When they decided to open their third location in the Twin Cities metro area, The Reserve, a premiere suburban co-working space, wanted their newest tenants to enjoy the same zone-controlled experience they offer in Woodbury and Edina. After deploying 75F in their first two locations, and seeing how efficiently the buildings were operating, the choice was clear to partner with 75F, once again, for an accessible, affordable building automation system.

Watch the video to learn why The Reserve's Chief Operating Officer, Mary Bartlett, sees 75F as an operational advantage and puts her business in a position to succeed!

Back in July 2002, Thomas Hartman of AutomatedBuildings.com talked about how people have been demanding better building comfort for years, and it hasn’t changed much since in the building landscape. Hartman says, “I predict a very strong movement to "occupant integrated" HVAC controls within the next decade. My prediction is that by the second decade of this century, most class "A" office spaces will be required to offer individual control of thermal and lighting levels. This integration will most likely be Internet-based.”

More than a decade later, less 15% of the commercial buildings are smart and adoption of individual comfort is a concept still being debated upon. In India, many class “A” buildings are yet to adopt measures to ensure comfort.

The Indian Facilities Management Industry has seen substantial growth over the past few years. Though not as developed as in western economies, there is a growing awareness of the link between the efficiency of a business and its office environment. More and more Facility Heads are waking up to the fact that the benefits of smarter buildings include not just energy efficiency and savings, but also a boost in employee productivity which translates to a far more substantial profit for the company.

The smartest commercial thermostat has hit the market. The 75F^® Smart Stat™ Zone Controller supports the new WELL building standard with immediate data insights for temperature, humidity, CO2, VOCs, light, sound and occupancy from built-in sensors. Each Smart Stat also has a unique radial touch user interface and includes 75F’s cloud-based wireless building automation platform for HVAC, Indoor Air Quality, lighting and energy management to achieve energy savings in the 30-50% range in commercial buildings.

Could your office building be described as… average? Maybe it doesn’t have a fountain in the lobby, or a view of the ocean – but you have four solid walls, a non-leaking roof, and only a few drafty cubicles. Have you ever tried to make your building work with an HVAC hack? Maybe you even taped a piece of cardboard over the vent to manage the airflow. That would be pretty clever of you, MacGyver.

So, if your office building is around 10-20 years old, has some wear and tear, but is generally in good shape, you probably have a Class B building. This is good news. Investors tend to target these buildings since, with a few upgrades, they can easily become Class B+ and compete readily with Class A properties. One of those upgrades is making your Class B smart – and it’s probably easier than you think.

Our friends at the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) outdid themselves this year at the 2018 Minnesota Energy Expo, hosted at the Radisson Blu in Bloomington, Minnesota. Programming spanned three rooms with 13 presentations, including the keynote speaker, ASHRAE National President, Sheila Hayter, plus energy project deployment stories, projections about the future of energy and building automation.

So find a cozy seat and enjoy some of our key takeaways from the 2018 ASHRAE Minnesota Energy Expo!