For: www.wireville.com
"Heard On The Street" Column
Issue: August 2007
By: Frank Bisbee

Bizzbee’s Buzz

Safety is too important to ignore.  One of the most neglected areas of safety in the world of cabling infrastructure is improper firestopping.  Over the years, we have seen many firewalls that looked more like Swiss cheese than a proper barrier against the spread of fire, toxic gasses, and smoke. 

As we perform our MACs (Moves, Adds, & Changes), we often are required to penetrate the firewalls.  Communications cabling has gone through many changes and upgrades over the past several decades.  Often the cabling technicians are completely untrained or improperly trained on the firestopping methods and code requirements. 

Good news! There is training available from Unique Fire Stop Products (http://www.uniquefirestop.com/) and 3M (http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/FP/FireProtection/).  The training available from Unique Fire Stop Products and the resultant certification is available online at no charge. 

3M has been creating innovative firestop systems for more than 25 years.  Their complete line of fire protection products help stop the spread of fire, smoke and toxic gas.  To help ensure these products and systems are properly installed, 3M Fire Protection recently developed an On-Line Fire Protection Training Program called e-Train.  The training from 3M is available for a small charge of $75.00. 

Today, there are many fire stop products available on the market that meet the minimum requirements of the building codes.  Unfortunately, some of these newer products have ignored the obvious safety hazard associated with the toxic gasses generated in a typical fire scenario.  Almost 80 percent of the fatalities in a fire scenario are attributed to toxic gasses and smoke.  Toxic gasses and smoke also are credited with incapacitation of the building occupants.  If you can’t see or breath, it is very difficult to escape the building.  At a recent tradeshow, we saw several examples of code-compliant firestop products that you could see through.  These types of products do not seal the penetration and allow the flow of toxic gasses and smoke through the fire barrier.  BIG PROBLEM!

Fire stop products are all about SAFETY, not marketing hype.  We must maintain the firewalls in order to provide a reasonable safety barrier for the people in the building.

But that’s just my opinion,

Frank Bisbee
"Heard On The Street" Monthly Column
www.wireville.com
4949 Sunbeam Rd, Suite 16
Jacksonville, FL 32257
(904) 645-9077 office
(904) 645-9058 fax
frank@wireville.com

Custom Design Group Announcement

SMP Data Communications is pleased to announce the creation of its Custom Design Group.  This group will make the core competencies of SMP, previously limited to select partners, available to a broader base of beneficiaries.  

SMP has built a reputation of turning ideas into quality products in a short window.  In this development process, SMP works within both customer identified and application driven specifications.  Coupled with SMP's history of industry knowledge, the result is a quality product, produced economically and quickly.

SMP was founded as an OEM manufacturer through a solid base of intellectual property and reputable licensing policies.  OEM partnerships are a highly valued segment of SMP's current business model and are the cornerstone of the Custom Design Group.  Through a corporate policy of Lean Manufacturing and Design, SMP is now able to open these capabilities up to a broader customer base including both additional OEM partnerships and End Users.

The Custom Design Group will offer solutions-oriented product development to the people on the front lines...the End Users.  Only the users can confirm the true features and benefits of a product.  Therefore, the Custom Design Group will have a focus on End User customization to drive New Product Development with an application-based focus.  

"SMP is well known for its Engineering and Manufacturing abilities in the OEM world.  Since 1990, SMP has assisted OEM manufacturers and equipment manufacturers in the development process by getting products to market faster and more efficiently.  We are excited about the organization of the Custom Design Group and bringing these capabilities to End Users, where new product development begins." - Brad Everette, Marketing and Business Development Manager    www.smpdata.com

BOMA Magazine Receives Communicator & Apex Awards

The BOMA Magazine received an Award of Distinction in the print media category of the 2007 Communicator Awards. The Communicator Awards is the leading international awards program recognizing creative excellence in the communication field. The magazine also received a 2007 APEX Award for Publication Excellence in the Most Improved Magazines & Journals category.

The BOMA Magazine was completely redesigned in 2007 with Stamats Business Media as the new publishing partner.  www.boma.org

John Maisel Speaks To ElectricTV

The future of smart systems that network and support the structures that we live in and work in is changing.

Integrated Building Systems is evolving into a very powerful technology that is changing the old rules.

This is a "must see" message on the new competitive edge in real estate

In Commercial Real Estate, It used to be “location. Location. LOCATION.” That rule is changing to: “I don’t care where it is if it isn’t integrated and intelligent, it isn’t what we want.”  Check out this video online on IBS technology. VERY POWERFUL MESSAGE.

http://www.Electrical Contractor Magazine.com/index.cfm?fa=article&articleID=7838

John Maisel Speaks to ElectricTV

Published: June 2007

The most recent issue of ElectricTV.net, a bimonthly video E-zine focusing on issues and current trends in the electrical industry, features an interview with John Maisel, publisher of ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR and Security + Life Safety Systems magazines. Watch as John speaks about the transition of building construction into integrated building systems and the electrical contractor's role in that trend. www.jwm@necanet.org

Also, ElectricTV has plenty of other videos on related subjects. Be sure to visit and bookmark www.electrictv.net.

Attend the 2007 BICSI Fall Conference

Educate. Motivate. Lead. Succeed.

Register today at www.bicsi.org to experience the many educational and networking opportunities that are planned for you. You will leave the 2007 Fall Conference more effective in your job, better informed, and more valuable in the ITS marketplace.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Corning Announces Breakthrough Optical Fiber Technology

Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW)  announced the development of a new optical fiber-based technology that solves an historic technical challenge for telecommunications carriers installing fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) networks.  

Corning’s breakthrough is based on a nanoStructures™ optical fiber design that allows the cabled fiber to be bent around very tight corners with virtually no signal loss.  These improved attributes will enable telecommunications carriers to economically offer true high-speed Internet, voice and HDTV services to virtually all commercial and residential (apartment and condominium) buildings.  Current optical fiber installations lose signal strength and effectiveness when bent around corners and routed through a building, making it difficult and expensive to run fiber all the way to customers’ homes. 

“This is a game-changing technology for telecommunications applications,” said Peter F. Volanakis, president and chief operating officer at Corning.  “We have developed an optical fiber cable that is as rugged as copper cable but with all of the bandwidth benefits of fiber.  By making fundamental changes in the way light travels in the fiber, we were able to create a new optical fiber that is over 100 times more bendable than standard fibers.”  Corning’s newest fiber technology achieves this while maintaining compatibility with industry performance standards, existing manufacturing processes and installation procedures.  “So, customers don’t have to sacrifice one benefit to get another,” he said.

“There are more than 680 million apartment homes worldwide, including more than 25 million in the United States.  The high cost of installation and difficulty in delivering fiber to the home made this market unappealing to most providers.  We have been working closely with these carriers to create a solution that will make this more economically viable for them and for their customers,” he said. 

