To optimize energy consumption and reduce operating costs, it is essential to better monitor and benchmark buildings' energy usage. Active demand management platforms are helping service providers respond to the dynamic energy requirements of modern buildings.

1. Beyond Brick and Mortar: Advanced
Technology Platforms and Processes
Power Smart Buildings
To optimize energy consumption and reduce operating costs, it is
essential to better monitor and benchmark buildings’ energy usage.
Active demand management platforms are helping service providers
respond to the dynamic energy requirements of modern buildings.
Executive Summary
Rising energy costs have led to a greater focus
on optimizing energy consumption and demand
patterns, among both consumers and producers.
This means organizations must closely monitor
energy consumption and demand, as well as con-
tinuously improve performance.
To achieve this, several industry constituents
— including energy suppliers, utility companies,
energy aggregators, HVACR manufacturers,
building administrators and facility managers
— are adopting innovative ways to identify and
address the causes of energy inefficiency and the
resulting higher costs.
This white paper explores the convergence of
active energy demand management, an informed
infrastructure powered by analytics and mobility,
and new approaches to performance benchmark-
ing. This combination of activities has fundamen-
tally altered the building management and energy
efficiency landscape and is helping organizations
establish capabilities that, over the long term, will
result in more efficient and sustainable buildings.
Active Demand Management
We are witnessing a sustained increase in overall
energy consumption. Energy consumption by
residential and commercial buildings in the U.S.
is said to be almost 40% of the country’s total
energy consumption.1
Rising energy costs have led
to a greater focus on energy consumption optimi-
zation and better forecasting of demand patterns,
both by energy consumers and producers.
Utility companies and energy aggregators want
to optimize demand so they can support rising
consumption without substantially increasing
their capital outlays. Energy aggregators provide
curtailment services to help manage demand and
reduce energy production costs in exchange for
rate offers to “bundled” groups of customers.
In coordination with manufacturers of building
cognizant 20-20 insights | may 2015
• Cognizant 20-20 Insights

2. cognizant 20-20 insights 2
equipment and automation controls systems,
utilities and aggregators are also looking to
expand their focus from traditional building
equipment maintenance services, to services that
focus on the complete energy and energy-related
infrastructure needs of modern buildings.
System performance and reliability used to be
the key differentiators for manufacturers of
HVACR equipment, but this is no longer the
case. These companies stand to lose business if
they do not address customer desires to reduce
costs and improve efficiency via innovative
services such as remote asset management and
demand management. This shift is due to greater
awareness among customers about corporate
sustainability and its benefits. As a result, many
organizations are demanding a reduction in
power-related operating costs and pushing the
industry to innovate in ways that help them
achieve their consumption, cost, efficiency and
sustainability goals.
HVACR equipment and control systems manufac-
turers are responding by enhancing their ability
to access the data generated by their products
installed at customer sites. They are capitaliz-
ing on the long-term service contracts in place
for the control systems and equipment they sell
and using interval data from these assets to
obtain a holistic view of building performance
and the assets in it. They are leveraging such
data to venture into areas such as active demand
management to be responsive to real-time
variations in utility demand and pricing, while
focusing on parameters such as energy usage,
costs, efficiency, comfort, occupancy and overall
demand.
The ultimate achievement for any of these players
would be to connect building automation systems
and equipment performance to the demand,
consumption and pricing data from utilities, and
develop the ability to fully manage the building
and respond automatically, in real-time. This will
enable them to actively and automatically match
building behavior to variations in market demand
and price.
Framework for an Active Demand
Management Platform
A demand management platform can be used
to continuously import information and signals
from customers’ infrastructure outside the enter-
prise, process that data into actionable informa-
tion, communicate recommended actions to the
building, “read” the building as part of the con-
tinuous process, and feed select information back
beyond the enterprise (as depicted in Figure 1).
Tenets and Enablers of Active Demand Management
Figure 1
Internet of
Things
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Industry Programs
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demaanddem ddddEnergggyyEneEEEEnnnerrggggyy
gemeentgemannagmammmmaaaannna

