I work for a building automation systems manufacturer and have designed, built, and sold energy management/building automation systems since 1987. Your father is operating from the perspective of an HVAC mechanic and has a particularly narrow perspective on energy management in general. Yes, replacing inefficient equipment can reduce costs at apparently minimal levels. However, he likely has never worked with a BAS that was configured correctly and adequately supported by the vendor.
A properly installed and configured building automation solution will find most of the savings are in finding ways to reduce demand through scheduling, staging, load sharing, load shedding, cycling, super-cooling, and other strategies. By reducing demand, you can go to a utility and negotiate reduced rates based on staying withing certain demand levels during peak times during the day.
Simple things like making sure the lights, HVAC, and things like escalators come on at the right time in a staged order (to prevent demand spikes), and only where they are needed and are shut off when they are not in use (at night) can save a large facility literally millions every year.
Changing out HVAC equipment for more efficient equipment is a very tiny part of the puzzle.
BTW- all of the major BAS manufacturers (including my employer) have such a meter-monitoring unit, and many of them or related systems are increasingly based on embedded Linux. Meter monitoring units are useful to monitor a facility before it is put under complete control to determine where the savings can be found. Once the facility is in place, meter monitoring and associated daily reports are typically used to ensure that the system is operating properly, but in this case there is much more information available.
So to say you might only get a $200 to $500 payoff over 15 years is small potatoes compared to the potential millions you can save at a typical big-box retail, manufacturing facility, or large high school.
I can look at a word I have never seen before and based on knowing it's root and how it is used in a sentance I can figure out to a reasonable certainty what it means without having to go look it up or ask somebody what it means.
Not to mention the practical application of raising my SAT score. I was the only person I knew to attend Georgia Tech with a higher verbal score than math. Add to that the fact that I never had to study for a high school vocabulary quiz and I think it paid off rather well.
I am currently trying to get a couple of my mail servers off of the SPEWS list. My ISP terminated an offending spammer customer of theirs at least 6 weeks ago. 4 weeks ago a HUGE address block of their space (including my servers) was placed on the SPEWS list due to this spammer. My ISP has been trying to get the block (and me) delisted for a MONTH with no success.
The only thing they have been able to do is offer to move me to another IP range on their network. Or I could find a new ISP. At any rate, it has cost me quite a lot of $$/time to try and remedy the situation- it should not be this difficult.
How long does it usually take to get off the SPEWS list? Especially if you were put there wrongly in the first place.
Of course you are correct- this case is not tort related, a poor choice of words. But a loser pays system *would* have an effect on a company who has based their entire business plan on frivolous lawsuits.
Rumor has it the kid in question's father is an editor for the Washington Post. That might explain the tone of the article...
I was a CS at GT myself, but while I was there the entire student body did not have to take those intro CS courses. I can imagine there are quite a few engineering majors who could care less about programming that would have a motivation to cut corners.
Regardless of whether or not the College of Computing is handling this correctly, it's obvious they are getting a black eye from this.
As a previous poster mentioned, organizations don't generally strive to shrink the scope and power of themselves. Especially in heavily bureaucratic organizations. In organizations such as these, often the most protected item is the size of the budget; and the money will get spent one way or another before somebody notices they don't need it and takes it away.
I'm sure that there are people in ICANN that *do* think of themselves as the controlling entity of the internet. In many ways, they are correct.
I don't mean in a released version. All I'm referring to is that I have seen WebTV functionality discussed as a possible addition to the XBox and I suspect that this has been done in-house by MS already as a proof of concept or they likely would not have killed WebTV.
But that is just speculation- it's what I would do if I were MS.
It's true that in the ultra-short term this is one less competitor to TiVO. However, will TiVO be able to compete with the XBox when it adds functionality contained in TiVO *and* WebTV?
This might be similar to the browser development from MS. The first versions of IE were HORRIBLE. But by the time they release 4.0, it was the best on the market for any platform. Just like this, UltimateTV was a poor competitor with TiVO, etc. However, you can bet that MS has learned from this and the PVR functionality in their next beast (XBox II?) will be as good or better.
It also appears that the WebTV functionality will (or maybe it has been already?) be incorporated into the XBox.
This is an excellent strategy on the part of M$. They have been desperately trying to invade the living room for decades. Perhaps one of the competing game consoles will pair up with a PVR provider to provide some realistic competition?
Who stands to gain the most by a setback in the Human Genome Project? I'm not up on all the details but aren't there several corporations that are trying to "finish" first so they can patent the data before it is released into the public domain? If this is the case then it would be in best interest to slow down the competition...
