Scientific Conservation, Inc. Materials and PR CoverageCompany Overview In June 2009, Scientific Conservation Inc., (SCI) formally announced SCIwatch,™a predictive analytics software

Scientific Conservation, Inc. Materials and PR Coverage

SEPTEMBER 2009

PREPARED BY: GALLAGHER GROUP COMMUNIUCATIONS

Scientific Conservation, Inc.  Materials and PR Coverage  Prepared by Gallagher Group Communications +1 (415) 989‐2900 kevin@gg‐comm.com 

Company Overview  In June 2009, Scientific Conservation Inc., (SCI) formally announced SCIwatch,™a predictive analytics software  solution  designed  for  the  $5  billion Retail  and  Commercial Building markets.    SCIwatch automatically and persistently predicts, detects, diagnoses, prioritizes and monetizes system faults and anomalies, which can quickly “turn green buildings grey” due to unforeseen sources of energy leakage.  SCI was  founded  in  2007  after  decades  of  pioneering work  at  thousands  of  sites  by  its founders, experts  in  commercial building automation and control  systems,  facility  commissioning, energy  management  measurement  and  verification,  web‐enabling  gateway  deployment,  and software development.   SCIwatch provides Automated Continuous Commissioning  (ACC) and  fault detection  of  commercial  and  retail  buildings  through  existing  building  automation  and metering systems allowing customers to realize a sustained reduction in annual energy spend of 15% to 25% or more.  As data reaches SCI servers, SCIwatch employs proprietary experiential data benchmarking and  advanced  analytical  algorithms  to  identify energy waste  and predict equipment  failures with exceptional accuracy. Findings are reported and tracked via a secure web user interface and email. The platform  is designed and architected as a highly scalable and extensible Software as a Service (SaaS) solution enabling SCI to handle literally thousands of buildings per server.  SCIwatch performs its diagnostic service by remotely connecting to an existing building’s automation system and meters, transparently gathering data and continuously running advanced mathematical models  to  identify  system  anomalies.  The  service  then  alerts  facility  operators,  initiates  and prioritizes work orders by cost and severity, and tracks resolution.    

  “SCIwatch is the embodiment of where building management is headed.” 

 ‐ Mark  Boraski,  Vice  President  of  Property 

Management with Neiman Marcus 

  By  deploying  SCIwatch,  building  managers  can  easily  identify  which  mechanical  and  electrical equipment  or  building  systems  require  attention,  allowing  “preemptive”  service  work  and adjustment to avoid costly outages or catastrophic failures. Prior to SCIwatch, such diagnostic work was largely manual, intrusive and inefficient.  Consequently, system diagnostics were conducted far too infrequently, causing buildings to drift persistently resulting in wasteful energy expenditures or complete system failures. From energy savings alone, customers realize a payback on SCI fees  in a 

 SCI Company Overview Page 1

matter of months and additional savings  in maintenance costs. “System failure avoidance” further accelerates payback.   

 “Through  its disruptive technology, SCI enables customers  to  reap  the  benefits  arising  from integration of automation and control  systems and  maximize  the  value  of  time  sensitive information in a building.”   

‐ Jorge  Moreno,  program  manager  in  Frost  & Sullivan’s environmental & building technologies practice.   

 SCI Received the Frost & Sullivan 2009 Enabling Technology of the Year Award 

 The Opportunity   

Virtually  every  commercial  building  is  “commissioned.”    Commissioning  is  a  quality  assurance program that verifies that a building’s operating systems are  functioning as designed and meeting the building owner and operator’s needs.  Commissioning requires a team of highly skilled engineers to insure all electrical and mechanical aspects of a building are properly “tuned” to minimize energy and  operating  costs.    However,  over  time,  buildings  “go  out  of  tune”  as  occupants  adjust  and readjust HVAC settings; seasonal changes stress and disrupt systems; equipment  is not maintained properly or  simply degrades with  time; and,  complex  components malfunction. While each event might  have  only  a  modest  impact  on  the  building’s  overall  operating  costs  and  performance, eventually the “events” accumulate to degrade energy efficiency significantly, or worse, result  in a complete system failure.   

Historically,  when  a  system  failed  or  became  noticeably  “out  of  tune”,  buildings  were  “re‐commissioned”  requiring  visual  inspections  and  hands‐on  readjusting,  a  labor  and  knowledge intensive  process  that  was  rarely  completed  properly  or  fully.  With  the  advent  of  networked building automation systems and metering over  the past decade,  the  flow of monitoring data has become  sufficient  to  allow  the  “continuous  commissioning”  of  buildings,  i.e.,  the  ability  to constantly monitor  and  adjust  electromechanical  systems  so  that  “drifting”  and  faults  could  be detected and  corrected before becoming  costly.   Research has proven  continuous  commissioning can  save  up  to  20%  or more  in  energy  usage  annually  and  immeasurable  savings  in  prevented system failures.       However, until the  introduction of SCIwatch™ software,  industry systems  lacked the ability to “digest” the data flow and convert measured performance into actionable advice.  

The Market 

The domestic market for energy efficiency software for application in commercial buildings is estimated to be over $5 billion annually. Europe and the more developed Asian markets double this potential. To date, continuous commissioning has been the province of specialty consulting firms or remote monitoring services with large back‐office staffs and cumbersome or inaccurate statistical software). Large corporations like building automation system providers, with a primary goal of  

 SCI Company Overview Page 2

 SCI Company Overview Page 3

selling costly, proprietary equipment, have combined consulting and monitoring services as a lead‐in for up‐selling. As a result, continuous commissioning has been difficult and costly to scale, and penetration has been slow. SCIwatch™ overcomes these obstacles and has propelled continuous commissioning into energy efficiency prime time. 

Beyond classic building operating cost concerns, new environmental initiatives have created market pull for efficient and effective continuous commissioning.  Over the past decade an accelerating number of building managers have coveted U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) certification as a key component of organizational responsibility. Ongoing re‐commissioning is a condition of obtaining and maintaining LEED certification, and SCIwatch’s automated continuous commissioning easily fulfills the requirement. More recently, interest in carbon footprint reduction has sprung into prominence as states like Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Nevada have mandated energy efficiency “white tag” credit trading, while other non‐mandate states can trade on the Chicago Climate Exchange. SCI founders developed the first successful data acquisition and analytical platform for white tags; SCIwatch’s automated continuous commissioning leverages the same platform. 

Competitors in the continuous commissioning arena fall into two broad categories: service providers currently offering continuous commissioning and systems providers that could enter the field.  

The Management Team  

David Wolins, CEO, 30+ years in the energy efficiency industry with expertise in HVAC, refrigeration and controls for commercial and industrial buildings. Prior to SCI, he co‐founded EnFlex Corp, and was responsible for sales, marketing and the overall product vision. EnFlex was acquired by SunEdison in January, 2008. BS Mechanical Engineering, UC Berkeley. He is a member of ASHRAE, AEE and RETA.  

John Pitcher, Founder & COO, 35+ years in energy management systems, energy conservation, building technologies and information technology. Prior to starting SCI in 2007, he served as VP of Energy Technologies at Sterling Planet where he pioneered ‘White Tag” energy efficiency credits.  Earlier, he was Technology Director at Service Resources, which became Prenova, the largest provider of energy services for commercial customers, where he championed the “Virtual Audit,” a method of providing automated remote commissioning through existing facility automation systems. His career includes serving as COO at Envenergy, a maker of energy management gateways, which was just acquired by Cisco; the utility company Entergy Corp, where he was Director of Operations; Comfort Systems USA, where he was General Manager; and McDonald’s Corp, where he was its first energy manager.  

Andy Colman, CFO, 30+ years in executive management and finance in energy efficiency and clean tech generation. Prior to SCI, he was CEO of EnFlex Corp, which he led through a major expansion and acquisition by SunEdison. Earlier, he co‐founded MACH Energy, which provides pioneering energy efficiency SaaS for commercial office buildings, and was with Booz & Company’s Energy Practice serving the financial and utility sectors. He started his career as an engineer at Westinghouse Advanced Reactors Division. BS and ME in Nuclear Engineering, plus MBA, all University of Virginia. 

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Thor Johnson, CTO, 20+ years of commercial software development experience, both in enterprise and in embedded systems. Prior to SCI, he developed software at Altea Therapeutics, Movaz Networks, Prenova, and Northrop Grumman. His expertise spans systems as small as a handheld drug delivery system up to a 144‐Terabit optical switch. He has developed several scalable, enterprise management systems including one to manage enterprise deployments of Thin‐Clients. BSE and BA in Computer Science at Mercer University.  

Chip Pieper, VP Business Development, 20+ years in the software industry. Prior to SCI, he was a sales director at EnFlex and subsequently at SunEdison. Earlier, he held leadership positions at Microsoft, Sourcecode (K2) and US Web. He founded Alignsoft.net and co‐founded both BizStorm Software and Info‐One Technology. He also co‐founded private equity firm Service Equity.  Bachelor degrees: University of Wisconsin Milwaukee and Marquette University. 

Lin Little, VP Sales and Marketing, 25+ years in enterprise software and web‐based solutions. Prior to SCI, he was a sales director at EnFlex and subsequently at SunEdison. Earlier, he was a co‐founder of LeadersOnline, a subsidiary of Heidrick & Struggles, one of the first full‐service Internet based executive search firms. He began his career at Xerox as a design engineer, then focused on sales and marketing of advanced technology solutions. BS from U.S. Military Academy at West Point; MBA from the University of Colorado. 

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Contact: Kevin Gallagher Gallagher Group Communications 510-599-0416 [email protected]

SCIENTIFIC CONSERVATION LAUNCHES BREAKTHROUGH CONTINUOUS COMMISSIONING ENERGY EFFICIENCY SOLUTION

SCIwatch™ SaaS Platform Slashes Commercial Building Energy Spending Up to 25%

Berkeley, CA – June 29, 2009 – Scientific Conservation Inc., (SCI), a leading provider of

energy efficiency solutions for the $4.5 billion commercial building market, today announced

the launch of SCIwatch,™ a breakthrough Automated Continuous Commissioning (ACC)

software platform that enables commercial building owners and facility operators to slash

annual energy spending up to 25 percent. SCIwatch is the industry’s only software-as-a-

service (SaaS) solution that persistently and automatically predicts, detects, diagnoses and

prioritizes system faults and anomalies that are constantly present in commercial buildings.

As a new class of ACC software, SCIwatch is addressing the insidious but persistent problem

of “energy drift,” which causes commercial buildings to lose an average of 17 percent in

energy efficiency every one to two years. With average electricity costs running $2.00 per

square foot, this energy leakage is costing billions of dollars in unnecessary spending each

year. Energy drift can be triggered by a wide variety of problems ranging from clogged

filters to more complex issues that include electrical, mechanical and HVAC system faults.

In addition, anomalies in building tolerances, seasonal climate change, or varying tenant

occupancy rates can contribute to the growing problem of energy seepage.

"A key strength of SCIwatch is its auto-diagnostics that continuously monitor and measure

system-wide performance so you can detect problems before systems break,” said Lin

SCI Launches Breakthrough Continuous Commissioning Energy Efficiency Solution Page 1

SCI Launches Breakthrough Continuous Commissioning Energy Efficiency Solution Page 2

Ortega, utilities engineer program manager with Santa Clara County and SCIwatch customer.

“Without this capability, buildings can operate inefficiently without anyone even knowing it.

With SCIwatch, we can actually flag abnormalities before they become problems. For

example, if I have a floor in a building with a defective sensor constantly reading 79 degrees,

and the cooling set point is 74 degrees, we are running expensive chillers and fans

unnecessarily."

What sets SCIwatch apart in the increasingly competitive energy efficiency market are its

ACC capabilities, which operate within a SaaS framework to simplify deployment and

reduce licensing costs. SCIwatch takes raw information from energy management systems

and converts data into actionable tasks prioritized by cost savings. The “continuous” element

of the solution provides ongoing measurement of changes in each mechanical and electrical

system’s health on a 24/7 basis, and does so remotely and non-intrusively. As a result,

SCIwatch persistently determines the root of systemic operational problems, predicts

operational deterioration, and quantifies its associated cost.

“The problem of energy drift is very real but incredibly difficult to measure, especially since

commercial buildings are only being re-commissioned every few years,” said Jorge Moreno,

program manager, North American environmental & building technologies for Frost &

Sullivan. “That’s what makes SCIwatch so interesting and valuable. The software

transparently harnesses complex mathematics to dynamically model system operations in the

real world and alarms facility managers when a system is in danger of a major failure or

operating outside of appropriate ‘efficiency tolerances.’ And because it ‘continuously

commissions’ buildings, energy drift can be detected early so facility energy costs don’t

spiral out of control.”

