The Nexus Podcast

🎧 #194: The Condition-Based Maintenance Playbook

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 06:00:00 +0000

Episode 194 is a conversation with James Dice and Brad Bonavida from Nexus Lab. In this episode of the Nexus Podcast, the Nexus Labs team breaks down their research and shares the condition-based maintenance playbook.

Find full show notes and episode transcript on The Nexus Podcast: Episode 194 webpage.

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🎧 #193: Kelly Burke of JLL discusses an Enterprise Clients’ FDD Pilot Success

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 06:00:00 +0000

Episode 193 is a conversation with James Dice and Brad Bonavida from Nexus Lab, as well as Kelly Burke from JLL. In this episode of the Nexus Podcast, the Nexus Labs team breaks down the top stories relevant to energy managers, facility managers, IT/OT managers, and workplace managers.

Find full show notes and episode transcript on The Nexus Podcast: Episode 193 webpage.

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🎧 #192: Steve Burrell of NAU on the Campus's 10 Year Smart Buildings Transformation

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Tue, 3 Mar 2026 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 192 is a conversation with James Dice and Brad Bonavida from Nexus Lab, as well as Dr. Steve Burrell from Northern Arizona University. In this episode of the Nexus Podcast, the Nexus Labs team breaks down the top stories relevant to energy managers, facility managers, IT/OT managers, and workplace managers.

Find full show notes and episode transcript on The Nexus Podcast: Episode 192 webpage.

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🎧 #191: Chris Lelle of Lincoln Property Company on the Keys to Successful FDD Deployment in CRE

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 191 is a conversation with James Dice and Brad Bonavida from Nexus Lab, as well as Chris Lelle from Lincoln Property Company. In this episode of the Nexus Podcast, the Nexus Labs team breaks down the top stories relevant to energy managers, facility managers, IT/OT managers, and workplace managers.

Find full show notes and episode transcript on The Nexus Podcast: Episode 191 webpage.

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🎧 #190: The Mythological Single Pane of Glass with Kate Stelzel

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Tue, 3 Feb 2026 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 190 is a conversation with Brad Bonavida from Nexus Labs and Kate Stelzel from JLL. In this episode of the Nexus Podcast, the Nexus Labs team breaks down the top stories relevant to energy managers, facility managers, IT/OT managers, and workplace managers.

Find full show notes and episode transcript on The Nexus Podcast: Episode 190 webpage.

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🎧 #189: OT Device Management with Tom Balme of Lendlease

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Fri, 19 Dec 2025 20:59:35 +0000

Episode 189 is a conversation with James Dice and Brad Bonavida from Nexus Labs, as well as Tom Balme from Lendlease. In this episode of the Nexus Podcast, the Nexus Labs team breaks down the top stories relevant to energy managers, facility managers, IT/OT managers, and workplace managers.

Find full show notes and episode transcript on The Nexus Podcast: Episode 189 webpage.

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🎧 #188: AI Hesitancy in Facility Management with James Coleman of Princeton

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Tue, 4 Nov 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 188 is a conversation with Brad Bonavida and Rosy Khalife from Nexus Labs, as well as James Coleman from Princeton University. In this episode of the Nexus Podcast, the Nexus Labs team breaks down the top stories relevant to energy managers, facility managers, IT/OT managers, and workplace managers.

Find full show notes and episode transcript on The Nexus Podcast: Episode 188 webpage.

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🎧 #187: AI, Energy, and Engagement: Lessons from NexusCon with CBRE’s April Yi

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Tue, 21 Oct 2025 06:00:00 +0000

Episode 187 is a conversation with James Dice and Rosy Khalife from Nexus Labs, as well as April Yi from CBRE. In this episode of the Nexus Podcast, the Nexus Labs team breaks down the top stories relevant to energy managers, facility managers, IT/OT managers, and workplace managers.

Find full show notes and episode transcript on The Nexus Podcast: Episode 187 webpage.

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🎧 #186: What are Technology-Enabled Services and How Will They Change the Industry?

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Tue, 16 Sep 2025 06:00:00 +0000

Episode 186 is a conversation with Brad Bonavida and James Dice from Nexus Labs, as well as Leslie Beu from Clockworks Analytics and Reed Powell from MacDonald-Miller Facility Solutions. In this episode of the Nexus Podcast, the Nexus Labs team breaks down the top stories relevant to energy managers, facility managers, IT/OT managers, and workplace managers.

Find full show notes and episode transcript on The Nexus Podcast: Episode 186 webpage.

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🎧 #185: NexusCon Ski Package, Session Sneak Peeks, and Lightning Article Review

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Tue, 2 Sep 2025 06:00:00 +0000

Episode 185 is a conversation with Brad Bonavida, Rosy Khalife, and Ainsley Muller from Nexus Labs. In this episode of the Nexus Podcast, the Nexus Labs team breaks down the top stories relevant to energy managers, facility managers, IT/OT managers, and workplace managers.

Find full show notes and episode transcript on The Nexus Podcast: Episode 185 webpage.

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🎧 #184: The NexusCon Episode

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Tue, 19 Aug 2025 06:00:00 +0000

Episode 184 is a conversation with James Dice, Rosy Khalife, and Brad Bonavida from Nexus Labs. In this episode of the Nexus Podcast, the Nexus Labs team dives into details and teasers for this years NexusCon.

Find full show notes and episode transcript on The Nexus Podcast: Episode 184 webpage.

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🎧 #183: Agentic AI, Understanding Building Data, and Space Utilization Takeaways

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Tue, 5 Aug 2025 06:00:00 +0000

Episode 183 is a conversation with James Dice and Brad Bonavida from Nexus Labs, as well as Devan Tracy from Lockheed Martin. In this episode of the Nexus Podcast, the Nexus Labs team breaks down the top stories relevant to energy managers, facility managers, IT/OT managers, and workplace managers.

Find full show notes and episode transcript on The Nexus Podcast: Episode 183 webpage.

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🎧 #182: Smarter Construction, Open Source in BAS, and closing thoughts from NexusCon 2024

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Tue, 24 Jun 2025 06:00:00 +0000

Episode 182 features James Dice, Rosy Khalife and Brad Bonavida from Nexus Labs. In this episode of the Nexus Podcast, the Nexus Labs team breaks down the top stories relevant to energy managers, facility managers, IT/OT managers, and workplace managers.

Find full show notes and episode transcript on The Nexus Podcast: Episode 182 webpage.

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🎧 #181: Nicholas Dumoulin of DREAM Real Estate on Occupancy-Based Ventilation Control

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Tue, 10 Jun 2025 06:00:00 +0000

Episode 181 features James Dice, Rosy and Brad Bonavida from Nexus Labs, as well as Nicholas Dumoulin from Dream Real Estate. In this episode of the Nexus Podcast, the Nexus Labs team breaks down the top stories relevant to energy managers, facility managers, IT/OT managers, and workplace managers.

Find full show notes and episode transcript on The Nexus Podcast: Episode 181 webpage.

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🎧 #180: A Discussion with Chris Tjiattas of Walmart on Smart Building Gamification and Pilot Projects

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Tue, 27 May 2025 06:00:00 +0000

Episode 180 features James Dice, Rosy and Brad Bonavida from Nexus Labs, as well as Chris Tjiattas from Walmart. In this episode of the Nexus Podcast, the Nexus Labs team breaks down the top stories relevant to energy managers, facility managers, IT/OT managers, and workplace managers.

Find full show notes and episode transcript on The Nexus Podcast: Episode 180 webpage.

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🎧 #179: A Discussion with Andrew Rodgers on Horizontal Architectures

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Tue, 13 May 2025 06:00:00 +0000

Episode 179 features James Dice, Rosy and Brad Bonavida from Nexus Labs, as well as Andrew Rogers from ACE IoT Solutions. In this episode of the Nexus Podcast, the Nexus Labs team breaks down the top stories relevant to energy managers, facility managers, IT/OT managers, and workplace managers.

Find full show notes and episode transcript on The Nexus Podcast: Episode 179 webpage.

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🎧 #178: A chat with the Nation’s Refrigeration Expert, Cross-System Energy Management, and Ontology Hot Takes

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 06:00:00 +0000

Episode 178 features James Dice, Rosy and Brad Bonavida from Nexus Labs, as well as Keilly Witman from Refrigerant Management Solutions. In this episode of the Nexus Podcast, the Nexus Labs team breaks down the top stories relevant to energy managers, facility managers, IT/OT managers, and workplace managers.

Find full show notes and episode transcript on The Nexus Podcast: Episode 178 webpage.

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🎧 #177: Case Study: California State Dominguez Hills uses chiller plant optimization software to save money, improve performance

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Tue, 22 Apr 2025 06:00:00 +0000

Episode 177 features Keith Gipson from Facil.AI and Kenny Seeton from California State University Dominguez Hills and is our 15th episode in the Case Study series looking at real-life, large-scale deployments of smart building technologies. These are not marketing fluff stories, these are lessons from leaders that others can put into use in their smart buildings programs. This conversation explores California State University Dominguez Hills’ partnership with Facil.AI to reduce campus energy usage through modern technology. Enjoy!

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🎧 #176: FDD Insights, IoT Data Overwhelm, Tariff Optimization, and the Kilroy Matrix

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Tue, 15 Apr 2025 06:00:00 +0000

Episode 176 features James Dice, Rosy and Brad Bonavida from Nexus Labs. In this episode of the Nexus Podcast, the Nexus Labs team breaks down the top stories relevant to energy managers, facility managers, IT/OT managers, and workplace managers.

Find full show notes and episode transcript on The Nexus Podcast: Episode 176 webpage.

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🎧 #175: Dirty Jobs of Energy Management, Bad Asset Tags, Treating OT like IT, and Occupancy-Based Control

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Tue, 1 Apr 2025 06:00:00 +0000

Episode 175 features James Dice, Rosy and Brad Bonavida from Nexus Labs. In this episode of the Nexus Podcast, the Nexus Labs team breaks down the top stories relevant to energy managers, facility managers, IT/OT managers, and workplace managers.

Find full show notes and episode transcript on The Nexus Podcast: Episode 175 webpage.

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🎧 #174: BESS RFI, Refrigeration Crisis, OT Cyber Attack Upticks, and Smart Buildings That Aren’t Flashy

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 06:00:00 +0000

Episode 174 features James Dice, Rosy and Brad Bonavida from Nexus Labs. In this episode of the Nexus Podcast, the Nexus Labs team breaks down the top stories relevant to energy managers, facility managers, IT/OT managers, and workplace managers.

Find full show notes and episode transcript on The Nexus Podcast: Episode 174 webpage.

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🎧 #173: Decarb Software, CMMS RFI Takeaways, OT Network Wisdom, and AI Overhype

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Tue, 4 Mar 2025 17:43:22 +0000

Episode 173 features James Dice, Rosy Khalife, and Brad Bonavida from Nexus Labs. In this episode of the Nexus Podcast, the Nexus Labs team breaks down the top stories relevant to energy managers, facility managers, IT/OT managers, and workplace managers.

Find full show notes and episode transcript on The Nexus Podcast: Episode 173 webpage.

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🎧 #172: Change My Mind: Metering vs. Occupancy Counting

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Tue, 4 Feb 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 172 features Tom Arnold from Gridium and Jess Horne from XY Sense in our latest Change My Mind Series. This series showcases lively debates where vendors and industry experts tackle tough questions, challenge assumptions, and defend their viewpoints on trending topics. In this episode, an expert in space utilization and an expert in energy optimization face off to debate: which technology category delivers the most benefits to building owners just starting with smart building technologies?

Find full show notes and episode transcript on The Nexus Podcast: Episode 172 webpage.

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🎧 #171: The Untapped Market: Simplifying Technology for Simple Buildings

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Tue, 21 Jan 2025 17:37:11 +0000

Episode 171 features Bob French from 75F, Kelle Donohue from Strato Automation, and Mike Bendewald from Mantis Innovation. In our Vertical Roundup Series, we’ll cover the unique needs and solutions across various sectors. Today, we’re discussing Simple Buildings. Enjoy!

Find full show notes and episode transcript on The Nexus Podcast: Episode 171 webpage.

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🎧 #170: Case Study: AFL’s Journey from Unruly Spreadsheets to Auditable Data and Insights

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Tue, 7 Jan 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 170 features Lauren Trapp and Brandon Money from AFL and is our 14th episode in the Case Study series looking at real-life, large-scale deployments of smart building technologies. These are not marketing fluff stories, these are lessons from leaders that others can put into use in their smart buildings programs. This conversation explores AFL’s use of technology to modernize and optimize its energy management processes and to reduce energy consumption across their facilities. Enjoy!

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🎧 #169: Case Study: T-Mobile scales digital metering across data center portfolio

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Tue, 26 Nov 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 169 features John Coster from T-Mobile and Mark Chung from Verdigris and is our 13th episode in the Case Study series looking at real-life, large-scale deployments of smart building technologies. These are not marketing fluff stories, these are lessons from leaders that others can put into use in their smart buildings programs. This conversation explores T-Mobile, which has been deploying metering and analytics technology to help manage its data centers. Enjoy!

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🎧 #168: The talent gap & what you can do about it

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Tue, 17 Sep 2024 16:03:17 +0000

Episode 168 features Lewis Martin from LMC, Lawrence Trifiletti from LONG, and Nicholas Gayeski from Clockworks. This conversation explores the state of the talent in the industry . Enjoy!

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🎧 #167: Case Study: Leveraging Tech to Operate Lean with Harris Capital

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Tue, 3 Sep 2024 06:00:00 +0000

Episode 167 features George Garth from Harris Capital, Justin Anders from COMMSecurity, and Matthew Taylor from NDY and is our 12th episode in the Case Study series looking at real-life, large-scale deployments of smart building technologies. These are not marketing fluff stories, these are lessons from leaders that others can put into use in their smart buildings programs. This conversation explores Harris Capital's partnership with KODE Labs and the building of Gate 8. Enjoy!

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🎧 #166: Case Study: Using FDD to Catalyze the Digital Transformation of RYCOM’s Facility Management Services

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Tue, 23 Jul 2024 06:00:00 +0000

Episode 166 features Laura Towsley from RYCOM and Leon Wurfel from Bueno and is our 11th episode in the Case Study series looking at real-life, large-scale deployments of smart building technologies. These are not marketing fluff stories, these are lessons from leaders that others can put into use in their smart buildings programs. This conversation explores how RYCOM has used FDD to catalyze the digital transformation of their business providing services to building owners. Enjoy!

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🎧 #165: Buyer Roundup: Tech trends in logistics, distribution, and industrial facilities

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Tue, 9 Jul 2024 06:00:00 +0000

Welcome to our latest podcast series, Buyer Roundup! Each month, we’ll chat with Buyers from different verticals to check in on what’s new and what has them excited these days. Episode 165 features Drew DePriest from McKesson and Charles Blaschke from NorthPoint Development. This conversation explores how to make these smart buildings smarter and more sustainable. Enjoy!

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🎧 #164: Case Study: The Museum of London

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Tue, 25 Jun 2024 06:00:00 +0000

Episode 164 features Jason Pohl from Buildings IOT and Steve Watson from The Museum of London and is our 10th episode in the Case Study series looking at real-life, large-scale deployments of smart building technologies. These are not marketing fluff stories, these are lessons from leaders that others can put into use in their smart buildings programs. This conversation explores The Museum of London’s new museum that will be a world leading smart museum using the latest technology and data science to minimize energy use. Enjoy!

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🎧 #163: Higher Ed Roundup: Smart Buildings at Stanford, Boston, and Kansas State

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Tue, 4 Jun 2024 06:00:00 +0000

Welcome to our latest podcast series, Buyer Roundup! Each month, we’ll chat with Buyers from different verticals to check in on what’s new and what has them excited these days. Episode 163 features Gerry Hamilton from Stanford University, Dan Quigley from Boston University, and Durga Sarilla from Kansas State University. This conversation explores the smart buildings of three higher education institutions. Enjoy!

