by Brianna Crandall — October 17, 2012—Daintree Networks Inc., a leading provider of wireless control solutions for smart buildings, recently announced that its ControlScope solution has been selected for use in two trial projects for the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) 2012 Green Proving Ground program, which leverages the GSA’s real estate portfolio to evaluate innovative sustainable building technologies for broad implementation in federal agencies and often eventually the real estate industry as a whole. The GSA said it chooses technologies for its pilot projects that demonstrate the greatest potential to meet the GSA’s sustainability goals.
Tasked in 2007 with a 30% metered energy reduction by 2015, the GSA is actively investigating and implementing energy-saving projects. According to the agency, lighting is the largest electrical load for its portfolio and accounts for 30% of the total energy consumed by GSA office buildings. As the largest public real estate organization in the nation, the GSA provides approximately 354 million square feet of office space to more than a million federal employees in 2,100 towns, so the potential for savings is significant, notes Daintree.
Industry averages cited in an article in LEUKOS, The Journal of the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America, suggest typical lighting control energy savings of: 28% for daylighting, 24% for occupancy, and 38% for multiple approaches. The GSA’s own earlier study of occupant responsive lighting found that energy savings from responsive lighting systems ranged from 27% to 63%, adds Daintree.
Daintree’s ControlScope solution will be used in two GPG office building trials in California. In a Sacramento trial, ControlScope will be used to control existing fluorescent lighting, while in a San Francisco trial, ControlScope will be used in conjunction with new light-emitting diode (LED) fixtures from another participating 2012 GPG vendor. A baseline will be established, and metered energy usage will be monitored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Results from the trials will be published in early 2014.
While these particular projects are initially limited in scope to lighting control and monitoring, once installed, lighting devices connected in a wireless network provide the infrastructure for control and monitoring of non-lighting wireless devices, such as plug load controllers, power meters, and thermostats, explains Daintree. The company says that ControlScope can evolve with the building—or campus, or enterprise—so building managers and owners can avail themselves of an ever-growing set of building management capabilities at their own pace. Daintree expects the trial results to lay the foundation for the GSA to realize the value of wireless infrastructure solutions that enable smart buildings.
Daintree Networks innovates next-generation commercial and industrial building automation. The company provides wireless controls solutions for smart buildings, reportedly delivering dramatic energy and operational efficiency improvements as well as occupant-friendly work environments, all in a simpler, more cost-effective way than ever before. A pioneer in wireless mesh networking and control since its founding in 2003, the company says it has used its extensive experience to develop the market’s first truly open, easy-to-install, easy-to-use solution for wireless building control.