The SCIwatch Platform

As a “just-in-time” predictive energy analytics platform leveraging patent-pending neural

network technologies, SCIwatch features a unique architecture that combines:

• a universal interface to almost any building management system, metering or external data source;

SCI Launches Breakthrough Continuous Commissioning Energy Efficiency Solution Page 3

• a certified baseline of energy consumption and spending by each facility over time;

• a data warehouse storing all operations source data and anomaly detection histories and associated costs;

• a fault-prediction diagnostic engine that identifies and tracks changes to baselines and anomalies across mechanical and electrical systems; and

• a comprehensive work order module that issues and tracks job tickets to completion, broken down by building and individual systems.

“The days of re-commissioning buildings every few years are essentially over,” said David

Wolins, chief executive officer at SCI. “With the introduction of SCIwatch, we have figured

out a way to package and greatly simplify the complex tasks of analyzing a facility’s energy

consumption and systems operations. As a result, commercial buildings can now be

monitored persistently and comprehensively to detect anomalies before they can erode

energy efficiency and system uptime.”

Pricing and Availability

SCIwatch is commercially available today. As a SaaS solution with compelling economics,

SCIwatch can be purchased with a one-time initiation fee plus a quarterly subscription fee

based on each facility’s square footage and selected service level.

About Scientific Conservation

Scientific Conservation Inc. (SCI) is a leading provider of energy efficiency and system

optimization solutions for the $5 billion commercial building market. The SCIwatch

automatic continuous commissioning solution is the industry’s first software-as-a-service

(SaaS) platform to help cut annual energy spending up to 25 percent by comparing predicted

energy and system efficiencies against real-time operation. SCI is headquartered in

Berkeley, Calif., with offices in Atlanta. Follow us on Twitter at

http://twitter.com/SCIwatch.

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2009 North America Automated Continuous Commissioning Enabling Technology of the Year Award

Scientific Conservation, Inc.

The 2009 North American Frost & Sullivan Enabling Technology of the Year Award for Automated Continuous Commissioning (ACC) Market is presented to Scientific Conservation, Inc. (SCI) for its accomplishments in successfully commercializing a software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution that is scalable, cost-effective and yields measurable returns. The company’s SCIwatch™ software solution represents a premiere breakthrough in ACC that enables building owners to reduce annual energy costs by up to 25 percent. Key differentiating features of SCIwatch™ include enhanced diagnostic capabilities and actionable delivery platform that allows seamless integration with other operational and mechanical systems. The unique technology enables highly accurate assessment of systems performance based on virtually unlimited number of independent variables. While competing products tend to emphasize more on reactive reporting capabilities, SCI provides an actionable maintenance and work order management platform enabling building owners and managers to work proactively and achieve significant energy savings. Key Industry Challenges Addressed By SCIwatch™ The biggest challenge currently facing existing buildings in reducing energy usage is the lack of critical information on operating systems. Traditional building systems are characterized by highly proprietary offerings with limited ability to interoperate. As a result, conventional buildings suffer from the inability to communicate and intelligently manage the large amount of data that they possess, thus creating a demand for modernizing building automation systems. With its easy to use features and proven energy saving capabilities, SCIwatch™ successfully addresses the industry challenge. The software solution allows for predictive fault detection, reporting, timely disgnosis and prognosis capabilities for all connected buildings anywhere in the world from a centralised location.

The Decision Support Matrix, shown in Figure 1 illustrates the relative importance of each criterion for the Enabling Technology Award and the ratings for the top three competitors

Figure 1: Decision Support Matrix for Enabling Technology Award

Measurement of 1–10 (1 = lowest; 10 = highest) Award Criteria

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Scientific Conservation, Inc. 9 10 9 9 10 9 9

Competitor 1 6 7 7 8 7 6 7

Competitor 2 5 6 5 5 7 6 6

Frost & Sullivan’s comparative analysis of technologies in the ACC market in 2009 revealed Scientific Conservation Inc. to have the highest rating. Migrating Building Automation and Commissioning to the Next Level SCI offers a highly scalable and uninterruptible vendor-neutral energy analytics platform that interfaces with varied building energy management system for automatic data collection, diagnostics, and work order management. The commissioning and retrofitting of building automation will experience a significant change by using SCIwatch™, resulting in operational ease to carry out tasks as well as energy savings. By combining core functionality such as operating systems and work management systems into a single, web-based software system, SCI provides an incredible value enhancement by bridging the gap between a building’s operational performance and maintenance aspects and provides a broader solution for the facility management environment. SCIwatch™ was conceived to enable seamless integration with other operational and mechanical systems infrastructure of a building, such that operational performance can be enhanced with proper information exchange. In this respect, SCI represents a clear breakaway from most products and technologies in the industry that tend to impose varying degrees of proprietary restrictions within their

solutions. With the unique product offering, SCI has broken pertinent cost barriers to assess the proprietary and legacy data from different systems in a facility. Using SCI software solution allows building owners to choose from among the best-in-class vendors, resulting in a significant reduction in cost and time of deployment. Having anticipated the technical future of the building automation industry, SCI is focused on a promising road map with its product line woven around standard Information Technology (IT) infrastructure. SCI enables building owners and facility managers to deal with the layers of complexity found in buildings and provide a near future-proof integration infrastructure, that lend scalability to incorporate future evolution in building systems. This heterogeneous infrastructure enabled by IT standards creates more competition between technology vendors which allows for savings to be generated quickly. Additionally, SCI’s close relationships with technology partners such as Microsoft and SAP have enable it to maximize its ability to leverage the latest technological innovations and best practices in the IT environment. By solving existing issues such as cost barriers, proprietary solutions, reliability, and less-effective packaging, SCI enables building automation to reach new levels of functionality. To address potential integration challenges, SCI has embraced the "partner, learn, and solve" formula, in an effort to bring the disparate IT-centric and building-centric worlds closer together. The technology by SCI is not only being adopted by the integrators, but also by the OEMs and reseller partners to either implement the product ‘as is’ or build upon the existing user experience. This opens tremendous business possibilities for developers and property owners that can better utilize the incremental multiplier effect on more properties, as they are connected together under a universal interface to any building management system, metering or external data source. Sound Roadmap for Commercialization Sound investor support and credible executive experience combined with a strategic vision have been instrumental in contributing to the market acceptance of SCI and the service commitments enhancing its inherent capabilities. Forging the right alliance with key partners in the value chain has helped the company to gain thriving market penetration. Moreover it allows partners and clients to have more flexibility to target more specific end-user requirements and in some areas meet more stringent government regulations. In addition, the company is involved in creating awareness among industry stakeholders to propagate its value proposition more effectively. In order to conserve energy and money, it is imperative that proper information management architecture is in place, which makes the information actionable and

definable. SCI capitalizes on cost effectiveness while at the same time offering a comprehensively customized package of unique features for smooth functionality. The company has found its niche in the emerging software-based ACC solutions market by offering a product that augurs well with the industry’s emerging requirements, while having to its credit the profile of being the only participant in the market to successfully do so. Conclusion

Through its disruptive technology, SCI enables customers to reap the benefits arising from integration of automation and control systems and maximize the value of time sensitive information in a building. This revolutionary concept not only facilitates simplification of the process of connectivity and integration, but also makes building management easier for the end users, thereby creating powerful solutions and sound technology to build bridges between systems and devices. SCI has demonstrated enabling technology excellence by implementing timely, integrated system information for its customers allowing them to make intelligent decisions regarding its operation and maintenance. The aforementioned factors make Scientific Conservation, Inc. the deserving recipient of the 2009 Frost & Sullivan Enabling Technology of the Year Award for Automated Continuous Commissioning market.

Award Description The Frost & Sullivan Enabling Technology of the Year Award is presented to a company that has developed a technology that can benefit or revolutionize the industry.

Research Methodology Before considering the recipient of this Award, the analyst team tracks market participants' technology innovations through ongoing market research, market interviews, and extensive secondary and technology research.

Measurement Criteria In addition to the methodology described above, there are specific criteria used to determine the final rankings. The recipient of this award has excelled based on one or more of the following criteria:

Degree of technology adoption in industry product lines or strategies Potential of technology to become an industry standard or degree of

acceptance in the market place Impact of technology in terms of shifting market R & D focus Industry participant recognition of the company’s leadership in this

technology Established capabilities of the company to deliver this technology to the

market Market share growth through the successful introduction of technology to the

market Dissemination of information on technology benefits and potential for quick

acceptance by the market Transition of end users to this technological advancement

About Best Practices Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Awards recognize companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis, and extensive secondary research in order to identify best practices in the industry. About Frost & Sullivan Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Consulting Company, partners with clients to accelerate their growth. The company's Growth Partnership Services, Growth Consulting and Career Best Practices empower clients to create a growth focused culture that generates, evaluates and implements effective growth strategies. Frost & Sullivan employs over 45 years of experience in partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses and the investment community from more than 30 offices on six continents. For more information about Frost & Sullivan’s Growth Partnerships, visit http://www.frost.com. www.awards.frost.com

  Contact: Kevin Gallagher Gallagher Group Communications 925.831.1041 [email protected]

NEIMAN MARCUS DEPLOYS SCIwatch™ AUTOMATED CONTINUOUS COMMISSIONING SOLUTION FROM SCIENTIFIC CONSERVATION

Premier Retailer Avoids System Outages and Trims CAPEX and OPEX Expenditures with New Software-as-a-Service Solution

Berkeley, CA – September 14, 2009 – Scientific Conservation Inc., (SCI), a leading

provider of energy efficiency solutions for the $5 billion commercial building market, today

announced that The Neiman Marcus Group, Inc. (“Neiman Marcus”), one of the premier

retail brands in the world based in Dallas, is rolling out its SCIwatch™ Automated

Continuous Commissioning (ACC) solution across its fleet of specialty retail stores. Neiman

Marcus is using SCIwatch to proactively detect, identify and diagnose potential faults and

anomalies affecting key mechanical, electrical and HVAC systems well in advance of service

interruptions or outright failures. As a result, the company believes that it will reap

considerable savings on CAPEX and OPEX expenditures. In addition, Neiman Marcus

hopes to extend the lifespan of strategic and highly expensive systems and save significant

amounts on annual energy spending by ensuring power-hungry electrical, mechanical and

HVAC systems are running optimally.

Forty-one Neiman Marcus stores are currently operated across the United States, along with

two Bergdorf Goodman stores in Manhattan. Neiman Marcus also operates 26 Last Call

clearance centers. These store operations total more than six million gross square feet.

NEIMAN MARCUS DEPLOYS SCIwatch™ ACC SOLUTION FROM SCI Page 1

NEIMAN MARCUS DEPLOYS SCIwatch™ ACC SOLUTION FROM SCI Page 2

Mark Boraski, vice president of property management with Neiman Marcus oversees the

energy management, sustainability, environmental compliance and system-wide maintenance

for this fleet of properties.

“For the past 15 years, we’ve been trying to integrate weather data, utility data, and control

system data across our fleet of properties in order to automatically diagnose problems and

tune systems to run optimally,” said Boraski. “Until recently, we’ve never had a

comprehensive automated system that had the ability to automatically perform analysis and

diagnostics. Building Automation Systems display valuable information but unless you have

a process for this level of analysis, you just have raw numbers on a computer screen.”

This 15-year search for a solution ended when Boraski and his team piloted and now deploy

SCIwatch, a software-as-a-service (SaaS)-based ACC platform that detects, monetizes and

prioritizes system faults. To date, Neiman Marcus is deploying SCIwatch across 21 of its

facilities and intends to apply the platform for every property over time.

“For the first time, we have an automated process that continually checks system assets

across our properties from a centralized dashboard to pinpoint which systems are performing

outside of acceptable tolerances,” said Boraski. “This enables us to intelligently assign

technical resources to address system issues on a prioritized basis. It has proven to be an

effective resource allocation tool.”

SCIwatch Diagnostics Uncover System Faults

SCIwatch is an ACC platform that interfaces with any building energy management system

for automatic data collection, warehousing, diagnostics and work order issuance and

tracking. It also serves as a centralized system that consolidates up-to-the-minute views into

energy usage and system-wide performance levels with reporting parameters tailored for

executive-level and operational staff.

“When we started applying SCIwatch in our first 21 facilities, we found a number of sensor

errors,” explained Boraski. “More importantly, SCIwatch identified sensors we thought were

reading correctly that were actually misleading.”

NEIMAN MARCUS DEPLOYS SCIwatch™ ACC SOLUTION FROM SCI Page 3

Even with Neiman Marcus’s rigorous system maintenance programs and state-of-the-art

building automation and control systems firmly in place, SCIwatch discovered hard-to-detect

anomalies affecting strategic equipment such as short cycling and equipment sequencing

problems. The platform also discovered abnormal pressures in some refrigeration circuits

that could result in compressor failure if left unresolved.

“Without SCIwatch, these problems probably would not have been caught until the next

regularly scheduled maintenance cycle. This means systems would have operated in a less

than ideal state for a month or more, thereby potentially jeopardizing major equipment while

eating up unnecessary energy,” cautioned Boraski. “It was quite surprising how many issues

SCIwatch uncovered—ranging from economizer systems not working optimally to

refrigeration systems with high evaporator and condenser pressures, to intermittent Chiller

surging—all problems that surfaced right after these systems were just serviced.”