One of the early proponents of this emerging technology was Verizon Communications Inc.  In February of this year, Corning and Verizon commissioned a joint working team to solve the problems of multiple dwelling unit installation using this new fiber solution.  “Continued innovation in advanced telecommunications networks is critical to the long-term success of Verizon and our ability to provide our FiOS service on a mass scale in the United States,” said Paul Lacouture, executive vice president of Engineering and Technology, Verizon Telecom Group.  “We are working closely with Corning to solve the challenges of providing fiber solutions to high-rise apartment complexes across the United States.  This fiber technology will enable us to bring faster Internet speeds, higher-quality high-definition content, and more interactive capabilities than any other platform which exists today.”

Corning first introduced low-loss optical fiber in the early 1970s.  Optical fibers are waveguides that transmit light within the fiber’s central region, or core.  However, with standard single-mode fiber, tight bends cause leakage of the light, resulting in signal loss or optical power degradation.  A bend or curve that is too tight will result in total signal loss.  With Corning’s new nanoStructures design, the optical fiber maintains its signal strength when bent or curved, with performance results 100 times better than standard single-mode fibers.  The new fiber also enables simpler and more aesthetically pleasing designs for the cable, hardware and equipment used in the deployment.

Corning will introduce a full suite of optical fiber, cable and hardware and equipment solutions based on its nanoStructures technology platform this fall at the Fiber-to-the-Home Conference in Orlando, Fla., Sept. 30 – Oct. 4.   (www.corning.com)

Here to Stay Sustainable Design Is No Passing Phase

Sustainable development involves … meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs,” was said at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, and subsequently adopted by the President’s Council on Sustainable Development. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) Handbook, according to the College of Design, states that “sustainability refers to the ability of a society, ecosystem, or any such ongoing system to continue functioning into the indefinite future.” Such declarations imply sustainability is not limited to impacts on the natural environment but on people and communities as well. “Sustainable design is design in which built and artificial systems, human health, and natural ecosystems are holistically considered and addressed, with the end goal of designing healthier places to live and work that do little or no damage to the environment,” said Max Zahniser, a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) accredited professional and program manager for the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), Washington, D.C.

The current movement toward more ecologically sound design principles has been based partly on the increased understanding that common development practice is not sustainable. Some of the most important ecological issues impacted by common design practices include global climate change, declining sources of nonrenewable fuels, habitat destruction and loss of biodiversity, and toxic pollution.

“Sustainable design incorporates those features which minimize a building’s impact on the environment and that are long-lasting,” said Brian Castelli, COO and executive vice president for the Alliance to Save Energy (ASE), Washington, D.C.

Sustainable design means accounting for reusing and recycling materials; using safe and nontoxic materials that don’t negatively affect indoor air quality; and minimizing landfill impact, deforestation and degradation of the natural environment. Sustainable design also means using architecture and technology to better manage a building’s response to the environment and to better manage the resources used to construct and orient it, said Mark LaLiberte, president of Building Knowledge Inc., Minneapolis, Minn., and trainer for the National Houses That Work educational series offered by the Energy and Environmental Building Association, Bloomington, Minn.

Evolution of sustainable design

The green movement of the 1970s was an offshoot of the ’60s culture that was searching for a clean, organic environment, according to Castelli. Then, in the 1990s, the movement recognized an opportunity to promote global sustainability.

“The ideas of more than a decade ago were an advancement of the community green concepts of the 1960s and ’70s, but they had evolved to examine making state, country and global infrastructures more sustainable,” Castelli said.

Gary Gerber, president of design/build firm Sun Light & Power Co., Berkeley, Calif., and board member of Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility (ADPSR), San Francisco, agrees that the movements of the 1970s and 1990s were similar, and today, society is rediscovering many of the concepts put forth then, such as the use of solar hot water and the promotion of sustainable forestry practices.

“However, we are a bit beyond the 1970s in terms of knowledge and sophistication,” Gerber said. “Back then, the idea of resource conversation was more politically based, while today there is more urgency concerning global resource depletion, as we are actually running out of cheap oil.”

Although earlier sustainable design movements strived to make buildings more efficient by using alternative resources, the architecture and design concepts at that time were not particularly aesthetically pleasing to the average buyer, LaLiberte said.

“Since then, we have realized that buildings can be designed to be aesthetic and still remarkably functional in terms of resource use and energy conservation,” he said. Changes in architectural concepts, along with new or advanced technologies, such as more efficient photovoltaics and more efficient insulation techniques, have led to more mainstream acceptance and demand for sustainable buildings.

“The current sustainable design movement is crossing party lines in a way it never has,” Zahniser said. Rising oil and gasoline prices, a desire to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil, the human health and productivity benefits, and the availability of skilled practitioners that can deliver green buildings at little or no premium over traditional construction all are bolstering the solid business case for sustainable design.

“What the current chapter of the green and green building movements has in common with the previous incarnations is that they are value driven. The current evolutionary state is more realistic than its predecessors and more aware of other human systems, such as global economics, but the drivers still have harmony with natural systems at its heart,” Zahniser said.

According to Castelli, sustainable design has also gained new ground today because the way buildings have been traditionally built has not actually been economically viable.

“Current sustainable design methods create ways to construct buildings differently than before but with the same quality end-product with lower energy costs and improved indoor air quality,” Castelli said.

Previously, businesses were not necessarily attracted to the concept of sustainable design, perhaps believing it was a phase and too expensive. However, according to Gerber, today’s economic incentives are actually engaging businesses to use sustainable design concepts.

“Huge, multinational companies are now adopting green practices and are seeing the value of sustainability on their bottom line,” he said. Individuals and companies are finally understanding that wasting resources equals wasting money, allowing business and conservationists to no longer be at odds in their philosophies concerning the environment.

Shaping your green business

It appears that today’s sustainable design movement is no phase but that it has an economic basis in necessity. Electrical contractors need to adjust to this fact and shape their businesses to respond to the increasing demand for green, sustainable buildings, homes and industrial and other facilities.

“Electrical contractors need to examine the best energy-efficiency design practices being used today,” Castelli said. In addition, they need to understand that homes, buildings and facilities are more “wired” now, and they must have the technical capabilities to respond to the demand for increased connectivity that is more energy efficient.

There are several areas where electrical contractors can have an impact in terms of adjusting to the demand for sustainable buildings, according to Gerber.

“Electrical contractors can incorporate photovoltaics into their businesses and get fully trained in the art and practice of installing these systems,” he said. There is a great amount of specialized knowledge involved in solar technology, and electrical contractors can get photovoltaic design and installation certification from the national North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP), Malta, N.Y.

Lighting design is another area electrical contractors can explore to shape their green business.

“Electrical contractors that are not already delivering design/build projects need to learn the proper practices of lighting design and familiarize themselves with the equipment required for the energy-efficient lighting, controls and energy-management systems that are being specified so that they can develop the technical skills to install and maintain them,” Gerber said.

