Site Visit: Energy Management Information Systems at Google

Posted on May 23, 2011 by Michael Bukay, MS

A cluster of wide screen monitors display real-time EMIS data.

AFE members and guests had the privilege of visiting Google’s West Campus building 5 in Mountain View, CA. to take a behind-the-scene look at the Internet search giant’s Energy Management Information Systems (EMIS). Click to see a photo montage of this event.

After an exclusive lunch provided to the sold-out event by Google chefs, we were treated to a slide show presentation by Richard Celio, P.E. of longtime EMIS provider Applied Power Technologies on “Energy Management Information Systems Success Criteria: The missing piece of the puzzle.” The presentation topics included: why BMS/EMS information, alone, does not provide answers; how to leverage EMIS investments with customized automated reports sent to your email inbox or smart phone; and how to define success criteria by using cost, reliability, quality, impact, and efficiency indicators.

Following this, Google engineers presented real-time monitoring displays and in-depth discussions on:  customizing energy management dashboards; augmenting EMIS with display monitors, Gmail, and Android smart phones; energy projects including cogeneration, solar, and fuel cell technologies; maintenance contracts; automated demand systems for temperature control; just-in-time resource management; and evaluating the cost-effectiveness of retrofitting older buildings and calculating the ROI for upgrades.

 Our hosts and presenters demonstrated tremendous passion for their work! Google hires top-talent and provides them with the resources and freedom to experiment and innovate and to help usher in new energy-wise technologies. Combining the talents of facility engineers with information technology professionals has greatly facilitated the evolution of their energy management system. Engineers started with just one building and gradually added more buildings to the EMIS.

After the presentations and extensive attendee networking, Asim Tahir of Google guided us to the wall of wide-screen monitors that display real-time energy management information from throughout the campus.

A special thank you goes out to Dan Hoffman, Pat Nielsen, Dan Cocosa, Asim Tahir, and Kristina Dee for hosting this event and conducting very informative presentations and discussions.

Thanks to Andy Taylor of APT for helping create the event and reminding us why we invest in EMIS. If you were unable to attend, or would like to review Rich Celio’s presentation on “Success Criteria: The missing piece of the puzzle” you may download it at http://www.apt4power.com/upcoming_events.html. You may also view a slide show of the event at http://www.bukaymedia.com/afe.htm.

To learn more about how EMIS might work in your application contact APT at 408-342-0790 or http://apt4power.com; or the Association for Facilities Engineering at 571-203-7171 or http://www.afe.org.

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Michael Bukay is New Media Chair for the AFE Silicon Valley Chapter and owner of Michael Bukay & Associates which provides industrial video communication services to facilities and vendors. He can be reached at 510-232-9830 or http://bukaymedia.com.

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Gulls Gone Wild in Pt. Richmond, CA

Posted on March 8, 2011 by Michael Bukay, MS

Gull Gathering

Gulls after a day of feasting on herring roe.

Click on Gulls Gone Wild to view a 6.5 minute music video documenting the beauty, exuberance, and chaos of this natural history experience along the Bay Trail in Miller/Knox Regional Shoreline in Point Richmond, CA. The herring first came to Point Richmond on (or shortly before) February 4, 2011 to spawn after commercial roe fishing boats reached their limits allowing successive runs throughout the month. Harbor seals and sea lions came to eat the herring; then the gulls and diving ducks came to feast on the carpets of eggs that covered the kelp, eelgrass, pier pilings, and rocks along the shore. This documentary covers about 10 days of the event.

Click cavier feast extraordinaire for more imagery of this amazing event! For more information about the phenomena from Bruce and Sandra Beyaert, click Point Richmond Herring Run.

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What about Videos for Smart Phones and Tablet Computers?

Posted on February 18, 2011 by Michael Bukay, MS

  

Watching video on a smart phone

Watching video on small screens is becoming very convenient and common these days.

Five years ago, I didn’t think that watching videos on small mobile devices would become very popular. I was wrong! After using an iPhone for a year and a half, I find that I watch more web videos on my phone than I do sitting at my desk in front of a computer. I’d rather lean back and watch a video than lean forward. It is a matter of convenience, portability, and comfort. 

Management Embraces Smart Phones
I also notice that many of the managers and decision-makers I work with are frequently checking their emails and conducting business over the web on their smart phones. Once they read an email on their phone, they often don’t read it again on their desktop computer. If the email includes a link to a video, they may attempt to play it on their smart phone while it still has their attention. If a marketing video doesn’t play during this window of opportunity, they may never look at it. 