For Boraski and his team, SCIwatch’s automated anomaly detection capabilities underscore

the reality that there are simply never enough technical resources available to dedicate to the

task of ongoing system diagnostics. “You simply must monitor systems on a round-the-clock

basis, especially for an organization like ours that expects equipment to be operating

perfectly once our doors are open to our customers,” Boraski said.

About Scientific Conservation, Inc.

Scientific Conservation Inc., (SCI) is a leading provider of energy efficiency and system

optimization solutions for the $5 billion commercial building market. The company’s

SCIwatch continuous commissioning solution is the industry’s first software-as-a-service

(SaaS) platform to help cut annual energy spending up to 25 percent by comparing predicted

energy and system efficiencies against real-time operation. The company is headquartered in

Berkeley, Calif., with offices in Atlanta. For more information, visit

www.scientificconservation.com.

###

Energy Efficiency through Advanced Diagnostics

Scientific Conservation, Inc.

SCIwatch™

Recommissioning a Site – Frequently Asked Questions Q. What are the benefits of recommissioning? A. Recommissioning in general provides a retuning of all electrical and mechanical systems to maximize system uptime, ensure systems are operating within optimal tolerances, and achieve the greatest levels of energy efficiency to help reduce annual energy spend and reduce harmful emissions. Continuous commissioning, delivered by SCIwatch, provides many additional benefits including:

1. A traceable, predictive and constantly up-to-date baseline of the energy consumption of the facility systems being monitored

2. The most comprehensive diagnostics available in the market 3. Prioritization of system anomalies 4. Ongoing, real-world measurement of operational efficiency 5. Predictive tools to accelerate responsiveness to operational degradation 6. Continuous tracking of the service resolution process

Q. What is required before recommissioning begins? A. Establish what your goals and obligations will be during and after recommissioning your facility

1. Identify the economic model that includes both energy and avoided operational costs plus a pool of funds for repair in support of this initiative. SCI can provide guidance, academic research results and customer case studies in support of this process.

2. Educate executive team to the benefits of recommissioning. Suggest using the SCI white paper in support of this effort.

3. Make sure that IT understands what will be required of them and allot time for configuring the network to allow an outside party controlled access to the BAS through the network. Typically this is done through a VPN connection.

4. Prepare staff to provide technical data on the systems and equipment at the facility. SCI provides a comprehensive form that spells out the background information required.

SCIwatch Recommissioning a Site – Frequently Asked Questions Page 1

 SCIwatch Recommissioning a Site – Frequently Asked Questions Page 2

Q. What information do I need to have at hand for the recommissioning process to be successful? A. Collect system data consisting of design information, BAS information (make, model, access information, IP address or phone number, user name, password), and utility bills dating back at least two years. SCI provides a comprehensive form that spells out the background information required. Q. Do I need any training to maintain a recommissioned building? A. Users of the SCIwatch diagnostics infrastructure only need to know how to use a web browser to access the information provided through SCIwatch. Integrated with standard operations and maintenance information on the customer’s systems, SCIwatch allows the customer to close the loop on tracking and maintaining the highest level of operational efficiency and risk mitigation available on the market today. Q. How long will it take to recommission a building and what should I expect to see during the process? A. Assuming all required data is provided, the diagnostics data flow will occur almost immediately. Initially the diagnostics will identify very basic issues such as faulty sensors, overlapping heating and cooling and flawed schedules. As the database collects more data the diagnostics engines will continuously tune themselves to further increase the accuracies of the modeling and the identified anomalies. This will assure that maximum operational efficiency is being achieved and maintained. In the case of SCIwatch, deployment time is exceptionally fast. Recently, three 150k+sq. ft. retail buildings with different footprints were deployed in a matter of hours without taxing the support staff. SCIwatch is specifically designed to handle a high volume of facilities for rapid continuous commissioning. Q. Will there be any interruption in normal operations during the recommissioning process? A. There will be no interruption in normal operations. There may be some short periods when fluctuations in certain systems occur. This may happen when the diagnostics engine exercises VAV boxes to check proper performance (this is an optional service, contact SCI for further information). SCIwatch does not impede normal system operations. Q. What should be expected when SCIwatch starts reporting? A. Initially SCIwatch will identify bad sensors and insufficient data needed to perform analysis on site systems. Once sensors are fixed or replaced SCIwatch generates faults by priority. The priority is set by the user. Q. Do I need to do anything to maintain SCIwatch?

 SCIwatch Recommissioning a Site – Frequently Asked Questions Page 3

A. No.SCI maintains the SCIwatch platform freeing users to leverage the results to fix identifiable system faults and anomalies. SCI suggests using the priority tool in the user interface to prioritize what, if any, systems require special monitoring. It is also recommended that if there is a question about an anomaly that the tracking mechanism be used for dispatch to SCI. The SCIwatch team will respond with technical support. Q. What do I do if I have any questions or concerns regarding the results being generated? A. Send the particular anomaly via the user interface to the SCIwatch tech support team to help evaluate and resolve any issue. SCI encourages you to do so since this helps SCI to improve the operation of its software. There is no cost for sending these requests.

###

Energy Efficiency through Advanced Diagnostics

The Arrival of Automated Continuous Commissioning: How to Optimize Operational and Energy Efficiency for

Commercial Facilities

A White Paper by Scientific Conservation, Inc. (SCI) Introducing SCIwatch™

May 2009

 The Arrival of Automated Continuous Commissioning: How to Optimize Operational and Energy Efficiency for Commercial Facilities Page 2

Introduction

Perpetually maintaining a high level of operational efficiency for mechanical and electrical

systems has until now, eluded most facility owners and managers. We are now evolving

from time-based preventive maintenance to “just in time” automated continuous

commissioning (ACC) and diagnostics. This white paper discusses how this state-of –the-art

approach enables large numbers of building systems to be continuously monitored, evaluated

and maintained while minimizing user interaction. It will also explain how ACC delivers

actionable information to facility operations managers and service providers. This white

paper will also explain how ACC’s proven process can minimize operating costs, enable

facility managers to make much more informed and timely decisions on how best to

prioritize maintenance and track the performance of the maintenance staff and outside service

providers.

Mechanical and electrical systems operating in commercial facilities are often complex and

are made more so because they must perform in ever changing environments. Over time

these systems tend to degrade as they provide service to the building. Compounding this

issue is the fact that often times a small degradation in a system’s operational efficiency

precedes a major costly failure. Until now, facility owners have had no simple tool that gives

them the view they need to catch these degradations when they occur.

Operational efficiency is defined here as the total cost to deliver the required environmental

conditions called for by the space being conditioned. This efficiency includes both the

energy and operational costs associated with the long term operation of equipment. By

considering both factors, the operator will truly know if the operational efficiency is being

maintained or is deteriorating.

The SCIwatch Platform At-a-Glance

SCI has developed the most sophisticated methods available to access the BAS data from the

site. Connecting directly to the BAS or through a low cost data management appliance, the

company’s SCIwatch™ system—the industry’s first software-as-a-service platform

delivering automated continuous commissioning—logs all available data points, setpoints,

 The Arrival of Automated Continuous Commissioning: How to Optimize Operational and Energy Efficiency for Commercial Facilities Page 3

control points, sensor inputs/outputs and schedules. This data is collected at a rate that a)

will not impede the operation of the BAS (something we monitor for continuously) and b) is

at a sampling rate with a minimum frequency of at least once every 15 minutes. The

frequency of data sampling is one of the determining factors governing the time it takes to

fully identify all possible anomalies.

SCIwatch draws in both BAS and data from weather data sources into its data warehouse.

To accurately determine the cost of anomalies, mechanical and electrical equipment

specifications are identified and maintained. This is done using a configuration tool that

draws a connection between the system, the relevant BAS points and the key operating

information. Knowing in advance that most facilities lack the necessary number of sensors

that are required by competing solutions in order to provide value, SCIwatch uses advanced

mathematical modeling to offer customers instant insight into how their systems are

operating without additional sensor cost.

With new policies revolving around cap and trade, SCIwatch offers highly accurate baselines

for facilities. This is done by using all of the available data streams coupled with complex

mathematical modeling techniques to generate an energy demand profile for the facility.

This profile usually predicts power consumption with an accuracy of greater than 98 percent.

This tight operational tolerance is unique in the industry. It compares to a 10 percent

tolerance for a typical building simulation (such as DOE-2, or Tracer) and is far more

accurate than typical single and multivariate regression.

The resulting model can then be used for a variety of customer benefits that include:

• Tracking the performance of any operational changes to the building

• Tracking the degradation and subsequent improvement of operational efficiency as

SCIwatch identifies (and the service provider fixes) and monitors the performance of

each mechanical and electrical system.

• Serving as a source of carbon trading information

SCIwatch maintains a diagnostics engine that performs hundreds of analyses on the dataset.

These diagnostics address mechanical, electrical, sensor and system issues that are performed

 The Arrival of Automated Continuous Commissioning: How to Optimize Operational and Energy Efficiency for Commercial Facilities Page 4

continuously. It uniquely calculates the energy waste costs for the associated anomalies it

discovers. Unlike diagnostics that look at “snapshots” of data, SCIwatch identifies all

potential anomalies because it performs diagnostics continuously to capture system

performance. This is particularly important since many anomalies are found while the

systems are in unoccupied or “dark store” conditions.

The analysis starts with simple comparisons (e.g., “Does the BAS’ outside air sensor match

the data from the weather feed?”), progressing with increasing complexity to neural models

predicting each asset’s operational efficiency. A list of some of these anomalies can be found

in an appendix available on the SCI website. By examining changes in the performance of

these systems SCIwatch provides alerts as anomalies are occurring. SCIwatch also calculates

the energy and monetary loss associated with unresolved anomalies. The anomalies are then

ranked by severity, importance to user, or cost, all set by the customer.

The customer user interface is provided through any standard web browser. As part of the

user interface, the customer can dispatch those anomalies that require attention to various

users, assign regional distribution and give restricted access to service providers for any sites

the customer wishes them to view. Anomalies are automatically prioritized based on energy

savings and time in the queue. Customers can adjust priorities “on-the-fly.” The dispatch

element of the interface allows technicians to “accept” the dispatch and report on the

disposition or assign it to someone else. To complete this operational loop, SCIwatch

monitors not only the reporting process but the actual anomalies to confirm that the anomaly

is resolved. Technicians are only allowed to place work order tickets into a pending mode

upon completion of their repairs. The tickets close automatically when diagnostics are re-run

and confirm the problem has been solved. A help feature allows technicians the opportunity

to see how similar problems were solved by other technicians.

Conclusion What sets SCIwatch apart in the increasingly competitive energy efficiency market are its

ACC capabilities that operate within a SaaS framework to simplify deployment and reduce

licensing costs. SCIwatch takes raw information from energy management systems and

converts data into actionable tasks prioritized by cost savings. The “continuous” element of

 The Arrival of Automated Continuous Commissioning: How to Optimize Operational and Energy Efficiency for Commercial Facilities Page 5

the solution provides ongoing measurement of changes in each mechanical and electrical

system’s health on a 24/7 basis, and does so remotely and non-intrusively. As a result,

SCIwatch persistently determines the root of systemic operational problems, predicts

operational deterioration and quantifies its associated cost. SCIWatch performs over 100

functions to pinpoint myriad small but additive anomalies such as failed/out of calibration

sensors, simultaneous heating and cooling, leaking control devices, etc. (A comprehensive

list may be obtained on the SCI web site.) Moreover, included in the functions are unique

tests to identify insidious operational patterns in major pieces of equipment that, when caught

early, can avoid very costly maintenance—surging chillers, for example—which lead to

premature thrust bearing failure and repair costs in the tens of thousands of dollars with

weeks of down-time.

###  Contact: Kevin Gallagher Gallagher Group Communications 510-599-0416 [email protected]

Contact: Kevin Gallagher Gallagher Group Communications 510‐599‐0416 kevin@gg‐comm.com  

Energy Savings Never Go Out of Style at Neiman Marcus 

The Neiman Marcus Group, Inc. (Neiman Marcus) is one of the premier retail brands in the world.  

For over a century, Neiman Marcus has been recognized as the premier luxury retailer dedicated to 

providing its customers with distinctive merchandise and superior service. The corporate structure 

of Neiman Marcus is comprised of the Specialty Retail Stores division ‐ which includes Neiman 

Marcus Stores and Bergdorf Goodman ‐ and the Direct Marketing division, Neiman Marcus Direct. 

These renowned retailers offer upscale assortments of apparel, accessories, jewelry, beauty and 

decorative home products to the affluent consumer. Forty Neiman Marcus stores are currently 

operated across the United States, along with two Bergdorf Goodman stores in Manhattan.  Neiman 

Marcus also operates 26 Last Call clearance centers. These store operations total more than six 

million gross square feet.  