LaLiberte agrees electrical contractors can do many things to respond to sustainable design demands. They can, he said, be on the front edge of technology by embracing changes and advancements, consult with planners and architects and help determine the most efficient and innovative ways to reach sustainability goals, and learn about and understand green programs such as LEED.

“Electrical contractors need to become a solution partner in resolving design and sustainability issues and add value above installing electrical systems,” he said.

According to Zahniser, electrical distributors can position themselves in this market by gaining sustainable design expertise, partnering capabilities and by actively participating in the promotion of environmentally sound projects.

“Electrical contractors positioning themselves for sustainable design will need to understand and work with on-site generated energy systems, such as photovoltaics and small-scale residential wind turbines, raised floor systems that house electrical equipment and cabling as well as HVAC and data infrastructure wiring, more efficient lighting fixtures, and daylight sensors and other daylight harvesting technologies,” he said.

The future of sustainability

“We are really just beginning to see the growth of the sustainable design movement,” Castelli said. As energy costs and the demand for materials and resources continue to increase, so will the need to grow or manufacture sustainable materials closer to where they are being used to reduce the use of energy in transportation and carbon footprints.

“I believe that businesses that are involved in sustainable design, including designers, architects and electrical contractors, as well as producers of energy-efficient appliances and insulation, are going to see a huge market explosion as societies continue to realize the need,” Castelli said.

According to Gerber, sustainable design will become mainstream in less than a decade.

“Already, sustainable practices that were considered fringe ideas 10 years ago, such as LEED, are now becoming dominant in design practices,” he said.

Sustainable design, he added, will be essential because our society no longer has a choice and must conserve resources and behave in a way that secures a healthy global future.

Specifically, LaLiberte predicts there will be real innovation in the near future in the integration of wall systems and in streamlining construction processes through prefabricating wall panels.

“There will be less site work and more prefabrication,” he said. In addition, there will be improvements in motor technology and lighting, and an increased mainstream acceptance of photovoltaic, wind and other alternative energy sources.

Zahniser agreed that the use of sustainable design practices will continue to increase, meaning energy efficiency and other sustainability measures will become more commonplace.

“Contractors positioning themselves as experts at working with these technologies at no premium over traditionally designed and built projects are likely to have the edge in this rapidly growing movement,” he said.

Focus: By Darlene Bremer

BREMER, a freelance writer based in Solomons, Md., contributes frequently to ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR. She can be reached at 410.394.6966 or darbremer@comcast.net.

Reprinted with full permission of Electrical Contractor Magazine – July issue 2007 www.Electrical Contractor Magazine.com

Christine A. Klauck Joins the Fiber Connect Team

Manager of Technical & Sales Support

Leviton is pleased to announce that Christine A. Klauck has joined the team at Fiber Connect, Inc., a Leviton Company, as the Manager of Technical & Sales Support. 

In this new role, Klauck will develop a technical team to support Business Development Management’s field sales, as well as inside sales.

In addition to her role at Fiber Connect, Klauck currently serves as BICSI Northeast Region Director, a position she has held for the past four years. Klauck also chairs the BICSI Cares Committee, the charitable arm of BICSI, raising money at each conference for children’s charities and offering scholarships to members and their families who pursue higher education degrees in the information transport industry.

Klauck’s career spans more than twenty years in the Information Transport Industry. Prior to joining Fiber Connect, Klauck, an RCDD/NTS Specialist, spent 12 years at the Siemon Company in corporate training, technical support and marketing departments.  Klauck also worked for more than 11 years at IBM Corporation in design and project management of telecommunications structured cabling systems for residential, Fortune 500 and “Big Four” accounting firms.

A Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) representative since 1995, and member of Construction Specification Institute (CSI), Klauck holds a BS.ed from Keene State College and an engineering drafting certificate from Westchester Community College.

For more information on Leviton or Fiber Connect, log on to www.leviton.com, or www.fiber-connect.com.

The New Heart Of The Home

No longer the domain of luxury dwellings, interest is growing for lighting controls that stand alone or integrate into whole-house automation systems for greater convenience and efficiency.

Few areas of electrical contracting have changed at a rate greater than residential lighting controls. Residential product offerings have grown exponentially as social and political agendas continue to shape energy supplies—as more middle-income homeowners take control over lighting. Manufacturers are accommodating current needs and charting the course of lighting convergence on future technological advancements.

Wired and wireless lighting controls have been around for more than a decade. Today, industry experts say they are entering a new era in convenience, efficiency and commodity that will allow homeowners to dramatically transform a room or an entire house with light while reducing energy consumption and costs.

Win-win for homeowners and contractors

Setting the global energy debate aside, there are two distinct customers in the residential market with a need for dynamic product from a manufacturing standpoint, according to Jason Sherrill, product manager of structured wiring, wireless technologies and energy protection at Cooper Wiring Devices.

“Homeowners are looking for more safety, security, comfort, convenience, style, control and possibilities. Installers are looking for more sales, options, reliability, control and an innovative technology platform,” Sherrill said.

Residential lighting controls are no longer a tool exclusively for wealthy homeowners.

The Lighting Controls Association (LSA) reports while automated lighting control offers utility for larger rooms with multiple light fixtures and types, it can be a realistic option for new or existing homes as small as 2,000 square feet.

“Lighting may be stand-alone [or] whole house, offer room and/or house control, and be tied into the security system (about 30 percent of new homes), a home theater system (about 8 percent of new homes), or a complete home automation system,” said LSA’s Craig DiLouie.

Such technological advancements, said Brad Wills, Square D director of installation systems and control, are driving electrical contractors into more low-voltage work.

“It’s expanding their scope beyond pure electrical work to include lighting control, A/V, security and HVAC control. As a result, contractors are either going to work more closely with low-voltage contractors for installations, or they are going to have to make the decision to enter those areas themselves,” Wills said.

Although advanced integrated entertainment controllers are growing faster than lighting controls over the next five years, lighting controls are still big business, said Bill Ablondi, research analyst with Parks Associates.

“Total lighting controls this year will be about $180 million for the hardware, the intelligence and basic controls, with the market growing to $350 million in 2012,” Ablondi said.

The lighting control industry is continually moving toward total integration with entertainment controllers and other home automation/intelligent building systems as the emphasis for user-friendly expandable systems with remote access grows in the face of stricter energy regulations and maintenance efficiency.

“While manufacturers have been providing residential lighting controls for quite some time, recent federal mandates on energy-efficient lighting controls are driving the development of the latest technologies, which involve ‘greener’ controls protocols, requiring less energy consumption and producing less waste,” said Bryan Matthews, public relations manager for Lightolier Controls.

Lighting controls are being watched closely and are landing on several major energy agendas, including the 2005 federal Energy Policy Act, the Title 24 Energy Code in California and continued pressure to adopt similar measures in neighboring states, as well as the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE).

