How would ISY integrate into schools?

[builderb]

This looks like a new part of the forum, and one I'd happen to be quite interested in. I happen to work as an architect who specializes in public school facilities, mostly k-12, but some community college stuff as well. I know a lot of the facilities directors would like to have cost-effective automated systems. I tell them what I'm doing at home with my ISY, and they get very curious. Reduced energy use is an easy thing to pitch to clients these days.

 

Is this a market UDI is looking to get into?

 

Where does the ISY fit into the overall controls picture for a facility like a school? Is it basically just marketed as an HVAC controller at this point? Or will it be able to be sold to clients as controlling more, things like lighting, shades, irrigation, security and fire alarm interfaces? Obviously perusing the forums, the ISY is easily capable of all of this, but there are a lot of 3rd party products involved, and particularly when it comes to fire alarms, very stringent testing/listing requirements.

 

Are schools going to be subject to the ADR requirements that commercial buildings are? And does the announcement of the 'Energy Management in a Box' program mean you've gotten any farther with PG&E regarding the ISY being a listed compatible device with their meters?

[Mike Ippolito]

Thanks for asking.

 

Our SMB initiatives also include schools. While we can easily do all energy management and building automation tasks we don't do UL listed / supervised security. The best integration is to use an ELK M1 for all the security aspects, then purchase the elk module and connect the two. This way you can not only control the elk but visa versa. This gives a robust and redundant system to monitor manage and control the entire school ecosystem.

[builderb]

Interesting. I'll have to discuss this with my electrical and mechanical engineers the next time I have to install some type of energy management system. Seems like potentially a very cost-competitive solution.