Apple vs. Adobe
Unfortunately, Apple does not permit its iPhones and iPads to play Flash videos. Currently, most web videos are encoded in the Adobe Flash format and work great for desktop computer viewing. Apple is pushing for a newer technology called HTML5 that takes the dependency of web video away from the Adobe Flash player, and puts it more in the hands of application developers. 

However, HTML5 is not yet ready for prime time. Even when it is ready, it may take years for businesses to create HTML5 versions of their existing Flash web videos to be playable on Apple’s mobile devices. So, Flash encoded web videos will still be around for the foreseeable future. Most industry experts do not expect Apple to ever allow Flash videos to play on these devices. However, the competition is supporting Flash videos. 

Android Smart Phones Play Flash Videos
Android smart phones use a free and open operating system provided by Google and are advertised to support Flash videos. We are seeing a repeat episode of open vs. closed operating systems similar to the Apple vs. PC wars that began in the 1980s. 

Currently the adoption rate of Android phones, sold by many manufacturers, outstrips the iPhone. So, how well do the Android smart phones play Flash videos? 

To test this, I went to my local Costco and dialed-in some Flash videos from my website to see how well they play on the latest Android powered devices. I tested a Motorola Droid X™ and a small tablet− the Samsung Galaxy Tab.™ Both devices played Flash very well over the wireless connection at Costco. I did not test video playback at Costco over a 3G network. 

I also had a chance to play a Flash video over the 3G network on a friend’s Android phone (Samsung 4G) while we were taking a hike. The Flash video was choppy. However, when I played the same video over the 3G network off of YouTube’s servers, it played smoothly. The quality was lower because YouTube “intelligently degrades” the quality of its videos when the network connection is slow. 

A Work-around Solution
Meanwhile, there is a way to get your videos to play on the iPhone. Six months ago, all of the videos on my web site were encoded in Flash and would not play on the iPhone. Recently, I placed almost all my public web videos on YouTube and embedded them in web pages on my website. YouTube automatically makes several encoded versions for each video including one that plays on the iPhone and probably every future smart phone that will play videos. 

Now, when someone with an iPhone clicks on a video link to my web site YouTube knows that the request was made by an iPhone and delivers an iPhone compatible version (probably in the h.264 format) and the video plays! If the viewer’s phone has a temporarily slow wireless connection, YouTube reduces the quality of the video so that it still plays. When someone using a desktop computer clicks on the same video link, YouTube sends a different Flash encoded version to their PC. YouTube does all of this for free! 

Smart phones and tablet computers are evolving very rapidly. My recommendation is that you test the video features you want at the store where you purchase the phone. One option is to test the smart phone at my website at bukaymedia.com and compare how well it plays Flash and YouTube videos.   

Conclusions
Smart phones and tablet computers are likely to replace a large percentage of laptop computers during the next few years. In your training and marketing video communication strategy, it is worthwhile to consider posting a version of your public videos on YouTube (or other video hosting services that support the h.264 option). These videos can be embedded into your web site so the viewer does not leave your website to watch them. 

Also, during this period of “video player wars” it is a good idea to have the option to play the video in Flash. This strategy will increase your video exposure to the rapidly growing audience of people who use smart phones. 

From what I saw at Costco, I think I would be very happy to own a Droid X smart phone and a Samsung Galaxy Tab! Although I love my iPhone, I will consider switching to an Android phone with Verizon when it comes time to renew my iPhone contract with AT&T. 

Image source: Istockphoto 

Michael Bukay, MS
mbukay@comcast.net
510-232-9830
bukaymedia.com 

Michael Bukay, MS has over 30 years experience in the operation, maintenance, and troubleshooting of high purity water systems in the biotech, semiconductor, and power industries; and 9 years of digital filmmaking experience. His company specializes in providing industrial and commercial video communication services.

Posted in AFE, Industrial Training Video, Web Video | 3 Comments

Public and Private Video Hosting Options

Posted on January 18, 2011 by Michael Bukay, MS

YouTube + Vimeo

YouTube and Vimeo provide excellent free and paid video hosting options.

A vendor may want to use training videos for marketing purposes in addition to training customers on how to use their products. Therefore it may make sense to gain as much public exposure as possible. On the other hand, a biotech company may use videos to train their in-house staff on proprietary techniques and procedures. Privacy may be an important consideration for these types of training videos. 

Privacy may also be an issue for a vendor’s sales training videos meant for in-house use only. Many companies keep certain training videos private while making their product videos available to the public. This article discusses video hosting options for your public and private training videos.

