“The reality is: institutional knowledge is retiring.

So what is shared knowledge? It means you have a single source of truth. It means you have a diagnostics platform where the data doesn't lie—it's accurate and tuned to your operations and sequences. It means your mechanical technicians, controls technicians, energy engineers, sustainability professionals, and design engineers all have access to that same information based on what they need to do their job.”

—Alex Grace, KGS Buildings

Welcome to Nexus, a newsletter and podcast for smart people applying smart building technology—hosted by James Dice. If you’re new to Nexus, you might want to start here.

The Nexus podcast (Apple | Spotify | YouTube | Other apps) is our chance to explore and learn with the brightest in our industry—together. The project is directly funded by listeners like you who have joined the Nexus Pro membership community.

You can join Nexus Pro to get a weekly-ish deep dive, access to the Nexus Vendor Landscape, and invites to exclusive events with a community of smart buildings nerds.

Music credit: The Garden State by Audiobinger

Disclaimer: James is a researcher at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). All opinions expressed via Nexus emails, podcasts, or on the website belong solely to James. No resources from NREL are used to support Nexus. NREL does not endorse or support any aspect of Nexus.

Episode summary

I’m excited to bring you Episode 4, a conversation with Alex Grace of KGS Buildings. This episode is complementary to last week's episode with Nick Gajewski, Alex's CEO, and I think you'll like it just as much. These guys are like the dynamic duo of fault detection and diagnostics.

I picked Alex’s brain on a range of topics, including:

• Keys to selling software as a service in the buildings industry;
• How the leading mechanical, controls, and commissioning service providers are digitizing their offerings and business models;
• Where buzzwords like IoT, machine learning, and AI fit in with more traditional analytics like FDD;
• And much more

Scroll down for the companies and links mentioned.

Subscribe to Nexus Pro for a deep dive into my reaction, my top highlights of the episode, and a full transcript. Pro members get these weekly deep dives, access to the Nexus Vendor Landscape, and can participate in exclusive discussions and events. If you sign up today, you get the early adopter discount forever:

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You can find Alex online on LinkedIn and at kgsbuildings.com.

Enjoy!

Mentions and Links

1. KGS Buildings (1:08)
2. Nexus Podcast Episode 3 with Nick Gajewski (1:11)
3. Clockworks (2:26)
4. ComEd MBCx Incentive Program (9:18)
5. NYSERDA’s Real Time Energy Management (10:12)
6. Nexus #7 on Mass Customization (14:08)
7. LinkedIn Conversation on Intellectual Property of FDD rules (14:35)
8. ASHRAE BACnet Committee (16:06)
9. Smart Energy Analytics Campaign (18:50)
10. University of Iowa Analytics Case Study by LBNL(18:52)
11. Schneider Electric (19:02)
12. InfiSense, LoRaWAN (23:48)
13. Building Commissioning Association report which shows that 90% of MBCx projects end after 12 months (44:16)
14. Subscribed (52:12)
15. WSP (52:52)
16. Maximo, AiM, FAMIS (1:05:08)

THE ABOVE AUDIO, VIDEO, SUMMARY, AND LINKS WILL ALWAYS BE FREE. PODCAST DEEP DIVES WITH MY REACTIONS, MY TOP HIGHLIGHTS, AND THE FULL TRANSCRIPT ARE EXCLUSIVELY AVAILABLE TO MEMBERS OF NEXUS PRO.

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