Sorting it out

According to Grant Sullivan, product marketing manager, Leviton Home Automation Products, previous automated home control and home lighting products fell into two distinct levels. “Either they were high-priced, hard-wired or proprietary wireless systems, or they were low-priced consumer products dominated by marketing hype and less-than-reliable performance,” he said.

The latest lighting control advancements are not only elevating controls to a commodity level, but there are new categories of products being developed, which places new responsibilities on electrical contractors, said Mike Piraino, lighting controls market development manager at Pass & Seymour/Legrand.

“The toughest job an electrical contractor has right now is learning about all the new systems and devices. No one manufacturer can offer the best solution in every application. So, the contractor quite often has the tough job of sorting through the different products and figuring out the best way to go,” Piraino said.

Cooper Wiring Devices

Cooper’s Sherrill added that another factor driving technological developments in residential lighting is interoperability (plug-and-play). Cooper Wiring Devices plans to introduce ASPIRE RF, a wireless lighting control device later this year.

“With interoperability, electrical contractors can move forward with an open protocol that allows them to bring a scalable and interoperable system to the end-user with a package of options from various manufacturers under one universal umbrella for ease of installation and use,” Sherrill said.

Residential vacancy or occupancy sensors developed for California Title 24 mandates, such as Cooper’s 01-400R, require users to turn on a light upon entering the room, but the sensor automatically turns it off once motion is no longer detected, a feature that can’t be overridden. However, at this time, the mandate only applies in single and multiple dwellings in California.

Lightolier Controls

Innovative occupancy sensing and daylight harvesting are becoming major players in energy conservation.

“Being able to distinguish when energy is truly needed and at what level, allows the homeowner to properly control the amount of energy consumed in the home,” Lightolier’s Matthews said.

Lightolier’s occupancy sensor (at left) doesn’t rely on conventional motion detection to determine occupancy. IntelliSight has a significantly expanded detection range of 4,000 square feet, which product developers say directly correlates to energy savings.

LiteTouch

“Today’s homeowners are increasingly committed to saving energy and to doing their part on a personal level to conserve,” said Don J. Buehner, LiteTouch president and CEO.

Daylight harvesting is now benefiting homeowners through the LiteTouch DayLight Harvesting keypad. Daylight harvesting technology allows for artificial lighting in a room to be supplemented by natural light coming through windows.

As natural light is “harvested” and measured by an ambient light sensor, the LiteTouch keypad automatically dims the light fixtures, so the natural and artificial light work in concert to maintain the desired lighting level in the room.

Pass & Seymour/Legrand

Pass & Seymour/ Legrand’s LightSense is a new entry in RF whole-home mastering controls for lighting, fan speed and small appliances. LightSense has matching wired devices for a consistent appearance for system and non-system controls.

“For new construction or for retrofitting existing homes, LightSense makes it easy to add a little or a lot of light control to the home, and because it uses radios to send and receive commands, there is a minimum of special wiring,” Piraino said.

Square D

A completely new category of lighting controls is growing out of distributed lighting control topology recently introduced by Square D. As explained by Square D’s Wills, when employing a distributed topology, an electrical contractor doesn’t have to be as exacting in the design phase because functionality is built into each input and output device itself, eliminating the need for a centralized controller.

“Communications wiring between input and output devices is typically made in a free topology arrangement that does not depend on daisy chain loops or radial feeds,” Wills said.

Leviton

Product developers at Leviton Manufacturing point out that wireless devices such as Vizia RF, also part of the Z-Wave partnership, have experienced the most dramatic changes in recent years due to the implementation of advanced digital circuitry allowing enhanced features with tactile dimmers and switches.

“In previous decades, a typical home had only a few dimmers, such as a dining room or a master bedroom. With new wireless lighting systems, dimmers are installed in many more places throughout a home—enough, in fact, to create an energy-saving home control network,” said Leviton’s Sullivan, who adds that wireless provides retrofit opportunities in older homes as easily as in new construction.

Lutron

More of these wireless options, especially for wallbox products, are creating whole-house lighting control. For the residential market, Lutron’s AuroRa whole-house lighting system requires no new wiring and no programming.

According to Mike Cunningham, Lutron marketing communications director, “Homeowners are increasingly interested in security features, such as the ability to create light pathways inside and outside the home, the use of handheld and car-visor remotes so that people don’t have to walk into a dark home, setting up a flashing distress signal for a porch light or front-door light so that emergency workers can find your home quickly, and the ability to integrate with home-security systems.”

Another key trend is the need to provide lighting controls that are tailored to individual needs and tasks. Added Cunningham, “As the population ages, more people need brighter lighting for such tasks as reading and cooking. But they still want to be able to set lower light levels for other activities, such as dining, watching television and entertaining guests. Dimmers allow people to use more light when they need it, less light when they prefer it, all while saving energy.”

Progress Lighting

New from Progress Lighting is the P83-26ICATDM, the industry’s first dimmable compact fluorescent recessed fixture, which works with a standard incandescent dimmer. Dimming down to a 15 percent light output, the recessed fixture meets California Title 24 requirements as well as all state standards for airtight recessed fixtures. “[It] captures the energy savings of high efficacy 26W twin triple tube compact fluorescent lamps,” said Craig Wright, product manager.

What’s next

The bottom line, according to Wills, is a continued emphasis on research and development for manufacturers and more homework for contractors because future users will demand more sophisticated lighting designs in their homes.

“The industry is going to have to balance with demands for more energy efficiency. State governments are going to demand homes use less energy, but homeowners are going to want multiple layers of lighting, which is going to add more energy consumption. The lighting control industry is going to be caught in the middle, and as an extension, so will electrical contractors,” Wills said.         EC

By Debbie McClung

MCCLUNG, owner of Woodland Communications, is a construction writer from Iowa. She can be reached via  e-mail at mcclung@lisco.com.

Reprinted with full permission of Electrical Contractor Magazine – July issue 2007 www.Electrical Contractor Magazine.com

CCI Lab Receives MSHA Approval for Burn Test

Coleman Cable Inc. (CCI) recently announced that its quality lab in Waukegan, Illinois, received approval from the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) to conduct the burn test on products such as power, control and communication cables. 

To earn this accreditation, the lab was required to satisfy strict requirements for testing the flame resistance of electric cables, title 30 CFR § 7.407, for products such as power and control cables; and flame resistance testing of signaling cables, title 30 CFR § 7.408, for products such as low-voltage, coax and communication cables.  The process initiated several months ago when CCI built a burn booth in its lab, then worked with MSHA officials for inspection and approval of the flame resistance test procedure, as well as approval of the individuals who conduct the test.

“There are a limited number of facilities that are approved to conduct this testing.  For CCI, the in-house testing significantly improves our time to market, making us more effective and efficient in product design and development,” said Howard Caccia, CCI’s vice president, engineering.  “The investment in our lab is just one more example of CCI’s commitment to the market to do everything necessary to serve the customer’s needs.”