Overseeing the engineering, energy management, sustainability, environmental/regulatory 

compliance and system‐wide maintenance for this fleet of properties is a significant challenge. This 

is not only due to the sheer number and size of the properties distributed across the U.S., but 

because Neiman Marcus maintains extremely high standards when it comes to optimizing energy 

efficiency, extending the lifespan of strategic electrical, mechanical and HVAC systems and 

instituting a “zero tolerance” stance on system outages that might disrupt the customer shopping 

experience and compromise customer loyalty.  

Mark Boraski, Vice President of Property Management with Neiman Marcus and his staff are tasked 

with meeting these aggressive objectives. “Having worked in this business for over 30 years, 

including stints with Federated Department stores and Bloomingdale’s, I have witnessed firsthand 

the technical evolution of so‐called energy management and control systems, dating back to the 

rudimentary days of time clock controls that simply turned systems on or off,” Boraski said.  Neiman 

Energy Savings Never Go Out of Style at Neiman Marcus Page 1  

  Energy Savings Never Go Out of Style at Neiman Marcus Page 2  

Marcus has moved forward aggressively in deploying the latest in building automation and control 

systems at its facilities to capture critical performance data from key mechanical, electrical and 

HVAC systems in order to operate its properties as efficiently and error‐free as possible. 

Discovering Automated Continuous Commissioning 

What’s been missing from these disparate data gathering systems, according to Boraski, is the ability 

to pull complex information into an easy‐to‐use format that detects, identifies and diagnoses system 

faults and anomalies in advance of major problems or outright failures.  “For the past 15 years, 

we’ve been trying to integrate weather data, utility data, and control system data across our fleet of 

properties in order to automatically diagnose problems and tune systems to run optimally. Until 

recently, we’ve never had a comprehensive automated system that had the ability to automatically 

perform analysis and diagnostics.  Building Automation Systems (BAS) display valuable information, 

but unless you have a process for this level of analysis, you just have raw numbers on a computer 

screen,” Boraski said. 

This 15‐year search for a solution ended in August 2008 when Boraski and his team piloted and now 

deploy SCIwatch™ (pronounced “SKY‐watch”) , a software‐as‐a‐service (SaaS)‐based Automated 

Continuous Commissioning platform from Scientific Conservation, Inc. (SCI)  that detects, monetizes 

and prioritizes system faults.  To date, Neiman Marcus is deploying SCIwatch across 21 of its 

facilities and intends to apply the platform for every property over time.  “For the first time, we have 

an automated process that continually checks our system assets across properties from a centralized 

dashboard to pinpoint which systems are performing outside of acceptable tolerances,” said 

Boraski.  “This enables us to intelligently assign technical resources to address system issues on a 

prioritized basis.  It has proven to be an effective resource allocation tool.” 

SCIwatch in Action 

SCIwatch is an Automated Continuous Commissioning (ACC) platform that interfaces with any 

building energy management system for automatic data collection, warehousing, diagnostics and 

work order issuance and tracking. It also serves as a centralized system that consolidates up‐to‐the‐

minute views into energy usage and system‐wide performance levels with reporting parameters 

tailored for executive‐level and operational staff. 

Because SCIwatch fully integrates with Neiman Marcus’ building automation and control systems, it 

allows Boraski’s staff to pull up actionable data from a centralized dashboard to understand how key 

  Energy Savings Never Go Out of Style at Neiman Marcus Page 3  

systems are performing at each facility. 

At the core of SCIwatch is a pattern recognition technology that distinguishes the solution in the 

energy management market. Because system degradation can be extremely hard to detect — 

especially if the tools being used are not sensitive enough to pick up the slightest of anomalies that 

impact energy efficiencies — SCIwatch employs neural networks, a commercially proven form of 

artificial intelligence. This form of advanced mathematics applies a scientific model that increases 

the accuracy and predictability of detecting system faults that can cost organizations significant 

money from unnecessary energy consumption and productivity erosion due to system downtime. By 

employing neural networks, SCIwatch can accept a virtually unlimited number of independent 

variables and produce a very accurate pattern of the way energy is consumed, managed and 

wasted. 

“When we started applying SCIwatch in our first 21 facilities, we found a number of sensor errors,” 

explained Boraski.  “More importantly, SCIwatch identified sensors we thought were reading 

correctly that were actually misleading.” 

Even with Neiman Marcus’s rigorous system maintenance programs and state‐of‐the‐art building 

automation and control systems firmly in place, SCIwatch discovered hard‐to‐detect anomalies 

affecting strategic equipment such as short cycling and equipment sequencing problems.   The 

platform also discovered abnormal pressures in some refrigeration circuits that could result in 

compressor failure if left unresolved.   

“Without SCIwatch, these problems probably would not have been caught until the next regularly 

scheduled maintenance cycle. This means systems would have operated in a less than ideal state for 

a month or more, thereby potentially jeopardizing major equipment while eating up unnecessary 

energy,” cautioned Boraski.  “It was quite surprising how many issues SCIwatch uncovered — 

ranging from economizer systems not working optimally to refrigeration systems with high 

evaporator and condenser pressures, to intermittent Chiller surging—all problems that surfaced 

right after these systems were just serviced.” 

  Energy Savings Never Go Out of Style at Neiman Marcus Page 4  

 “After identifying and correcting faulty sensor readings in a number of our properties, we started to get some real valuable information from the SCIwatch system. One particular find was a very 

high condensing pressure reading on a refrigerant circuit for one of our Rooftop DX air conditioning units. If this pressure was sustained for a long period of time it could result in a 

compressor failure. The obvious cause would be either a dirty condenser coil or perhaps a failed condenser fan. These issues could easily be corrected during regular preventive maintenance. However, after confirming that the coils were clean and the condenser fans were operating 

properly, a deeper analysis was necessary. 

Discussion with our on‐site technician revealed that this refrigeration circuit had been recently opened to repair a hole on an elbow at the condenser coil. Apparently the system had not been properly evacuated and recharged and contaminants (non‐condensables) were identified in the refrigerant. Once the refrigerant was removed, the system properly pumped‐down, and a new 

filter dryer installed, the contaminants were removed. Subsequent readings showed condensing pressures and temperatures back to normal. We truly believe that this saved a compressor from 

ultimate failure.”

‐ Mark Boraski   

The Multiple Benefits of Automated Continuous Commissioning 

For Boraski and his team, SCIwatch’s automated anomaly detection capabilities underscore the 

reality that there are simply never enough technical resources available to dedicate to the task of 

ongoing system diagnostics.  “You simply must monitor systems on a round‐the‐clock basis, 

especially for an organization like ours that expects equipment to be operating perfectly once our 

doors are open to our customers,” Boraski said.  By detecting and diagnosing system anomalies well 

in advance of temporary outages and/or major failures, Neiman Marcus believes that it will reap 

considerable savings on CAPEX and OPEX expenditures.  In addition, Neiman Marcus hopes to 

extend the lifespan of strategic and highly expensive systems, and save significant amounts on 

annual energy spending by ensuring power‐hungry electrical, mechanical and HVAC systems are 

running optimally.   

To better understand the need for Automated Continuous Commissioning, Boraski offers the 

following analogy. “Let’s assume you build a facility and it’s designed correctly to run at optimal 

  Energy Savings Never Go Out of Style at Neiman Marcus Page 5  

efficiency.  It’s no different than a new car. As time passes, fuel injectors get clogged, exhaust 

systems degrade and oil gets dirty. It’s inevitable that you move away from that ideal place that you 

started because of entropy.  After you commission a property for optimum efficiency, it immediately 

starts to degrade day after day, week after week, month after month.  There is drift away from the 

ideal.  ACC allows you to always check against that base to see if there is meaningful change.   And it 

allows you to isolate and pinpoint specific systems that have moved beyond acceptable levels so you 

can assign first line resources to resolve problems well ahead of outright failures.” 

Conclusion 

Boraski is particularly taken by SCIwatch’s ability to not only identify anomalies, but to learn from 

previously captured information as a means of delivering more accurate diagnostics over time.  “As 

a heuristic system, SCIwatch deepens its knowledge of my system environment the more I deploy 

it.” Reflecting on 30 years in the industry, Boraski concluded:  “SCIwatch is the embodiment of 

where building management is headed.  Especially with expected equipment and energy costs going 

higher each year.” 

### 

Case Study Energy Efficiency through Advanced Diagnostics

Scientific Conservation Helps Santa Clara County’s Green Initiative

Get Into the Black

Santa Clara County (SCC), situated in the heart of Silicon Valley, has a long-standing commitment to energy efficiency and the adoption and enforcement of green environmental policies. Not only has SCC been among the earliest adopters to purchase Energy Star-rated devices and bio degradable materials for county-owned facilities, it has also been a leader in enforcing chemical restrictions to eliminate toxic substances.

Fast-forwarding to today, the county is actively preparing to comply with California Assembly Bill-32, better known as the Global Warming Solutions Act, requiring California to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. In addition, SCC has instituted a requirement that all new construction exceed Title 24 by 10 percent — including Part 6 of the California Energy Code containing energy conservation standards.

One of the key facilities that SCC is paying particular attention to is the East Wing building that serves as the headquarters for county government. This 16-story office building, constructed in 1973, contains 274,740 square feet and is the home of several departments and offices, including the county Board of Supervisors, County Executive Office, Office of Budget Analysis, County Counsel, Department of Revenue, the Clerk Recorder, Assessor and Planning Department. The East Wing has historically been one of the most energy-intensive facilities in SCC’s real estate portfolio. Much of this was due to a lack of building systems tuning.

As a result of participating in Pacific Gas & Electric’s Energy Watch program – a retro-commissioning initiative designed to improve the energy efficiency of facilities in order to qualify for utility rebates—SCC embarked on a discovery process that uncovered previously undetected system failures that were directly impacting energy consumption levels.

The Energy Watch program was carried out by the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG), of which SCC is a member. ABAG brought in engineers (Energy Solutions) to survey a sampling of the East Wing’s mechanical and electrical systems to establish an “energy consumption baseline.” What they concluded from this survey is that the Variable Air Volume (VAV) boxes used to control the capacity of heating/ventilation/air conditioning (HVAC) systems needed recalibration and/or repair. The survey also suggested that the air economizers in the building should be readjusted to function as designed.

SCI Helps Santa Clara County’s Green Initiative Get Into the Black Page 1 A Case Study

 SCI Helps Santa Clara County’s Green Initiative Get Into the Black Page 2 A Case Study

According to Lin Ortega, utilities engineer program manager with SCC, “While the sample survey results were helpful at a macro level, there was not enough detail about which individual VAVs needed attention or what specific programming settings we should have implemented on our economizers and HVAC systems.” Without this level of detail, SCC facilities staff could not pinpoint and prioritize which systems were most in need of attention. And because the Energy Watch program had a compliance deadline in order to qualify for the PG&E rebate, the clock was ticking to find a more precise solution.

Ortega and his team recognized that the East Wing’s energy management system (EMS), which supplied raw data on the facility’s mechanical and electrical systems were not enough to help meet PG&E’s compliance requirements. At this juncture, Ortega brought in specialists from Scientific Conservation, Inc., (SCI) an energy efficiency software company whose SCIwatch™ (pronounced “SKY-watch”) continuous commissioning system was used to identify individual system components that were non-responsive or were operating outside of acceptable tolerances.

Within just a two-week period, SCIwatch made a series of startling discoveries. First, and most revealing, was the actual number of VAV boxes that were failing. Of the 426 VAV boxes installed in the East Wing, over 120 were failing and this was contributing to significant inefficiencies in the building’s energy consumption.

SCIwatch also determined that a certain percentage of the VAV boxes could not communicate with controllers out in the field. In a number of cases, VAV boxes simply would not react to instructions, resulting in simultaneous heating and cooling of floors in the building. For a number of VAV boxes, SCIwatch discovered that dampers would not open or close properly. SCIwatch also identified a problem with the valve controlling the hot water flow to the air handler. And in a testament to SCIwatch’s detective skills, it was discovered that some of the VAV boxes were no longer even hooked up following a building remodeling in the late ‘90s.

“The speed with which SCIwatch discovered system problems is nothing short of remarkable,” Ortega said. “Not only did they locate the problem quickly, they also were able to pinpoint the source of these problems.”

Based on conclusions drawn from SCIwatch reports, ABAG presented findings to PG&E, which accepted the results once SCC initiated repairs on deficient systems. Based on these system corrections, the PG&E/ABAG/SCI collaboration is providing the East Wing facility with $126,000 in energy savings a year. On top of this, SCC has received a $93,000 rebate; another $20,000 of rebates is expected shortly. And this is for a single building. SCC has over 250 facilities plus over 700 other structures comprising nearly 9 million square feet.

