The California Title 24 Building Energy Efficiency Standards require builders to meet ever-evolving criteria for energy conservation and to use green construction practices whenever possible in order to protect our environment. What started in California is rapidly proliferating across the country as other states model Title 24 energy efficiency standards for large-scale commercial structures as well as residential homes. This has given rise to an entire industry focused on eco-friendly building design initiatives and innovations that make buildings smarter.There are multiple aspects to California Title 24 covering everything from insulation and roofing materials to HVAC systems, windows, doors and lighting; and therefore multiple ways to be in or out of compliance, thus risking financial penalties. When it comes to electrical power conservation in large commercial buildings – our focus for this article – Title 24 basically says that any piece of non-essential equipment not in use must be completely shut down in order not to waste energy.
Let’s back up for a moment to discuss one of the core components that makes a building smarter: automated building management systems (BMS). BMS technology uses occupancy sensors to determine when an area or room is active and needs power. You’ve seen them at work in supermarkets as the lights in freezer cases turn on and off automatically as you walk past. In an office environment, BMS sensors can detect when a person has entered a conference room or when they leave their desk, for example. At large industrial/commercial facilities, BMS can be linked to power distribution systems running underneath raised access floors to better monitor and manage electricity usage at individual workstations. This is where Snake Tray come in.
Snake Tray’s Snake Bus power distribution system is one of the fastest, easiest and most cost effective ways to capitalize on the advancements in BMS technology. Its inherent simplicity in design and heightened energy efficiency helps architects and engineers achieve Title 24 compliance and lower the carbon footprint of every building by tying power distribution control to the BMS to better manage energy usage.
The only one of its kind, the Snake Bus system assists with Title 24 compliance through the automatic disengagement of non-essential electrical loads and devices in an office environment when the space is not occupied. It uses three-phase longitudinal bus bar track technology to create an IP-addressable power distribution system for spaces up to 1,000,000 square feet. One of the phases is designated as the Title 24 circuit and connects to the BMS so that any devices plugged in to those outlets can be de-energized when needed as determined by the occupancy sensors. The value of Snake Bus lies in the daily milli-watt savings multiplied over the thousands of devices plugged into a power distribution system in a large corporate or industrial environment.
When tied to BMS sensors through the data network, the Snake Bus system offers a choice of two methods to control power distribution: at the point of need/use, or at the point of delivery. For the former, Snake Bus can cut power to outlets designated as non-essential at individual workstations, turning off appliances such as a fan, space heater, light, printer, calculator and computer monitor at every unoccupied cubicle (while leaving the PC powered on). Power is restored to those devices when the BMS occupancy sensor detects an employee has returned to the space. For the latter, managing power at the point of delivery allows the BMS to de-energize all non-essential equipment in larger sections of a building such as an entire row of cubicles, a department, or even a whole floor after business hours for maximum energy savings.
The ideal solution for corporate workstations, call centers, trading floors, manufacturing plants and medical buildings, Snake Bus eliminates unnecessary energy bleed to accelerate compliance with California Title 24. It cuts the cost of design by allowing engineers and architects to plan the building faster. It lowers construction and labor costs through simple assembly. And, it reduces the overall cost of post-construction building ownership through maximum energy savings plus the ability to expand, reuse or retrofit system components as needed with minimal expense.
We invite you to visit the Snake Tray website and download our white paper, California Title 24 Compliance: Building A Smarter Building Is Easy With Snake Tray to learn more about the impact of Title 24 and how we can help you build a smarter building.
