Intelligent Buildings
I have been thinking about security and parsimony lately. Security is not merely about confidentiality or even identity. It is about predictability and integrity. Challenges to predictability and integrity occur not only malefactors, but from those who develop, test, and maintain systems. Even interoperability is a part of security, introducing new sub-systems, or upgrading old ones, can introduce unanticipated interactions and failures.
Building systems have until now been secured only for interaction between their parts. Schemes such as shared tokens used on open networks serve the purpose of isolating systems from interaction. They do not address the more intriguing security issues of interaction with non-system actors. These non-system actors may be agents from other systems, business process from other companies, or even direct consumer access.
Today’s shared token security schemes are only thinly deployed...
A significant goal of the smart grid is to encourage rapid innovation in the end nodes, that is in the commercial buildings, homes, and industrial sites that consume most of the electricity produced. Today’s North American power grid is probably the supreme engineering feat of the twentieth century; it has made possible the greatest life style ever lived. Its reliability, though, is insufficient for the digital world. Every system margin has been pushed too thin. The introduction of any significant portion of intermittent source energy, such as wind and solar, will make things much worse.
It is time to engage the end nodes in supporting system reliability. Today’s buildings have higher requirements for reliability and quality than the grid was ever designed for. Site-based generation and site based storage are part of the solution, but they could make the system even less reliable. It is time to begin the move to collaborative energy...
Intelligent buildings filled with clever devices and intelligent systems will negotiate with the grid and with their occupants to provide new models for reliable power. The benefits to the grid will come from coordinating supply and demand using economic signals. The benefits to the buildings will be increased value by providing higher levels of amenities to their tenants and inhabitants for lower cost. The benefits to the tenants and occupants will be better services at the same or lower costs and more autonomy as they separate from grid dependency. The benefit to the clever devices will be longer life and more reliable operations from eliminating the power shocks that assail them now.