 SCI Helps Santa Clara County’s Green Initiative Get Into the Black Page 3 A Case Study

Reflecting on how SCC achieved such dramatic energy savings, Ortega points out the exceptional fault detection capabilities of SCIwatch. “ABAG’s initial analysis and recommendations were based on sampling a small percentage of the VAVs per floor. We brought in SCIwatch for more than sampling. Operating remotely with data supplied by our EMS, the system was able to quickly isolate problem areas down to individual devices. That is huge when it comes to troubleshooting and timely problem resolution.”

Ortega is also using SCIwatch for sensor diagnostics at another SCC facility called Berger Building 2. “Most EMS will not set flags to notify facility operators for sensors or actuators that are out of calibration until they actually fail,” explained Ortega. “As a result, we could go on for months or even years operating our buildings based on false readings. With SCIwatch, you can monitor a sensor’s accuracy and drift in addition to the other devices that are part of that system and draw correlations to identify abnormalities. These complex set of monitoring capabilities enable us to achieve significant energy efficiency which translate into monetary savings.”

At the Berger Building 2, SCIwatch has already uncovered a host of system anomalies that require attention. This includes everything from economizers operating with heating valves running at “full open” to stuck chilled water valves with room temperature levels far below normal to air units with clogged pre-filters.

At the end of the day, the ability to monetize and prioritize system faults is critical to SCC. “SCI’s ability to quantify potential losses is of key interest to us,” Ortega said. “For example, if the system issues a flag that something is not working properly or is beginning to drift (not sensing properly) it will quantify what that failure is costing the county. That helps us prioritize where to direct our attention.”

###

Contacts

Media Sales and Business Development Kevin Gallagher Chip Pieper, VP Business Development Gallagher Group Communications Scientific Conservation, Inc. 510-599-0416 312-375-3171 [email protected] [email protected]  

Making sure green buildings don’t fade to gray 

May 4, 2009 | David Wolins 

[Editor's Note: In the column below, building energy expert David Wolins examines the issue of "energy drift" ‐‐ a little‐known problem with major ramifications for the utility and construction industries.] 

The need to “go green” is more pressing than ever. And nowhere is this more evident than in the multi‐billion‐dollar commercial building market where the move toward energy efficiency is no longer about feel‐good corporate posturing — it’s a necessity. 

The biggest challenge facing these companies? Something called “energy drift” — the constant, imperceptible loss of energy from commercial buildings that ends up costing billions of dollars and generating tons of toxic waste every year. It is this problem, more than any other, that has motivated the venture community to scout out the next killer startup that addresses this huge market opportunity, worth $4.5 billion in the U.S. alone. 

It might seem that so many structures are being built “green” these days that the issue of energy leakage has been solved. Wrong. The moment a building is commissioned for “optimal performance,” it is already fading from green to gray. Building designers and tenants immediately start tweaking thermostats and changing settings so that systems start sliding in efficiency yet again. 

On average, commercial buildings experience 17 percent more energy loss every one to two years — an alarmingly high rate. To put it in context, a typical 100,000 square‐foot office typically spends $200,000 a year on electricity. That amounts to an undetected annual burn rate of $34,000. With more than 370,000 commercial buildings exceeding 50,000 square feet in the U.S., simple math bears out the magnitude of this largely invisible problem. 

There are literally hundreds of thousands of hard‐to‐detect variables that can rob commercial buildings of their annual energy spend, ranging from electrical, mechanical and HVAC system faults to anomalies in building tolerances, the impact of seasonal change, and the influence of changing tenant occupancy rates. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Fortunately, new technologies aimed at fixing the problem — under the banner of Automated Continuous Commissioning — are on the horizon. 

What is ACC? Instead of configuring a building for optimal performance just once with occasional “tune‐ups,” ACC performs 24‐7 monitoring and analysis of a building’s energy consuming ecosystem. Looking at the inevitability of building systems degradation — which can reach levels as high as 25 percent over a one to two year period — the need for ACC is clear. This degradation can result from things as mundane dirt buildup, improper control use, changes in the operating demands on the system and many other subtle mechanisms. 

At the root of the problem is too much reliance on evaluating building performance via a “snapshot in time” approach. Until recently, re‐commissioning conducted every few years with scheduled maintenance was considered state of the art, and was assumed to be the best way to minimize unforeseen problems. Unfortunately, there are many reasons why even the best‐case scenario leaves buildings vulnerable to significant downtime and unpredictable energy gaps. 

Consider this recent case: The corporate headquarters of a major electrical component manufacturer had a cutting edge Building Automation System operating all of its systems, in addition to an aggressive operations team maintaining all aspects of the building’s environmental systems. But after thorough analysis of the building data, it was discovered that heat was being turned on at 5 a.m. to maintain a minimum room temperature. An hour later, the cooling system would turn on and pre‐cool the building as employees arrived at work. Clearly, this programming blunder resulted in substantial wasted energy. This kind of programming error is rarely caught. 

To the benefit of the building industry, there has been a huge proliferation in data management and analytical capabilities in the sustainable space. By continuously collecting internal data about what’s going on inside a building, plus external data on things like the weather changes and utility pricing, limitations on operations’ forecasting are beginning to lift. And with ACC solutions making their way to market, energy efficiency is evolving from buzzword to benchmark. 

David Wolins is the chief executive officer of Scientific Conservation. He was the co‐founder of EnFlex, a company that developed connectivity and enterprise solutions for the delivery of building systems data. EnFlex was acquired by SunEdison last year. 

Energy Savings Never Out of Style at Neiman Marcus  By Marianne  Wilson  October 1, 2009  Overseeing the engineering, energy management, sustainability, environmental/regulatory compliance and system‐wide maintenance for The Neiman Marcus Group’s fleet of properties is a significant challenge. This is due not only to the number and size of the properties, which total more than 6 million gross sq. ft., but also because in keeping with its status as one the world’s premier luxury brands, Neiman Marcus maintains extremely high standards with regard to optimizing energy efficiency and extending the lifespan of strategic electrical, mechanical and HVAC systems. The retailer has a “zero tolerance” stance on system outages that might disrupt the customer shopping experience and compromise customer loyalty. 

To maintain its high standards and operate its properties as efficiently and accurately as possible, Neiman Marcus has moved forward aggressively in deploying the latest in building automation and control systems to capture critical performance data from key mechanical, electrical and HVAC systems. What’s been missing from these disparate data‐gathering systems is the ability to pull complex information into an easy‐to‐use format that detects, identifies and diagnoses system faults and anomalies in advance of major problems or outright failures. 

“For the past 15 years, we’ve been trying to integrate weather data, utility data, and control‐system data across our fleet of properties in order to automatically diagnose problems and tune systems to run optimally,” explained Mark Boraski, VP property management, Neiman Marcus, Dallas, whose corporate structure is made up of the Specialty Retail Stores division—which includes 41 Neiman Marcus stores, two Bergdorf Goodman locations and 26 Last Call clearance centers—and the Direct Marketing division, Neiman Marcus Direct. 

Until recently, Boraski said, Neiman Marcus never had a comprehensive automated system that had the ability to perform analysis and diagnostics. 

“Although building automation systems (BAS) display valuable information, unless you have a process for this level of analysis, you just have raw numbers on a computer screen,” he added. 

Neiman Marcus’ 15‐year search for a solution ended when Boraski and his team piloted SCIwatch, a software‐as‐a‐service (SaaS)‐based automated continuous commissioning platform from Scientific Conservation Inc., which persistently detects, monetizes and prioritizes system faults. To date, the retailer is deploying SCIwatch across 25 of its facilities and intends to apply it to every property over time. 

“For the first time, we have an automated process that continually checks our system assets across properties from a centralized dashboard to pinpoint which systems are performing outside of acceptable tolerances,” Boraski said. “This enables us to intelligently assign technical resources to address system issues on a prioritized basis. It has proven to be an effective resource‐allocation tool.” 

SCIwatch is an ACC platform that interfaces with any building energy management system for automatic data collection, warehousing, diagnostics and work‐order issuance and tracking. It also serves as a centralized system that consolidates up‐to‐the‐minute views into energy usage and system‐wide performance levels with reporting parameters tailored for executive‐level and operational staff.  Because SCIwatch fully integrates with Neiman Marcus’ building automation and control systems, it allows Boraski’s staff to pull up actionable data from a centralized dashboard to understand how key systems are performing at each facility. 

Because system degradation can be extremely hard to detect—especially if the tools being used are not sensitive enough to pick up the slightest of anomalies that affect energy efficiencies—SCIwatch employs neural networks, a commercially proven form of artificial intelligence. By employing neural networks, SCIwatch can accept a virtually unlimited number of independent variables and produce a very accurate pattern of the way energy is consumed, managed and wasted. 

“When we started applying SCIwatch in our first 21 facilities, we found a number of sensor errors,” Boraski said. “More importantly, SCIwatch identified sensors we thought were reading correctly that were actually misleading.” 

Even with Neiman Marcus’ rigorous system‐maintenance programs and state‐of‐the‐art building automation and control systems, SCIwatch discovered hard‐to‐detect anomalies affecting strategic equipment such as short cycling and equipment‐sequencing problems. The platform also discovered abnormal pressures in some refrigeration circuits that could result in compressor failure if left unresolved. 

“Without SCIwatch, these problems probably would not have been caught until the next regularly scheduled maintenance cycle,” Boraski said. “This means systems would have operated in a less than ideal state for a month or more, thereby potentially jeopardizing major equipment while eating up unnecessary energy. It was quite surprising how many issues SCIwatch uncovered—ranging from economizer systems not working optimally to refrigeration systems with high evaporator and condenser pressures, to intermittent chiller surging—all problems that surfaced right after these systems were just serviced.” 

For Boraski and his team, the system’s automated anomaly detection capabilities underscore the reality that there are simply never enough technical resources available to dedicate to the task of ongoing system diagnostics. 

“You simply must monitor systems on a round‐the‐clock basis, especially for an organization like ours that expects equipment to be operating perfectly once our doors are open to our customers,” he said. 

By detecting and diagnosing system anomalies well in advance of temporary outages and/or major failures, Neiman Marcus believes that it will reap considerable savings on capital and operational expenditures. In addition, the retailer hopes to extend the lifespan of strategic and highly expensive systems, and save significant amounts on annual energy spending by ensuring that power‐hungry electrical, mechanical and HVAC systems are running optimally. 

“SCIwatch is the embodiment of where building management is headed,” Boraski added. “Especially with expected equipment and energy costs going higher each year.” 

Making Building Automation Brainier 

Scientific Conservation says its software can boost the energy savings of a typical building automation system by 25 percent. Making buildings more energy efficient is a focus for many, including Energy Secretary Steven Chu. 

Energy Secretary Steven Chu calls it the "Goldilocks problem" of building automation systems – buildings can be too hot, or they can be too cold, but very rarely are they just right. 

Scientific Conservation Inc. says it can fix the problem. Formed by veterans in the business of automating HVAC, lighting and other building systems to save energy, the Berkeley, Calif.‐based startup makes software that picks up the efficiency slack in those systems – a process known as "automatic continuous commissioning." 

The idea is to combat the "energy drift" that occurs in building automation systems by constantly sensing where they're wasting energy and adjusting accordingly, said Andrew Colman, SCI's chief technology officer. (The company is pronounced "sky," by the way.) 

"If you have a building that's perfectly tuned up with a brand new building automation system, and then you leave it alone and people go about doing what they do – tweaking thermostats, leaving things on, adjusting things – the building is going to drift downward in its energy efficiency to the tune of about 17 percent over one or two years," he explained. Clogged filters, off‐kilter temperature sensors and a host of other problems add to the drift, he said. 

That ends up wasting money on unnecessary energy bills, as well as shortening the lifespan of HVAC systems by commanding that they do things like run hot and cold simultaneously, he said. 

Fixing that is called "re‐commissioning," and nowadays it's mostly done manually, with engineers walking through the buildings to check systems and make adjustments, he said. LEED certification as well as common sense demands it be done every few years, and it's a lucrative after‐market for the companies that install the systems – about $4.5 billion in the United States, Colman estimated. 

SCI is offering its subscription‐based software as a service to do the same job. The software can detect where energy is being wasted, determine the cause of the problem, notify the person in charge and generate work orders for fixes, Colman said. 

Others in the field build similar software, including Prenova and Enforma, both of which have former employees now at SCI. Cimetrics and Tririga have software to manage commercial or retail real estate energy use, and demand response providers like EnerNoc and Comverge like to integrate with building automation systems where they can. 

In fact, managing building energy use is an increasingly competitive space. Incumbent market leaders are fighting it out with startups, as well as big new entrants like Cisco Systems, that promise 

better ways to do it (see Cisco Jumps Into Energy Management for Computers, Buildings and Green Light post). 

Colman claims that SCI's software allows for a far more hands‐off and nimble detection and correction experience. A typical 100,000‐square‐foot office can save about $30,000 a year on a $15,000 software installation fee and $9,000‐per‐year subscription, he said. 

