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02/14/2010

ASHRAE’s BACnet Committee Approves Final Publication of Addenda to Standard 135

 
The BACnet committee celebrated the approval for final publication of eight addenda to the ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 135, A Data Communication Protocol for Building Automation and Control Networks at ASHRAE’s recently-held 2010 Winter Conference in Orlando, FL.

The addenda, which include a specification for a standard way of representing data in XML that will give BACnet new capabilities for communications between a wide range of applications, are expected to be available on ASHRAE’s website by the end of this month.

The Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a popular technology in the data processing and communications world due to its capability to model complex data and its flexibility to be transformed and extended. The XML syntax is intended to be the core data representation for a variety of uses, including:
  • Powerful new Web services that are capable of efficient exchange of complex structured data.
  • An electronic version of a BACnet PICS document, consumable by workstations and other tools, to describe the capabilities of a device.
  • An “as built” description of a deployed device, distributed either as a separate file or as a BACnet file object resident in the device itself.
  • Descriptions of proprietary objects, properties, and data types, which may be simple, for basic data sharing purposes, or extremely rich, providing complete descriptions of the meaning and usage of the data in multiple human languages.
  • An export/import format for tools and workstations to publish their knowledge of a complete system of devices and networks.
  • An XML version of an EPICS, including a complete test database and other test-oriented data.
“With this new IT-friendly way of representing building data, BACnet will open up new ways to communicate. XML can be used for exchanging files between systems, communicating with the Smart Grid, and expanding enterprise integration with richer Web services,” says Dave Robin, chair of the BACnet committee.

In addition to XML, another addendum has added an important new capability for human languages as well. The original 2-byte encoding of the Unicode character set caused trouble with a lot of the existing systems that were designed to process only the 1-byte characters common in western languages; the “UTF-8” encoding was created to solve this problem, and quickly became a very popular method of conveying international text on the Internet. BACnet has also embraced this standard and uses it in a way that takes full advantage of it compatibility with the existing and ubiquitous ANSI/ASCII character set.

BACnet has also added support for more data types, including a set of new “Value” objects that rounds out BACnet’s ability to represent different data types in a standard way. New Value objects for every primitive data type that BACnet supports, including support for character strings and large numerics, has been added to the original Analog, Binary, and Multi State Value objects.
 

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Sloan Performance Also Comes in White

Mitsubishi Electric Cooling & Heating is transforming HVAC with advanced Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) zoning solutions that totally redefine efficiency. VRF zoning systems offer lower lifecycle costs, less maintenance, better performance and reliability which lead to increased overall building efficiency. And all at a price that fits within your budget. Let Mitsubishi Electric help you redefine your HVAC efficiency as well as what you can achieve in your buildings.
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Lower costs. Increase operational efficiency. Detect problems before they're problems. Johnson Controls is reinventing building efficiency.

Learn more .

Lower costs. Increase operational efficiency. Detect problems before they're problems. Johnson Controls is reinventing building efficiency.

Learn more .

Lower costs. Increase operational efficiency. Detect problems before they're problems. Johnson Controls is reinventing building efficiency.

Learn more .

We Can Help You Reduce Energy by 30%

Our mission is to help our customers manage their buildings' energy costs, improve reliability, and enhance performance while having a positive impact on the environment.
CLICK HERE to find out how.

Need portable cooling?

Rent or buy spot coolers from full-service locations nationwide. On call “24/7”. Primary, supplemental or emergency cooling. Atlas Sales & Rentals, Inc., or call (800) 972-6600.

Click here for more info

Sloan Performance Also Comes in White

Mitsubishi Electric Cooling & Heating is transforming HVAC with advanced Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) zoning solutions that totally redefine efficiency. VRF zoning systems offer lower lifecycle costs, less maintenance, better performance and reliability which lead to increased overall building efficiency. And all at a price that fits within your budget. Let Mitsubishi Electric help you redefine your HVAC efficiency as well as what you can achieve in your buildings.
Learn more www.mitsubishipro.com/redefined
05/16/2013
Net-zero is often on the facility management radar as technology allows for increasingly efficient energy management strategies and techniques.  But could net-zero become the real deal for homeowners as well?
05/15/2013
Walmart has announced that it will conduct in-depth safety inspections at 100% of the factories in Bangladesh that produce goods for the retailer. The company will complete all reviews within six months and will publicly release the names and inspection information on all 279 factories. As a result, workers in these facilities can be assured of safer working conditions, and the entire market will be lifted to a new standard.
05/09/2013

The struggle to obtain maximum temperature comfort for building tenants at an affordable cost has long been a challenge in the commercial real estate market. With new commercial HVAC technology coming into the marketplace every day, the innovative performance of two-stage water source heat pumps are starting to become more widely accepted for achieving maximum comfort at minimum cost. 

05/08/2013
A longtime concern of the facility manager, electrical fires are a persistent issue for home structures and buildings. 

The Home Electrical Fires report estimates that an electrical failure or malfunction factored in 45,000 to 55,000 home structure fires reported to the U.S. fire departments every year since 2000.
05/06/2013

An old microwave oven headed for the dumpster may lead to significant developments on the solar energy front.  Sometimes, truth is stranger than fiction.
05/01/2013
Do You Smell That? Odor complaints are the most challenging problems I am asked to solve as an Indoor Air Quality Professional.  Often only one or two of the building’s occupants out of 50 or 100 can detect the odor
04/29/2013
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced the winner of its third-annual Energy Star National Building Competition. More than 3,000 schools, businesses, and government buildings across the country competed to see which could reduce its energy use the most in one year—and a New Jersey elementary school emerged victorious.
04/25/2013
The microbial population in the air of the New York City subway system is nearly identical to that of ambient air on the city streets.
04/25/2013

The United States ranked first among 21 countries most actively using the tax code to influence sustainable corporate activity, according to the inaugural edition of the KPMG Green Tax Index, reflecting the country's extensive and long-established program of federal tax incentives for energy generally, including specific incentives for energy efficiency, renewable energy and green buildings.

04/24/2013

Let this stat sink in: 98% of lamp's energy goes to lighting the street instead of the night sky. 

Streetlights illuminate the night, shining upon roadways and sidewalks across the world, but these ubiquitous elements of the urban environment are notoriously inefficient and major contributors to light pollution that washes out the night sky. Recent innovations in light emitting diodes (LEDs) have improved the energy efficiency of streetlights, but, until now, their glow still wastefully radiated beyond the intended area.

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