Smart Building Blog

Every office knows the afternoon slump. Employee eyes glaze over as they find themselves stuck reading the same line of an email. A yawn spreads contagiously around the room. A small crowd gathers around the snack table. If your office had a nap room, you know it would be full.

Maybe it's just fatigue – but it's likely to be something more, especially in an older building. Commercial buildings are notorious for trapping CO2 and VOCs, which can cause lethargy, headaches, nausea, flu-like symptoms and reduced cognitive abilities. In a room full of people, these compounds build up throughout the day, causing the dreaded afternoon slump. Learn how you can use your commercial building to combat them!

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!

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.

Amazing Lash Studio is a fast-growing, premium eyelash extension salon franchise. When they expanded into two new Minnesota locations, they needed an HVAC controls company who could overcome specific challenges. First, they needed zone control for their indoor environment. Since Amazing Lash offers a premium experience, occupant comfort is a top priority. The temperature in each salon room needed to be controlled individually – as well as the temperatures in each hallway, lobby, and office. One of the new locations had another challenge: large windows in the lobby were creating "solar gain", causing major temperature swings which needed to be balanced. Finally, humidity control was required for product performance. “We have an adhesive that we put on every single lash,” explains Patty C., a franchise owner in Minneapolis. “The glue only sticks at a specific humidity.”

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!