Clients such as Neiman Marcus, Hardee's, Santa Clara County and NASA have seen real‐world results that can yield payback in as little as six months, he said. SCI's software is compatible with building automation systems by the heavyweights in the field, including Honeywell, Johnson Controls, Siemens, Schneider Electric, Eaton, General Electric and Echelon, giving it "automatic plug‐in" capability with about 70 percent of the systems out there, he estimated. 

SCI has been funded by friends and family to date, and is seeking to raise several million dollars in a series A round, Colman said. That should push the company into profitability, he said. 

SCI also plans to release a "Platinum"‐level service that integrates building automation control systems in the coming months, he said. 

"The real heart of Platinum is a self‐healing building," he said. While that will require customers to agree to an "outside‐of‐the‐firewall" system controlling their buildings, Colman feels most customers are ready to make that leap. 

Buildings consume about 39 percent of the energy produced in the United States. As head of the Department of Energy, Chu has made building efficiency a priority for the billions of dollars it plans to invest into both old‐fashioned fixes like weatherization and research into what he calls "transformational energy technologies" (see Green Light post). 

The Nobel Prize‐winning physicist made the point last week at the Edison Electric Institute's annual convention in San Francisco. In a speech covering DOE's energy goals, Chu highlighted advances in building automation software as an area ripe for innovation, recalling how he used to have to reprogram the building automation systems in the labs he worked in to ensure a consistent temperature for proper experiments. 

In a press conference after his Thursday speech, Chu floated the idea of the DOE putting research dollars into developing "open source" models for next‐generation building control software. 

That kind of development model could be a basis for U.S.‐Chinese collaboration into new energy efficiency research, he added, since it would avoid some of the thornier problems of fighting over the intellectual property rights of the results. 

China will be a critical market for building efficiency, since it's set to build 300 billion square feet of new buildings by 2020, the equivalent of the United State's current real estate stock (see Green Building Entrepreneur: Build Green or Face Catastrophe). 

Beyond new technology, there are economic barriers to cross in the building energy efficiency battle, Chu noted. One is finding a way to bridge the tenant‐landlord gap. If tenants pay the power 

bills, they probably don't want to spend money on upgrading a building they might not be in for long enough to pay back the investment. 

On the other hand, "If the landlord pays the energy bill, the tenant will most likely run the air conditioner and leave the windows open," he said. "You have to align the incentives." 

Given that energy efficiency offers faster paybacks than any other clean energy investment, entrepreneurs are busy testing ways to bridge the traditional gaps that have forestalled more investment in it (see A PPA Model For Building Energy Efficiency?). 

Monday, June 29, 2009 01:00 PST 

Scientific Conservation Launches, Brings Predictive Analytics to Buildings 

By Justin Moresco 

Selling software as a service through the web has helped make software more affordable and distribution more efficient. Now a startup called Scientific Conservation, which officially launched today after several years in relative stealth mode, wants to bring the software‐as‐a‐service model to the commercial building automation market. The company’s web‐based software platform, called SCIwatch, can link into a building’s existing automation system — which monitors heating, air conditioning and other energy‐consuming systems — and applies sophisticated analytics to continuously predict, detect and diagnose system faults and anomalies. 

CEO David Wolins told us that for a long time building managers have been on the defensive, because they are forced to react to a degradation of performance, for example, a room is too hot or too cold, and then adjust the system accordingly. But Wolins says SCIwatch helps building managers go on the offensive, providing a tool for them to be able to react prior to a system turning too hot or cold. 

The cost of SCIwatch depends on the size of a building, but a 100,000‐square‐foot office would cost about $15,000 for the first year and about $750 per month afterward. Wolins said based on initial customers’ experiences — retailer Neiman Marcus is an early adopter — the system pays for itself in under a year from reduced energy bills and other savings, like avoiding damage to chillers or other machines. 

Most large commercial buildings in the U.S. rely on some type of automation system for operators to monitor their buildings. SCIwatch pulls in data from existing sensors installed in a building, combines that with weather data and power pricing from utilities, runs simulations, and identifies faults. The software can predict imminent failures by comparing data with past performance. It also prioritizes the maintenance needed and estimates the cost of inaction. Sensors or other devices that are malfunctioning — even intermittently — are identified and, once replaced, make air conditioning and other energy hogs in a building run as they were intended. 

While long‐established companies like Johnson Controls have been developing automation systems for decades, the new entrants like Marietta, Ga.‐based Scientific Conservation are leveraging advances in information technology and the Internet to make buildings run more efficiently. But if these startups are to be successful, they’ll need to prove to customers that their technologies can save money and bring value, such as by making building operations more efficient. 

“If you can’t show an ROI [return on investment], then even the most advanced technologies fall by the wayside,” said Jorge Moreno, an analyst with Frost & Sullivan. Moreno said the best opportunities for these new startups will be in existing buildings, which often have poor energy‐efficiency standards. 

Since Scientific Conservation’s technology latches onto an existing building automation system — and doesn’t require expensive new sensors or other hardware and the labor needed to install them — that all‐important ROI will likely come quicker, something building owners should enjoy. 

August 2009 

 AutomatedBuildings.com 

 The Path to Optimized Operations & Energy Efficiency 

David Wolins, CEO Scientific Conservation, Inc. (SCI) 

Persistent monitoring and diagnostics of system operations directly impacts sustainable energy efficiency in commercial buildings.  Examples include everything from detecting heating and air conditioning programming errors to identifying out‐of‐adjustment settings on control systems, improperly balanced parallel chillers that cause unwanted surges, high head pressure on rooftop unit compressors, oscillating controls that cause unnecessary heating and cooling run times, and incorrect refrigerant charge. 

Despite the aforementioned observations, “energy efficiency” usually is associated with improving power consumption ratings for building systems such as lighting and HVAC.  In reality, even the most modern, smart buildings—equipped with state‐of‐the‐art electrical and mechanical infrastructure—can and will perform at lower efficiency levels than older facilities if systems are not monitored and tuned for proper operational tolerances.   

A case in point: during a recent visit to a local eco‐friendly materials store, it was clear that the owners had replaced incandescent light bulbs with fluorescent ones.  This particular company received virtually no foot traffic but every light in their showroom was on, and no one was around.  Following a suggestion that the benefit of the upgrade in efficiency was being diluted by the lack of lighting control, they decided to install an occupancy sensor to control the lights.  On a subsequent visit, the lights in the showroom were again on while no one was there.   

It turned out that someone had played with the sensitivity controls and the lights again stayed constantly. 

As obvious as this example may be, it points out the simple paradigm that without continuously managing the operation of an energy efficient device, the benefits of the energy improvements will be reduced or eliminated altogether.  So how does one best maintain energy efficiency with the added benefits of preventative maintenance? 

To sustain peak operational efficiency, a clear understanding of how the equipment operates is critical.  Establishing, monitoring and managing the lifecycle of mechanical equipment requires a comprehensive understanding of the equipment’s operating parameters.  By collecting appropriate 

data from the actual operations environment, true operating efficiency levels can be established vs. those provided by the manufacturer, through those created in a building simulation model or through a simple one‐time measurement.  This understanding provides a foundation for securing the best return on the customer’s energy efficiency investment.   

This process of collecting and mining data is at the heart of Automated Continuous Commissioning (ACC).  ACC uses access to the existing Building Automation System (BAS) and data from traceable external sources (such NOAA weather data) for this new class of analysis.  The data is then used to create performance models of each piece of equipment to track actual (vs. design) operation.  New modeling techniques have emerged to create models that persistently predict actual performance within a two percent margin of error.  By leveraging these models, building operators and facility managers have a powerful means to diagnose and control component and system faults and anomalies. 

The level of granularity provided by an ACC system can identify anomalies that can be generally categorized into three basic groups: control, maintenance, and system performance degradation.   

Control issues manifest themselves in some surprising forms.  Sensor failures, incorrect schedules and the improper placement of sensors are easily identified and corrected.  Other issues are much more challenging to find without continuous commissioning.  Consider the example of a site with a domestic water pump on the same schedule as the chiller.  To save energy, the pump was put on its own separate schedule since the chiller came on several hours before the site was occupied.  This inadvertently broke the schedule for the chiller which caused it to run 24/7.  With a simple change in scheduling, a potentially catastrophic maintenance matter can easily be eliminated while energy optimization is restored.   

ACC can detect more insidious issues with sensors that don’t “fail” per se but fail to deliver the correct information to the BAS by drifting across acceptable operating ranges over time.  For example, ACC has identified and confirmed, through sensor replacement, highly concentrated failures in aftermarket temperature sensors at specific points in their lifecycle. Without continuous monitoring and a sufficient understanding of how a system is designed to operate vs. how it actually performs, this crucial information is otherwise unavailable. 

The benefits of identifying operational anomalies early on through ACC can be found in unexpected places.  Take the recent case of an organization with a 150‐ton Roof Top Unit (RTU) that was operating at an excessively high head pressure level relative to the particular environmental and load conditions.  By deploying an ACC approach, it was confirmed that this was in fact an imminent system failure requiring immediate attention.  The company immediately contacted its mechanical service provider and was told that due to exceptionally high temperatures in the region, it would be a few days before service would be dispatched.  Unfortunately for the service provider, the compressor failed—a cost of over $11,000—while the customer had to endure two days of discomfort. 

Control system missteps sometimes can lead to unidentified and potentially catastrophic system failures.  For example, a company recently deployed ACC to monitor the performance of three 

parallel 450‐ton centrifugal chillers.  Due to an apparent failure in a control strategy, one of the chillers was allowed to unload and run at a very low part load.  By doing so the chiller started surging which would, if unchecked, have led to a potential bearing failure and tens of thousands of dollars in repair costs.  The ACC system also identified that these same chillers were being staged improperly for the various building loads.  With a few mouse clicks by the BAS technician, the issues were resolved immediately and the high performance system was restored to full operation. Without ACC, this problem would not have surfaced until the next commissioning.  

These examples illustrate the clear overlap of operations and energy efficiency.  For the first time, ACC allows facilities management the ability to be proactive rather than reactive to HVAC, lighting, refrigeration and environmental system faults, anomalies and failures.  As a result, facility executives finally can make proactive and preemptive decisions to materially impact their bottom line from a sustainable energy efficiency and operational optimization standpoint.  In addition, understaffed technical teams can better ensure maximum system uptime across facilities.     

About the Author 

David Wolins, CEO, Scientific Conservation, Inc. (SCI) 

Mr. Wolins has dedicated his career to the advancement of the energy efficiency industry and has worked over a 25 year period with facilities, their processes and their HVAC, refrigeration, controls and metering systems.  He was responsible for the design and execution of many cutting edge energy improvement projects including PG&E’s ACT² and BPA’s small commercial demand response program.  Prior to founding SCI, he was a founder of EnFlex Corp. in 1993, which was acquired by Sun Edison in 2008.  Mr. Wolins holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley. 

August 2009 

INTERVIEW ‐ David Wolins & Ken Sinclair 

 David Wolins, CEO, Scientific Conservation, Inc. 

Mr. Wolins has dedicated his career to the advancement of the energy efficiency industry and has worked over a 25 year period with facilities, their processes and their HVAC, refrigeration, controls and metering systems. He was responsible for the design and execution of many cutting edge 

ding PG&E’s ACT² and BPA’s small commercial demand response program. Prior to founding SCI, we was a founder of EnFlex Corp. in 1993, which was acquired by energy improvement projects inclu

Sun Edison in 2008. Mr. Wolins holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley. 

ties managers need 

s e typical facility operator to know exactly 

 to more complex issues that include electrical, mechanical and HVAC system faults. In addition, 

Address Operating Inefficiencies 

Recommissioning every few years or on an ad hoc basis is not the answer. Facilian Automated Continuous Commissioning solution that persistently and automatically predicts, detects, diagnoses and prioritizes system faults and anomalies that are constantly present in commercial buildings.  

Sinclair:  Despite technical advancements in new construction, commercial buildings still suffer froman average of 17 percent loss in energy efficiency within 1 – 2 years. Why? 

Wolins:  Building drift. Ironically, new technical advancements have made buildings more complex with additional “moving parts” that increase the probability of system failures and anomalies. Compounding the difficulty, equipment manufacturers can only supply information on how systemoperate in a laboratory so it is virtually impossible for thhow well equipment operates in the real world unless it fails substantially.   Energy drift can be triggered by a wide variety of problems ranging from clogged filters, worn belts, dirt,

anomalies in building tolerances, seasonal climate change, or varying tenant occupancy ratescontribute to the growing problem of energy seepage. 