About Coleman Cable Inc.

Coleman Cable, Inc. (CCI) is a leading manufacturer and innovator of electrical and electronic wire and cable products for the security, sound, telecommunications, electrical, commercial, industrial, and automotive industries. With extensive design and production capabilities and a long-standing dedication to customer service, Coleman Cable, Inc. is the preferred choice of cable and wire users throughout the United States. The company is located at 1530 Shields Drive, Waukegan, IL 60085.  For more information, visit: www.colemancable.com

MRV Communications, Inc.

What leading publications are saying about MRV:

Serial device connectivity continues to be the main focus of MRV's LX solution, but with the LX-4016T we could set a remote serial management environment that included power management and serial device control, as well as support for environmental monitoring and a video camera system."

Network Computing, Remote Administration Within Reach, April 16, 2007

http://www.gcn.com/print/26_10/44248-1.html

When coupled with power management and a solid UPS system, the 4000T can be an invaluable shield against being out of touch in a crisis."

Government Computing News, Test Drive, May 7, 2007

http://www.gcn.com/print/26_10/44248-1.html

Our high-end hosting customers want to have insight into their servers and how they are behaving, and now they have the technological savvy to do this," Whittaker said. "When we give them remote access to their equipment they feel more in control and tell us that this is an important benefit."

Remote Site and Equipment Magazine, Out-of-Band Management Network Helps Magnet Networks Go National, April 2007

http://www.remotemagazine.com/enewsletters/2007/newsletter_4_07.htm#4

MRV's LX 4000T Series provides industry leading serial connectivity, power management and physical infrastructure solutions. Contact us at sales@mrv.com or call 800-338-5316 to learn more about how these solutions can increase security, lower risk and improve service levels!  www.mrv.com

Examining Twisted-pair Options For 10-Gigabit Ethernet

Hugo Draye is marketing manager for Fluke Networks’ certification tools (www.flukenetworks.com). He holds a Master’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Louvain in Louvain, Belgium and an MBA from Seattle University.

Many companies are planning to install networks with the ability to transmit 10-Gbit/sec Ethernet to meet the ever-increasing demand for bandwidth and improved response times. The need for higher bandwidth first manifests itself in the backbone cabling or in data centers. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE; www.ieee.org) completed and approved a new chapter in the Ethernet standard (802.3) to enable 10-Gbit/sec Ethernet transmission over twisted-pair copper cabling. This implementation, called 10GBase-T is specified in a standard that supports both unshielded twisted-pair (UTP) and screened or fully shielded twisted-pair (STP) cabling systems. Shielded cabling systems are entering center stage in the promotional battles for market share. The question whether to select, specify, and install unshielded versus shielded has consequently become the topic of the day.

This article explains the transmission-performance requirements for the twisted-pair cabling system defined in the 10GBase-T standard. It will furthermore discuss the following questions: Is the familiar UTP cabling no longer a viable choice? And has shielded cabling become the new solution for high-speed applications like 10GBase-T?

Twisted-pair transmission requirements

To achieve the 10-Gbit/sec data rate, each wire pair in the twisted-pair cabling must be able to transmit 800 million symbols per second (data rate of 800 Mega Baud). A “symbol” is a voltage level; a new symbol must be transmitted every 1.25 nanoseconds (or 1¼ billionth of a second). In order to support this very high rate of signal transmission, the cabling performance parameters are specified up to 500 MHz. In comparison, the Category 6 cabling standard defines the transmission performance of the cabling over the frequency range from 1 through 250 MHz.

The cabling standards characterize the performance of twisted-pair data cabling using a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) analysis. This method defines 1) the minimum required signal strength (or the maximum signal loss allowed) over the frequency range of interest—in this case over the range 1 through 500 MHz, and 2) a number of noise parameters or disturbances that cannot exceed established values over the same frequency range. The specified noise parameters are related to crosstalk between wire pairs in the cable and signal reflection on each wire pair measured by the return loss parameter.

Because of the very high frequency range required for 10GBase-T, the crosstalk requirements must be expanded to include not only the crosstalk that happens between wire pairs within each cabling link, but also to include the crosstalk that is induced from wire pairs in adjacent cabling links. The latter is called alien crosstalk. The performance of each individual cabling link is certified by the “in-channel” tests, while the alien crosstalk performance or the coupling between wire pairs in adjacent links is to be certified by the “between-channel” test parameters.

How can you be assured that the installed cabling system will support 10GBase-T transmission? Industry standards define the test parameters as well as the measurement methodology to assure compliance of installed cabling systems. This testing procedure is called cabling certification.

Applying the standards

The IEEE has been the organization to develop, expand, and maintain the “Ethernet” standards, in its 802.3 set of specifications. IEEE project 802.3an developed and defined the system to transmit 10-GbE over twisted-pair cabling. This project encompasses all aspects of the network implementation including the minimum capability of the cabling link between a transmitting device and a receiving device. The IEEE is focused on the transmission performance of the end-to-end cabling link independent of the number of connections or other cabling installation issues. The IEEE 802.3an development has been completed and was approved by it standards board in June 2006.

The cabling industry is undertaking two sets of activities.

Guidelines for cabling compliance with the transmission requirements of 10GBase-T

A new cabling standard that delivers better transmission performance than Category 6, called Augmented Category 6 (Category 6A) or Augmented Class E (abbreviated Class E_A by the International Organization for Standardization [ISO]).

In the North American market, the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA; www.tiaonline.org) is the leading standards body for data communications cabling. The ISO develops, publishes, and maintains standards for the worldwide market. Both standards bodies are involved with the two activities mentioned above.

Cabling guidelines for compliance with 10GBase-T. The TIA published a document titled Telecommunications Systems Bulletin 155 (TIA TSB-155), which contains the guidelines and performance criteria by which any cabling system can be evaluated for compliance with the cabling transmission requirements for 10GBase-T. The guidelines in TSB-155 address the in-channel performance (test parameters that define the performance of an individual cabling link over the frequency range from 1 through 500 MHz) and the between-channel performance (signal coupling between adjacent links commonly referred to as alien crosstalk). The ISO is in the process of creating a Technical Report (TR 24750) that serves the same purpose, and intends to provide the same guidance as the TIA TSB-155 document. Note that these guidelines do not suppose a specific Category or Class of cabling, but it will be very difficult to meet the performance established by TSB-155 (TR 24750) for any cabling lower than Category 6 or Class E.

New cabling standards. Both TIA and ISO are developing a new cabling type called Augmented Category 6 (Category 6A) or Augmented Class E (Class E_A). This new cabling will offer better performance than Category 6 or Class E cabling. The performance of the in-channel parameters as well as the between-channel parameters will be defined up to 500 MHz. Note that the standards activities that define the Augmented cabling systems are not yet complete, even though many manufacturers offer Category 6A (Class E_A) solutions in the market. The TIA development is further along than the ISO development, and will be published as Addendum 10 to the TIA standard 568-B.2 (TIA-568-B.2-10). This TIA document is, at the time of this writing, in Draft 7.0.

