BUFFALO GROVE, Ill., and COOPERSBURG, Pa. — The Building Technologies Division of Siemens Industry Inc. and Lutron Electronics have announced a collaborative effort to help make commercial buildings more energy efficient. The Siemens APOGEE® Building Automation System and the Lutron Quantum® Total Light Management System, which controls lights, shades, and small appliances, can be readily integrated via BACnet. The companies said having these two systems share information not only helps make a building more energy efficient, but also can help improve maintenance efficiencies.

To support this collaborative effort, Siemens and Lutron have produced a technical whitepaper offering how-to instructions for integrating the systems. The technical paper provides guidance in helping to design an efficient system.

“By working closely with Siemens to jointly test the BACnet integration between the Quantum and APOGEE systems, we are able to provide facility managers with a better user experience and ‘single pane of glass’ for managing their different building systems,” said Mark Jenner, new business alliances director at Lutron. “Instead of disparate pieces of software to manage all of the different building systems — lighting, shading, HVAC, door access, fire/safety, energy metering — BACnet makes it possible to integrate all of the software tools into one, saving valuable time and maximizing efficiencies.”

BACnet was designed to allow communication of building automation and control systems for applications such as HVAC control, lighting control, access control, and fire detection systems and their associated equipment. The BACnet protocol allows computerized building automation devices to exchange information, regardless of the particular building service they perform. Proper communication between devices is critical for maximizing building energy efficiency, indoor air quality, and other aspects of green buildings, noted the companies.