporting the overall development of this new platform.  The Alliance is professionally managed by Global Inventures.

About the EMerge Alliance
The EMerge Alliance is an open industry association promoting the rapid adoption of safe, low-voltage DC power distribution and use in commercial building interiors. EMerge is focused on developing a global standard that integrates interior infrastructures, power, controls and a wide variety of peripheral devices, such as lighting, in a common platform.  Building owners can gain unprecedented design and space flexibility along with reduced energy usage and improved sustainability. Alliance membership is broad-based in nature, comprised of entities such as architects, interior designers, consultants, engineering firms, government and code groups, academic and industry groups, product manufacturers, and building owners.

Earlier this year, I traveled with several other journalists to attend a high tech event in Germany. While I was on that trip, I met a brilliant man named Brian Chee from the University of Hawai’i at Manoa. In his capacity with the University, Chee not only builds and tests innovative power management solutions for server rooms and data centers, he also writes about the results and shares his findings freely with anyone who can benefit.

Currently, Chee is looking for facility professionals who would like to monitor their organizations’ energy usage through a free, Web based tool. The only requirement is that participating facilities must have networkable power meters.

Chee explains that the goal of the project is to “build a Web based system for displaying both live and historical power utilization. It’s my hope that the project will be adopted throughout the university, including 10 campuses and 30 research institutes. I will eventually be donating the source code to the public domain (open source).”

Chee is using power monitoring devices from a Portland, OR-based company called Obvius, but he is looking for partners using any type of networkable power meters. Sample tables and graphs for the project can be found at the following link.

Anyone interested in participating in this project should contact Chee directly. Here is his contact information:
Brian Chee
University of Hawai’i at Manoa
School of Ocean and Earth Sciences and Technology (SOEST)
2525 Correa Road, HIG 500
Honolulu, HI 96822
Tel: 808-956-5797
E-mail: chee@hawaii.edu

If the power goes out, will America’s small businesses be prepared? Not really, according to the results of a recent survey commissioned by Emerson Network Power, a business of Emerson.

The survey results indicate that the issue is not really “if” the power will go out but “when.” Consider these statistics:

• 79% of the small business decision makers surveyed experienced at least one power outage in 2007.
• 67% of respondents anticipate experiencing outages again in the next 12 months.
• 42% of the small businesses that experienced outages in 2007 had to close their businesses during the longest outages.

And while small business decision makers ranked outages above fire, government regulation, weather damage, theft, and employee turnover as threats to their businesses, only 39% of them have back up power systems, leaving 61% vulnerable to the negative business impacts of outages.

“Keeping the lights on, the computers running, and employees working during a power outage is important for any business, but particularly for small businesses,” said Ed Feeney, an Emerson executive vice president who heads up Emerson Network Power’s Systems business. “Their margin for error is thinner, and the competition’s tighter, so even a brief outage can do significant harm. This makes back up power systems a fundamental part of business continuity.”

In a tight economy, a plunge into darkness could put a small business in the red. On average, power outages cost about $80 billion each year, with most losses—98%—borne by businesses, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

“Emerson’s survey findings are alarming considering that more than 99% of all American businesses are small businesses, with these companies generating 45% of the total U.S. payroll,” said Steve Strauss, nationally syndicated business columnist and author of The Small Business Bible. “It is critical that small enterprises have a business continuity plan that includes back up power systems to keep the business running when the main power source goes down.”

John Zagara, owner of Zagara’s Marketplace, a Cleveland, OH area supermarket, needs no convincing. “During the massive blackout of August 2003, the power went out mid-afternoon. Our back up power system automatically switched my electrical source to a natural gas powered generator which ran all registers and certain refrigerated equipment,” Zagara said. “Our front end staff continued to check out customers until closing at 9 p.m. Our customers were in awe of our service delivery.” Zagara’s back up power equipment enabled him to not only continue serving customers, but to save meat and frozen foods, valuable perishable inventory.

Zagara utilizes a back up generator and an ASCO power transfer switch. A power transfer switch automatically detects a loss of power from the main power source and turns on a back up generator within seconds. When the main source of power returns, the switch safely shuts down the generator and reconnects to the main power source.

To help small businesses understand the impacts of power outages, Emerson Network Power has launched a back-up power information resource at www.emerson.com/smallbusiness. It includes an online tool small companies can use to measure their vulnerability to the impacts of outages.

Emerson Network Power released the findings of the survey in conjunction with the fifth anniversary of the Great Blackout of 2003, which began on Aug. 14, 2003, when an overgrown tree tangled with sagging power lines in Ohio and triggered a series of human and technology gaffes that resulted in the largest power outage in North American history. The blackout left 50 million people in the Northeastern United States and Canada in the dark—some for days—and cost the economy an estimated $6 billion in productivity.