Advice for Architects, Designers and Building Planners: Prepare for Care
By Paul Foulkes, EchoHouse. In my last article I looked at KNX and Passivhaus. This was a direct view of saving energy in buildings by using Passivhaus techniques to reduce the heat load and improve thermal comfort, and using KNX to help regulate, monitor and control the remaining active elements of the building. But energy […]
Trade Talk: Why using KNX for Centralised Services and Billing Makes Sense
By Simon Buddle, Future Ready Homes. A couple of months ago, a man from Thames Water (our water supply company) arrived at the flat to fit a water meter to the incoming main feed. When it comes to tradespeople, my tip is to always make them a hot drink. They will usually be in less […]
Tips: Commissioning and Installation
By Mark Warburton, Ivory Egg. If you have been following my previous articles on how to sell KNX, how to specify KNX and how to choose the right products and documentation, you will know that is has taken three months to get here, but it is finally time to start installing products and commissioning! Hopefully, […]
Advice for Architects, Designers and Building Planners: Are Passivhaus and KNX Cut from the Same Cloth?
By Paul Foulkes, EchoHouse. The Passivhaus movement has grown from a desire to lower energy consumption and create better buildings. Passivhaus buildings are designed to provide a high level of comfort while using very little energy for heating and cooling. They are built according to principles developed by the Passivhaus Institute in Germany, and can […]
Show Report: KNX Messages and Developments from Light+Buiding 2016
By George Lazos, Quantum KNX++ Training Centre. This year Light+Building (Frankfurt, 13-18 March) managed to score a new record of 2,589 exhibitors from 55 countries and a total of 216,000 trade visitors from 160 countries, all looking for innovative products, solutions and new business opportunities. Visiting the fair, especially for L+B newbies, is a life-changing […]
Trade Talk: The Smart Home Jigsaw
By Simon Buddle, Future Ready Homes. We live in a time when the terms ‘smart home’ and ‘connected home’ are freely dropped into conversation. Indeed the word ‘smart’ seems to be ubiquitous in current marketing parlance; I had a bottle of ‘smart’ water just the other day. Really? I mean, come on! Anyway, before we […]
Tips: How to Choose the Right Products and Documentation
By Mark Warburton, Ivory Egg. Following my previous articles about how to sell and specify KNX, the next stage is to finalise the choice of products and issue supporting documents. You may be keen to get on with the installation, but getting these next few points below completed first, will pay dividends at the end […]
Advice for Architects, Designers and Building Planners: Integrating Community Energy – Part 3
By Paul Foulkes, EchoHouse. In Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, we looked directly at community energy and how, with KNX, the required infrastructure can be supplied. In this final part, we will go beyond community energy, and look at why KNX can address the need for an integrated infrastructure. I was at […]
Advice for Architects, Designers and Building Planners: Integrating Community Energy – Part 2
By Paul Foulkes, EchoHouse. Our use of energy is a major issue for the world. As Leonardo DiCaprio put it in his recent Oscar acceptance speech, “Climate change is real, it is happening now, it is the most urgent threat facing our species, and we need to work collectively and stop procrastinating.” As architects, designers […]
Tips: How to Specify KNX
By Mark Warburton, Ivory Egg. Following on from last month’s article on ‘How to sell KNX‘, hopefully you have now won the job! So now we need to design a KNX solution. KNX System Design KNX provides flexibility, resilience and upgradability at its core, so it makes sense to approach system design with the same […]