Sinclair:  In view of the problem of “energy drift,” what can commercial building owners and facility operators do to address operating inefficiencies, which seem toit

Wolins:  Recommissioning every few years or on an ad hoc basis is not the answer. Facilities managers need an Automated Continuous Commissioning solution that persistently and automatically predicts, detects, diagnoses and prioritizes system faults and anomalies thatconstantly present in commercial buildings. By persistently monitoring and measuring system‐wideperformance you can detect problems before systems break.  Consider the example of a typical air conditionincbut incredibly difficult to measure. To understand what is actually happening can best be understood through the use of a complex degree of mathematics that can dynamically modesystems operation. By using these models one can identify anomalies and alarm the user when performance

 can 

 recur without anyone even knowing ? 

 are  

g unit. The weather, age, degradation of various omponents, and partial load efficiencies are all examples of variables that are constantly changing 

l the 

 degrades to the point where either the system is in danger of a major failure or the 

These problems accumulate over time while the system does its best to maintain operations within 

 as 

 ings achieve optimal energy efficiency and operational accountability? 

that takes raw information from energy management systems and converts it into actionable tasks prioritized by savings. The 

stem’s 

nal degradation including sensor faults, system component issues, controls problems before commissioning and b) tracking and maintaining operational improvements and identifying changes 

ontinuous Commissioning solution? 

cost to operate it exceeds the cost to repair it.   

“tolerances.” Losses due to this degradation occur and continue to allow for drift in proper operations leading to potential damage to equipment and the failure of equipment to performnecessary.  

Sinclair:  Why is Automated Continuous Commissioning such a significant breakthrough in helpingcommercial build

Wolins:  Automated Continuous Commissioning is a new solution 

“continuous” element of the solution provides ongoing measurement of changes in each syhealth on a 24/7 basis. Due to its persistent nature, the service actively and continuously determines the root of systemic operational problems, predicts operational deterioration, and quantifies its associated cost. 

Sinclair:  How do commissioning and diagnostics work together? 

Wolins:  Diagnostics should precede and follow commissioning by a) identifying sources of operatio

to operational status over time. 

Sinclair:  What is required before implementing an Automated C

Wolins:   Establish what your goals and obligations will be during and after recommissifacility: 

oning your 

1. Identify the economic model that includes both energy and avoided operational costs plus a pool 

2. Educate executive team to the benefits of recommissioning.  

sly unavailable 

 be successful? 

Sinclair:  Is any training required to maintain a recommissioned building? 

 the case of our product, as an example, users of our diagnostics infrastructure only need to know how to use a web browser to access the information provided. Integrated with standard 

stomer d risk 

diagnostics engines will continuously tune themselves to further increase the accuracies of the g 

t 

le a high volume of facilities for rapid continuous commissioning. 

g process? 

r. For example, this may happen when the diagnostics engine exercises VAV boxes to 

of funds for repair in support of this initiative.  

3. Make sure that IT understands what will be required of them and allot time for configuring the network to allow an outside party controlled access to the BAS through the network.  4. Prepare staff to provide technical data on the systems and equipment at the facility. 5. Prepare staff to receive reliable operational data previou

Sinclair:  What information is required for the recommissioning process to

Wolins:  One must collect system data consisting of design information, BAS information—make, model, access information, IP address or phone number, user name, password—and utility bills dating back at least two years. Scientific Conservation Inc., for example, provides a comprehensive form that spells out the background information required. 

Wolins:  In

operations and maintenance information on the customer’s systems, SCIwatch allows the cuto close the loop on tracking and maintaining the highest level of operational efficiency anmitigation available on the market today. 

Sinclair:  How long will it take to recommission a building and what should be expected during the process? 

Wolins:  Assuming all required data is provided, the diagnostics data flow will occur almost immediately. Initially the diagnostics will identify very basic issues such as faulty sensors, overlapping heating and cooling and flawed schedules. As the database collects more data the 

modeling and the identified anomalies. This will assure that maximum operational efficiency is beinachieved and maintained.,  

Our deployment time is exceptionally fast. Recently, six 150k+sq. ft. retail buildings with differenfootprints were deployed in a matter of hours without taxing the support staff. SCIwatch is specifically designed to hand

Sinclair:  Will there be any interruption in normal operations during the recommissionin

Wolins:  There should be no interruption in normal operations. SCIwatch does not impede normal system operations. One may experience brief, after‐hours periods when fluctuations in certain systems occucheck proper performance.  

Sinclair:  In the case of your product, what should one expect when it starts reporting? 

Wolins:  Initially SCIwatch will identify bad sensors and insufficient data needed to perform analyon site systems. Once sensors are fixed or replaced it generates faults by priority. The priorityby the user. 

Sinclair:  Is anything required to maintain? 

sis  is set 

Wolins:  No. SCI maintains the platform freeing users to leverage the results to fix identifiable ystem faults and anomalies. We suggest using the priority tool in the user interface to prioritize what, if any, systems require special monitoring. Our dispatch tool allows the user to match the anomaly with the service provider while tracking the status of open service tickets. It is also recommended that if there is a question about an anomaly that the tracking mechanism be used for dispatch to SCI, and our team will respond with technical support. 

s

Business Specialties Technology  

SCIwatch Program Boosts Energy Efficiency for Clients Like Santa Clara County  

Jul 10, 2009  

By: Adam Perrotta, News Writer  

The commercial property sector has been increasingly concerned with energy efficiency for some years now. With ever‐dwindling and nonrenewable resources being consumed at faster rates than ever, the industry has been among the leaders in efforts to increase efficiency. And the current economic downturn has only served to render efficiency even more vital to property owners’ bottom lines. Aiming to serve the growing demand, Scientific Conservation Inc. has just launched a software program that it says will enable owners to save up to 25 percent on energy costs. And for clients such as Santa Clara County in California, that savings is more important now than ever.  

The program, dubbed SCIwatch (pronounced “SKY‐watch”), is what’s know as an automated continuous commissioning (ACC) platform—meaning that, once installed, it automatically can predict, detect, diagnose and prioritize the system faults and anomalies that reduce energy efficiency in commercial buildings.  

“With…SCIwatch, we have figured out a way to package and greatly simplify the…tasks of analyzing a facility’s energy consumption,” noted David Wolins, CEO of Scientific Conservation Inc. As a result, said Wolins (pictured), “Commercial buildings can now be monitored continuously and comprehensively to detect anomalies.” 

Santa Clara County was one of the first clients to sign on for the SCIwatch system. California’s legislature has mandated that the state’s greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by the next 10 years, and so the County knew it had to take steps to improve the efficiency of its property holdings. The County operated several facilities that were racking up high energy costs—most notably, the 16‐story East Wing office building, which houses many county government agencies. After some preliminary exploration of the building’s inefficiency was unable to unearth enough specifics, the County turned to SCIwatch.  

“The speed with which SCIwatch discovered system problems was nothing short of remarkable,” noted Lin Ortega, utilities engineer program manager for Santa Clara County. “Not only did they locate the problem quickly, they also were able to pinpoint the source of these problems,” he said. 

For Santa Clara, SCIwatch’s automation is a vital aspect of what makes the system so effective. Ortega identified the ability of SCIwatch to “continuously monitor and measure…performance so you can detect problems before systems break.” Without such automation, Ortega noted, a problem 

could occur that would allow a building to operate inefficiently for a lengthy period of time before it is discovered, diagnosed and fixed.  

Such an inefficiency could do real damage to an owner’s bottom line, especially given today’s high energy costs. The phenomenon called “energy drift” can cause a building to lose 17 percent of its energy efficiency every one to two years, according to Scientific Conservation. Energy drift can be caused by any number of factors, from something as simple as a clogged filter, to a larger‐scale electrical or HVAC system fault. And with electricity costs running close to $2.00 per square foot, pretty soon an owner is looking at a significant financial hit should an issue persist unchecked. Indeed, since installing SCIwatch, Santa Clara is saving $126,000 in annual energy savings on the East Wing building alone. 

SCIwatch is available to clients for a one‐time installation fee, as well as a quarterly subscription rate, based on each facility’s size, as well as the service level the client desires: Silver, Gold or Platinum.  

SCIWatch Brings Energy Efficiency to Building Automation  

BY Ariel SchwartzWed Jul 1, 2009 at 12:23 AM  

Software as a service has become increasingly popular in the energy world, with startups like Planet Metrics and Hara popping up to help companies cut carbon emissions. The newest contender is Scientific Conservation, a startup that wants to bring SaaS to building automation energy efficiency. The company, which emerged from stealth mode yesterday, shills a web‐based platform called SCIWatch that links into a building's automation system to automatically predict, detect, diagnose, prioritize and monetize system faults and anomalies in air conditioning systems, heating, and so on.  

As a result, SCIWatch cuts "energy drift"‐‐a process attributed to electrical, mechanical, and HVAC system faults that causes commercial buildings to lose 17% in energy efficiency every two years. Average electricity costs run at $2 per square foot, so that means countless amounts of cash lost to inefficiency. But Scientific Conservation claims that its software, which combines a universal interface, a data warehouse, a fault prediction diagnostic engine, and a work module that tracks job tickets for problems that require fiing, can help commercial building owners cut annual energy use by 25%.   

The software is already in use by a number of companies, including Neiman Marcus, Harley Davidson, and Santa Clara County, California.  In one Santa Clara building, SCIWatch helped provide $126,000 in energy savings yearly as well as a $93,000 electric company rebate. Now that SCIWatch has been officially announced, Scientific Conservation is poised to take a big piece of the $4.5 billion commercial building market‐‐especially since the company is the first to provide a SaaS that automatically deals with building automation inefficiencies.  

52 Engineered Systems October 2009

Just when we start to truly understand the power of networks, we are rapidly being introduced to powerful low-cost Web services that live in the cloud beyond the network. When we originally started our online magazine, AutomatedBuild-ings.com, we joked that our purpose was to “join the dots”

of the building automation industry: the dotcoms, the dotorgs, etc. Eleven years later, all these connected dots to our website have led to the new focus of building cloud connections beyond the network.

The cloud contains software as a service (SaaS, typically pronounced ‘sass’). This article’s mission is to expose how the dotcom and dotorg are using the cloud to provide their products and services. The identification and use of these valuable industry cloud connectors is essential to propel our industry forward at warp speed so it can radically change to survive.

Gordon Holness, in the conclusion of his presidential address to ASHRAE members titled, “Sustaining Our Future by Rebuilding Our Past,” which focuses on energy efficiency in existing buildings, states, “We need to remind ourselves that today we are in a virtual world. We are in the era of iPhones and Yahoo, of Google Earth and Wikipedia, of Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter. If we want to continue to be leaders in this industry, we must deliver the goods today, tomorrow is not good enough.”

Holness’ background in building information modeling (BIM)

and interoperability has provided him great insight into the power of the future to solve the problems of the past. Change is everywhere, and tomorrow is not soon enough to achieve it.

BIM AND BIMSTORM®

Have you ever seen a BIMStorm®? Take the opportunity if you have the chance. This is the quickest way to see our industry in the clouds, and it will set your mind reeling with all the possibilities. This article, which appeared on the AutomatedBuildings.com website and titled, “BIMStorm® Brings Cloud Computing to ConnectivityWeek,” writ-ten by Kimon Onuma, FAIA, ONUMA, Inc., and Michael Bordenaro, BIM Education Co-op, provides insight.

“Real-time visualization of sensor data in Excel-generated BIM on Google Earth is a world premier.

“Building information model (BIM) software and processes leverage the power of visual relational databases to improve decision making and business processes to revolutionize the building industry.

“BIMStorm® is a Cloud Computing collaborative process that lever-ages web-based BIM capabilities of the ONUMA Planning System® to enable data sharing among multiple software programs including BIM

BY KEN SINCLAIR

As more software and computer services move off-site, a look around suggests that the collaborative power of cloud computing has already begun to reign for those looking to harness real-time building information most efficiently.

GGGREEN INTELLIGENT BUILDINGS

www.esmagazine.com 53

software, GIS systems, Google Earth, Excel, and other sources, even hand drawings. These online “brainstorms” allow surprisingly vast amounts of business processes to be reduced from months to hours while improving accuracy by not recreating data in each step of a project.

“In a very short amount of time, significant improvements in real-time business process productivity supported by existing technology are demonstrated. Early planning decisions can be made quickly based on expert knowledge brought in from a distance, with decisions captured and used in more detailed designs and passed on to building operators with minimal loss of data.”

Onuma is an architect and a software architect who has been a leading proponent of open standards to improve productivity and reduce waste in the building and energy industries.

BUILDING AUTOMATION AND THE CLOUDSo how do we easily get vast amount of data? In an e-mail interview with Rick Huijbregts, vice president of Vertical Industries with Cisco Canada, which appeared on the AutomatedBuildings.com website, I ask him.

Sinclair: Rick, in the past we all joked in the industry about a “sky hook” as the whimsical structural bracing point for building construction objects. Cisco’s new building automation “Cloud Con-nector” provides a real solution to connect our industry’s real-time data to the enterprise. Tell us your vision of how significant this “new age sky hook” is and how it transforms our industry from integrated islands to connected real estate.

Huijbregts: Ken, it is happening already, and Cisco is gearing up to take this market by storm. With the acquisition of Richards-Zeta, we are re-living the mid-’80s — history is repeating itself. Back then, Cisco started with the creation of the first multi-protocol router that made interoperability between disparate and proprietary computer systems possible. The network was born and has proven to become the universal platform for business and technology transformation. Truly, it has changed the way we work, live, play, and learn.