3. cognizant 20-20 insights 3
This platform (as illustrated in Figure 2) provides
the ability to establish predefined strategies
for a variety of physical assets, such as entire
buildings and specific spaces in buildings, as well
as underlying equipment and energy meters in
buildings. Importantly, it allows building managers
to vary consumption across building components
for various parameters, such as comfort,
occupancy, equipment type, time of day, pricing
and so on. Such a platform enables the automatic
synchronization of energy consumption with
these parameters by adopting predefined ways of
load-shedding based on customer contracts. This
provides the ability to automatically recognize
when demand should be reduced or shifted in a
predefined fashion.
A demand management platform provides the
ability to receive and interpret a signal from
utilities or aggregators. The aggregators and
utilities, meanwhile, are able to maintain the
required level of load on the grid and maintain
costs of energy production at desired levels to
simultaneously comply with regulations that
govern energy consumption and demand.
Informed Manufacturing:
Role of Informed Infrastructure
in Smart Buildings
Building automation systems and equipment
manufacturers are leveraging information tech-
nology to build an “informed infrastructure”
that supports their demand management goals.
Informed infrastructure is the merging of building
hardware and software, enabling users to monitor,
measure, analyze, communicate and operate
building controls in ways that could not have been
imagined a few years ago.
Such an infrastructure serves as a platform to
connect the various components of the building
management ecosystem, as well as provide a
repository for the continuous stream of small
interval data that flows from each component of
the ecosystem.
As component costs plummet, by 2020 most
devices will have built-in connectivity, enabling
remote monitoring, sensing and control. The
Internet of Things (IoT) can improve efficiency
and enable proactive usage and predictive main-
Active Demand Management Framework
Figure 2
Building Systems
Presentation Layer
External Internal
HVACR Lighting Fire and securrity CPC’’s/Monitorss/Monitors
WW ataeather daea
g siiggd loadingidGriG i lloadooad na
seUUU r demands
P systeERP systeERP systems
msmOther IT systeOther IT systeOther IT syste
sKPIKUser metrics/User metrics/User metrics/
Consumption
Benchmarking
Load Demand
Analysis
Carbon Emissions
Web UI Mobile Chat E-mails Alerts
C Suite Facility Directors Operators
Lifts/Escalators/E l t rtors/BackupsInvertors/Backupss/SwitchesRouters
Active Demand
Management Platform
HH lth d f tyetyHealth and safeHealth and safh and sah and sae
parameteparameteparameters
Peak Period
Load Analysis
Cost Savings
Simulations
Predictive
Maintenance
Fault Diagnosis
and Detection
Hour/Day/Month/
Year Views
Equipment
Performance
Time-based
pricing signag g alnalnal
AutomatedAAut tedA t t dutomatedAutoommmaated d ddemand demm nddmandndmand
signal fromssiis gnal ffromsignal fromsignaall frrom utiili eestie
OtOt sket signalsther market signalsrket simar nalsgn

4. Quick Take
We are at an inflection point of innovation
and change in the manufacturing and
infrastructure landscape. The change is
taking place through the convergence of
the real and virtual worlds (cyber-physical
systems), as well as the advancement
of sensors, processors and Internet
technologies. This convergence enables
a faster flow and more efficient use of
information on a much larger scale than
was possible previously.
The deeper meshing of virtual and physi-
cal machines and instruments offers the
potential to truly transform the value
chain, from suppliers through customers
and at every touchpoint in between. We
call this phenomenon “informed manu-
facturing.”
To learn more, read our white papers
“Informed Manufacturing: Reaching for
New Horizons“ and “Informed Manufac-
turing: The Next Industrial Revolution.”
tainability while enabling centralized control of
all devices. (For more on this topic, see our white
paper “Designing for Manufacturing’s Internet of
Things.”)
For example, lighting devices connected by the
IoT can determine the best time to operate based
on time of use or peak power usage patterns.
Such instrumented devices could shut down or
operate in low energy consumption mode during
certain times of the day or during peak hours.
Similarly, heating and cooling equipment can
warm or cool buildings during certain times of
day, based on pre-defined occupancy hours or
dynamic occupancy patterns.
Recentadvancementsinanalyticsandmobilityare
critical to the informed manufacturing movement
and have great implications for reducing labor
costs, increasing productivity, cutting downtime
and enabling visibility into operations. When
integrated into a demand management platform,
analytics can help unlock the potential of the vast
amounts of data and convert it into invaluable
energy conservation strategies. Modern demand
management solutions can be configured to
monitor performance based on rules and provide
analysis of key operational parameters.
For example, we developed a Web services
framework for a leading North American utility
company that serves over 4.4 million customers,
to display near real-time usage information to
end consumers. By identifying and unifying core
business processes and adopting interactive
graphs to display billing information, we were able
to create common business rules with channel-
specific interfaces to help enhance the customer
experience and provide seamless messaging and
interaction across all channels.
An analytics solution can help inform whether
demand management goals have been met and
take timely corrective action, if required. For
example, say one of the demand management
rules is to automatically reduce load during peak
demand periods. Analytics running at a pre-
defined frequency could detect that the peak
demand is approaching or has crossed the estab-
4cognizant 20-20 insights
The Download on Informed Manufacturing
Recent advancements in
analytics and mobility have
great implications for reducing
labor costs, increasing
productivity, cutting downtime
and enabling visibility into
operations.