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🎧 #162: Case Study: Peak demand management at scale at Macerich shopping centers

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Tue, 21 May 2024 17:04:05 +0000

Episode 162 features Ryan Knudson from Macerich and Jon Schoenfeld from Buildings IOT and is our 9th episode in the Case Study series looking at real-life, large-scale deployments of smart building technologies. These are not marketing fluff stories, these are lessons from leaders that others can put into use in their smart buildings programs. This conversation explores how Macerich has incorporated Buildings IOT technology into their shopping centers. Enjoy!

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🎧 #161: Nexus Labs Update - People Counting, Marketplace, and NexusCon!

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 161 is a Nexus Labs Update featuring James Dice speaking on the shifts in focus of Nexus Labs. Enjoy!

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🎧 #160: Case Study: KIPP DC Schools wants autonomy, deploys IDL, FDD, Supervisory control, CMMS

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Tue, 23 Jan 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 160 features Nathan Morris from KIPP, Stephen Dawson from Normal Software, and Terry Herr from Intellimation and is our 8th episode in the Case Study series looking at real-life, large-scale deployments of smart building technologies. These are not marketing fluff stories, these are lessons from leaders that others can put into use in their smart buildings programs. This conversation explores KIPPs partnerships between Normal Software and Intellimation to better manage school facilities and increase savings to bring money back into the classrooms. Enjoy!

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🎧 #159: Case Study: QuadReal rolls out passive optical networks for OT devices

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 7 Dec 2023 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 159 features Thano Lambrinos from QuadReal and Wayne Kim from Andorix and is our 7th episode in the Case Study series looking at real-life, large-scale deployments of smart building technologies. These are not marketing fluff stories, these are lessons from leaders that others can put into use in their smart buildings programs. This conversation explores the partnership between QuadReal and Andorix and how the implementation of a new network has made an impact on QuadReal. Enjoy!

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🎧 #158: Case Study: Limbach Holdings digitizes HVAC and Controls Service

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 23 Nov 2023 06:33:32 +0000

Episode 158 features Richard Davis from Limbach Holdings and is our 7th episode in the Case Study series looking at real-life, large-scale deployments of smart building technologies. These are not marketing fluff stories, these are lessons from leaders that others can put into use in their smart buildings programs. This conversation explores how Limbach Holdings is integrating FDD and energy management softwares into their HVAC and plumbing services. Enjoy!

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🎧 #157: Case Study: Decarbonization on the WattCarbon Marketplace

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 9 Nov 2023 07:00:00 +0000

Episode 157 features McGee Young from WattCarbon, Alan Greenberg, and DR Richardson from Elephant Energy and is our 7th episode in the Case Study series looking at real-life, large-scale deployments of smart building technologies. These are not marketing fluff stories, these are lessons from leaders that others can put into use in their smart buildings programs. This conversation explores how WattCarbon can bridge the gap for property owners and vendors, while simultaneously validating their decarbonization efforts. Enjoy!

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🎧 #156: Case Study: Sleep Country deploys AI-enabled thermostats in 200+ stores

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 26 Oct 2023 05:37:52 +0000

Episode 156 features Mary de Guzman from Sleep Country and Omar Tabba from BrainBox AI and is our 6th episode in the Case Study series looking at real-life, large-scale deployments of smart building technologies. These are not marketing fluff stories, these are lessons from leaders that others can put into use in their smart buildings programs. Mary and Omar discuss the benefits of installing AI enabled thermostats in several hundred retail stores. Enjoy!

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🎧 #155: Case Study: The Empire State Building

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 05:36:07 +0000

Episode 155 features Dana Schneider from Empire State Realty Trust and Etrit Demaj from KODE Labs and is our 5th episode in the Case Study series looking at real-life, large-scale deployments of smart building technologies. These are not marketing fluff stories, these are lessons from leaders that others can put into use in their smart buildings programs. Dana dives into their systematic approach to building retrofits, leading with The Empire State Building, and why they publish what they do. Enjoy!

Find full show notes and episode transcript on The Nexus Podcast: Episode 155 webpage.

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🎧 #154: Case Study: University of California Irvine overhauls BAS, adds FDD

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 28 Sep 2023 07:28:14 +0000

Episode 154 features Joseph Fleshman from University of California Irvine and Jim Meacham from Altura Associates and is our fourth episode in the Case Study series looking at real-life, large-scale deployments of smart building technologies. These are not marketing fluff stories, these are lessons from leaders that others can put into use in their smart buildings programs. Joe and Jim talk in depth about the systematic overhaul of University of California Irvine’s building automation system, operational technology networking, and deploying fault detection and diagnostics software. Enjoy!

Find full show notes and episode transcript on The Nexus Podcast: Episode 154 webpage.

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🎧 #153: Case Study: Unpacking BGO's cybersecurity program

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 14 Sep 2023 06:43:52 +0000

Episode 153 features Ben Cooper from BGO and is our third episode in the Case Study series looking at real-life, large-scale deployments of smart building technologies. These are not marketing fluff stories, these are lessons from leaders that others can put into use in their smart buildings programs. Ben talks about the asset type due diligence and rate of adoption for their new infrastructure platform, the overall efficiencies created, and the future proofing abilities with a cloud connection application layer. Enjoy!

Find full show notes and episode transcript on The Nexus Podcast: Episode 153 webpage.

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🎧 #152: In The Field: Stacks+Joules Graduate Nathanseth Cruz

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 31 Aug 2023 07:05:15 +0000

Episode 152 is the second episode in our new workforce series, In The Field. In The Field features people working boots on the ground in the built environment, giving real-life perspectives on their roles, backgrounds, and aspirations. Episode 152 features Stacks+Joules graduate and senior controls technician Nathanseth Cruz of Dual Fuel and Stacks+Joules Founder and Executive Director Michael Conway. Nathanseth tells a heartfelt story about ambition, perseverance, and mentorship in a world he knew nothing about before his time at Stacks+Joules. Michael details how Stacks+Joules is committed not only to the technical training and certifications they provide but also to the people they serve and the ever-growing workforce needs of today. Enjoy!

Find full show notes and episode transcript on The Nexus Podcast: Episode 152 webpage.

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🎧 #151: What we do @ Nexus Labs

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 24 Aug 2023 06:00:00 +0000

Episode 151 dives into what James and Rosy do at Nexus Labs beyond the podcast. From the pro membership community, to the courses platform, partnerships, and the marketplace, this episode brings you up to speed on all things Nexus Labs. We also hear from people who use these products and the impacts that they have. For more information check out the links in the show notes.

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🎧 #150: Case Study: LONG Building Technologies on FDD

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 17 Aug 2023 13:24:24 +0000

Episode 150 features LONG Building Technologies and is our second episode in the Case Study series looking at real-life, large-scale deployments of smart building technologies. These are not marketing fluff stories, these are lessons from leaders that others can put into use in their smart buildings programs. Leslie Beu and Lawrence Trifiletti talk honestly about the rollout of their FDD-driven service, diving into the impacts on their technicians, operations, customers, and overall business.

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🎧 #149: Change My Mind: The Independent Data Layer

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Wed, 7 Jun 2023 20:37:44 +0000

Episode 149 is the first episode in our new debate style series called Change My Mind. This idea came from Nexus Pro member Pete Swanson. So thank you Pete, and we love that our community continues to inspire us to keep experimenting with the pod. The first topic is the independent data layer, and the debate center’s on if all buildings over a hundred thousand square feet should have an independent data layer in the smart building stack. The conversation is led by moderator James Dice, and then flanked by an opposing team with Alex Grace and Gregory Cmar, and a supporting team with Silvia Quaglia and Shaun Cooley. Kenny Trowers is the judge and neutral party that the teams need to convince to one side or the other. This episode format also features recording with a live virtual audience of our Pro Members that can engage in a chat while the debate is happening, as well as come to the stage to ask questions at the end. Enjoy!

Please give us your feedback on this episode as we try out these new formats: Episode 149 - Feedback

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🎧 #148: Foundations: Intro to Horizontal Architectures

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Wed, 7 Jun 2023 05:55:49 +0000

Episode 148 is part of a new series called Foundations. The idea behind this series came from conversations with many of you from our Nexus community. We'll be covering topics that keep coming up time and time again, that don't have a lot of beginner resources. These are concepts that we explore in our Nexus Foundations course, our six week online introduction to the smart buildings industry, but these short episodes will give you an introduction into one important topic. Please let us know what you want to learn about next!

Please give us your feedback on this episode as we try out these new formats: Episode 148 - Feedback

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🎧 #147: Deep Dives: Audio/Visual Systems and The Role They Play

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Wed, 7 Jun 2023 05:55:34 +0000

Deep Dives will be a new series of episodes featuring one on one conversations with various subject matter experts. Episode 147 is our first episode in this format featuring Ernie Beck from NV5 Engineering & Technology, discussing audio/visual systems, and the role they play. Ernie draws parallels from A/V stacks to traditional building stacks, teases out some pretty interesting smart tech from the audio/visual world, and makes a strong case for having a seat at the table when it comes to the smart building tenant and visitor experience.

Please give us your feedback on this episode as we try out these new formats: Episode 147 - Feedback

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🎧 #146: In The Field: Facility Manager Mary Gloven

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Wed, 7 Jun 2023 05:55:20 +0000

Episode 146 is the first episode of a new series called In The Field. In The Field will feature people working out in the built environment giving real-life perspective on their day-to-day, and how smart building technologies fit, or don't fit in. This is one of our most creative concepts on the podcast to-date, featuring a self-narrative and then live interview. Episode 146 features facility manager Mary Gloven. We met Mary at the Alliance Center in Denver, CO and were immediately drawn to her unique background and magnetic position on the bigger picture of the built environment. And most importantly, those who work within. She inspired this entire episode format and we’re excited to hear what you all think!

Please give us your feedback on this episode as we try out these new formats: Episode 146 - Feedback

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🎧 #145: Early Stage: Waste Tracking with WATS

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Wed, 7 Jun 2023 05:55:03 +0000

Early Stage is another new series of episodes featuring early stage founders of startups hoping to fill a gap in the smart buildings marketplace. Episode 145 is a conversation with Meredith Danberg-Ficarelli and Laura Rosenshine from WATS. Meredith and Laura share their passion and insights to better manage the waste we all produce. And they’re eager to connect with the Nexus community at large!

Please give us your feedback on this episode as we try out these new formats: Episode 145 - Feedback

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🎧 #144: Case Study: How the University of Iowa integrated FDD into maintenance operations

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Wed, 7 Jun 2023 05:54:48 +0000

Episode 144 is the first episode in a new series diving into case studies of real life, large scale deployments of smart building technologies. For this first episode, we talk with the University of Iowa regarding their integration of FDD via Clockworks Analytics. This project started in 2014 and includes 6.8 million square feet across 47 buildings. We hear the project team, the rollout, and key inclusion of their maintenance operations from the ground up.

Please give us your feedback on this episode as we try out these new formats: Episode 144 - Feedback

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🎧 #143: Updates + AMA: June 2023

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Wed, 7 Jun 2023 05:54:24 +0000

Episode 143 is the first new podcast after taking a break to reformat and expand our podcast platform. Updates + AMA will be a series of shorter episodes for us to discuss industry news, what's happening behind the scenes at Nexus, and to answer questions from our pro members. Towards the end, we have an ask me anything (AMA) where pro members can call in, and James and Rosy can answer your questions. Excited to start sharing these new ideas with you and please let us know what you think!

Please give us your feedback on this episode as we try out these new formats: Episode 143 - Feedback

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🎧 #142: Living buildings and where technology fits

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 16 Mar 2023 09:45:00 +0000

"The building industry can be the first to show the world what it looks like for an industry from within itself to transform itself in line with a sustainable future."
—Lindsay Baker

My Highlights

Lindsay's background (4:45)
Occupant application now versus its inception (17:37)
Ideas from WeWork (24:51)
The Institute and living buildings (29:33)
How Lindsay thinks about smart building technology (37:04)
Performance criteria and change in the smart building industry (42:54)
Where the industry is headed (51:41)
Catching up with the sustainable buildings side (57:17)
Carveouts (1:03:18)

You can find Lindsay on LinkedIn.
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🎧 #141: CRE Market Talk #2 with Mandi Wedin and Joe Gaspardone

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 9 Mar 2023 10:45:00 +0000

"So many organizations want to sell ESG solutions, but very few have their own ESG statements, goals, or positions. If you don't want it, why would I?"

—Mandi Wedin

Highlights

Joe's introduction (1:05)
Mandi's introduction (2:01)
ESG+R and why we care (4:21)
How DEI fits into ESG+R (12:26)
Greenwashing from the investor's perspective (17:01)
Green bonds (22:15)
More transparency in the EU (28:23)
How ESG+R pressures are impacting the smart building market (32:38)
Macro market update (40:21)
The best strategies for the technology marketplace right now (47:51)
Carveouts (59:33)

You can find Mandi and Joe on LinkedIn.
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🎧 #140: The value of occupancy data and reducing risks with leak detection

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 2 Mar 2023 10:45:00 +0000

"You can't just sell the data. It's got enormous value, but it needs to be manifested and taught in such a way that people can react to it."

—Mike Moran

My Highlights

Mike's background (1:17)
Bayron's background (3:00)
Kilroy's assets and real estate strategy (4:03)
How the business case is made for smart buildings (7:36)
Communicating the ROI (12:17)
Budgets for technology (17:36)
Occupancy data as a foundational capability for smart buildings (20:50)
Many different sources of occupancy data (30:14)
How data is integrated into workflows (33:13)
Leak detection (42:16)
The marketplace for this use case (50:24)
Toilets leaking everywhere - solutions (55:09)
Carveouts (59:06)

You can find Mike and Bayron on LinkedIn.
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🎧 #139: Q1 2023 M&A Roundup with J³

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 23 Feb 2023 10:45:00 +0000

"Even with heat pumps and electrification, demand flexibility is a really big issue. You need controls to be able to use or roll back energy at the right times and that becomes increasingly important as you have more variability in terms of the generation of energy on the grid."
—Joe Aamidor

Highlights

Jeanne's introduction (1:05)
Joe's introduction (1:52)
The economic environment that startups are in today (2:23)
What investors are actually looking for in a startup (8:55)
2023 predictions and hot takes (20:55)
M&A trends in smart buildings (31:30)
Daikin x Venstar (40:38)
Legence (Blackstone) x LORD Green Solutions(46:41)
GRESB x Asset Resolution (51:38)
Infogrid x Aquicore (53:31)
Carveouts (1:05:44)

You can find Joe and Jeanne on LinkedIn.
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🎧 #138: The one where James gets interviewed

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 16 Feb 2023 10:45:00 +0000

"Building owners need a lot more than what siloed systems are capable of. Smart building solutions need to solve that problem by integrating with those systems, and in the next phases, adopting more of a horizontal architecture where building owners are not buying all of these redundant layers anymore from a bunch of different vendors. But if we're all speaking from different sheets of music, we're never going have that infrastructure and we're never going to be able to do these more sophisticated things with our buildings."
—James Dice

My Highlights

Rosy's introduction (3:30)
Rosy on Shark Tank! (4:40)
Rosy getting hooked on smart buildings (7:42)
Nexus' Partner Program and why it's innovative (12:27)
Rosy's fun rapid-fire for James (20:58)
James' rapid-fire questions for Rosy (26:30)
What led James into the smart buildings industry (31:12)
How James came up with the idea of Nexus (43:12)
Early days of Nexus vs now (46:04)
Why Nexus is special (53:45)
The Nexus perspective on the state of the industry (1:00:55)
Conference critiques (1:08:25)
The Nexus' Creator Program (1:14:00)
Nexus in 2023 (1:20:51)
Carveouts (1:24:55)

You can find Rosy and James on LinkedIn.
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---

👋 That's all for this week. See you next Thursday!

