Energy Management: A Standard for the Future Now

• June 6, 2012
• Steve Greenblatt

The InfoComm Energy Management Standards Committee recently unveiled the new energy management standard.  As a member of the Standards Committee I encourage industry colleagues to learn more about the standard and share questions with InfoComm.

Energy management is essential for sustainable AV.  It is also an entry point for AV professionals to demonstrate expertise in control systems solutions that lead to cost savings and environmental impact savings for whole projects and whole buildings.

The Committee worked extensively to develop standards that were reasonable and appropriate and that harness the technology that we innovate and work with every day in our industry for sustainability and performance.  As a programmer, I felt it was important not only to consider energy management from a conversation standpoint, but also to take the users’ needs and preferences into consideration.  Joe Bocchiaro, InfoComm’s Vice President of Standards, calls this a “critical part of the standard.”  Control system configuration takes the onus off users to manually turn equipment on and off allows users to focus on meeting their own needs and provides easy, seamless power reduction and optimal performance.

Communicating energy savings to users, another piece of the new standard, is an opportunity for programmers, consultants and other AV professionals to demonstrate the value of the standard and the savings that the standard promotes.  Rather than a constraint, energy management standards allow AV professionals and their clients to maximize efficiency, create products and demonstrate cost and energy savings.  Programmers are in the unique position to add even more value in this context.

Sitting on the Committee has allowed me to connect with colleagues and to strategize how to use our collective skills to improve energy management and create opportunities for savings that our clients are able to understand, embrace and benefit from.  Any chance that I have to promote and improve the industry and work with colleagues to find creative solutions that move the AV industry into the future, while pursuing new and creative business ideas is a privilege. So, to be called a “thought leader” in the area of designing and demonstrating energy management solutions by Joe Bocchiaro, is humbling.

With the review of the new standard coming to a close just before InfoComm 2012, it is the culmination of much hard work by the Committee.   This year at InfoComm I will discuss the role of energy management and control systems in achieving sustainability in the seminar Control System Solutions for Energy Management (IS043 on Friday, 6/15).  Control Concepts provides more insight on sustainable AV in our Green AV Checklist eBook, a free resource available to all AV professionals. Review the Energy Management Standards now and be part of the Energy Management future.

Learn more about the Standard at InfoComm 2012 and join InfoComm on Saturday, 6/16, for a full day presentation on standards across the technology industry at the Standards Innovation Plenary Session.