First, let’s review what it means to encode a video for the web and why encoding is so important.

Encoding 101
Original clips and edited video files are among the largest files in existence. They quickly fill up hard drives, take a long time to copy, and are difficult to transmit over the Internet. Encoding videos for the web is the process of compressing the huge video source files to highly compact files that are commonly 4% or less of their original size! This makes them web-friendly.

Encoding videos is a highly technical process and should be done in a manner that the compressed files retain sufficient quality while fitting the bandwidth and capabilities of the hosting service plan and a wide range of end-users’ computers and Internet access speeds.

High quality encoding is both an art and a science. It requires specialized software, fast computers, and skill to achieve good results. The alphabet soup of file extensions and names for modern encoded video files include *.flv, *.f4v, *.wmv, *.mov, *h.264, 1080i, 1080p, 720p, SD, HD, HDV, and AVCHD. Circumstances determine the best file types and compression settings for the desired distribution methods and target audiences. One way to reduce the technical hurdles around encoding is to use video sharing services and/or hire a professional.

Free Web Video Distribution Options
Videos can be hosted on your company’s web site for minimal or no additional cost; or on video sharing services such as YouTube, Vimeo, ExposureRoom, iTunes, and Blip.tv for free. Some of the free video sharing sites also offer premium fee-based services that deliver higher quality videos that have no advertising associated with your video.

Most video sharing sites allow you to host the video on their servers and embed the video’s html code required to play back the video into your company’s web site. Although the video is actually playing off the hosting company’s servers, it appears to be playing off your company’s web site. The host companies will do most of the encoding for your videos so that they play smoothly over the web.

Public Distribution with YouTube
YouTube is definitely worth considering for public distribution of web videos! YouTube uses very sophisticated proprietary software to do the encoding for you and provides the end-user with a variety of quality options.  Viewers with slow Internet connections and/or older computers can still play a lower quality (smaller file size) version of the video.

A possible disadvantage with YouTube for some companies is that at the end of playing the video embedded on your web site, links to a number of other videos with similar key-words and descriptions may be displayed within the player. It is possible that a link to a competitor’s video may show up on your site. Conversely, a link to your video may show up on a competitor’s site!

Private Distribution on Your Company’s Network
A good option for sharing videos securely with a limited number of pre-defined viewers is to host a password protected version of the training video in a secure area of your company’s network. For this purpose, typically the video is encoded to play in the Adobe Flash video player which is present on almost all desktop and laptop computers. These training videos can be easily integrated into a company’s on-line training programs and associated with knowledge assessment modules. For many companies, this is an excellent way to efficiently standardize and periodically update procedures throughout multiple locations.

Fee-based Video Distribution Options
Search the web for “video hosting companies” and you will find a variety of companies that provide premium fee-based video sharing services. Premium features typically include higher quality playback, custom players, better privacy options, no advertising, and better analytics for a monthly fee. Such fee-based companies include Brightcove, Playstream and Onstreammedia. Typically, services start at around $100 per month depending upon the number and size of videos and the amount of bandwidth consumed by the viewers. Often, you can try the service free for a limited period of time.

Before hiring an outside service to host your private videos, I recommend first uploading videos, encoded for the Flash player, to your company’s network and see how well they play. Depending on the available bandwidth and speed of your servers, high quality video playback may require some experimentation to determine the best encoding settings for videos hosted on your company’s network.

Conclusions
In the modern world, product and training videos are becoming necessary for businesses to remain competitive—especially during tough economic times. Once the initial investment is made to create quality videos, cost savings in message distribution via the web can be huge compared to traditional advertising methods. The use of web training videos can augment, and in some cases replace, the time and travel costs associated with traditional face-to-face classes. Customers appreciate watching a web video about products they intend to purchase.

Costs for maintaining videos on the web range from free to minimal. There are many private and public video hosting services available to suit a variety of budgets. As time marches on, we will see an ever-growing number of people who expect to receive the product and training information they seek to be delivered at their convenience via web videos.

Video for Smart Phones
The technological landscape for viewing web videos is rapidly changing. One of the areas of fastest growth is the ability to view videos on Smart Phones. How to make your company’s videos be accessible with Smart Phones will be discussed in a future article.

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Oysters of Pt. Richmond, CA.