After enabling data to flow more freely between remote and dis-parate computer systems, we converged voice (and have become the world leader in business telephony) and then video. With the new Cisco® Network Building Mediator, we are taking it to the next level to enable the “Internet of Things.” Now, billions of sensors, control-lers, actuators etc. can be added to the Network as the platform for the transformation of life experiences. Sound big? It is. Cisco recently announced its Smart + Connected Communities vision of which our Smart Connected Building technologies (including Cisco Network Building Mediator) are a key component. Read more on our Smart + Connected Communities at: http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/2009/prod_070109b.html?sid=BAC-JsSynd.

Adding the Cisco Network Building Mediator to a Cisco network provides an instant opportunity for open access and communication to all the building, security and IT systems connected to the network. Having the Building Mediator be part of the network is a very powerful asset in our solution. It now shares the usual features of a Cisco network that is resilient, redundant, and highly secured. The whole principle behind this is to move shared functionality to a common platform as opposed to repeating it amongst siloed and proprietary networks. The Mediator is not a piece of middleware software sitting on a server, but is part of the technology infrastructure or fourth utility in your building. This makes our platform architecture very powerful: open, flexible, and

future-ready. It will help drive down costs and add business opportuni-ties to the building world as never seen before.

Now, the Cloud for the real estate industry has become real. As we see applications and services move ‘off-site’ and offered and pro-vided by hosted service providers (SaaS), you can start to imagine the opportunities for managing real estate, reducing energy and providing value-added applications to the users of buildings. Mind you, we never really built buildings for the sake of building them. We need buildings to live, learn, work, and play. And that should drive how our physical and virtual environments behave (not the other way around).

Converging the performance of our physical and virtual environ-ments will allow us to match or organically and effectively start to address the real needs of users of these environments. The network and the Cloud will allow the building industry to become more services-oriented instead of product- or building-oriented. Your building and its capabilities have become like an iPhone, and there is an open invitation to provide applications and services that can be pushed out to every standing structure in the world. It is happening already: consider ADR (demand response), remote building services and operations, energy monitoring and modeling (e.g., carbon calcu-lations, trading), data mining, and benchmarking.

Coming back to your question: how significant is this “new age sky hook?” We believe it is the beginning of the transformation of one of the last industries standing that has resisted the adaptation of technology to re-invent, innovate and improve itself. The network is, and has proven to be, the common platform to make this transformation happen.

REAL-TIME DATAWhat else can we do with easily attainted vast amounts of real-time data?

This article from the AutomatedBuildings.com website titled, “Automated Continuous Commissioning: The Path to Optimized Operations & Energy Efficiency,” written by David Wolins, CEO, Sci-entific Conservation, Inc. (SCI) explains the concept.

“This process of collecting and mining data is at the heart of auto-mated continuous commissioning (ACC). ACC uses access to the existing BAS and data from traceable external sources (such NOAA weather data) for this new class of analysis. The data is then used to create per-formance models of each piece of equipment to track actual (vs. design) operation. New modeling techniques have emerged to create models that persistently predict actual performance within a two percent margin of error. By leveraging these models, building operators and facility man-agers have a powerful means to diagnose and control component and system faults and anomalies.

“The level of granularity provided by an ACC system can identify anomalies that can be generally categorized into three basic groups: con-trol, maintenance, and system performance degradation.”

EXPLOITING THE CLOUDHow can we leverage the cloud to provide powerful graphics to wow our clients?

This article, from the AutomatedBuildings.com website, written by Sarah Erdman of Quality Automation Graphics and titled, “Energy Dashboards Inform and Educate,” shows us how to wow our clients with pictures and powerful graphics.

“The Energy Efficiency Education Dashboard (EEED) is presented in a user-friendly format, similar to a website. The dashboard can be displayed stand-alone or simultaneously on the internet, intranet, or

54 Engineered Systems October 2009

The Cloud Beyond the Network

a hardware device (touch screen or kiosk). Every EEED is designed to include the information and/or live data that you wish to dis-play, incorporating interactive elements and creative features, brand-ing, and photo-realistic graphics.

“A variety of features can include:

• Home page component• Resource use shown in real-time• Historical comparison graphs• Display building’s green features• Environmental information and tips• Competition among multiple buildings• LEED® checklist• Current weather conditions• Donor/sponsor/advertisement page• Interactive quiz• Company information• Other custom options”

We are all ambassadors of the cloud, and our future depends on our ability to provide working examples of using the cloud to con-nect to sustainability, conservation, and real-time energy information. GIB

Sinclair is editor of AutomatedBuildings.com.

Input 209 at www.esmagazine.com/instantproductinfo

Input 34 at www.esmagazine.com/instantproductinfo

Scientific Conservation Brings a New Dimension to Energy Efficiency in Buildings 

By Leslie Guevarra 

Published June 29, 2009 

OAKLAND, Calif. — Berkeley firm Scientific Conservation Inc. goes to market today with its SCIwatch software‐as‐a‐service solution ‐‐ a first in Automated Continuous Commissioning that its creators say enables building owners and operators to cut as much as 25 percent of annual energy spending by tackling a condition called energy drift.   In commercial buildings, energy drift results in the average loss of 17 percent of energy efficiency every one to two years, says Scientific Conservation CEO David Wolins. The situation leads to mounting costs and usually is not detected until well after the fact.  SCIwatch addresses the problem, Wolins says, by continuously collecting raw data from a building's energy management systems and, based on the information, automatically predicting, detecting and diagnosing faults and anomalies in those systems as well as prioritizing their handling.  "This completely changes the way an operations team addresses not only management, but building systems as well: proactively," Wolins told GreenBiz.com and GreenerBuildings.com. "This application is going to change the industry. When people say green, we now have a mechanism that can assure the customer that they are getting what they bargained for."  Standard recommissioning of a commercial building every few years provides a snapshot of performance that forms a basis for adjusting systems so that they function according to design. Problems and performance gaps are detected after they've occurred ‐‐ and sometimes not at all if apparent deviations fall within what is considered to be an acceptable margin, Wolins and his team say. 

 In contrast, Scientific Conservation's SCIwatch is constantly working to provide real time data so that adjustments can be made swiftly and enable the building systems to deliver optimum performance based on existing conditions and a multitude of variables, its makers say.  Features include a universal interface with almost all building management systems and a vast data warehouse to store operations source information, histories of anomalies that are detected and associated costs for each facility in a client's portfolio, according to the company.  Think of it as a high‐tech, super smart, energy efficiency watchdog that's always on the job, can communicate on a 

number of levels, helps to keep its charges operating at top performance despite varying conditions, prevents them from running astray, and remembers their history of behavior ‐‐ as well as all that's been done to keep them line.   Although today is the official launch of SCIwatch, Scientific Conservation has been working with early adopters of the system since mid‐2008, a spokesman said. The energy efficiency solutions firm, established in 2007, is looking to capture a strong share of an estimated $4.5 billion commercial building market.  Recent customers include Neiman Marcus, NASA and Santa Clara County in California, whose experience with the SCIwatch is the focus of a case study on the company's site. 

SCIwatch drills down on building faults.

 The county was up against a tight deadline to qualify for a hefty rebate from the utility PG&E on improvements to a 36‐year‐old, 16‐story office building. The 275,000‐square‐foot building was one of the more energy‐intensive sites in the county's portfolio. Santa Clara County enlisted Scientific Conservation to hone in on problems that an earlier survey by a different organization had identified on a macro level.   The survey indicated that Variable Air Volume (VAV) boxes, which control the capacity of HVAC 

systems, needed recalibration or repair, and that the building's air economizers should be readjusted. But the survey did not say which of the 426 VAV boxes in the building weren't working properly, why that was happening and what programming settings to use to adjust the air 

Some of Scientific Conservation’s recent clients.

economizers.  In its report, delivered just two weeks after putting SCIwatch to work at the site, the firm located and analyzed the problems (more than 120 VAVs were failing, among other things) and how to fix them. "The speed with which SCIwatch discovered system problems is nothing short of remarkable," said Lin Ortega, the utilities engineer program manager for the county, in the case study. "Not only did they locate the problem quickly, they also were able to pinpoint the source of these problems."   The county got its rebate, is on track to save $126,000 in energy costs a year, and has since subscribed to SCIwatch services.  The firm's quarterly subscription fee is based on a building's square footage. The company says the customer payback period is less than a year, often within months.  In its HVAC industry blog, "Just Venting," Goodway Technologies Corporation calls Automated Continuous Commissioning the "next frontier for building energy management."  Jorge Moreno, program manager of North American environmental and building technologies for the business research and consulting firm Frost & Sullivan, concurred. The biggest issues and the greatest opportunities lie with existing buildings, which typically have different control systems, each with separate protocols, he said.  "For emerging technology," Moreno said in a telephone interview, "the value proposition is to provide an ongoing automated process that enables building owners and operators to leverage what they already have and get a new, world class system to integrate communication with their existing equipment and control those systems more cost effectively.”  "The integration layer is what is so radically changing the industry," said Moreno, noting that with building energy management now a multibillion dollar market, the key to ongoing growth and development is open communication.  

"Building owners want to be able to make changes as easily as possible and an open protocol allows that. So when someone comes along with a universal protocol, their view becomes, 'I don't want to be held captive by a proprietary system.' "   

Santa Clara County building photo and other images courtesy of Scientific Conservation. 

Monday, September 14, 2009 

Neiman Marcus taps Berkeley firm Scientific Conservation for energy savings 

San Francisco Business Times ‐ by Lindsay Riddell  

Scientific Conservation Inc. has landed a deal with Neiman Marcus to supply its energy efficiency software to the retailer’s stores. 

The Berkeley‐based startup’s software will detect problems with the stores mechanical, electrical and heating and air conditioning units and then estimate for the company how much fixing those problems will cost. 

The Neiman Marcus Group Inc. owns 41 Neiman Marcus branded stores, plus two Bergdorf Goodman stores and operates 26 Last Call clearance centers. The company will roll out Scientific Conservation’s software platform in 21 stores initially and eventually to all of its stores. 

Scientific Conservation was founded in 2007 and has 15 employees. Its customers include Santa Clara County, Hardee’s fast food chain, the city of Los Angeles and NASA. Santa Clara County has saved $126,000 in energy costs per year since using Scientific Conservation’s software to diagnose systems problems at its East Wing building and received $93,000 in rebates from PG&E Co. 

Email Lindsay Riddell at [email protected] / (415) 288‐4968  

September 10, 2009  

Scientific Conservation technology fights "energy drift" 

Scientific Conservation sits at the intersection of green IT and green technology for more energy‐efficient building management. 

Founded in 2007, the company offers a software platform called SCIwatch for what it has dubbed Automated Continuous Commissioning. In laymen’s terms, this means the application will keep tabs on the various heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), electrical and mechanical systems that can either keep a building running cost‐effectively OR that can cause dreaded “energy leakage” and “building drift.” This is essentially anything that gets in the way of operating at peak efficiency. 

(So, for example, lights left on when they shouldn’t be, negligence in monitoring energy rates, maintenance oversights, seasonal fluctuations and so on. Here’s a white paper about its approach.) 

The company’s executives claims that it can help businesses with buildings more than 50,000 square feet in size reduce their energy spend by 15 percent to 20 percent. What’s more, the software can help predict system breakdowns or misconfigurations, says the company’s CEO, David Wolins. 

Take the example of Neiman Marcus, which is a Scientific Conservation customer. Before it began using SCIwatch, one of the retailer’s buildings in Plano, Texas, experienced an HVAC systems maintenance oversight that cost close to $11,000 to fix because it wasn’t detected. That incident prompt an investment in SCIwatch, which alerted the company to five systems in Florida that had a similar problem. It was a $1,000 service call to fix the situation, compared with the $5,000 to $10,000 that Neiman Marcus would have had to pay if those systems had failed, according to Wolins. 

The software is also being used by Santa Clara County. With the first two weeks of usage, SCIwatch determined that close to a quarter of the county’s Variable Air Volume (VAV) devices were failing. These are the pieces of equipment that is used to control the capacity of HVAC systems. This link will lead you to the complete case study about how Santa Clara is using the software. 

Scientific Conservation offers its software as a service. It focuses on the following tasks: 

• Monitoring HVAC, lighting and meters for system faults or just alerts that are out of whack with normal operating procedure. 

• Optimizing energy efficiency parameters and prioritizing maintenance. 

You are billed per building footage and on the number of devices that are being tracket. The first‐year fee for a 100,000‐square‐foot building, for example, might run somewhere around $15,000, with an ongoing fee of about $9,000 per year. But these prices are only examples. 

Heather Clancy is an award‐winning business journalist in the New York area with more than 20 years experience covering the high‐tech industry. See her full profile and disclosure of her industry affiliations. See her full profile and disclosure of her industry 

affiliations.