Over the last 20 years many billions of dollars have been invested throughout the world in making commercial and industrial buildings energy efficient. Much of this has been spent on more efficient HVAC hardware and further improving efficiency through DDC control systems. Initially the driver was to reduce operating costs through minimising energy consumption but making the building environment more comfortable and more recently legislation to meet new standards have been active drivers. The Building Energy Management Systems (BEMS) that are now installed provide the interface with Smart Grid to deliver further energy cost reductions through Smart Grid load management programs that can reduce operational costs for both the utility companies and building owners. The rationale for interfacing demand and supply goes much further because without it the primary goal for Smart Grid to play a major role in reducing CO2 emissions in the low carbon economy of the 21st century cannot be achieved. But […]