Posted on January 4, 2011 by Michael Bukay, MS

On January 1, 2011 I was delighted to find a healthy population of small oysters living on the rocks in the rocky areas between Keller Beach and the San Rafael Bridge. This area is accessible at low tide. I visited the area at minus tide which made the entire beach accessible. The next 2011 minus tides are January 16 – 22 between 3:43 -7:41 pm; and January 29, 30, and 31 between 3:03 – 4:33 pm. Check local tide charts for details.

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Reverse Osmosis Membrane Replacement Procedure

Posted on December 13, 2010 by Michael Bukay, MS

 

For those of us who are kinesthetic and visual learners, this type of video can be very useful as a complement to written instructions. Often we add voiceover or an on-camera instructor who explains each step of the process.

The video illustrates how the reverse osmos (RO) system membrane elements, end caps, interconnectors, stub tubes, and o-rings fit together. For demonstration purposes, the membrane system was assembled outside their pressure vessels on cardbard sheets to demonstrate how all the components fit together inside the pressure vessels. Following this we filmed the removal of the old membrane elements and demonstrated how to properly install them in the RO system pressure vessels. Following this we energized the system took readings with a barcode scanner system to make sure there were no leaking o-rings.

This video was made to assist operators in performing the infrequent procedure of membrane replacement whose details could easily be forgotten. This was an old Osmonics RO system that had been in service for over 20 years. The building it supported was to be demolished in the next few years so my client wanted to make sure it kept making high quality purified water. This required replacing the 4″ diameter membrane elements every 18 months or so.

Posted in Industrial Training Video, Reverse Osmosis | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Facilities America, Networking, & the Future of Maintenance

Posted on December 11, 2010 by Michael Bukay, MS

Will millions of retiring maintenance professionals result in a maintenance crisis?

As a Silicon Valley Chapter representative, and a relatively new AFE member, I attended the Facilities America conference last month in Las Vegas. As I reflect on the adventure, I am struck by the value of networking opportunities provided by AFE membership. I also learned about the looming possibility of a maintenance crisis. 

I attended the national board meeting, the chapter leaders meeting, 5 classes, the awards event, and the trade show. During this time I met many AFE members I hadn’t previously known.

One such person was Dan Bittel, CPE who led an inspirational discussion at the Chapter Leaders Meeting. Dan is also Chairman of the National Board of Directors. I was struck by Dan’s passion for brainstorming new ways to support AFE members and the next generation of facilities professionals. One morning, I was delighted to find him sitting at the restaurant counter with a vacant seat next to him. We recognized each other from the meeting and he invited me to join him for breakfast.

 We discovered that we had both lived in Silicon Valley in the 70s and had mutual clients and associates during that time. I really enjoyed getting to know Dan. The conversation soon turned to brainstorming on how the AFE can better serve and retain existing members, and grow the organization.  

 Membership in the AFE has declined over the past decade. We discussed possible reasons for this trend: manufacturing jobs moving overseas, the availability of information from the Internet, challenges of attracting young people to our industry, etc.

 Face-to-Face Networking

Take the Internet for example. Some of the technical information people used to get from associations such as the AFE is now readily available on the Internet. What is not so available on the Internet, however, are the face-to-face networking opportunities provided by AFE meetings, tours, and conferences. Can we be more effective in making our Chapter events more network friendly for new and existing members? Should we be promoting the benefits of networking more to our prospective new members?

 We also explored the possibility that the AFE could better use on-line technology to enhance its value to members. We discussed the possibility of using social media, on-line databases, networking with other organizations, and video technologies to better serve our members. We wondered how we could think out-of-the-box and better adapt to meeting the needs of facilities professionals during these rapidly changing times. We just scratched the surface, and would love to hear your ideas!

 Perhaps one way is for the older generation to better understand and use the virtual communication technologies that the newer generations are embracing. We could learn more about social media from them. They could learn more about the benefits of face-to-face networking from us.

 Preventing a Maintenance Crisis

The next generation will inherit the responsibilities for maintaining America’s infrastructure. According to Joel Leonard, Executive Producer of SkillTV.net, “…we are in the midst of a Major Maintenance Crisis- caused by the millions of retiring skilled maintenance technicians and maintenance professionals, lack of interest by future generations and while companies install increasingly complex new equipment with no or minimal budget allocated for additional training, old equipment continues to age and requires more maintenance. A perfect maintenance storm is brewing…”

 Joel gave an informative and entertaining presentation at the conference to a large audience. When he asked the audience if anyone believed that we are not headed for a maintenance crisis, no one raised their hand. This helped me realize that the AFE could play a pivotal role in the future history of our county’s infrastructure. One way is for the retiring generation to pass on the lessons they learned to the new generation.