Whenever you're ready, there are 4 ways Nexus Labs can help you:

1. Take our shortcut to learning the Smart Buildings industry here (300 students and counting)

2. Join our community of smart buildings nerds and gamechangers here (nearly 500 members and counting)

3. (NEW) Join the Nexus Labs Syndicate on Angellist for opportunities to invest in the best smart buildings startups that cross my desk each month.

4. (NEW) Our Partner Hub is launching soon. This is an opportunity to be featured on our website, get original content, and tap into the Nexus community. Visit our partner page. Email us at partners@nexuslabs.online

🎧 #137: Jigar Shah wants to fund your Virtual Power Plant

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 9 Feb 2023 10:45:00 +0000

"We pay $10 billion per year for balancing the grid using natural gas, peaker plants, etc. when we could be paying that to households for those services instead."
-Jigar Shah

My Highlights

How smart and decarbonized is Jigar's home? (2:30)
Business model innovation and unlocking decarbonization at scale (4:20)
Deployment-led innovation (5:50)
Moving from the 'what' to the 'how' (7:02)
An overview of the Loan Programs Office (8:52)
Where loans are targeted in the technology adoption lifecycle (14:30)
Getting real estate owners to use loans to decarbonize their buildings (16:07)
Virtual Power Plants (25:55)
Connecting buildings to data communication streams (35:10)
The scope of these incentives (44:35)
Carveouts (46:18)

You can find Jigar on LinkedIn.
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🎧 #136: Innovation and case studies of grid-interactive efficient buildings

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 2 Feb 2023 10:45:00 +0000

"Data transparency is a key part of unlocking stronger two-way communication. If you think about the utility side, usually the amount of data they have about where and when energy is being used stops at the substation level. So you might have a really connected smart building but the utility side doesn't have the data to make smarter decisions about reliability, planning, targeting customers for specific programs, etc. If we're able to pull the curtain back with that data, a lot better planning can be done."
—Cindy Zhu

My Highlights

How smart is Cindy's home? (1:57)
Cindy's background (4:09)
DOE's role in the smart buildings industry (19:13)
Grid-interactive efficient buildings (25:28)
The practical side of GEB (40:25)
Utility innovation (45:44)
Open ADR (52:25)
Carveouts (57:19)

You can find Cindy on LinkedIn.
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🎧 #135: Transforming the market, with regulation and without

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 26 Jan 2023 10:45:00 +0000

"Investors are thinking about the long-term value and risk of buildings and recognizing that high-performing buildings are lower-risk, which means higher value. All investment is going to be centered on the risks inherent with buildings and making sure that those buildings are future-proof and able to prosper in a decarbonizing economy."
—Cliff Majersik

My Highlights

Cliff’s background (2:46)
Market transformation and how it works (6:08)
How often building performance is being accounted for today (8:03)
Policy - Utilities - Startups - Ecosystem - Owners - The roles of every player (11:02)
Response to regulation as being our only hope (16:51)
Policy tools for decarbonization in the US (20:07)
Energy codes (21:00)
Electrification (27:02)
Benchmarking (29:07)
Data access (37:13)
Green leasing (40:37)
How people can get involved (52:25)
Carveouts (55:15)

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🎧 #134: The building operator's role in decarbonization and digitization

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 19 Jan 2023 10:45:00 +0000

“Tenants are struggling to achieve something that landlords have direct control over and that aligns with what landlords are struggling to do. Tenant submetering needs to be looked at and rethought."
—Comly Wilson

My Highlights

Comly’s background (2:50)
About Enertiv (6:35)
2022 was about TenX and 2023 is all about OpX (18:21)
How we create a concept of carbon on-site with our operational teams (28:31)
How landlords align with tenants (31:08)
ESG 2.0 playbook and what is needed moving forward (34:45)
Carveouts (43:12)

You can find Comly on LinkedIn.
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🎧 #133: How the building automation supply chain works (and when it doesn't)

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 12 Jan 2023 10:45:00 +0000

"We're still stuck dragging the anchor of the old proprietary software. Manufacturers need to listen to what the end-use customers are saying. They want open systems, product flexibility, and access to the data."
—Leroy Walden

My Highlights

Leroy’s background (2:11)
Conversation Context (5:05)
Evolutionary phases of smart buildings from a BAS perspective (9:48)
About the ecosystem: product manufacturers, distributors, system integrators (15:26)
The nature of system integrators (34:35)
Getting out of the virtuous cycle world (1:04:11)
From the old ecosystem to a more accessible and scaleable one (1:08:56)

You can find Leroy on LinkedIn.
Watch on YouTube or read on the web.
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🎧 #132: Refrigerants: the Cinderella of the Decarbonization Movement

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 5 Jan 2023 10:45:00 +0000

“You can electrify your way out of natural gas usage and move to renewable energy to get yourself out of scope two emissions but refrigerants are going to be the main solution for electrifying both water and space heating, which means a significant increase in refrigerant usage."
—Tristam Coffin

My Highlights

Tristam’s background (2:09)
Keys to sustainability in the grocery vertical (5:57)
Important smart building tech in this vertical and status of deployment (8:23)
About Effecterra (13:41)
Why are refrigerants important? (19:39)
The Montreal Protocol? (22:01)
US AIM Act (27:31)
Companies including refrigerants in their inventory today (29:35)
What are low-GWP refrigerants? (34:34)
Challenges with incumbent HVAC OEMs (42:56)
High-level solutions for existing and new buildings (49:34)
The state of technology for using analytics to find leaks (56:04)
Industry training and upskilling (1:02:48)
Carveouts (1:06:55)

You can find Tristam on LinkedIn.
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🎧 #131: Google's BOS Program & Creating Software-Defined Buildings

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 15 Dec 2022 10:45:00 +0000

“To really operate a building at scale, you need to be able to know what's happening across everything in that building at any one time and manage it in the same way you would a smartphone. Everything end to end in the building needs to be managed in a way that's much more IT-focused as opposed to OT. And so coming up with complete management of that is really important and that's where it leads onto software-defined buildings."
—Kathy Farrington

My Highlights

Kathy’s background (3:00)
Technology stacks (5:55)
Review and status of Google’s smart buildings program (8:06)
Overview of the portfolio (12:46)
SBC conference keynote - Kathy's main message to the industry (14:51)
History of the BOS concept (17:52)
Status of implementation (25:31)
Lessons learned in recent new buildings projects (26:56)
The device fleet management concept and software-defined buildings (30:23)
Update on the application layer (38:10)
Update on the ontology effort (44:09)
Carveouts (45:06)

You can find Kathy on LinkedIn.
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🎧 #130: Allianz's smart buildings program and the importance of the BOS

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 8 Dec 2022 10:45:00 +0000

"For us, it's simpler to work with applications that go ontop of the BOS because we can control the information being accessed. Without the BOS, transparency is limited, which limits the number of use cases.
By adding this data layer, we're dramatically increasing transparency and the possibilities of what else can easily be added on top."
—Grigor Hadjiev

Highlights

About Allianz (3:07)
How technology improves asset value (4:16)
Digitization vs Smart Building (6:46)
Defining ‘smart building’ (11:01)
Overview of the Allianz smart building program (12:39)
The importance of data and the data layer (38:09)
What are the key components of the BOS (44:55)
Next steps in the program (49:38)
Careveouts (53:38)

You can find Grigor on LinkedIn.
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🎧 #129: Decarbonizing New York City through Local Law 97

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 1 Dec 2022 10:45:00 +0000

“The tools that have always been successful at instigating change are benchmarking and performance standards. Let's use those tools and evolve them to better fit the needs of today's definition of a high-performance building, which includes the carbon aspect, grid interactivity, and occupant responsiveness."
—Molly Dee-Ramasamy

My Highlights

JBB's background (6:25)
Deep Carbon Reduction (7:55)
Local Law 97's impact on the industry (9:36)
Stories from the ground (18:15)
Flight to quality and repositioning of assets (26:23)
Evolution of these programs and Benchmark 8760 (35:29)
The biggest impediment of decarbonizing buildings in NYC (42:31)
Helping clients with other risks (51:59)
The shift in the design consulting role (56:45)
Carveouts (58:23)

You can find Chris and Molly on LinkedIn.
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🎧 #128: James McGinniss on DER technology and the future of electricity consumption (Replay)

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 24 Nov 2022 10:45:00 +0000

“The grid is starting to look a lot like the internet. These IOT devices are distributed, digital, user owned and operated nodes. They can buy from the grid, they can sell from the grid, they can respond dynamically.
These nodes are increasing ten, a hundred, a thousand fold over the next decade, which has really interesting implications for how we'll operate the grid going forward."
—James McGinniss

My Highlights

What are DERs? (8:59)
How DERs are changing the electric grid (10:11)
David Energy's founding story (12:47)
The three pillars of David Energy: the REP, the DR provider, and the supervisory control software platform (15:25)
What are retail electricity providers? (17:34)
The value of bundling efficiency with grid benefits (31:09)
How the bundling allows David Energy to handle risk better than other REPs (37:31)
Their innovative smart thermostat program (42:44)

You can find James on LinkedIn.
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🎧 #127: CRE Market Talk #1 with Mandi Wedin and Joe Gaspardone

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 10:45:00 +0000

“Don't spend your time with the laggards who don't yet see the need for (smart building technology). When they see it they'll find you. Go find owners with a need and then meet that need."
—Mandi Wedin

My Highlights

The macro perspective of commercial real estate investment (5:04)
Types of real estate investment vehicles (10:12)
Different issues real estate owners currently face (14:19)
The solution for a frozen market (19:00)
Current property level needs (25:33)
Smart building fundamentals today (31:01)
What the current environment means for smart buildings specifically (36:45)
Impacts on smart building investment plans (45:13)
The bright spots and reasons for optimism (59:41)
Carveouts (1:05:00)

You can find Mandi and Joe on LinkedIn.
Watch on YouTube or read on the web.
Get full access to Nexus.

🎧 #126: Decarbonization from the trenches

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 10 Nov 2022 10:45:00 +0000

“There is another use case for smart building systems and for BAS, and it is critical input data for designing low-carbon systems for your building that if you don't have that data, you are not going to design your systems properly.
They will probably be oversized and a lot more expensive than they need to be compared to as if you had good data to design on."
—Brad White

My Highlights

The shift from energy management to decarbonization (7:05)
Decarbonization roadmaps (14:36)
The role of carbon accounting (33:38)
Types of technologies that are vital (38:40)
Role of BAS and analytics (47:15)
Electrification - when does it make sense and how technology can help (50:48)
Tips for others on this journey (1:05:54)
Carveouts (1:09:55)

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🎧 #125: Sara Neff on the roadmap to absolute zero carbon

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 3 Nov 2022 09:45:00 +0000

“A building can only run as efficiently as its engineer knows how to run it. Unless you have an engineer-first mindset, none of your energy efficiency efforts is ever really going to reap the rewards."
—Sara Neff

My Highlights

About Lendlease (4:47)
Sara's role at Lendlease (6:25)
Roadmap to net zero (12:07)
Renewable procurement (22:22)
Energy efficiency and deep energy retrofits (41:10)
Carbon accounting today (48:48)
Change management and internal leadership (50:44)
Split incentive (56:32)
Carveouts (1:06:07)

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🎧 #124: Tearle Whitson Tells the Inside Story of Microsoft's Smart Buildings Program

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 27 Oct 2022 09:45:00 +0000

“We can have all the technology in the world but dropping it into a building doesn't magically transform it. It ultimately is a tool. Your people can be empowered by this tool but it will never do everything for you.
You have to set objectives, lean in and embrace the technology. You have to train your people and build the organization in a structure that supports it."
—Tearle Whitson

My Highlights

Tearle’s background (2:24)
"Teardown School" (19:49)
Smart buildings grew up around Tearle and an overview of the Microsoft smart buildings program (34:08)
How to run a remote operations center (43:15)
Best practices for implementing individual technologies (53:09)
Carveouts (1:12:35)

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🎧 #123: October 2022 M&A Roundup with J³

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 20 Oct 2022 09:45:00 +0000

“There's definitely still venture capital money out there looking for great companies, especially in the smart building space. As long as you have a clear thesis and value proposition and your tech addresses a need of a building owner/operator, you're going to pass this deeper diligence with flying colors."
—Jeanne Casey

My Highlights

The economic environment that startups are in today (4:46)
To what extent are smart buildings insulated from market trends (15:42)
Why downturn is a good time to build (24:10)
M&A trends in smart buildings (37:38)
Measurabl x Hatch Data (43:28)
Deepki x Fabriq (51:25)
EnergyCAP x Wattics (1:01:28)
White space for startups from a technology standpoint (1:05:48)
Carveouts (1:12:08)

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🎧 #122: Matt Ellis on the new business case for decarbonization and why platforms are vital

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 13 Oct 2022 09:45:00 +0000

"Real estate owners buy and sell assets and drive yield. So we needed to reframe little "e", the discussion on electrons, and expand into big "E", environmental social governance. Doing so helped the real estate owner understand not commodities, but yield and risk in return."
—Matt Ellis

My Highlights

Measurabl’s founding story (2:10)
From "meter" to "market" (7:59)
Journey to decarbonization (12:10)
Point solutions vs. platforms (26:23)
Why M&A and the platform approach are better than interoperability standards (33:38)
Acquiring Hatch Data and Wegowise (38:58)
Using customers' data to make the solution better (50:06)
Where to from here? (53:26)
Carveouts (58:08)

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🎧 #121: Stacy Smedley on the Road to Zero Carbon Construction and Where Technology Fits

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 6 Oct 2022 09:45:00 +0000

“Step one (of 3) on reducing embodied carbon emissions is to start thinking about if we have to build a building at all. So if we just stopped building right now, there's plenty of empty space for us to put all that square footage into that we say we need. And beyond that, we have more than we need."
—Stacy Smedley

My Highlights

Quick overview of Stacy's background - lots of activities! (2:02)
A primer on emissions from construction - What is embodied carbon? (8:31)
LEED - why hasn't it scaled? (19:46)
What is the EC3 tool and how is it transforming construction? (25:53)
Future of EC3 - Where's this headed and the connection to digital twins (36:43)

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🎧 #120: Fixing Offsets and Decarbonizing Buildings with McGee Young

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 29 Sep 2022 09:45:00 +0000

“They're doing the same thing they did last year, but now it's called decarbonization. But the reality is, is that they are decarbonizing buildings. The work that we've been doing for 20 years is the right work to be doing we just don't have a metric to measure ourselves against and a way to value that work."
—McGee Young

My Highlights

The problem and why McGee started WattCarbon (14:35)
The transition from energy management to carbon (21:34)
Connecting real-time carbon emissions data from the grid to hourly granular energy data (26:08)
How most people get their emissions today (29:14)
How to get to scope 2 emissions from kW hours used at a certain hour (24:52)
Data platform and API strategy (39:49)
The importance of transparency in the calculations and data (44:40)
Creating a marketplace for offsets from buildings (49:14)
The disconnect between net zero targets and actual energy being used (53:28)
Carveouts (1:13:46)

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🎧 #119: How service robots fit into the smart building ecosystem

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 22 Sep 2022 09:45:00 +0000

“We see an expansion of robots doing 80% of a job in the service sector, allowing humans to do what's complex."
—Greg Scott

My Highlights

SRT Labs (5:00)
Use cases for robots (11:17)
"Smart" definitions in the context of robots (19:49)
Robotic product adoption (23:14)
Problems unique to the federal sphere (41:58)
Map-based data collection (46:54)
The parallels and connection points with smart buildings (55:42)
SRT's full offering and how it’s helping campuses (1:01:43)
“Platforms” (1:05:05)
Carveouts (1:08:03)

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🎧 #118: Simplifying decarbonization with Aaron Block