I have been looking for some time for a way to replace Exchange Server in my organization. In fact, I would like to replace the NT domain controllers in my organization as well. There are two things limiting me right now.
1) I can't find a way to do shared contacts. What a really want for Christmas is some way to put shared contacts in OpenLDAP and have them accessible (and editable) through MS Outlook clients. I can easily do email address books this way, but I really want full contact records viewable transparently in Outlook.
2) I can't use Samba because it doesn't support trusts between NT Domains. I understand there are some not-yet released projects like Samba-TNG that may be able to do this, but I can't put something not even released in a production environment.
Wishlist: I would also like shared calendaring, but am not holding my breath on that one.
I hadn't thought about that, but you're right- that *is* brilliant. I wonder if that was by design or if it was just blind luck that the casting went that way?
I also like the fact that Aragorn is being played by a relative unknown, rather than Sean Bean who is fairly well known.
Not even anything to do with IP or Neiman Marcus??
on
EU May Outlaw Cookies
·
· Score: 1
;)
Surely Neiman Marcus' cookie recipe lawyers have gotten across the Atlantic by now...
I work for a building automation equipment manufacturer. I have developed web interfaces to such building automation equipment (even Carrier units). Every building control system manufacturer of any quality has a web-based control interface to their building control network. Some manufacturers ONLY control their equipment via the HTTP, Java, and other net protocols.
The only thing that's new here is that IBM and Carrier seem to be targeting the consumer market.
Personally I think it is only a marketing move to get IBM and Carrier names into the future home automation market. I think it is going to be 10 years or more before the average joe shmoe has any kind of control system running in his house, much less anything that he will conrol from OUTSIDE his house.
If my experience with Carrier is any indicator, this is nothing more than a packaging of Carrier's proprietary control network over an HTTP connection, something all of us building automation manufacturers have been doing for years.
Carrier's control equipment is at the bottom of the heap as far as quality and innovation goes- their HVAC units are what get them in the door.
Customers use their control equipment only because they don't know any better or it came with the HVAC units for the most part.
Slashdot Mirror
I work for a building automation systems manufacturer and have designed, built, and sold energy management/building automation systems since 1987. Your father is operating from the perspective of an HVAC mechanic and has a particularly narrow perspective on energy management in general. Yes, replacing inefficient equipment can reduce costs at apparently minimal levels. However, he likely has never worked with a BAS that was configured correctly and adequately supported by the vendor.
A properly installed and configured building automation solution will find most of the savings are in finding ways to reduce demand through scheduling, staging, load sharing, load shedding, cycling, super-cooling, and other strategies. By reducing demand, you can go to a utility and negotiate reduced rates based on staying withing certain demand levels during peak times during the day.
Simple things like making sure the lights, HVAC, and things like escalators come on at the right time in a staged order (to prevent demand spikes), and only where they are needed and are shut off when they are not in use (at night) can save a large facility literally millions every year.
Changing out HVAC equipment for more efficient equipment is a very tiny part of the puzzle.
BTW- all of the major BAS manufacturers (including my employer) have such a meter-monitoring unit, and many of them or related systems are increasingly based on embedded Linux. Meter monitoring units are useful to monitor a facility before it is put under complete control to determine where the savings can be found. Once the facility is in place, meter monitoring and associated daily reports are typically used to ensure that the system is operating properly, but in this case there is much more information available.
So to say you might only get a $200 to $500 payoff over 15 years is small potatoes compared to the potential millions you can save at a typical big-box retail, manufacturing facility, or large high school.
GTWreck
I can look at a word I have never seen before and based on knowing it's root and how it is used in a sentance I can figure out to a reasonable certainty what it means without having to go look it up or ask somebody what it means.
Not to mention the practical application of raising my SAT score. I was the only person I knew to attend Georgia Tech with a higher verbal score than math. Add to that the fact that I never had to study for a high school vocabulary quiz and I think it paid off rather well.
I am currently trying to get a couple of my mail servers off of the SPEWS list. My ISP terminated an offending spammer customer of theirs at least 6 weeks ago. 4 weeks ago a HUGE address block of their space (including my servers) was placed on the SPEWS list due to this spammer. My ISP has been trying to get the block (and me) delisted for a MONTH with no success.
The only thing they have been able to do is offer to move me to another IP range on their network. Or I could find a new ISP. At any rate, it has cost me quite a lot of $$/time to try and remedy the situation- it should not be this difficult.
How long does it usually take to get off the SPEWS list? Especially if you were put there wrongly in the first place.