 At the AFE Chapter Leaders meeting at Facilities America I noticed many facilities professionals near retirement age who were eager to pass their wisdom on to the next generation. Few people from the next generation were present at the meeting. The people I met were passionate about their careers and eager to inspire the next generation to have great careers creating and maintaining America’s infrastructure. One way is to participate in the upcoming Day with a Facilities Professional program and demonstrate the enthusiasm we feel for our profession. Perhaps this kind of inter-generational networking could help reduce or prevent the impact of a maintenance crisis.

 I am glad that I attended the Facilities America Expo. All the programs I attended were of high quality. I have new friends in my network of professionals. I realize how different it would be if I hadn’t met Dan Bittel and other AFE members face-to-face!

 There’s something special about sharing a meal and discussing topics of mutual interest face-to-face that cannot be duplicated by telephone and email contact. Perhaps it’s what we call chemistry, intuition, or having a gut feeling about who we trust and who want to have for friends and business associates. For me, this kind of face-to-face networking is biggest benefit I receive from being an AFE member.

 Speaking of networking, I look forward to connecting with you at our Holiday Party in December!

Michael Bukay is the New Media Chair of the AFE Chapter 39 and specializes in producing industrial training videos.

Inage Source: Istockphoto

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Advantages of Internet Distribution of Industrial Training Videos

Posted on December 10, 2010 by Michael Bukay, MS
Streaming bits over Internet

Videos greatly increase the search engine ranking of your company's website. (istockphoto)

Distributing video over the web provides many benefits. Chief among them is that worldwide distribution costs are minimal or non-existent. There is no need to produce, store, and ship physical media such as DVDs. You simply provide a link to the web video in your emails, electronic brochures, white papers, and other literature.

The presence of videos on your web site increases its ranking in results from search engines. Forrester Research reported that videos were 50 times more likely to receive an organic first page search ranking than traditional text pages. If your competitor has videos on their web site and you don’t, your company is at a disadvantage when potential customers use the Internet to find your company’s products and services. This may have something to do with the fact that Google owns YouTube!

Another benefit is speed. Emailing a video link allows the viewer to watch the video within seconds.

With web analytical tools, you also have the ability to monitor statistics such as number of viewers, their country of origin, and how long they viewed the video, etc. Such feedback helps you determine which videos are best serving your audience and can help improve your distribution strategy.

You can also manage who has access to your on-line videos. You can password protect your web videos. You can also control the version of the videos available to your target audience by deleting the outdated versions and replacing them with your latest version.

Vendors can include video links within their proposals to demonstrate how to use specific products, thus reducing product misuse and keeping the customer’s expectations in line with reality. For example, if your proposal is for a boiler, a short video demonstrating the features and benefits of the boiler can help close the sale.

There are many ways to distribute training videos. A while back it was primarily by VHS tapes. Then came DVDs. Now, the video distribution is trend is moving to the web. The Internet currently provides the most cost-effective way to distribute videos to the widest target audience. Once the video is produced, it can be distributed endlessly to a worldwide audience for little or no cost.

As bandwidth and computer power continues to increase, higher quality videos can be played from the web. However, keep in mind, that the older computers and software may not play web videos as smoothly as one would like. Therefore, it may be wise to make a variety of viewing options available to your audience.

These options will be discussed in future articles.

Posted in Industrial Training Video, Web Video | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Tackle a Big Problem with a Training Video

Posted on November 28, 2010 by Michael Bukay, MS
Help! I need a training video.

Help! I need a training video. (istockphoto)

Are you experiencing a re-occurring operation or maintenance problem, in spite of your attempts to correct it through verbal or written communications? An example would be a situation in which adjustments to a control system are being made differently by a variety of technicians. One technician tweaks the control system on his or her shift only to cause problems for technicians on the next shift. Without a uniform understanding of the “big picture,” the cycle of tweaking could continue indefinitely. A training video could harness the skills of the most expert technician to demonstrate best practices and standardize the procedure throughout the facility.

 Are you dealing with a re-occurring troublesome issue that may be resolved with a training video?

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Showing & Telling with Industrial Training Videos

Posted on November 28, 2010 by Michael Bukay, MS

Training videos complement complex written operation & maintenance procedures.

 There is a saying that showing is better than telling, and that showing and telling are better than either one alone. An advantage of video is that it does both. Video can be an efficient and cost-effective way to supplement industrial operation and maintenance training programs. It can also be a great way for vendors to show customers how to properly use their products and services.

  

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