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 15 Sep 2022 10:00:00 +0000

“There's a lot of complexity that goes into building a technology that simplifies things for people."
—Aaron Block

My Highlights

Aaron’s background (2:50)
The #1 way to unlock decarbonization of commercial buildings (17:19)
The problem is complexity (28:16)
How energy as a service differs from the ESCO model (38:55)
Fuel switching (50:43)
Current tech making it simple (55:05)
Carveouts (1:03:11)

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🎧 #117: 4 Steps to Sustainable Indoor Air Quality

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 8 Sep 2022 09:45:00 +0000

“We can accomplish both sustainability and IAQ, but we need to think holistically. And we need to think in terms of layered strategies and frameworks."
—Christian Weeks

Highlights

enVerid's founding story (4:53)
How enVerid's whitepaper came to be (18:53)
Step 1: define goals (26:18)
Defining acceptable IAQ and which metrics to monitor (32:01)
CO2 (38:24)
Step 2 - clean indoor air (43:35)
Step 3 - optimize ventilation (49:44)
Step 4 - monitor, validate, control (54:10)
Determining ROI (1:02:37)
Carveouts (1:07:32)

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🎧 #116: Integrating "Smart" Into the Construction Process with Charlie Buscarino

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 1 Sep 2022 09:45:00 +0000

“In the beginning of their journey to a smart building, many of our clients are wondering what they need to buy to check the box.
We've flipped that so that the conversation looks at the experiences, outcomes, and capabilities that are meaningful to the organization. Then we can look at the technology."
—Charlie Buscarino

My Highlights

Charlie’s background (2:43)
Asking the smart building question (9:04)
Use case scoring and prioritizing (15:45)
Division 25 (22:51)
The device layer (27:51)
IDL platform marketplace (35:05)
More on division 25 (40:34)
Case study (50:18)
Carveouts (55:14)

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🎧 #115: The role of the smart building consultant with Bruce Duyshart

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 25 Aug 2022 09:45:00 +0000

“My 80/20 rule is that it's 20% of technology—and there are a lot of technologies in a smart building. And it's 80% about people and human engineering."
—Bruce Duyshart

My Highlights

Bruce’s background (1:11)
Meld's key projects (13:24)
Horizontal architecture: converged network, data platform, apps (16:44)
How Bruce defines a smart building (23:01)
Bruce's 80/20 rule (27:50)
The consultant’s role across the phases of a project (39:40)
Consultant vs. designer vs. MSI vs. commissioning agent (53:58)
Carveouts (1:05:53)

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🎧 #114: Decarbonized Buildings Require Better Energy Modeling Tools

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 18 Aug 2022 09:45:00 +0000

“I don't know as much as a tax consultant by a long shot, but for most cases with TurboTax, 90% of the cases, I was good. The 10% of the cases, I'm definitely not good and I will need a tax consultant and all of that good stuff. That was really what I wanted to build for the energy modeling community, where for the 90% of the cases we can get pretty darn close."
—Sandeep Ahuja

My Highlights

cove.tool today (4:11)
Building a successful sustainability consulting firm (9:47)
Selling to architects (17:15)
The difference between early-stage models and detailed later-stage models (24:35)
Key products and features and why they’re important (30:06)
Including costs in energy modeling (34:25)
How electrification is made easier with an energy model (44:42)
Carveouts (46:29)

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🎧 #113: The Data Required for The Third Phase of ESG

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 11 Aug 2022 09:45:00 +0000

“Why isn't everybody that's using energy accurately collecting data on the source of their energy and also the use of their energy? And then saying, what is the accurate carbon footprint of that energy? And what, if anything, should I be doing about it?"
—Lincoln Payton

My Highlights

The founding story of Cleartrace (5:35)
Why data is so important for decarbonization (11:22)
How we go from old standards to gaining access to hourly energy and carbon data (27:15)
How data can be used to plan out this roadmap (48:35)
Integration into the real estate tech stack (54:55)
Carveouts (58:32)

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🎧 #112: Demystifying 'Zero Trust'

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 4 Aug 2022 09:45:00 +0000

“Complacency is no longer a viable option. If you're looking around and you're seeing your third parties getting carte blanche access to your networks inside of your building, it's time to do something about it. If you have open ports exposed to the public internet, it's time to do something about it. There's a better way to do it."
—Jim Anthony

My Highlights

How were things done before Zero Trust (3:52)
Zero Trust architecture (8:31)
How this concept applies to who is taking responsibility (16:06)
Use cases for the end user (20:07)
Products that aren't really Zero Trust (25:37)
The Journey to Zero Trust (29:29)
Connecting ZTA back to the Horizontal Architecture (40:20)
Carveouts (44:03)

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🎧 #111: Tenant apps: the why, what, and how with Prasan Kale

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 28 Jul 2022 09:45:00 +0000

“I was building buildings. I was running a large portfolio. And the number one brick wall I kept running into was technology silos. There were 8 to 10 things I had to buy for everyone of those buildings, and they didn't talk to each other..."
—Prasan Kale

My Highlights

Founding and acquisition story of Rise (5:48)
What is VTS? (10:32)
VTS acquired Lane Technologies (13:32)
Use cases for integrations (21:31)
Beacon technology (30:43)
Tenant app impact on getting people back in the office (34:49)
The analytics VTS provides (44:30)
Carveouts (49:18)

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🎧 #110: The evolution of the access control system with Lee Odess

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 21 Jul 2022 09:45:00 +0000

“In 1973, the value proposition was to keep bad people out. If no one has been shot in your building, it's working. That still remains, but the industry is evolving from that core principle."
—Lee Odess

My Highlights

The history of access control systems (3:26)
Components to access control systems (7:42)
The Six Phase Changes Shaping Access Control (24:23)
The verticalization of occupant experience transforming the access control system (30:49)
Business models in the access control of tomorrow (37:59)
Carveouts (44:15)

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🎧 #109: Demystifying wireless technology for CRE

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 14 Jul 2022 09:45:00 +0000

“One perspective is I don't see wires anymore. Still, in the backend, there are lots of wires and there are lots of different wireless connectivity and frequencies and technologies that support building systems.
So the term wireless can refer to a number of technologies. And I think that's where people will get confused in terms of, what is wireless? Cellular vs. WiFi vs. LoRaWAN or other protocols being used to transmit data wirelessly."
—Greg Jones

My Highlights

Montgomery Tech’s background (4:05)
General trends in wireless technology today (10:43)
Celular (12:41)
DAS (16:04)
Wifi (28:27)
CBRS (35:36)
5G (42:29)
LoRaWan (46:59)
How to make decisions in this environment (49:31)
Carveouts (55:00)

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🎧 #108: Mid-2022 M&A Roundup with J³

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 7 Jul 2022 09:45:00 +0000

“The environment that we've been in for many years and that we are currently in and heading into is very relevant for what's going on in the space, beyond the fact that smart buildings is highly fragmented and there is natural momentum towards M&A and rolling up a lot of these point solutions or single players from just an industry perspective."
—Jeanne Casey

My Highlights

The general environment that we're existing in (4:10)
M&A trends in smart buildings (20:25)
Measurabl x Hatch Data (27:14)
Arcadia x Urjanet (50:28)
The Independent Data Layer and aggregation providers (1:05:20)
Carveouts (1:18:01)

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🎧 #107: Balancing Embodied and Operational Carbon Emissions

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 30 Jun 2022 09:45:00 +0000

“As we draw down the operational carbon side of things, our embodied carbon piece of the pie is going to be closer to 50% of overall carbon emissions from the building sector."
—Carmel Pratt

My Highlights

Bright Power (6:18)
How to think about what percentage of a building owner's carbon footprint is operational vs embodied (8:58)
How to balance embodied carbon and operational carbon (20:14)
Key takeaways and ways the industry needs to change (29:34)
Carveouts (46:45)

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🎧 #106: A day in the life of a digitized, decarbonized building

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 23 Jun 2022 09:45:00 +0000

"I like the buildings industry because it's a physical manifestation of our values. A building that is truly net zero, set up to have composting, electric vehicle charging, bike racks that really protect your bike, is a physical manifestation of how much you value your employees. There's nothing better than taking the concept of bettering the environment and putting it into something real that you can touch."
-Kat West

My Highlights

How Kat and Drew got into sustainability (12:22)
Day in the life of a digitized and decarbonized building (17:14)
Transit (25:24)
Food (33:41)
Waste (37:45)
Space (42:55)
How the size of a room impacts equity and inclusion (53:19)
Carveouts (1:06:23)

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🎧 #105: What the small buildings market has been missing with Tanya Barham

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 16 Jun 2022 09:45:00 +0000

“The reason why less than 10% of the commercial building market actually use building automation can be summarized by just one factor. I could show you 20 images of every building control software or fault diagnostic software out there and it's exactly the same story.
Whether it's a small IOT or big medicine, it's a product designed by college-educated building engineering who really think that there's somebody in a button-down Oxford in an air conditioned office doing nothing but driving those controls."
—Tanya Barham

My Highlights

Defining community choice aggregators, virtual power plants, and DERMS (18:14)
Transitioning from PECI to CEL (32:06)
What small buildings need (41:32)
The procurement process made simple (1:03:06)

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🎧 #104: New York City's unique RTEM program

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 9 Jun 2022 09:55:00 +0000

"Why would you get something that tracks consumption but doesn't include fault detection and diagnostics? Something that doesn't also include predictive analytics and performance optimization?"
—Ryan Baxter

My Highlights

Why NYC real estate is so unique (8:49)
Top 5 NYC PropTech startup pitfalls (13:57)
NYSERDA's Real Time Energy Management Program (RTEM) (32:26)
RTEM's Hackathon (58:04)
Carveouts (1:04:20)

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🎧 #103: Nuveen's top technology priorities

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 2 Jun 2022 09:45:00 +0000

“In the landscape of proptech there is such a lack of data and lack of access to our own data and our potential ability to make better investment and operational decisions."
—Jeanne Casey

My Highlights

About Nuveen and your role (6:52)
An outsider’s perspective on the insides of real estate (13:03)
The state of smart buildings and smart buildings venture capital (25:41)
Thoughts on “head of innovation” roles (41:42)
Carveouts (57:56)

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🎧 #102: Unpacking 2022's major themes with Newcomb & Boyd

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 26 May 2022 09:45:00 +0000

“One of the things that COVID showed us is that so many people's buildings are not responsive to occupancy. So no matter how well you designed the building with efficient devices, not responding to occupancy is like leaving something on and walking away from it. It's basic sustainability of provide what's needed and don’t waste resources."
—Donny Walker

My Highlights

Defining Low Voltage (2:53)
Newcomb & Boyd's background (7:55)
IBcon and the integration of smart building and sustainability (16:55)
Specifying the converged network (26:25)
Specifying the Independent Data Layer (40:45)
Carveouts (54:27)

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🎧 #101: Virtual Engineering with Hank

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 19 May 2022 09:45:00 +0000

"Virtual engineering is an inevitability. It's not a, 'there may be a breakup of this vertically integrated stack, this monolithic stack that everybody owns.' It will happen."
—Zach Denning

Highlights

How the software layer improves upon the existing control system (6:42)
Building re-engineering (8:35)
Combating the diminishing returns argument (14:33)
Demystifying machine learning (25:11)
How Hank fits into JLLT's product strategy (34:53)
Dealing with skepticism and the desire to control things manually (42:19)
Carveouts (50:01)

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🎧 #100: Decarbonization, blockchain, and the Building OS with KPMG and Prescriptive Data

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 12 May 2022 09:45:00 +0000

“The current state of climate reporting is a bit like choose your own adventure, but also grade your own paper."
—Tegan Keele

My Highlights

Why carbon accounting and reporting is important (10:15)
Why blockchain is needed (27:23)
Nantum OS and what a building OS is (45:44)
Carveouts (1:02:32)

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🎧 #099: Duke University's Decarbonization and Digitization Journey

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 5 May 2022 09:45:00 +0000

“When I ask my team to put together an energy efficiency project, it's their job to get off the energy island and go get integrated into the other conversations that are happening when we plan a project."
—Casey Collins

My Highlights

Casey's background (2:43)
Duke's campus (5:40)
Duke's decarbonization plan (9:20)
The role of retrofits (18:32)
The building operations world is drowning in disorganised data (22:19)
Price on carbon and the business case for technology (36:54)
Technology from a workforce standpoint (53:55)
Carveouts (1:07:17)

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🎧 #098: Louise Monger on Schneider Electric's approach to digital buildings

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 28 Apr 2022 09:45:00 +0000

“I recently read a great quote, 'Institutions will try to preserve the problem to which they are the solution.'"
—Louise Monger

My Highlights

Louise’s background (2:10)
What Louise has learned coming from the client side to vendor side (24:41)
Trends in real estate technology (29:20)
‘Open’ systems and SE’s approach (44:13)
Role of the MSI and SE’s approach (49:04)
Software partnerships and SE’s approach (56:26)
Building Graph: Schneider’s IDL product (1:01:04)

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🎧 #097: Indoor air quality strategies and standards across 50 million square feet

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 21 Apr 2022 09:45:00 +0000

“Joe Allen made this very clear business case around cognitive function that any real estate sales person with a pulse could pick up and say, 'Hey, if you're going to double cognitive function with better air quality, Class A offices must offer this increased air quality."
—Ben Myers

My Highlights

IAQ today (15:08)
The Clean Air in Buildings Challenge and what this means for the industry (20:31)
How BXP and Senseware started working together for water conservation (24:29)
BXP's IAQ standards (39:42)
Carveouts (50:48)

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🎧 #096: Cory Clarke on why View assembled the full stack

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 14 Apr 2022 09:45:00 +0000

“The big caveat is that it's a fully vertically integrated stack, but it's composable and open."
—Corey Clarke

My Highlights

Summary of Cory's work at RXR Realty (8:50)
Cory’s contrarian take on the future of tenant apps (19:10)
Why View bought WorxWell and their product strategy today (22:05)
How landlords can measure occupant experience (44:36)
Carveouts (52:15)

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🎧 #095: Antony Slumbers on what it means to own a smart building

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 7 Apr 2022 09:45:00 +0000

“Just knowing about real estate in the real estate industry is now necessary but it's not sufficient, because fundamentally the industry is moving from being product-based to service-based."
—Anthony Slumbers

My Highlights

Overall real estate trends for techy types (16:22)
The current sustainability trends in decarbonization and changes in the real estate industry (46:53)
Smart Assets defined (54:48)
Skillsets and mindsets we need for the transition from dumb assets to smart assets (57:00)
Carveouts (1:03:38)

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🎧 #094: The ESG data gap with Ryan Knudson

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 31 Mar 2022 09:45:00 +0000

“Carbon neutrality is a big lift and technology is a cornerstone of that. The way we look at our assets now is from a supply and demand perspective. We've really been able to hone in our demand side through investments in building automation technology."
—Ryan Knudson

My Highlights

Macerich’s sustainability target and plan (11:09)
ESG reporting and the emerging so-called “data gap” (22:25)
New technology that can help close the gap (42:43)
Carveouts (50:36)

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🎧 #093: Mesa's simple smart buildings kit

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 24 Mar 2022 09:45:00 +0000

My Highlights

What problem was Sidewalk Labs trying to solve when it created Mesa? (8:56)
Use cases for Mesa (16:07)
How Mesa collects tenant feedback to optimize the heating and cooling of buildings (28:47)
Mesa's success with schools and offices in reducing their energy consumption (33:22)
How Mesa delivers a quick ROI to buildings (49:27)
Carveouts (51:09)

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🎧 #092: AMP Capital's Data-Driven Maintenance Program

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 17 Mar 2022 09:45:00 +0000

“We realized that we needed to go out to tender nationally for our BMS and HVAC service contracts. We needed to transition these contracts from what was traditionally a plan-preventive-maintenance approach to a much more data-driven approach that ensured we created a collaborative engagement between our service contractor, the analytics vendor, and AMP.
Without that collaboration, we realized that just deploying analytics was not going to get us to the outcome that we wanted to get to."

