As crude oil prices hover around $100 a barrel, there is a silver lining for facility managers seeking smarter ways to save energy and make their buildings more efficient. Siemens Industry, Inc. today announced the sequel to last year’s summer blockbuster, offering $80,000 in products and services to winners of the 2011 Smartest Building in America™ challenge.
Open to facilities that use Siemens operating systems, the Smartest Building in America challenge launched May 1 and continues through August 1, 2011. The challenge recognizes the innovative implementation of APOGEE® or TALON® building automation systems and the role these systems play in making buildings smarter, efficient and more sustainable.
“Economic conditions continue to force facility managers to do much more with much less; budgets are tighter than ever before,” says Rich Lattanzi, Vice President of Control Products and Systems (CPS), Building Technologies Division of Siemens Industry, Inc. “And many are accomplishing amazing results,” Lattanzi says. “The Smartest Building in America challenge recognizes the hard work and capabilities of facility managers while giving them the chance to gain recognition for their work.”
Participants are asked to submit brief videos that explain why their buildings are the smartest in America.
Two prizes will be awarded in each product category — APOGEE and TALON. Grand-prize winners will receive $25,000 in products and services from the Building Technologies Division or a $25,000 contribution to a qualified charity of their choice. Runner-up prize winners will receive $15,000 in products and services from the Building Technologies Division or a $15,000 contribution to a qualified charity of their choice.
A panel consisting of leading authorities in facility management, such as Jim Sinopoli, Managing Principal, Smart Buildings, and Robert Beverly, Editor, Engineered Systems Magazine, will judge the entries.
Last year’s winners included the Duke Energy Center, Charlotte, N.C.; the Iowa Central Community College Biotechnology and Health Science Building, Fort Dodge, Iowa; Alaska’s Cold Climate Housing Research Center, Fairbanks, Alaska; and the Rasmussen Building at Grandview University, Des Moines, Iowa.
The Siemens APOGEE Building Automation System provides an open system architecture that allows all of the information throughout a facility to be accessible to everyone who needs it, when and where they need it. The APOGEE system’s backward and forward compatibility helps facilities of all types improve performance, expand functionality and adapt to the future.
The Siemens TALON Building Control System provides integrators with an open architecture based on BACnet or LonTalk® protocols. Its benefits include unlimited flexibility and project management tools that keep projects on schedule and within budget. Its wireless sensors help improve a building operator’s return on retrofit investment, fulfill new tenant needs and ensure building and energy efficiency.