CABA and Philips advancing innovations for intelligent buildings
Energy consumption in buildings represents close to 40% of the world's total energy use, including climate control and energy used for appliances, lighting and other installed equipment.
Local and regional energy actors, such as energy agencies, have a crucial role to play in the transformation of the global building sector towards higher energy efficiency and increased use of renewable energy resources. Green building practices, in which innovative technology plays a crucial role, aim to reduce the environmental impact of buildings. By changing controls management practices and instituting intelligent technologies designed to optimize energy efficiency, building managers can reduce energy consumption by up to 35 percent. Key systems upgrades and retrofits include, but are not limited to, HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning) controls, lighting controls, energy management, and building automation systems. However, to accelerate the reduction of energy consumption of buildings on a global scale, cooperation and standardization are vital elements.
CABA and Philips joining forces
The Continental Automated Buildings Association (CABA) is an international not-for-profit industry association dedicated to the advancement of intelligent home and intelligent building technologies. The organization is supported by an international membership of over 300 companies involved in the design, manufacture, installation and retailing of products relating to home automation and building automation. Public organizations, including utilities and government are also members. In June 2008, Dr Satyen Mukherjee of Philips Research North America (PRNA) was appointed to CABA's Board of Directors, and since February 2011, he is Chairman of the Board and the Executive Committee.
Why is a partnership with CABA important for Philips?
"With the growing global emphasis on increasing building energy efficiency - such as net zero-energy building initiatives in the U.S. and Europe, smart grid interfaces with buildings, and rapidly evolving building certification codes such as from the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) and others - it is essential to have many industries come together to provide the needed solutions. No one industry can address the problem fully. Furthermore, due to the interaction between the different systems in buildings such as natural and artificial lighting, HVAC, and ICT, different industries need to work together or at least understand each other's needs in some depth, both technically and from market dynamics standpoint, to provide the optimal solution."
"CABA provides a unique opportunity for Philips to interact with many industrial players in the U.S. and develop the market for its lighting-based systems in the commercial building space and become a provider of solutions and services. CABA is strategically poised to serve that role and be a knowledge base for the industry, so interaction with the CABA board members and the insights gained is very beneficial."
"Recently, for example, the CABA's board of directors meeting took place in the Philips Color Kinetics facility in Burlington. This meeting, hosted by Jeff Cassis, General Manager of Philips Color Kinetics, brought together board members from real estate management companies, utility companies, building automation companies, energy services companies and IT companies, such as IBM and Microsoft. Our advanced LED-based lighting products and innovation thrusts generated interest among many of the members for deployment as well as collaboration on joint development of solutions in areas adjacent to those of Philips, such as security. These potential opportunities will be followed up by Research together with the Lighting business. The feedback from the members provided valuable insights from many different perspectives."
What is your role as Chair of the CABA Board of Directors?
"As a member of the board initially and specifically as the Chairman, I have contributed to and driven several initiatives together with the President, Mr Ronald J. Zimmer, and the board members. First and foremost, we have defined a new strategy for CABA in view of the new developments in the industry and the need for a focused effort to bring together various players and provide value to our members."
"Due to increasing interest from the industry to participate on the CABA board, we decided to increase the number of the board members from 19 to 22 by amending the bylaws. It was also recognized that the composition of the board should be determined by the significant players in the building automation space and therefore a list of relevant industrial sectors was generated as a guideline to appointing new board members. This list continues to be a living document for future board appointees."
What were the major achievements of CABA over the past year?
"In addition to adding new key members to its board of directors such as utility companies, security companies and real estate management companies, CABA has carried out collaborative research projects in the connected homes and buildings space generating a research library of reports, case studies and white papers exceeding 500 in total. We have generated a landmark research report on the Connected Home market with over 25 participating companies, and we have also carried out a comprehensive study on Smart Grid's Impact on Intelligent Buildings. Recently, CABA presented a study on aging in the connected home. Moreover, CABA has participated in 20 industry events including Greenbuild 2011 in Toronto, Smart Energy International in San Francisco, and the AUTOVATION Conference in Washington D.C."
What are the next steps for CABA in the coming year?
"In addition to defining new research projects currently underway, CABA plans to participate in a number of industry events including ‘Metering International' in San Diego, ‘Smart Grid Impact' in Chicago, the ‘International Builders Show' in Orlando, and bring together relevant information for our members. CABA is addressing the important need for interoperability of standards and protocols by developing agreements with relevant industry organizations and bringing relevant topics for discussion with members. Going forward, we will explore the connected home or residential building space in some depth, supported by CABA's Connected Home council with 85 members."
"CABA as an organization still needs to grow more widely in the emerging regions and add to its membership and board appropriately to address the opportunities and needs and fulfill its vision of being the knowledge-based forum for industry leaders who advance the use of technology and integrated systems in the global home and building industry."
More information:
+ Continental Automated Buildings Association (CABA) website
+ CABA video testimonials
+ Philips Color Kinetics