—Tom Balme

My Highlights

The situation AMP was in when attempting to shift to data-driven maintenance (5:36)
How BMS companies typically sell analytics and where that goes wrong (17:01)
Reactive work orders costing hundreds of thousands per year and how they’ve mitigated that (27:57)
Solution 1: Maintenance contract standards (1:00:19)
Solution 2: Implementing best practices for collaboration between analytics and BMS (1:14:05)
Outcomes from implementing these solutions (1:28:49)

You can find Tom and Bryce on LinkedIn.
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🎧 #091: The power of occupancy data with Rags Gupta

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 10 Mar 2022 10:45:00 +0000

“Our mission is to make the built environment people-aware. Our vision is to replace passive infrared. That, by definition, is a horizontal vision. By definition, you can't have applications for all those different types of end users."
—Rags Gupta

Highlights

Butlr's founding story (13:22)
Butlr and their products (21:00)
Why Butlr chose to go the API-first route (25:23)
Use cases and Butlr partners (29:03)
Carveouts (40:59)

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🎧 #090: The democratization of building controls

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 3 Mar 2022 10:45:00 +0000

“By making controls simple and transparent every day and for every building, you massively increase energy efficiency without even talking about analytics or AI."
—Alex Rohweder

My Highlights

Before the acquisition of J2 Innovations (3:20)
Why Siemens wanted to acquire J2 Innovations (9:23)
What separates J2 Innovations (12:44)
Where does fin stop and J2's customers' products begin? (16:09)
Democratization of building controls (19:11)
Alex's definition of "platform" (33:25)
What Alex is excited about this year (41:07)
Thoughts on mergers and acquisitions and how it can lead to more simplification (47:55)

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🎧 #089: M&A Roundup with Joe Aamidor

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 24 Feb 2022 10:00:00 +0000

“The fragmentation is a very real issue. I don't see it necessarily resolving anytime soon, just because of a lot of these other trends in the market."
—Joe Aamidor

My Highlights

Why are we talking about this? (3:02)
Deal #1: IBM buying Envizi (9:39)
Deal #2: View buying RXWell and IoTium (24:19)
Deals #3: Occupant experience apps (37:13)
Overall Trends (54:14)

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🎧 #088: From connected commissioning to connected construction

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 17 Feb 2022 10:45:00 +0000

“I've been giving presentations on why commissioning agents should be using data analytics and commissioning since 2013. It's completely unsatisfying to me to do it the other way. And still the vast majority don't... But the construction industry is different. By the end of the project, they're saying they'll never do another project without analytics. That transformation will happen much faster."
—Jim Meacham

My Highlights

Altura’s founding story (2:35)
Why is commissioning even a thing (7:27)
Pioneering analytics-based commissioning (15:15)
Keys to making analytics-based commissioning work in the construction process (32:48)
How analytics can benefit the entire construction process (41:10)

You can find Jim and Elliot on LinkedIn.
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🎧 #087: Andy Frank on the Independent Data Layer

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 10 Feb 2022 10:45:00 +0000

“You've got control systems in the building and interesting applications up in the cloud. And then there's something in the middle and it's really gnarly and messy and ugly and a pain in the butt to work with. That's what we do."
—Andy Frank

My Highlights

Novant's founding story (2:47)
The challenges Andy sees in the smart building market today (14:36)
Where Andy sees the smart building market going (37:44)

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🎧 #086: Building Science + Data Science = Zero Carbon Future

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 3 Feb 2022 10:45:00 +0000

“You're never going to fix the decarbonization challenges we have today with just data and adjusting active systems. You also have to fix the envelope. And vice versa: envelope only approaches don't solve it either.
We need data science AND building science."
—Craig Stevenson

My Highlights

Building science + Data science = Zero Carbon future (11:37)
Building science deeper dive (16:14)
Data science deeper dive (25:04)
How to deliver this in real buildings (36:21)

You can find Beth and Craig on LinkedIn.
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🎧 #085: A carbon reduction plan for every building on the planet with Christopher Naismith

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 27 Jan 2022 10:45:00 +0000

“What we need is a carbon reduction plan for every existing building on the planet. And we can do that immediately."
—Christopher Naismith

My Highlights

What did you do as an energy engineer / consultant? (3:27)
After target setting and benchmarking, we need to scale up the building decarbonization process. Where are most organizations at today? (5:19)
What are all the ways in which the process is not scalable today? (7:26)
What is Audette? (8:40)
How to fund net zero when it doesn't have a quick payback (16:34)
Does the ESCO or energy as a service model solve this? Why or why not? (23:31)

You can find on Christopher LinkedIn.
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🎧 #084: Finding the signal in the IAQ noise with Kaiterra and DLR Group

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 20 Jan 2022 10:30:00 +0000

“Humans are great sensors, but we're not very good at dashboarding anything. Having this IAQ data can become a change management tool and it could really impact the culture of the occupants in the space."
—Shona O'Dea

My Highlights

Founding story of Kaiterra (6:52)
Shona on the history of IAQ practice (9:16)
Making sense of the wild wild west of IAQ - state of the industry (23:08)
Making the business case - current best practice? (33:20)
Should it be a stand-alone stack or integrated with building systems? (45:01)
What is an integrated IAQ strategy? (56:14)
Optimizing for IAQ and sustainability (1:01:23)

You can find Liam and Shona on LinkedIn.
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🎧 #083: QuadReal's quest for a Building OS with KODE Labs

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 13 Jan 2022 10:30:00 +0000

“Stop talking, start doing. The tools are in place. The vendors exist. The folks that understand how to bring this stuff to life exist. So start doing it."
—Thano Lambrinos

My Highlights

QuadReal's smart building strategy (8:42)
What is a Building Operating System? (17:30)
Thano's "utopian state" (29:24)
Why they say that the "operators love it"? (45:29)
Command and control capabilities (59:29)

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🎧 #082: Demand flexibility in the Long Tail of small buildings with Extensible Energy

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 6 Jan 2022 10:45:00 +0000

“I like to say 'Use what your mama gave you.' Your building is already a battery. Every building is a battery."
—Deepa Lounsbury

My Highlights

History of Extensible Energy (7:07)
History of demand management → load flexibility (9:14)
Why the focus on the typically ignored, 100k square foot and under buildings? (24:24)
Case studies / real-life examples (50:51)

You can find John and Deepa on LinkedIn.
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🎧 #081: Carlos Flores on how NABERS transformed the real estate industry

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 16 Dec 2021 10:45:00 +0000

"Real estate companies are not going to go bankrupt because they're inefficient. It's actually just a blip on the bottom line compared to much bigger drivers. Those business drivers are the keys to tackling climate change..."
—Carlos Flores

My Highlights

History of NABERS (6:02)
The way things were 15 years ago (19:30)
Drivers that have created business transformation (22:30)
The way things are now and what this change means (41:46)
Future of NABERS, including how the US is different (54:44)

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🎧 #080: Colleen Morris on unlocking building level energy data

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Fri, 10 Dec 2021 14:39:58 +0000

“My position is that in this space, when you're really getting systemic you need to be connecting all three (Buildings, Utilities, and Policymakers) in ways that we aren't yet. That's where we'll succeed or fail is how we make the right connections across these sectors."
—Colleen Morris

My Highlights

Lots of innovation in only two of the three stakeholders (Utility, Policymakers, and Buildings (5:23)
How we met and unpacking Colleen's quote (9:31)
All the ways in which utilities make it hard to use utility data (15:29)
How data access at scale is an energy equity issue (29:43)
Why scalability is so important in the Long Tail of small buildings (35:03)
What are the requirements for open access to utility data? (38:59)

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🎧 #079: Unpacking Stanford University's Smart Buildings Program and Road to Net Zero

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 2 Dec 2021 10:30:00 +0000

“We needed an incredible sophistication at the building level, but we also need to do this in a way that is not just reliable, but also makes sense from an affordability standpoint and more and more makes sense from a sustainability standpoint."
—Lincoln Bleveans

My Highlights

Why is building technology important? To the U, to students, to other stakeholders. (7:29)
Energy & Sustainability - unpack the goals and initiatives (net zero by 2050) (27:06)
What use cases and tech have you implemented? (to get to 90% carbon savings (35:34)
How have you made the business case for investment? (46:46)
What new tech are you excited about right now? (59:22)
Lessons learned - it starts with the people (1:06:44)

You can find Lincoln and Gerry on LinkedIn.
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🎧 #078: Stacy Smedley on the road to zero carbon construction and where technology fits

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 10:30:00 +0000

“Step one (of 3) on reducing embodied carbon emissions is to start thinking about if we have to build a building at all. So if we just stopped building right now, there's plenty of empty space for us to put all that square footage into that we say we need. And beyond that, we have more than we need."
—Stacy Smedley

My Highlights

Quick overview of Stacy's background - lots of activities! (2:02)
A primer on emissions from construction - What is embodied carbon? (8:31)
LEED - why hasn't it scaled? (19:46)
What is the EC3 tool and how is it transforming construction? (25:53)
Future of EC3 - Where's this headed and the connection to digital twins (36:43)

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🎧 #077: Jon McFarlane on an open source building operating system and enabling true automation

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Wed, 17 Nov 2021 00:55:42 +0000

“You can build anything on top and change things rapidly. Because of the platform business model, there's an ecosystem, so things are continuously evolving."
—Jon McFarlane

My Highlights

Founding story of PlaceOS (4:32)
Other industries besides office that are being disrupted by the internet (8:25)
What is PlaceOS? (13:00)
Platform approach - what is a platform (29:44)
Why open source? (35:27)
Hot takes on LinkedIn (43:36)

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🎧 #076: The evolving role of the Master Systems Integrator (MSI)

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 11 Nov 2021 10:25:00 +0000

“Those that adapt and recognize what's coming will continue to live on and those who want to keep their Blockbuster stores open with videos on the shelves, they're not going to be here in a few years' time."
—Rob Huntington

My Highlights

Mike Brooman on defining the MSI and the types of stuff they do: it's about mastery of technology and people skills to be the glue that brings all the systems together (1:24)
Brian Turner on what an MSI is and when they should get brought in (7:58)
Rob Huntington on the MSI role, whether the BMS contractor should play it, when they should get involved, and whether the MSA is a different role (16:38)
Mike Brooman on whether silos should continue to exist or whether there should be one person responsible for all tech (22:19)
Mike Brooman on whether MSIs are consultants - they're not (26:52)
Rob Huntington on the challenges and requirements for the design engineers (32:25)
Ruairi Barnwell on defining roles in the construction process (36:23)
Brian Turner on the ongoing service aspect of the MSI's role (43:21)
Rob Huntington on the BOS software and whether that company should be separate from the MSI (50:25)
Rob Huntington on the business case for the MSI role - it's just cheaper (54:51)
Sabine Lam from Google on what progressive building owners need out of MSIs (57:53)

You can find Mike, Brian, Rob, Ruairi, and Sabine on LinkedIn.
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🎧 #075: Anto Budiardjo on Smarter Stacks and solving the integration problem to enable digital twins

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 4 Nov 2021 09:25:00 +0000

“I know people have different views on what digital twins is all about. I think that if digital twins are fundamentally an integration challenge then the most pressing problem is how to make things work with each other."
—Anto Budiardjo

My Highlights

Reflecting on 30ish years of integration efforts (5:54)
The smarter stack framework, how it came about, why it's valuable, and how it describes a new paradigm for our industry (18:05)
Why is integration so hard? (32:34)
How connection profiles help solve the integration problem (37:05)
An everyday analogy that explains connection profiles really well (49:12)
How Padi relates to connection profiles and how the two interact (56:06)

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🎧 #074: Andrew Rodgers on what "open" really means

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 28 Oct 2021 09:25:00 +0000

“You hear so many arguments defending the status quo.”
—Andrew Rodgers

My Highlights

Andrew’s answer to my favorite question is the pain-consumer distance and how the market isn’t self-regulating
The difference between open ecosystems and open source
How it all comes down to capabilities that are unlocked and personal preference
Open vs. interoperable
Where open source fits
Walking up the stack from the edge and what open means at each level (hardware, BACnet, APIs, platforms)
Why closed ecosystems won’t help us realize our future vision as an industry and how slime molds have it all figured out
The VOLTTRON open ecosystem and how it innovation happens with that model
How open-source can solve our workforce shortage
Examples of other tech from other industries going from closed to open and how open source is free like puppies.
How open is Niagara?
The vision for VOLTTRON and how AceIOT deploys it for their clients

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🎧 #073: Michael Grant on the latest trends in occupancy data, IAQ, APIs, and Overlay Software

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 09:25:00 +0000

“APIs are like toothbrushes: everybody's got one but nobody wants to use anyone else's."
—Michael Grant

My Highlights

Michael's background and COO role at multiple companies (1:07)
What is Metrikus? (9:24)
How Metrikus plays as an overlay and independent data layer (14:03)
Making the business case and whether technology providers should capture the full value their solution provides (19:14)
How Michael thinks about the data model component (26:28)
Reflection on our recent LinkedIn discussion on the quote "APIs are like toothbrushes..." (29:45)
Insights on the latest trends in occupancy data for office buildings (41:01)
AirRated and how it's different (47:26)

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🎧 #072: Kilroy Realty and Intelligent Buildings on cybersecurity and the roadmap to enabling smarter buildings

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 14 Oct 2021 09:25:00 +0000

“We were lucky enough that early on we built a team that included facilities management, physical security, sustainability, and IT.
And we said, 'What are our common goals? Where can we reinforce each other? What are all stakeholders' needs and how can we solve them together?'"
—Bayron Lopez Pineda

My Highlights

The origin story of the Kilroy smart buildings program, how IB helped set it up and how it led to the creation of the OT team (6:51)
Deep dive into network convergence (13:18)
What the roadmap looks like for existing buildings (22:31)
Paying for the journey and how they think about it (29:43)
What is required from a workforce standpoint for a real estate company to take full responsibility for OT? (33:46)
What applications are you enabling? (41:41)
How do you think about tenant engagement apps and what are your approaches to implementing them? (50:04)

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🎧 #071: DEI Today in the Smart Buildings Industry

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 7 Oct 2021 09:25:00 +0000

“Diversity, equity, and inclusion isn't something that can be an add on. It's not a new part of your business. It should be integrating into your business. How do your core values align with your DEI efforts, your business practices, etc? Everything is literally connected."
—Tara Turk Haynes

My Highlights

The status quo of DEI and the smart buildings industry today (3:11)
The value of diversity to the industry (10:51)
The talent war, the process of hiring and building diverse teams (22:10)
The action phase of the conversation. Takeaways and actions we can all take (37:11)
Audience Q&A (51:54)

You can find Mandi, Tara, Mike, and Louisa on LinkedIn.
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🎧 #070: Will Cowell de Gruchy on simplifying IoT, core use cases, and founding Infogrid

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 30 Sep 2021 09:25:00 +0000

“You need no more evidence than the fact that McKinsey estimates that its largest practice within three years will be sustainability to know that the ESG transformation is the new digital transformation."
-Will Cowell de Gruchy

My Highlights

What is Infogrid (11:30)
The founding story (12:07)
What Infogrid does today and how much traction they have (18:07)
To what Will attributes Infogrid's incredible growth (25:14)
The top 5 use cases Infogrid deploys and a few of the weirdest they've done (38:06)

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🎧 #069: Dana Guernsey on building a grid-interaction platform

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 23 Sep 2021 09:25:00 +0000

“The system was originally built to adjust supply, to meet demand. Everything about it was built that way, the market design, the physical infrastructure, everything. Now we're evolving it to also adjust demand to meet supply. Supply is becoming more and more intermittent, demand is becoming more and more flexible.
The whole thing is just getting up-ended and for building owners, they can't just close their eyes and not realize that the building is very much part of that."
—Dana Guernsey