An important reason for the new cabling systems is the fact that Category 6 cabling may not satisfy the between-channel performance (alien crosstalk performance), especially for longer links. TSB-155 states that Category 6 “should” perform satisfactorily for links up to 37 meters long; it may well work up to 55 meters, and it may need some mitigation if you want to run 10GBase-T over Category 6 links longer than 55 meters.

In a real-world installation, the alien crosstalk performance of installed Category 6 cabling depends on many factors. The best advice we can give: Test alien crosstalk performance of installed Category 6 cabling before deploying 10GBase-T. If the links pass the requirements specified in TSB-155, they are ready to support 10GBase-T. One design goal for the Category 6A system states that it shall satisfy the alien crosstalk performance for 10GBase-T for a full 100-meter horizontal channel.

Starting from scratch

A new cabling installation should be treated as a long-term investment. The electronic devices are typically replaced several times within the lifespan of the cabling system. Replacing a cabling system is also a much more disruptive and costly project than exchanging network devices like switches and routers. You should, therefore, consider the best cabling system for the time horizon of this investment. In a new data center design, this decision should definitely favor a Category 6A cabling system.

As mentioned earlier, shielded cabling types are getting much attention in the Category 6A market today. The standards do not favor UTP over STP construction. Instead, as was explained earlier, the standards set performance limits for the in-channel transmission capability as well as for the between-channel capability. We have witnessed the testing of many UTP cabling installations that fully meet the requirements spelled out in the proposed Category 6A standard. The shielding in the screened cable types offer better electromagnetic interference (EMI) performance and diminishes the signal coupling between wire pairs in adjacent cabling links. A shielded cabling installation, if properly installed, should offer better margins for the alien crosstalk tests.

This raises an interesting question: Do cabling systems with very good margins (15 dB or more) perform better in everyday network operations than cabling with merely good (say 5 dB) margins? We believe the answer is, “No.” The distinction is not noticeable. It is true that a reasonable margin of a few dB above the minimum requirements protects network traffic from spurious and random EMI events that undoubtedly occur. Also, remember that the dB scale is not a linear scale. For example, a worst-case alien crosstalk margin of 6 dB means that at the worst-performing frequency, the measured alien crosstalk signal is half of the allowable signal level for alien crosstalk.

Considering unshielded

In the selection process between unshielded and a variety of screened and shielded cabling options, UTP remains the more economical system. Installation contractors in the North American market are very familiar with unshielded cable types. Category 6A UTP may, however, bring a few new challenges. Many of the Category 6A UTP implementations have bigger outside diameters, and the density in patch panels has decreased. The increased outside diameter (OD) creates a greater distance between wire pairs in adjacent links, thereby reducing the between-channel signal coupling. A bigger OD for the cabling does, however, affect the fill rate in ducts and pathways. An increase in the OD of 0.1 inch, from 0.25 inch to 0.35 inch, represents in increase in fill volume of 21%. It also affects the ease of handling and bending of cable bundles. If you select a UTP Category 6A cable with an increased outside diameter, pathway layout, duct sizes, and cable suspension should be designed to accommodate the OD parameter of the cable.

Alien near-end crosstalk (NEXT) is very susceptible to the performance of the cabling near ends of the link, most noticeably in patch cords, patch panels, and the wire management in the racks. To alleviate or mitigate alien crosstalk problems in UTP installations, the Category 6A patch panels support less density and trade off that density for alien crosstalk performance by allowing more space between jacks in the panel. Alien NEXT for UTP cabling can also be improved by adjusting the practices of bundling in the wire management of the racks. Allowing more free flow between the cables and placing wraps or hook-and-loop ties a few feet apart, rather than a few inches apart, will help. Also, smaller bundles are more manageable and will require less time to conduct the alien crosstalk tests.

Shielded/screened options

It is important to note that there are several different varieties of shielded cabling, and that a series of new acronyms has emerged to describe the different cable types. In the most common construction type, the wire pairs are fully covered with a metal foil. This construction used to be called FTP (foiled twisted-pair) or ScTP (screened twisted-pair) but is now often referred to as F/UTP (foiled/unshielded twisted-pair) or S/UTP (screened/unshielded twisted-pair). An alternate construction provides a foil around each individual wire pair. And the Category 7 cable construction provides a foil around each wire pair, then a foil around the four foil-screened wire pairs and lastly, a braided screen woven of thin wire around that outside foil. This cable construction is also called SSTP (shielded screened twisted-pair). The flexibility and manageability of SSTP is much less than that of UTP.

The foil screen or shielding is effective in preventing high-frequency signal interference between wire pairs in adjacent cables. Good cable balance offers great immunity from interference caused by lower-frequency signals. In order to obtain these benefits from screens, installers must follow a number of very important installation practices. The key concerns are 1) the shield must fully surround the wire pairs in the cable from end to end, and 2) provide proper grounding of the shield.

It is fully important that the shield is kept intact over the entire length of the cable and that the shield fully surrounds the cable and connecting hardware. If the shield is, for example, formed into a pigtail over the last inch of the cable, it will reduce the protection against EMI and alien crosstalk. Furthermore, we must avoid splitting the shield at sharp bends in the cable. The shield is typically a ribbon of aluminum foil that is wrapped around the cable. If the cable is bent at too sharp of a radius, the shield may separate, thereby reducing the effectiveness of the shield and its ability to protect against alien crosstalk.

The shield must be grounded on both ends of the link. It is often said that a shield is 90% effective when it is grounded at one end of the link. Such a shield continues to protect the wire pairs against many external high-frequency disturbances, but an open-ended shield may allow resonances at certain frequencies. A resonance creates the chance that the signals couple into the data wire pairs, creating a significant alien crosstalk disturbance at those individual frequencies. Field certification may record very low margins for alien crosstalk at those frequencies.

Because the shield should be terminated to ground at both ends, it is critical that the ground potential at both ends is approximately the same to avoid any ground-loop currents. The TIA-607 standard on grounding and bonding allows a maximum difference in ground potential of 1 Vrms (Volt root mean square) between the two ends. This rule requires that the telecommunications system is grounded throughout in compliance with the TIA-607 standard and that the electrical system in the building is correctly grounded and fully complies with rules spelled out in the National Electrical Code and other codes enforced by local jurisdictions. In the field, you can verify that the ground potential meets the difference requirement before you connect the other end. Connect the shield at one end, then measure the alternating-current voltage between the shield and the ground connection at the other end using a digital voltmeter that covers a bandwidth of 100 kHz or better.

The performance in or near the patch panels plays a significant role in maintaining the effectiveness and protection delivered by a shielded cable. Installation workmanship and experience play a big role in the quality of the installed system. Field certification verifies that the desired quality has been delivered.