Of course you are correct- this case is not tort related, a poor choice of words. But a loser pays system *would* have an effect on a company who has based their entire business plan on frivolous lawsuits.
It's about time for some Tort Reform in the USA. Unfortunately, all the politicians are lawyers...
...until DA has been "dead" for a year.
We can always hope that he's just taking a year off dead for tax purposes...
Rumor has it the kid in question's father is an editor for the Washington Post. That might explain the tone of the article...
I was a CS at GT myself, but while I was there the entire student body did not have to take those intro CS courses. I can imagine there are quite a few engineering majors who could care less about programming that would have a motivation to cut corners.
Regardless of whether or not the College of Computing is handling this correctly, it's obvious they are getting a black eye from this.
GTWreck
As a previous poster mentioned, organizations don't generally strive to shrink the scope and power of themselves. Especially in heavily bureaucratic organizations. In organizations such as these, often the most protected item is the size of the budget; and the money will get spent one way or another before somebody notices they don't need it and takes it away.
I'm sure that there are people in ICANN that *do* think of themselves as the controlling entity of the internet. In many ways, they are correct.
I don't mean in a released version. All I'm referring to is that I have seen WebTV functionality discussed as a possible addition to the XBox and I suspect that this has been done in-house by MS already as a proof of concept or they likely would not have killed WebTV.
But that is just speculation- it's what I would do if I were MS.
Not so fast my freind...
It's true that in the ultra-short term this is one less competitor to TiVO. However, will TiVO be able to compete with the XBox when it adds functionality contained in TiVO *and* WebTV?
This might be similar to the browser development from MS. The first versions of IE were HORRIBLE. But by the time they release 4.0, it was the best on the market for any platform. Just like this, UltimateTV was a poor competitor with TiVO, etc. However, you can bet that MS has learned from this and the PVR functionality in their next beast (XBox II?) will be as good or better.
As per this previous Slashdot story, XBox will attempt to compete in the PVR market AND DVD player market.
It also appears that the WebTV functionality will (or maybe it has been already?) be incorporated into the XBox.
This is an excellent strategy on the part of M$. They have been desperately trying to invade the living room for decades. Perhaps one of the competing game consoles will pair up with a PVR provider to provide some realistic competition?
Who stands to gain the most by a setback in the Human Genome Project? I'm not up on all the details but aren't there several corporations that are trying to "finish" first so they can patent the data before it is released into the public domain? If this is the case then it would be in best interest to slow down the competition...
Perhaps someone can shed some light on this?
Just an idea.
I have been looking for some time for a way to replace Exchange Server in my organization. In fact, I would like to replace the NT domain controllers in my organization as well. There are two things limiting me right now.
1) I can't find a way to do shared contacts. What a really want for Christmas is some way to put shared contacts in OpenLDAP and have them accessible (and editable) through MS Outlook clients. I can easily do email address books this way, but I really want full contact records viewable transparently in Outlook.
2) I can't use Samba because it doesn't support trusts between NT Domains. I understand there are some not-yet released projects like Samba-TNG that may be able to do this, but I can't put something not even released in a production environment.
Wishlist: I would also like shared calendaring, but am not holding my breath on that one.
Does anybody have any suggestions?
I hadn't thought about that, but you're right- that *is* brilliant. I wonder if that was by design or if it was just blind luck that the casting went that way?
I also like the fact that Aragorn is being played by a relative unknown, rather than Sean Bean who is fairly well known.
;)
Surely Neiman Marcus' cookie recipe lawyers have gotten across the Atlantic by now...
GTWreck
I work for a building automation equipment manufacturer. I have developed web interfaces to such building automation equipment (even Carrier units). Every building control system manufacturer of any quality has a web-based control interface to their building control network. Some manufacturers ONLY control their equipment via the HTTP, Java, and other net protocols.
The only thing that's new here is that IBM and Carrier seem to be targeting the consumer market.
Personally I think it is only a marketing move to get IBM and Carrier names into the future home automation market. I think it is going to be 10 years or more before the average joe shmoe has any kind of control system running in his house, much less anything that he will conrol from OUTSIDE his house.
If my experience with Carrier is any indicator, this is nothing more than a packaging of Carrier's proprietary control network over an HTTP connection, something all of us building automation manufacturers have been doing for years.
Carrier's control equipment is at the bottom of the heap as far as quality and innovation goes- their HVAC units are what get them in the door. Customers use their control equipment only because they don't know any better or it came with the HVAC units for the most part.
...a perfectly good IDSL bridge? ;)
Then again, being stuck here on an IDSL line myself I can understand the frustration. :)