Information Resources for Better Building Controls

Floyd Barwig, John House, and Curtis Klaassen, Iowa Energy Center

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Abstract

Sustainability is a driving force in the building industry today and energy efficiency is one of the core components of sustainable design. While it is clear that sustainability cannot be achieved unless it is addressed in the design process, it is equally clear that addressing energy efficiency at design is not sufficient to actually achieve it. If the building industry aspires to the high ideals of sustainability, more attention must be paid to ensuring that the building control system actually delivers the energy efficiency envisioned at design. DDC Online and the National Building Controls Information Program (NBCIP) are resources that are aimed at increasing the building industry’s understanding of the actual performance and capabilities of control systems, a necessary first step toward improving energy efficiency through better building controls.

DDC Online is a web-based catalog of product lines of the leading manufacturers of building direct digital control (DDC) systems presented using a generic architecture and common terminology, thereby simplifying the task of comparing products of different manufacturers. NBCIP was established to provide manufacturer-specific performance information as well as broad-based best-practice information on building controls based on research, testing, and sound engineering practice. The paper provides overviews of DDC Online and NBCIP and highlights three NBCIP projects.