Shielded cabling may also require additional testing in Power over Ethernet (PoE) applications because the shielding tends to retain heat within the cable, which increases return loss and reduces cable life. The proposed 802.3at standard, which increases the maximum PoE power from 13 watts to 30 watts, makes this issue more critical. 802.3at will set maximum temperature limits for unshielded cabling but does not yet address shielded cabling. Because PoE is not often used within data centers, the use of shielded cabling in the data center sidesteps this potential problem. If PoE is run over shielded cabling, the cable should be tested periodically for return loss to assess whether or not any thermal damage may have occurred.

The IEEE 10GBase-T standard includes requirements for cabling; the TIA TSB-155 and ISO TR 24750 documents incorporate these requirements. The new cabling standards under development—Category 6A and Class E_A—aim to deliver a future-ready cabling system that supports the full 100-meter channel requirements for 10GBase-T. These new standards also aim to support possible future developments. We can predict that alien crosstalk performance is going to be part of any future high-speed network application. Because of the emphasis on alien crosstalk, screened/shielded cabling types are gaining attention in the market. Properly installed shielding enhances EMI performance in general and alien crosstalk performance in particular.

Certification testing has always been an important part of cabling deployment. This becomes a very important step if you are interested in deploying 10GBase-T over installed twisted-pair cabling. The certification of new Augmented cabling systems, whether constructed with unshielded or shielded components, delivers the assurance that the cable system is ready to support 10GBase-T and beyond. In-channel testing should be performed on 100% of the links, and alien crosstalk testing should be performed on a selected number of disturbed cables in the cabling installation.

Reprinted with full permission of CI&M Magazine – July issue 2007

 www.cable-install.com

Project Honored With ACUTA’S Top Award

The University of Notre Dame has won this year’s Institutional Excellence in Communications Technology Award, presented by ACUTA, the Association for Communications Technology Professionals in Higher Education.

Notre Dame was honored with ACUTA’s highest institutional award for its comprehensive communications infrastructure and business process upgrade, a project known as “Transforming Communications.” The initiative was based on a mobile communications model designed to be continually adjustable to the changing demands of the university community.

In the Transforming Communications project, Notre Dame installed a multi-carrier cellular distributed antenna system to provide enhanced cellular communications across its South Bend, Indiana, campus. It also added 500 new Wi-Fi access points in 27 residence halls, nearly doubling its number of campus access points.

In addition, the university removed 3,364 traditional land lines in student housing areas and redirected its financial focus toward newer IT priorities of students. Finally, Notre Dame introduced cable TV services in all its residential spaces.

The project involved collaboration with students, faculty, and administrators and maintained sensitivity to the historical architecture on the campus. As Notre Dame President John I. Jenkins noted, the Transforming Communications initiative “enables the university to achieve new ways of conducting our business and, more importantly, provide new ways to inform our students and enhance the quality of their educational and residential experience here at Notre Dame.”

“What Notre Dame has accomplished with its Transforming Communications project is an outstanding example of the innovation and technological progress we are seeing on ACUTA member campuses,” said Jeri Semer, executive director of ACUTA. “This project reflects very well the ACUTA mission of supporting our members in leveraging communications technology so they can help their institutions achieve their missions.”

Earning Institutional Excellence honorable mentions were the University of Idaho and the University of Cincinnati. The University of Idaho implemented an intensive two-year project to bring high bandwidth to the campus in Moscow, in rural northwest Idaho. The project gave the university access to a high-capacity computing network and increased its ability to participate in national and international research and collaboration. At the University of Cincinnati, the UC Mobile project brought significant improvement in cellular coverage, integrated the campus voice-data infrastructure with the mobile operator’s network, and brought public Wi-Fi to the campus.

ACUTA, which is meeting here this week for its 36th annual conference, is the only national association dedicated to serving the needs of higher education communications technology professionals, representing some 2,000 individuals at 770 institutions.

The Institutional Excellence in Communications Technology Awards are sponsored by PAETEC.

About ACUTA
ACUTA, the Association for  Communications Technology  Professionals in Higher Education, is an international non-profit educational association serving colleges and universities.  Its core purpose is to support higher education communications technology professionals in contributing to the achievement of the strategic mission of their institutions. ACUTA represents nearly 2000 individuals at some 770 institutions of higher education, with members ranging from small schools and community colleges to the 50 largest U.S. institutions.  ACUTA’s Corporate Affiliate members represent all categories of  communications technology  vendors serving the college/university market. For more information, visit www.acuta.org   or call 859-278-3338

Learning The Lingo

The Green Building Revolution brings A New Way Of Doing Things

LEED Green Building Rating System… California Title 24… ASHRAE 90.1... Not only is the building industry learning a new vocabulary, but the green revolution is creating a complete new set of expectations, standards, regulations, codes, and, in short, a new way of doing things for electrical contractors. The environmental shift is upon us because the energy consumed by buildings in the United States is staggering. According to the Office of the Federal Environmental Executive, buildings account for 37 percent of primary energy use and 68 percent of all electricity use. They demand 60 percent of non-food/fuel raw materials use, generating 136 million tons of construction and demolition debris per year. That translates into 40 percent of nonindustrial solid waste and 31 percent of mercury in municipal solid waste. Buildings use 36 billion gallons of water per day, which is 12 percent of potable water, and in many urban systems, they create 20 percent loss of potable water due to leakage. They also produce 35 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions and 49 percent of all sulphur dioxide emissions.

If green building trends have not yet affected your part of the industry and the way you do business, then they will soon. Insiders in the green building industry are loudly proclaiming to anyone willing to listen that their way of doing business is the wave of the future. Those who are willing to do green business early on will qualify for and will win business on the front end of this revolution; contractors who drag their feet will not get the job. Insiders further boldly claim the perpetual naysayers who refuse to ever comply will not survive the green transition.

Those are pretty strong words to a trade that proudly wears its conservative, established way of doing things as a badge of honor. But the green proponents back up their claims by pointing out, among other things, that many communities around the country, including some large cities such as San Francisco; Boston; Seattle; Scottsdale, Ariz.; and Washington, D.C., now require some or all of their new public buildings to be green by some codified standard.

And, it is not just governments that are going green; private corporations are weighing in as well. For example, Fireman’s Fund Insurance Cos. announced in October 2006 that it is the first and only insurance to offer specific coverage for green commercial buildings and to address the unique risks associated with sustainable building practices. And, Bank of America announced in March 2007 a $20 billion initiative to support the growth of environmentally sustainable business activity to address global climate change.

“Energy standards will get tighter and tighter in coming years for both new buildings and renovations,” said William D. Browning, partner of Terrapin Bright Green LLC, senior fellow of the Rocky Mountain Institute, and recipient of the 2004 U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Leadership Award. “That represents tremendous opportunity for electrical contractors.”