My Highlights

What is Voltus? (6:03)
How the product works, the tech stack, etc (13:29)
How it works financially (21:08)
The keys to doing advanced supervisory control (23:22)
The keys to monetizing flexibility in the electricity markets (28:32)
Why should building owners care? (33:07)
Dana's bold predictions on where grid-interaction is headed and one crazy battery stat (35:33)

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🎧 #068: Ben Myers of BXP on decarbonizing 50 million square feet

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 16 Sep 2021 09:25:00 +0000

“There's this line in Hamilton,
'Let's have a drink, the four of us. Tomorrow there'll be more of us.'
And when I started out in green buildings, it definitely felt like there were just four of us. Today there are many more of us on this journey."
—Ben Myers

My Highlights

What sustainability means to each stakeholder and how to message it to them (6:54)
Ben's working theory about what it takes to move the market and the 5, 15, 30, 50 rule (15:32)
How BXP tracks their portfolio consumption, emissions, targets, and progress (18:11)
How other cities can improve on NYC's Local Law 97 (20:44)
Keys to success for scaling sustainability in a large portfolio (23:55)
Ben's great take on how to balance competing energy and IAQ goals (32:20)
BXP's lessons learned from building green since 2008 (40:48)
Ben's focus(es) for 2021-22 (51:37)
The ESG reporting, standard, and framework nightmare and Ben's thoughts on improving it (1:07:53)

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🎧 #067 - Trevor Pering on 3 ways Google is enabling Enterprise IoT

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 9 Sep 2021 09:25:00 +0000

"When the iPhone came in, the web was already there. With building systems, it's the other way around. You had a lot of technology in buildings, then we bolted the web on afterwards.
That's a different direction, so it's trying to correct that and bring more web concepts in."
—Trevor Pering

My Highlights

Trevor's focus at Google and differentiating the 3 types of IoT (5:56)
Deep dive on DAQ - device automated qualification (13:26)
Deep dive on MUD and the requirements for IoT networking (24:42)
UDMI (Universal Device Management Interface) standard with device<>cloud communication (34:58)
Trevor's take on where we are on the disruption curve and how he chooses partners based on whether their business model will hold back innovation (46:54)
Trevor sums up all three projects (55:03)

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🎧 #066: Cara Carmichael on Our Roadmap to Zero Carbon Buildings

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 2 Sep 2021 09:25:00 +0000

"I am hopeful. I feel like we're coming together around this issue in a way that I've never experienced in the past. This is something that's within our power to do something about."
—Cara Carmichael

My Highlights

The three reasons we need to decarbonize buildings (7:09)
How the net-zero definition has changed over time (9:39)
Part one of the roadmap: benchmarking and disclosure (12:38)
Part two of the roadmap: MEPS and/or building energy codes (16:35)
Part 3 of the roadmap: retrofitting 4% of our buildings per year to zero-carbon ready (24:12)
Part 4 of the roadmap: Electrification (28:48)
Part 5 of the roadmap: Building Grid Interaction (32:43)
Part 6 of the roadmap: Solar and storage behind the meter (37:47)

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🎧 #065: Troy Harvey on the Quantum Digital Twin Standard and enabling fully autonomous buildings

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 09:25:00 +0000

“There's never really been an API for buildings. And this is an impediment to every single corporation, every startup, every investor, the whole industry."
—Troy Harvey

My Highlights

An update on PassiveLogic (1:43)
Where we need to go and how Quantum helps get us there (9:29)
What is the Quantum Digital Twin Standard? (13:43)
Why Quantum was needed when we have Haystack, Brick, etc (19:00)
What it means to embed Quantum into devices (25:16)
The new concepts Quantum brings to the ontology effort (29:05)
Revisiting the levels of autonomy and how Quantum helps (35:52)
Deep, nerdy, over-my-head explanation of what "Typed AI" is (39:57)

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🎧 #064: James McGinniss on DER technology and the future of electricity consumption

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 09:25:00 +0000

“The grid is starting to look a lot like the internet. These IOT devices are distributed, digital, user owned and operated nodes. They can buy from the grid, they can sell from the grid, they can respond dynamically.
These nodes are increasing ten, a hundred, a thousand fold over the next decade, which has really interesting implications for how we'll operate the grid going forward."
—James McGinniss

My Highlights

What are DERs? (8:59)
How DERs are changing the electric grid (10:11)
David Energy's founding story (12:47)
The three pillars of David Energy: the REP, the DR provider, and the supervisory control software platform (15:25)
What are retail electricity providers? (17:34)
The value of bundling efficiency with grid benefits (31:09)
How the bundling allows David Energy to handle risk better than other REPs (37:31)
Their innovative smart thermostat program (42:44)

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🎧 #063: Ryan Morris and Marti Ogram on Turntide's Technology for Sustainable Operations

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 12 Aug 2021 09:25:00 +0000

“The issue with energy efficiency is that while it may be civilization's largest collective problem, for any individual business it's like their 12th biggest problem."
—Ryan Morris

My Highlights

How Turntide was founded as Software Motor Company (7:25)
How the Turntide motor tech differs from what's in buildings today (11:09)
Ryan's concept of engineering clu-de-sacs (16:55)
The story of Riptide's founding out of Cisco in the early 2010s and why it improved upon the legacy BMS (18:01)
Where Turntide is headed with recent acquisitions and funding rounds (27:47)

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🎧 #062: Jon Clarke on leading Dexus' smart buildings program

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 5 Aug 2021 09:25:00 +0000

“I see of lot of people buying apps before they bought the smart phone. So our smart building strategy is to first build the smartphone foundation."
—Jon Clarke

My Highlights

Jon's experience as a contractor, consultant, and customer; how they're different and can work together (12:45)
How and why the industry will shift from technology getting pushed on owners to owners doing the pushing. (21:33)
Dexus' smart building strategy (26:01)
What they've learned from 5+ years of FDD and where they're headed with it (29:33)
3 places the industry needs to innovate in the FDD process (39:47)
Jon's experience setting up an entire touchless office building BEFORE the pandemic (45:32)
Jon's strategy he calls convergence of projects (53:55)
The state of the smart buildings industry as Jon sees it (57:19)

You can find Jon Clarke on LinkedIn.
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🎧 #061: Why technology in buildings is decades behind

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 29 Jul 2021 09:25:00 +0000

“You built a building 25 years ago, and the stuff you put in there, it’s still there.” -Keith Berkoben of Google"For consumer facing technology, you know, people talk about the market working in all kinds of mysterious ways, but if you don't have a feedback path, the market doesn't work.”
- Andrew Rodgers of ACE IoT
“So you have this fundamental difference of perspective, where the people who ran the companies saw technology is a risk and a cost. And then you had the markets saying, well, I'm not going to go into that market and develop anything technological, because I can't get enough uptake. And between that and the .com bust…”
-Joe Gaspardone of Montgomery Technologiesr
“So you need this IT/OT hybrid skillset that really a lot of organizations just don’t have today.”
-Kyle Tooke of ThoughtWire

Mentions and Links

Episode 5 with Troy Harvey of PassiveLogic (1:30)
Episode 29 with Trevor Sodorff and Keith Berkoben of Google (10:45)
Episode 19 with Tyson Soutter of Siemens (12:31)
Episode 18 with Logan Soya of Aquicore (15:14)
Episode 24 with Mike Brooman of Vanti (18:31)
Episode 20 with Andrew Rodgers of ACE IoT (24:25)
Episode 26 with Emmanuel Daniel of Microsoft (26:26)
Episode 22 with Kyle Tooke of ThoughtWire (29:47; 34:40)
Episode 27 with Joe Gaspardone of Montgomery Technologies (30:37)
Episode 30 with Matthew Vogel of Microsoft (35:42)
Episode 15 with Deb Noller of Switch Automation (38:00)

Watch on YouTube or read on the web.
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🎧 #060: Jacinda Lofland on success with Tenant Engagement apps

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 22 Jul 2021 09:25:00 +0000

“You have the people that are using the buildings and those are the people that we all spend time thinking about, but a lot of time it's just trying to guess at what they want.
And I just think that there's this real opportunity, with the technology that we have available today, to hear directly from them on what they want."
—Jacinda Lofland

Highlights

How real estate is changing: it's no longer just a box... it's a product people use (7:15)
How engagement was done in the past, what is net promoter score, and how apps can help (16:57)
Use cases for tenant engagement apps (21:39)
Two major criteria for success with tenant apps and keys to success (31:42)
Roadmap to rolling out a tenant app (38:41)
Perspective on getting people to actually use the app: more important that there's optionality (43:05)
Whether the back of the house tech should merge with front of the house tech (48:28)

You can find Jacinda Lofland on LinkedIn.
Watch on YouTube or read on the web.
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🎧 #059 - Cisco DeVries on gamifying grid flexibility and why fighting climate change depends on it

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 15 Jul 2021 09:25:00 +0000

“If you get utility rate payers to act together like a symphony and reduce their energy a little bit at these key times, that net effect is actually remarkable."
-Cisco DeVries

Highlights

Cisco's response to John Oliver's segment on PACE (6:25)
What is OhmConnect? (12:38)
The two primary problems OhmConnect had to solve: engage consumers on one side and sell their aggregated demand on the other. (17:38)
Why grid interaction in California is mostly focused on residential buildings right now. (25:21)
The two reasons we need grid interaction and why every building will need to do it (28:15)
the public policy side of this and what needs to change to unlock this concept worldwide (45:40)

You can find Cisco DeVries on LinkedIn.
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🎧 #058: Darlene Pope on the history of smart buildings, the 3-30-300 rule, and where we're headed

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 8 Jul 2021 09:25:00 +0000

“So you start seeing this cross pollination, worlds colliding, the traditional digital workplace applications with the traditional smart building solutions.
We started working with our clients on helping them connect the dots on both sides of the house and the value. Not just from an operations standpoint, but from a space management standpoint,and most importantly, from an employee experience standpoint. That's when you start to really get to my definition of a smart building.
My definition of a smart building is everything's connected. It isn't just HVAC and lighting and elevators. It's not just base building and systems, but when you can connect into the workplace and more importantly, start connecting to the occupants, that's really when the smart experience starts to happen. "
—Darlene Pope

My Highlights

The first definition of a smart building (3:41)
The three early phases of our industry (11:16)
Darlene on the 3-30-300 rule and how to quantify the benefits of technology (14:41)
What Darlene learned at WeWork and how she pulled people and system silos together (27:14)
Why she joined Planon to knock down silos (31:56)
Defining IWMS (37:05)
What is Women in PropTech and how we can increase diversity in the industry (53:42)

You can find Darlene Pope on LinkedIn.
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🎧 #057: Mandi Wedin on ESG+R as a driver for smart building technology

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 1 Jul 2021 09:30:00 +0000

“We take that value creation reframe and we look at it through two ROI lenses. The traditional finance lens, which is return on investment, to understand the financial benefits.

And then the second is a relevance assessment lens, which is the risk of ignoring your risk of being left behind. And so when we apply these two ROI perspectives, you find opportunities to create the value, to innovate."
—Mandi Wedin

My Highlights

What is ESGR and what are some examples (6:01)
How ESG, and the E specifically, are changing real estate (12:38)
How the real estate technology community can be more inclusive (19:09)
How ESG is driving tech investments (23:59)
How real estate professionals think about buying technology (32:39)
The way to think about technology ROI in the ESG era (36:03)

You can find Mandi Wedin on LinkedIn.
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🎧 #056: Sabine Lam unpacks Google's Building Operating System (BOS) program

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 03:40:00 +0000

"You feel like you're tackling an impossible problem because you're looking at such a broad set of solutions or in our case, now we're looking at such a broad set of manufacturers, and so many devices in our building, and every building is different. How can you ever address that?
We'll just address everything and then move forward with whomever is willing to move forward with you. It could be at a regional level or a certain manufacturer who understands what you want to accomplish, they totally buy into it, and they move forward.
Some others, not so much. You keep them up to date, but you don't hold back, you just move forward with whomever is willing to move forward. So that absolutely applies with the Building Operating System solution that we have today and our involvment with manufacturers and within Google as well.
We'll see how different regions move at different speeds, different construction teams move at different speeds, different facilities operation teams embrace the solution more than others. We're large enough that we always find someone who is interested.”
—Sabine Lam

My Highlights

How Sabine and Google helped change the building materials supply chain and how that is happening in building technology now (5:35)
The Google BOS mission statement (14:38)
The three specific goals of the BOS program and how it's being driven by cyber security (27:44)
Sabine's take on IT vs. OT. Hint: it's all on the IT network. (31:37)
The role of the MSI and contractors in setting up the BOS and our frustration with data mapping (40:15)

You can find Sabine Lam on LinkedIn.
Watch on YouTube or read on the web.
Get full access to Nexus.

🎧 #055: Ruairí Barnwell on designing and commissioning smart buildings and IAQ

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 04:00:00 +0000

"So you live or die by the data at the end of the day, not the sticker on the front door."
—Ruairi Barnwell

My Highlights

We need Building Intelligence Groups in every city (7:13)
How we can overcome the challenges with the traditional design process (21:00)
How owners are seeing the need for the IDL and how Nexus is spurring collaboration and community (26:08)
Summarizing the past year of IAQ and rating system confusion (31:45)
How building owners/landlords and tenants are investing in IAQ data (37:59)
IAQ snake oil, or as Aaron Lapsley says, Hygiene Theater (43:36)

You can find Ruairi Barnwell on LinkedIn.
Watch on YouTube or read on the web.
Get full access to Nexus.

🎧 #054: Ben Birnbaum on why solving climate means solving controls

james@nexuslabs.online (Nexus Labs, LLC) — Thu, 10 Jun 2021 03:45:00 +0000

"So that's how we got here... we were focused on enabling this massive energy retrofit opportunity or enabling people to implement this zero costs down energy savings. But then I realized there's no point if buildings don't have the infrastructure in place for that.”
—Ben Birnbaum

My Highlights

Why Ben is a superconnector (14:27)
Ben's 3 "Holy Grails" or massive opportunities: Project/Asset Financing, No CapEx Solutions, and Fixing Controls (26:24)
Why now is the time for this industry to transform (43:24)
Ben's advice to startups in our space (52:18)

You can find Ben Birnbaum on LinkedIn.
Watch on YouTube or read on the web.
Get full access to Nexus.

🎧 #053: Jim Whalen reflects on the past and future of Boston Properties' digital buildings program

james@nexuslabs.online (Zack Kempf) — Thu, 3 Jun 2021 10:00:02 +0000

“The point of Nirvana is to have a self-tuning, self-commissioning building that is completely adapting itself (based on) the outside conditions and internal conditions of a building. That is clearly an endgame here that we're all after, but that is only one aspect of what you're talking about in terms of the investment you make.”
—Jim Whalen

My Highlights

How Jim thinks about building tech in three interrelated buckets (13:49)
The landlord-tenant split incentive and how it makes technology a challenge and how we're very early in solving it (17:47)
A smart buildings endgame (23:44)
Boston Properties' data journey and how they've applied what they've learned and how they're looking for the next set of tools (30:38)
How Jim is thinking about analytics as the next toolset (43:50)
Jim's keys to the success they've had in the last 10 years digitizing buildings (52:10)

You can find Jim Whalen on LinkedIn.
Watch on YouTube or read on the web.
Get full access to Nexus.

🎧 #052: Rob Huntington on the shift to Converged Networks, MSIs, and the "sun setting on the BMS"

james@nexuslabs.online (Zack Kempf) — Thu, 27 May 2021 10:00:58 +0000

“The sun is setting on building management systems as we know it and change is coming through building operating systems and packaged equipment control, which when delivered will eliminate the need for field fitted BMS control altogether.”
—Rob Huntington

My Highlights

How Jim thinks about building tech in three interrelated buckets (13:49)
The landlord-tenant split incentive and how it makes technology a challenge and how we're very early in solving it (17:47)
A smart buildings endgame (23:44)
Boston Properties' data journey and how they've applied what they've learned and how they're looking for the next set of tools (30:38)
How Jim is thinking about analytics as the next toolset (43:50)
Jim's keys to the success they've had in the last 10 years digitizing buildings (52:10)

You can find Rob Huntington on LinkedIn.
Watch on YouTube or read on the web.
Get full access to Nexus.

