While schools continue to face cutbacks and smaller budgets in the current economic climate, we must also be reminded that building automation systems (BAS) have helped us use major building systems more efficiently, cut down on energy usage, and have played a significant role in doing more with less. The mentality could be that we can run our BAS on “autopilot” and save even more money on personnel costs. That mindset could not be further from the truth and has the potential to wipe out any savings previously realized. This means that we are still a long way from discontinuing the need for a skilled technician to monitor energy usage and building automation systems. One case in point is that of Upper Merion Area School District in King of Prussia, PA which has experienced this firsthand.
SmartSynch Inc., a smart grid infrastructure company using Internet protocol via public wireless networks, is partnering with the University of Mississippi to reduce the power consumption of campus buildings while publishing real-time results for the general public on Facebook, Twitter and RSS feeds.