LEED

The biggest topic in building green is the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System. It is a nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings. LEED is defined, operated and managed by the members of the nonprofit USGBC, which is a community of more than 8,500 building industry organizations.

LEED is a voluntary, consensus-based national rating system for all building types, including both new construction and existing buildings. It provides certain prerequisites and performance benchmarks—or “credits”—that projects can earn within a variety of design or construction phase categories. Projects are then awarded Certified, Silver, Gold or Platinum LEED certification, depending on the number of credits they achieve.

While there are lots of project credits that do not directly impact the work of a project’s electrical contractors, plenty of the credits do. For example, there are six sets of credits common to several of the rating systems, and five of them have obvious electrical elements: Sustainable Sites (which includes exterior lighting), Energy & Atmosphere, Materials & Resources, Indoor Environmental Quality, and Innovation & Design Process. The sixth set of credits is for Water Efficiency.

The power of LEED—­and the importance of ECs understanding it—is demonstrated: There were 948 projects were registered with LEED in October 2003. There were more than 2,100 registered by September 2005, and there are currently more than 7,000 registered LEED projects. Now, 56 cities and 23 federal agencies have adopted LEED standards for buildings. It is not a matter of if ECs see LEED, but when.

California Title 24

No discussion of energy-efficient building standards can go far without bringing up Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations, known as the California Building Standards Code or just “Title 24.” Part 6 of that code is the California Energy Code (CEC), which contains energy conservation standards of the California Energy Commission.

While many consider Title 24 to be the strictest energy code in the country, few expect all of its ideas to stay locked up in the Golden State. As it always has in so many other ways, California likely will set trends in the energy-efficiency codes in the coming years.

Considering its energy usage, it is not surprising that California is setting the pace for energy-efficient standards. The state uses 265,000 gigawatt hours of energy each year, with peak demand growing annually at about 2.4 percent, roughly the equivalent of three new 500-megawatt power plants. The 2005 code changes were adopted in response to California’s 2000–2003 electricity crisis in order to reduce energy costs and consumption, increase the reliability of energy delivery and contribute to an improved economic condition for the state.

The stricter efficiency standards also help avoid rolling blackouts, reduce peak demand and avoid the need to build new generating capacity. California estimates that its efficiency standards will save $43 billion by 2013, all achievable through commercially available technology.

Richard Nogleberg, president of Placer Electric (which has offices in Citrus Heights and Truckee, Calif.), said the 2005 changes to the Title 24 energy code have made the company’s day-to-day work noticeably different.

“In some ways, it is like it has always been, where our crews acquire the materials that have specified on a job and install them as called for. What’s different is that many of the devices that we install have changed,” Nogleberg said.

The 2005 Title 24 updates significantly increase the requirement for new energy-efficient technologies in buildings’ lighting, requiring high-efficacy luminaries, manual-on/automatic-off sensors, and dimmers, especially in residential lighting. The updates emphasize energy-efficiency measures that save energy during peak periods of power generation, such as hot summer days when air conditioners are running. The requirements were based on how much energy a technology can save as well as the technology’s reliability, availability and cost-effectiveness.

“The big difference,” Nogleberg said, “comes when we are working in the design phase on a design/build project.” Such work calls for knowing the efficiency standards and designing accordingly. “And daylighting is now a big part of California buildings, as well.” Daylighting is the practice of placing windows, or other transparent media, and reflective surfaces so that, during the day, natural light provides effective internal illumination.

“In some ways, we’re coming full circle,” Nogleberg said. “There was a time that energy efficiency and natural lighting were a part of every building everywhere. Then we abandoned a lot of that way of building when we got the technology for easy, cheap power and manmade light. But now things have changed again, and we’re having to rediscover those lost methods of energy efficiency.”

ASHRAE 90.1

Regardless of how you feel about Title 24, it applies only in California. Outside the Golden State, ECs often face the requirements of the third set of codes affecting the green building industry commonly called ASHRAE 90.1. They come from the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, or ASHRAE (pronounced ASH-ray).

ASHRAE 90.1 (or, more formally, “ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-2004, Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings”) provides minimum requirements for the energy-efficient design of buildings except low-rise residential buildings. Since being developed in response to the energy crisis in the 1970s, ASHRAE 90.1 now is a standard for building design and construction throughout the United States.

Despite the fact that ASHRAE is a society for heating, refrigerating and air conditioning engineers, several aspects of the current version of ASHRAE 90.1 are of significance to electrical contractors. It provides minimum requirements for the building envelope and systems and equipment for multiple disciplines, including electrical power, lighting, heating, ventilating, air conditioning, service water heating and energy management.

One example of an electrical requirement is a 2004 ASHRAE 90.1 revision that cuts approved lighting power densities by about 25 percent compared to previous standards. As technology for energy-efficient lighting has continued to advance, approved lighting power densities have been lowered gradually to reflect the improving capabilities of lighting and lighting controls.

Other ASHRAE 90.1 electrical standards include requirements for lighting controls (including occupancy sensors and timers), task lighting power densities, and exterior lighting for parking areas, walkways, plazas, building entries, canopies, façade lighting and outdoor sales areas.

Electrical contractors are sitting at the front end of the green building revolution. The International Code Council Green Building White Paper states, “Even though green building continues to gain significant momentum, it is still very much in its infancy.” Coupled with the fact that when done properly, green does not cost more, it is certain that ECs will face green projects soon, if not already. In the paraphrased words of William Browning, “A good team can bring a project into a Silver LEED rating with no increase in first costs.”

Green—it’s here to stay. EC

By Russ Munyan

MUNYAN is a freelance writer in the Kansas City, Kan., area, specializing in business writing and telecommunications. He can be reached at www.russwrites.com.

Reprinted with full permission of Electrical Contractor Magazine – July issue 2007 www.Electrical Contractor Magazine.com

New BuildingGreen Website Offers Easier Access To Authoritative Green Building Information

BuildingGreen, Inc., publishers of the most authoritative, independent information for the green building industry, launched its new website, BuildingGreen.com, on July 30^th, 2007. The new website design provides architects, designers, building owners, contractors, and other green building professionals with greater power to find, use, and share the information they need, whether it be product reviews or news articles on the latest in green building.

“With the dramatic growth in the green building industry, professionals need clear, objective, and well presented information on green design and building, and with this new release our website serves that need better than ever,” said BuildingGreen, Inc. president Alex Wilson.

BuildingGreen.com is the membership-based website from BuildingGreen, Inc., publishers of the GreenSpec product directory and Environmental Building News. The website’s new look better represents the depth and quality of the information on green products and strategies. Members can find the information they need using the new, more powerful, navigation. Members can also read current news from the green building industry, email product listings and articles to clients and colleagues, and use enhanced search capabilities to make the vast collection of information more accessible.

“Our goal with this new website is to provide industry professionals with better access to more information,” said Wilson. “This new design raises the bar on the presentation of in-depth green design information.” For example, feature articles digging deeply into a single topic, for whi