🎧 #051: Rachel Kennedy on digital device discovery (Dx³) and reflections on teaching smart buildings

james@nexuslabs.online (Zack Kempf) — Thu, 20 May 2021 10:00:21 +0000

The digital readiness score is our way of quickly highlighting whether the building is ready (for new technology). We’re looking at network communication speed, the data density from the number of devices and points, the data accessibility based on the protocols, and the scope of the digital systems. And that's been allowing us to say, “yes, you’re digital ready”.

—Rachel Kennedy

My Highlights

What is Dx³ and why did Switch develop it (6:34)
The digital-readiness score (12:30)
The diverse skill sets and jobs of the smart buildings industry (21:21)

You can find Rachel Kennedy on LinkedIn.
Watch on YouTube or read on the web.
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🎧 #050: Shaun Cooley on one API for your building

james@nexuslabs.online (Zack Kempf) — Thu, 13 May 2021 10:00:17 +0000

“The fact that other industries were being solved with an API, it really made sense to create this single layer that takes on all the historic complexity and abstracts it away into that API, so that everyone doesn't have to keep repeating the exact same task over and over again.”
—Shaun Cooley

My Highlights

How Jim thinks about building tech in three interrelated buckets (13:49)
The landlord-tenant split incentive and how it makes technology a challenge and how we're very early in solving it (17:47)
A smart buildings endgame (23:44)
Boston Properties' data journey and how they've applied what they've learned and how they're looking for the next set of tools (30:38)
How Jim is thinking about analytics as the next toolset (43:50)
Jim's keys to the success they've had in the last 10 years digitizing buildings (52:10)

You can find Shaun Cooley on LinkedIn.
Watch on YouTube or read on the web.
Get full access to Nexus.

🎧 #049: Rob Brimblecombe on taking Monash University to Net Zer

james@nexuslabs.online (Zack Kempf) — Thu, 6 May 2021 10:00:57 +0000

“I used to chase kilowatt-hours and now I'm chasing renewable energy.”
—Rob Brimblecombe

My Highlights

How Rob spearheaded the university's 100% renewables goal (12:56)
How Monash defines Net Zero and how they're getting off gas (19:03)
No longer chasing kilowatt-hours (32:00)
How South Australia Water makes money off of demand flexibility (33:57)
Good control means good grid economics (36:34)
H ow appliance selection is the key to Passive House design (38:52)
Proving the value of data modeling (50:23)
Why the smart campus system is like an octopus and why the system is named the Kraken (1:01:38)
How building technology works with DERs to provide flexibility (1:04:46)

You can find Rob Brimblecombe on LinkedIn.
Watch on YouTube or read on the web.
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🎧 #048: Andrew Rodgers on the independent data layer and VOLTTRON's market transformation potential

james@nexuslabs.online (Maddie) — Thu, 29 Apr 2021 10:00:10 +0000

“I talk about market transformation forces. I think Volttron has that potential, not necessarily that everyone's going to adopt Volttron, but the fact that this open platform that exists that has some of these functionalities… It’s like a pressure source… to move the needle.”
–Andrew Rodgers

My Highlights

Defining the independent data layer (8:20)
Deep dive into Volttron (16:06)
Updates from the field: Grid interaction (27:10), Advanced supervisory control (37:32)
Some closing thoughts on market transformation (45:25)

You can find Andrew Rodgers on LinkedIn.
Watch on YouTube or read on the web.
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🎧 #047: Shen Chiu on Investa Property Group's smart buildings program and the IB Index

james@nexuslabs.online (Maddie) — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 10:00:05 +0000

“I don't have a single one-liner, 25-words-or-less elevator pitch about what a smart building is. Every building is going to be different.

What value are you trying to get out of it? And then I'll tell you what the smart building looks like. "
—Shen Chiu

My Highlights

How Jim thinks about building tech in three interrelated buckets (13:49)
The landlord-tenant split incentive and how it makes technology a challenge and how we're very early in solving it (17:47)
A smart buildings endgame (23:44)
Boston Properties' data journey and how they've applied what they've learned and how they're looking for the next set of tools (30:38)
How Jim is thinking about analytics as the next toolset (43:50)
Jim's keys to the success they've had in the last 10 years digitizing buildings (52:10)

You can find Jim Chiu on LinkedIn.
Watch on YouTube or read on the web.
Get full access to Nexus.

🎧 #046: The WiredScore team on what makes a building smart and connected

james@nexuslabs.online (Maddie) — Thu, 15 Apr 2021 10:00:17 +0000

“Future readiness… this isn't about guessing that 5G is the future on this particular frequency, and I'm going to put that in my building and put all my eggs in that basket. It's about: how do we take a step back and make sure that as and when these technologies mature to a level that they're a definite ‘must have’ in a building, that I, as a landlord, can rapidly evolve the way my building is set up to deliver those features?”
–Sanj Ranasinghe

Highlights

The founding story of WiredScore: Making it matter (5:41)
Scoring philosophy (20:00)
Breaking down the certification process (27:14)
Future readiness for tenant-side connectivity (33:13)
Unpacking SmartScore (40:00)

You can find Arie Barendrecht and Sanj Ranasinghe on LinkedIn.
Watch on YouTube or read on the web.
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🎧 #045: Leon Wurfel on how analytics can scale and founding BUENO

james@nexuslabs.online (Maddie) — Thu, 8 Apr 2021 10:00:23 +0000

“I think where the industry needs to get to is… looking at how best to service a portfolio, rather than the kind of one-to-one [management team to building] relationship. And there's a tipping point of scale where it's not even like a business case anymore, it's like an IQ test as to whether you've got that different [portfolio-scale] operational model in place. But I think like what the technology is doing is lowering that barrier to entry, that crossover point where having a centralized operational model makes sense.”
—Leon Wurfel

My Highlights

Bueno founding story (8:53)
Deep dive on Bueno (11:36)
How analytics can scale Pt 1 (18:50)
A rare look into refrigerated retail analytics (33:23)
2021: some COVID-related outcomes and the IOT stack (37:21)
Favorite question (41:52)
How analytics can scale Pt 2 (44:13)

You can find Leon Wurfel on LinkedIn.
Watch on YouTube or read on the web.
Get full access to Nexus.

🎧 #044: John Petze on Tridium's early days, founding SkySpark, and 10 years of Project Haystack

james@nexuslabs.online (Maddie) — Thu, 1 Apr 2021 10:00:29 +0000

“So I know that's your favorite question and you want me to answer it, but I I'd reword it: Why is the adoption of technology behind? I won't go to say the technologies behind because this industry invented a lot of firsts.”
—John Petze

My Highlights

John’s career history (2:02)
Why technology adoption is so far behind: split everything (21:02)
The history of Tridium (24:21)
SkyFoundry: how and why SkySpark came to be, and where it’s going (35:27)
The shiny object problem with graphics (58:24)
The past, present, and future of Project Haystack (1:01:05)

You can find John Petze on LinkedIn.
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🎧 #043: Scott Ellison on smart building startups, mistakes to avoid, and why the time for innovation is now

james@nexuslabs.online (Maddie) — Thu, 25 Mar 2021 10:00:59 +0000

“There's a mentality, at least in Silicon Valley that says, ‘Hey, we're just going to run in like a bull in a China shop and disrupt… Disrupt, disrupt, disrupt.’ If you're a startup and you do that in this sector, you're just going to be one of a number of other companies off on the side of the road in a ditch."
–Scott Ellison

My Highlights

Why is technology behind (it’s potential) (5:02)
The 80s playbook (13:19)
Scott’s consulting work, with some background on early-stage start ups (16:19)
Why now, for building tech? (20:49)
The biggest mistakes prop tech startups can make (28:13)
Advice for startup founders pitching investors who may or may not understand the building industry (32:46)
How the service provider challenge fits in (36:29)
What the entrepreneurs of the next decade may look like (41:18)
Things to look forward to in 2021 (43:14)
The unique challenge and some advice for hardware innovators (46:54)

You can find Scott Ellison on LinkedIn.
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🎧 #042: Aaron Lapsley on Smart Building Strategy, six factors limiting innovation, and IAQ

james@nexuslabs.online (Maddie) — Thu, 18 Mar 2021 10:00:38 +0000

“Buildings are not bonds… The key difference that I think a huge amount of the real estate industry does not appreciate is that a building is a product that people have to use. So it is a fixed income asset, but it is also a product that people need to be in, you know, for you to make money as an owner. And that is really, really evident right now.”
–Aaron Lapsley

My Highlights

Aaron walks us through his unique resume in the energy and buildings space (2:21)
The need/gap System2 filled (6:37)
Most detailed answer yet to James’ favorite question - Buildings are not bonds, and six factors limiting innovation (8:53)
Aaron’s experience with Cushman, supporting Google (31:16)
Smart Building Strategy (37:55)
RESET and IAQ (50:25)
What Aaron is looking forward to in 2021 (1:00:26)

You can find Aaron Lapsley on LinkedIn.
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🎧 #041: Anand Mecheri on a toolkit for building Digital Twins

james@nexuslabs.online (Maddie) — Thu, 11 Mar 2021 11:00:20 +0000

“I was very quickly disappointed once I realized there was a huge gap between the promise and the reality of BIM… The reality was that BIM was, is still largely used for drawing production, right? It's used for coordination, clash detection, and drawing production. "
–Anand Mecheri

My Highlights

Anand’s past companies, all sold to Siemens (1:41)
James’ favorite question (4:08)
The problem and opportunity Anand saw in BIM (6:10)
Deeper dive on Invicara (11:28)
Rapid fire myth-busting on digital twins (15:22)
Invicara today - Twinit.io, and enabling others to build their own solutions (26:47)
The question of ontologies, and Invicara’s schema-less platform (37:21)
Key differentiators: a complete kit of parts, a low-code platform for creating solutions, and more (41:49)
Anand’s vision for the future (44:23)
Asset owners’ role in unlocking industry change (49:12)

You can find Anand Mecheri on LinkedIn.
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🎧 #040: Jeremy Macdonald on sustainability, ESG, and where analytics fit

james@nexuslabs.online (Maddie) — Thu, 4 Mar 2021 11:00:28 +0000

“The more time we spend going to answer a hot/cold call, the less time we spend taking care of key issues and making sure the facilities really runs right. And you can't send a person around fast enough to check all the things that your technology solution can check. It's just not even practical to think of all the different things… So there is a huge payback for every single person that tries to do monitoring-based commissioning. It hasn't really failed yet… Um, I'll go back on that. Failure points are if you do nothing with the data.”
–Jeremy Macdonald

My Highlights

Why buildings are so far behind: mixed up incentives (3:08)
ISS - facilities management and workplace experience, not to be confused with the International Space Station (4:19)
Intro to the world of FM / PM (9:29)
How money exchanges hands in different outsourcing scenarios (13:18)
ESG (28:58)
Thinking about waste and energy, hard engineering and soft services (32:35)
Waste tech (33:56)
How analytics fits in (41:02)
KPIs for outsourced facilities managers that analytics folks should be aware of (55:40)
Obstacles to rolling out analytics-based services, and strategies to overcome them (59:39)
Some things to look forward to in 2021 (1:01:50)

You can find Jeremy Macdonald on LinkedIn.
Watch on YouTube or read on the web.
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🎧 #039: Adam Kaufman on the vital role of the analytics super user

james@nexuslabs.online (Maddie) — Thu, 25 Feb 2021 13:29:50 +0000

“We've solved so many things where the engineering staff has been like, ‘I bet you this was going on for 10 years.’ It's been happening forever… whether that's a damper, whether the fans are running 24/7, whatever's broken. It's just really good at identifying things that would not otherwise be identified.”
—Adam Kaufman

My Highlights

Why this university decided to pursue analytics (5:30)
A history of software collecting dust on a virtual shelf (12:12)
Universities’ place on the analytics adoption curve (22:31)
Adams’s role as the super user Pt 1 (25:10)
Drivers of success (36:35)
Adams’s role as the super user Pt 2: the three workflow processes (39:18)
The importance of the verification process (48:59)
Baby stepping to other use cases (58:05)

You can find Adam Kaufman on LinkedIn.
Watch on YouTube or read on the web.
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🎧 #038: Rajavel Subramanian on the 3 types of software silos and how the overlay helps

james@nexuslabs.online (Maddie) — Thu, 18 Feb 2021 11:00:09 +0000

“Because that large scale technology transformation hasn’t happened, that’s probably the cause of outdated business models, lack of IT skillsets, lack of ownership of technology initiatives and leaving it to vendors, etc. It was once the same for other industries. I think the building owners themselves will be the champions of this change.”
–Rajavel Subramanian

My Highlights

why buildings are so far behind, and lessons learned from the paths taken by IT & telecom industries (4:05)
a brief refresher on the state of siloed software and the need for an overlay (10:09)
introduction to the overlay solution (17:28)
walking through the 5 categories of overlays: building, system, functional, data, and hybrid (19:29) and where Facilio’s solution fits in (31:57)
platform consolidation (35:54)
contextual integration (38:53)
customized user experiences (41:05)
Facilio’s plans for 2021 (45:13)

You can find Rajavel Subramanian on LinkedIn.
Watch on YouTube or read on the web.
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🎧 #037: Shannon Smith on making analytics a painkiller, not a vitamin

james@nexuslabs.online (Maddie) — Thu, 11 Feb 2021 11:00:13 +0000

“Every building owner is on their own path and it’s our job as an industry to meet them where they are on that path, not to yell at them from the end of the path, telling them that they're losers, if they're not over here.”
—Shannon Smith

My Highlights

How Shannon got sucked into BMS (2:59)
A ‘violent’ agreement with past answers to James’ favorite question + a unique take from Shannon’s finance perspective: debt mentality (6:55)
Drivers of change: talent drain, tenant focus, COVID (10:52)
Deep dive on PointGuard (12:26)
The state of the analytics industry (14:21)
The need for consolidation (22:10)
Vitamin to painkiller perspective (26:06)
Onboarding - the customers, and the buildings (34:13)
Analytics for service contracts (38:31)
Looking toward the future: analytics for COVID (41:40), what needs to be unlocked (44:43), and reasons for excitement in 2021 (45:19)

You can find Shannon Smith on LinkedIn.
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🎧 #036: Josh Adams on digital twins and partnerships (and why we need both)

james@nexuslabs.online (Maddie) — Thu, 4 Feb 2021 11:00:37 +0000

“I think that leveraging both is incredibly important. You need the software to be modular enough to merge everything together. But you need a willingness for partnerships to then leverage the benefits that come out of that.”

—Josh Adams

My Highlights

A new answer to the new favorite question: partnerships (9:05)
What innovation looks like within the Big Four (13:49)
An alternative to disruption; service contracts as an opportunity to innovate (17:36)
Diving into Josh’s concept of digital twins, grounded in actual use cases (34:01)
Pebble’s operations-first approach (45:24)
Animated Insights’ perspective on open data and ontologies (57:56)
Something to be excited about in 2021: Biden’s infrastructure package (1:00:29)

You can find Josh Adams on LinkedIn.
Watch on YouTube or read on the web.
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🎧 #035: Matt Golden on capturing the grid benefits of your projects

james@nexuslabs.online (Maddie) — Thu, 28 Jan 2021 11:00:40 +0000

“This is like the moral compass to our industry, right? We're totally fixated on customer benefits and savings; and in order to pivot so we are also considering grid benefits and GHGs, we need to make them valuable, and this is how we do it…”
—Matt Golden

My Highlights

Diving into the ‘old world’ of utility incentives (8:51)
Introducing the new model of mutual benefits (11:31)
The struggle for standardized methods (17:00)
The challenge of EM&V during COVID (29:19)
Defining the buzzwords: virtual power plants (49:15), grid interactive buildings (51:06)
Matt shares his unique perspective on James’ favorite question: competitive market access (54:37)
Sources of excitement in 2021: The Year of the Virtual Power Plant (56:30)

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🎧 #034: Brian Turner on the Ontology Wars and the role of the MSI

james@nexuslabs.online (Maddie) — Thu, 21 Jan 2021 11:00:37 +0000

"We can’t try to bring them all [ontologies] together. We can’t make them all one. What we need to do is really focus on delivering the outcomes and delivering the use cases, and then have data engineers worry about how to normalize that data. Because at the end of the day, the ontology doesn't deliver any outcome. It only enables, right? It's not an outcome.”
–Brian Turner

My Highlights

New year, new favorite question (5:17)
Digging into Buildings IOT’s offerings: the ontology alignment project (OAP), JetStream, onPoint (8:41)
What the domain-specific API is missing (19:21)
How to ensure the independent data layer accommodates the client’s use cases (21:24)
The need and (lack of?) demand for supervisory control, and the problems with reinventing the wheel for fairly consistent use cases (24:20)
Brian’s perspective on the state of the industry as it relates to data modeling: the Ontology Wars (32:59)
The concept of the ‘decoder ring,’ and the challenges of industry-wide collaboration (35:59)
Deep dive into what an master systems integrator (MSI) is/does, and the fundamental problem with the industry in Brian’s view: conflicts of interest (45:01)
Something to be excited about in 2021 (1:01:16)

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🎧 #033: Ping Yao on smart building networks and the blurring lines between IT and OT

james@nexuslabs.online (Maddie) — Thu, 14 Jan 2021 11:00:16 +0000

"It's not a technology question. It's not a performance problem. It's a people problem. If a new building is being built… and the owner says, “I want my OT system, security cameras, lighting, elevators… etc. to be on my IT network,” the simple question to ask is: is IT now going to be responsile for the construction phase and all the responsibilities of OT? "
—Ping Yao

My Highlights

Ping explains the impetus for founding Optigo Networks (1:49)
Answer to James’ favorite question (8:28)
The average building network (10:38)
Intro to IT vs OT, blurred lines (13:30)
Diving into Optigo’s services, how they’ve evolved, and where they’re headed (19:27)
Top three problems with BACnet (30:37)
Back to the world of IT and OT (39:53)
Understanding silos from a networking perspective, looking at industry trends (47:14)
Reflecting on how to close the skills gaps in the industry (51:05)

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🎧 #032: Erik Ubels' insights from The Edge

james@nexuslabs.online (Maddie) — Thu, 7 Jan 2021 11:00:48 +0000

"If there’s one thing that makes the success of a smart building, it is the combination of real estate, facilities, IT, hospitality, all those people in one organization that basically report to [the same person]… [And] if these people understand that they’re not building this building for themselves, but for the future employees of their company, then that makes a lot of difference.”
—Erik Ubels

My Highlights

Erik answers James’ favorite question: industry fragmentation, cost-cutting, and passing the buck (6:38)
And the key drivers of change/progress on this front (8:50)
Unpacking Erik’s experience developing The Edge, with the desire to attract talent driving the journey (11:30)
Advice to other smart building champions (20:37)
Points of pride: sustainability, and the connected, quiet environment (22:29)
Mistakes made: the app (26:49)
Experience with Microsoft technology in the development of The Edge, and Erik’s perspective on IT/OT (30:06)
Erik calls out the inevitable end of BACnet (35:59)
And other forward-looking trends in the smart building space (39:39)

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🎧 #031: Why technology in buildings is decades behind

james@nexuslabs.online (James Dice) — Thu, 17 Dec 2020 11:00:41 +0000

“You built a building 25 years ago, and the stuff you put in there, it’s still there.”
-Keith Berkoben of Google

"For consumer facing technology, you know, people talk about the market working in all kinds of mysterious ways, but if you don't have a feedback path, the market doesn't work.”

- Andrew Rodgers of ACE IoT

“So you have this fundamental difference of perspective, where the people who ran the companies saw technology is a risk and a cost. And then you had the markets saying, well, I'm not going to go into that market and develop anything technological, because I can't get enough uptake. And between that and the .com bust…”

- Joe Gaspardone of Montgomery Technologies

“So you need this IT/OT hybrid skillset that really a lot of organizations just don’t have today.”

-Kyle Tooke of ThoughtWire

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🎧 #030: Microsoft's emerging smart building ecosystem

james@nexuslabs.online (Maddie) — Thu, 10 Dec 2020 11:00:57 +0000

“I think it’s a huge issue that people face when they’re dealing with digital twins: it’s very easy to get lost in the art of the possible, or even just the academia of a digital twin… And the possibilities are, I guess we could call it endless. That might be cliche, but the key to actually unlocking that value is getting started somewhere.”

–Matthew Vogel

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🎧 #029: Google's plan for smart buildings at scale

james@nexuslabs.online (Maddie) — Thu, 3 Dec 2020 11:00:37 +0000

“Google operates at such a scale that we're often the largest customer of any given system in any domain, whether it's a physical security system or an HVAC head-end, you know, et cetera, et cetera, … to the point where we start breaking these things. Scale really is, with traditional approaches, oftentimes a barrier.

And the whole goal of what we’re trying to do in the smart buildings world is turn that on its head, and use the scale to our advantage rather than have it hold us back. ”

—Keith Berkoben

You can find Trevor Sodorff and Keith Berkoben on LinkedIn.

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🎧 #028: Joe Gaspardone on the business case for smart buildings in CRE

james@nexuslabs.online (Maddie) — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 11:00:31 +0000

“Not being able to use that word in a sales pitch is a mistake, because when you can use that word and throw it in, you’re able to tell the receiving audience: I know your business. ”
—Joe Gaspardone

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🎧 #027: Joe Gaspardone on how a base building network enables the smart building

james@nexuslabs.online (Maddie) — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 11:00:38 +0000

“Fitness equipment… leak detection… water treatment, irrigation… everything needs an IP address now. So you’re either stuck reinventing the wheel each time, or you’ve got to connect it to some centralized, monitored place. And that’s the message: don’t forget, BMS people, there’s this burgeoning, giant, parallel connectivity issue that’s happening right at the same time.”
—Joe Gaspardone

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🎧 #026: Emmanuel Daniel of Microsoft on building smart from the ground up

james@nexuslabs.online (Maddie) — Thu, 5 Nov 2020 11:00:42 +0000

“You see all these devices, you see all these components, and all of this data. You're like, can I do more by bringing all this together to create a unified experience? Not only for the facilities manager. But also for the owner developer and the final end user of the space and building. So for me, it was shock, admiration, and the opportunity to transform this industry.”
–Emmanuel Daniel

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🎧 #024: Mike Brooman on the role of the MSI and Smart Core

james@nexuslabs.online (Maddie) — Thu, 22 Oct 2020 10:00:07 +0000

“I think that’s what we’re all missing is we’re all spending so much time on integration and doing the same sh*t differently, that we’re not able to get to those new use cases that then move the industry forward”
—James Dice

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🎧 #023: Unpacking advanced supervisory control with Nexus Pro Members

james@nexuslabs.online (Maddie) — Thu, 15 Oct 2020 10:00:53 +0000

“When you come in and try to take control… or transparency and ownership of the system away from somebody, that’s when you start running into problems. I think you have to not just replace a process, but data-enrich the process… It has to be able to engage with people onsite.”
—Tyson Soutter

You can find our panelists on LinkedIn: Keith Gipson, Tyson Soutter, Terry Herr, and Jean-Simon Venne.
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🎧 #022: Kyle Tooke on defining the organizational digital twin

james@nexuslabs.online (Maddie) — Thu, 8 Oct 2020 10:01:00 +0000

“The context is the critical piece. When companies are trying to understand, why do I need a digital twin? What’s the value? It’s about context; and it’s about reasoning, which allows you to make better decisions, more timely, and that’s going to improve experiences for everybody - operations as well as the employees or the tenants that are in your buildings.”

—Kyle Tooke, ThoughtWire

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🎧 #020: Andrew Rodgers on what "open" really means for smart buildings

james@nexuslabs.online (Maddie) — Thu, 24 Sep 2020 10:00:59 +0000

"You hear so many arguments defending the status quo.”
—Andrew Rodgers

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🎧 #019: Tyson Soutter on how to sell smart building technology

james@nexuslabs.online (Maddie) — Thu, 17 Sep 2020 10:00:41 +0000

“A lot of this building tech industry, they always come in and say, ‘We want to be a SaaS.’ And if you're going to be a SaaS, great. You have to continue to add value, and that value doesn't disappear ever. It has to continue, and it has to be able to sustain multiple patterns and multiple years.

So it's not that easy. You have to be very careful on what you sell, because you can be successful for one year. And we've all seen those companies that come in make a really big noise for one year, and then disappear, because they don't have a sustained value selling proposition. And that is very critical to be able to sell the technology in our industry.”

—Tyson Soutter

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🎧 #018: Logan Soya on how to engage key stakeholders in the energy efficiency journey

james@nexuslabs.online (James Dice) — Thu, 10 Sep 2020 10:00:40 +0000

“Suddenly there was this complete transformative awakening that, okay, I'm not actually just solving the problems of the building. I have to understand: Who are the users in the building? Why do they do what they do? How does real estate work? Why do people buy and sell buildings? And if I can answer those questions, then I can bring it all the way back to: Why are buildings inefficient in the first place?”
—Logan Soya

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🎧 #016: Brad Pilgrim on how multifamily buildings can achieve energy Parity

james@nexuslabs.online (Maddie) — Thu, 27 Aug 2020 10:00:34 +0000

“I said, what have we done as far as energy efficiency? And the answer I got back was: we've done everything we can; we've changed over to LEDs. And I think by that point I was like, got it, okay. So your understanding of energy optimization or efficiency is LEDs. Which is sort of like that classic light bulb moment.”
—Brad Pilgrim

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🎧 #015: Deb Noller on the acceleration of smart building adoption post-COVID

james@nexuslabs.online (Maddie) — Thu, 20 Aug 2020 10:00:35 +0000

“I call that the year that I tried to sell Uber to the taxi drivers. You know, taxi drivers have spent a lot of money on their medallions or their plates. They get up every morning, they know how they make their money, right. So there's no reason to change. If nobody's on the block eating your lunch, then you're just going to get up every single day and do the same thing.”
—Deb Noller

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🎧 #013: Deepinder Singh of 75F on epidemic mode and building the modern BAS

james@nexuslabs.online (Maddie) — Thu, 23 Jul 2020 10:00:00 +0000

“This (pandemic) is an opportunity to make buildings more adaptable. You want to use the right technology so you can keep on harnessing change. Whether it's epidemic mode now, or a better energy savings sequences later on.”
—Deepinder Singh

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🎧 #011: Cory Mosiman on the state of Haystack, Brick, and ASHRAE 223

james@nexuslabs.online (Maddie) — Wed, 8 Jul 2020 10:00:00 +0000

“There's many different use cases for the same data, right? So just because someone tags a data set for their use case, doesn't mean it then enables every smart building use case that could possibly use that data.”

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🎧 #009: Terry Herr of Intellimation on the past, present, and future of building analytics

james@nexuslabs.online (James Dice) — Wed, 10 Jun 2020 02:19:01 +0000

“Part of what I see happening with operators is a transition from actually operating to troubleshooting and repair. Because to me, in a perfect world, when you get the automation right, you do have an automated self-driving building. And so they don't really need an operator. You need an operator maybe to change schedules and change set points, but the key is going to be keeping the sensors and the actuators working and mechanical equipment working… troubleshooting and repair… so that you get it back to being automatic.”
—Terry Herr

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🎧 #008: Jean-Simon Venne on using AI to transition from reactive to proactive

james@nexuslabs.online (James Dice) — Thu, 4 Jun 2020 10:00:00 +0000

“How do you make the AI work with humans? So, I don't know if you had the pleasure to sit in an autonomous car… [but] I don't trust it, and it's because I've been conditioned with… a lot of years of driving myself. And for me, you put me behind a wheel… I'm not gonna just cross my arm and look at the show, right?…

So I think anybody who has been maintaining a building for years and years, and it's become your building and you're very proud of what you do, and you should be, it's not an easy job… [But] what about the AI becoming your second in command, managing the ship 24/7, so you could have a better night’s sleep?”

—Jean-Simon Venne

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🎧 #007: Thru Shivakumar of Cohesion on what makes a building intelligent

james@nexuslabs.online (James Dice) — Thu, 28 May 2020 10:00:00 +0000

“Things in a building don't happen in a silo—all the operations happen together. So we can't look at the data coming off of it in a silo.”
—Thru Shivakumar

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🎧 #006: Prabhu Ramachandran of Facilio on a single pane of glass for the portfolio

james@nexuslabs.online (James Dice) — Sun, 17 May 2020 16:22:11 +0000

"When we started Facilio, I saw that real estate as a market was a couple of decades behind where telecom is today. In last 20 years, if you look at telecom as an industry, it has undergone tremendous evolution every few years, every five years, right? From the landline to mobile, within mobile, 2G, 3G, 4G, now 5G, and even the adoption of telecom across the world has been very, very fast… One of the core pillars is their ability to remotely run their operations in a very, very efficient way so that they are able to scale faster, plus they are able to offer a high level of service quality. "

—Prabhu Ramachandran, CEO, Facilio

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🎧 #005: Troy Harvey of PassiveLogic on next-generation building automation

james@nexuslabs.online (James Dice) — Thu, 7 May 2020 10:00:45 +0000

“Does that put them out of business? No, I think what it does is, whether it's fault detection or analytics or district management or energy audits, is allow them to let go of the 80% of work that's just weighing them down and focus on the 20% of work where all their value is, which means they get to put five times more effort into the high value part of their business.”
—Troy Harvey, CEO, Passive Logic

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🎧 #004: Alex Grace on digital transformation for building service providers

james@nexuslabs.online (James Dice) — Thu, 30 Apr 2020 10:00:34 +0000

“The reality is: institutional knowledge is retiring.

So what is shared knowledge? It means you have a single source of truth. It means you have a diagnostics platform where the data doesn't lie—it's accurate and tuned to your operations and sequences. It means your mechanical technicians, controls technicians, energy engineers, sustainability professionals, and design engineers all have access to that same information based on what they need to do their job.”

—Alex Grace, KGS Buildings

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🎧 #003: Nick Gayeski of KGS Buildings on FDD at scale and 5 waves of smart building tech

james@nexuslabs.online (James Dice) — Thu, 16 Apr 2020 10:00:27 +0000

“I think the first wave of adopters saw energy as the primary benefit. Our experience is that the current wave of adopters sees condition-based or predictive maintenance as the primary benefit, that they have staffing challenges, resource challenges, knowledge gaps that fault detection and analytics on buildings and building systems fills so they can have a smarter maintenance strategy for the long term.

And I think maintenance is fundamentally going to shift into a more data-driven, proactive approach rather than, you know, mostly PMs or preventative maintenance or reactive. And I think that's where analytics and FDD has the biggest role to play.”

—Nick Gayeski, CEO, KGS Buildings

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🎧 #002: Joe Aamidor on getting started with smart buildings, app stores, and open data platforms

james@nexuslabs.online (James Dice) — Thu, 2 Apr 2020 10:00:36 +0000

"Some of these companies actually just want to be the middleware, and I don't think that's a dirty word."
—Joe Aamidor

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🎧 #001: Nicolas Waern on the three stages of smart building technology

james@nexuslabs.online (James Dice) — Sun, 22 Mar 2020 11:00:42 +0000

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