5. Workflow
Management
Alerts and
Notifications Flexibility Security Ease of Use
 Workflow management to
perform daily tasks, such as
creating and updating service
requests, routing, parts
requests, roster
management, etc.
 Dashboard view of activities
performed for an intuitive
view for managers.
 Automated alerts when
equipment malfunctions.
 Notifications on planned
tasks to help personnel
improve their
productivity and perform
better service.
 Access to real-time
and historical
telematics data.
 Ability to inspect,
approve, report and
make decisions.
 Technology-agnostic
solutions and ability to
perform across devices
and platforms.
 Flexibility to incorporate
fast technology
changes.
 Ability to detect
security breaches in
building control
systems.
 Role-based, secure
access to data and
equipment control is.
 Improved productivity,
ease of use.
 Intuitive usage, with
minimal training
required.
Access Information
in Real Time
Quick Take
Buildings usually have control systems running around the
clock to maintain comfortable conditions and thus energy
consumption within an acceptable range. We partnered
with one of our clients — a leading building control systems
and equipment manufacturer — to build an active demand
management platform that enables this company to
establish end-to-end relationships between the require-
ments of utility companies and energy aggregators on the
one hand, to the energy demands and usage patterns of its
end customers on the other.
This client has the advantage of having service agreements
in place with its end customers for the control systems and
equipment sold to them. These service agreements define
the quantum and duration of energy curtailment and
automatically shut down equipment and shed load with
specified lead times for prior notification of such activity.
As part of the demand management platform, we also
created virtual meter objects and mapped them to actual
energy meters. These virtual meters collected a continuous
stream of consumption data from the physical meters. If
the data indicates that a particular threshold is reached, an
action is triggered to counter that trend, such as selective
or complete load-shedding based on the predetermined
strategies in place.
This company receives a signal from an aggregator for a
location requiring load-shedding, based on an analysis by
the power utility regarding the load on its grid. The demand
management platform then evaluates the terms of the
customer contract in the geographical area in question,
notifies them and sends the necessary automated signals
to shed load at specified times and durations. Normal
operations are set to resume at the end of the curtail-
ment period. The end customer can request an override of
such load-shedding activity in the event of emergencies or
alternative business needs. The curtailment produces cost
savings for customers and enables our client to provide
proof of value of service contracts.
Client Benefit: Enhanced Value to Customers
In either of the aforementioned scenarios, our client can
provide tremendous value to its customers. Key benefits
include the ability to:
• Manage the energy demand in buildings according
to pre-defined strategies and to do so automatically,
without the need for manual intervention or supervision
from the customer.
• Help customers use information from active demand
management partners outside their enterprise to
reduce energy costs while continuing to support their
core mission.
• Automatically use signals for third-party information,
such as weather forecasts.
• Reduce energy consumption and generate cost savings
for customers.
• Elevate the conversation in the customer organization
beyond rudimentary expectations around building auto-
mation systems and equipment performance, to value
propositions such as building energy efficiency, cost
savings, green operations and long-term sustainability.
Figure 3
Key Mobile Solutions Parameters in Building Management
Active Demand Management for a Control Systems Maker

6. 6cognizant 20-20 insights
lished threshold. This spike in demand is mitigated
by switching off all non-essential equipment auto-
matically, thus reducing the load to acceptable
levels (see sidebar, page 5).
Mobility is a key facet of an informed infrastruc-
ture. Mobile applications, integrated with demand
management platforms, can be a cost-effective
way to monitor building control systems. For field
users, such as a facilities engineer, mobile appli-
cations provide a dashboard view of the energy
demand of various locations, alert them immedi-
ately to anomalies and enable faster resolution.
The key parameters to consider for enabling
mobile solutions for demand management are
listed in Figure 3.
Benchmarking
In addition to demand management, many
companies are focusing on the building itself
and the mechanical assets therein. They are
leveraging industry-recognized programs to
provide benchmarking services and highlighting
the need for changes to the physical aspects of
buildings, as well as usage practices to improve
their energy performance.
The U.S. EPA’s Energy Star Portfolio Manager
Program is one such comprehensive benchmark-
ing system widely used in North America by the
building energy efficiency industry across vertical
markets. Energy Star was created in 1992 to
identify and recognize energy-efficient products
and – later — whole buildings and building energy
upgrades. In 2011, with the help of the Energy Star
program, Americans reduced their utility bills by
an estimated $23 billion and prevented 210 million
metric tons of GHG emissions, the equivalent of
keeping 41 million vehicles off the roads.2
The
program is used by over 250,000 buildings with
27 billion square feet of commercial and institu-
tional building space, representing over 40% of
the commercial building market.3
The Energy Star Portfolio Manager Program
supports over 80 different types of buildings,
whose performance can be benchmarked
and their attributes and performance metrics
compared with those of similar buildings across
the U.S. and Canada. Benchmarking helps to
compare performance not only with peers but
also with one’s historical performance, as well as
identify the need or opportunity to make improve-
ments in the physical attributes and operations of
buildings, and track the resulting benefits.
Benchmarking is conducted with comparable
buildings, using the attributes of these building
types, their actual use (such as office space
or warehouse) and the energy consumption in
the buildings. Examples of attributes used to
benchmark buildings include gross floor area,
percent heated, percent cooled, number of
personal computers, average occupancy, etc.
These attributes are used to analyze the perfor-
mance of buildings over a period of time, based
on metrics such as energy and water consump-
tion, costs and greenhouse gas emissions.
The Energy Star Score
The Energy Star score provides a dimension of
benchmarking with peer buildings, in addition to
a comparison of cost, consumption and emission
metrics. An Energy Star score is a consolidated
numerical indicator on a scale of 0 to 100 that
is derived by factoring various parameters that
affect building energy efficiency, including con-
sumption, building type, building use, percent of
heating and cooling, and so on. A score of 75 to 100
indicates a top energy performer. It is recognition
for a high-performance building and an indication
to continue maintaining best practices to sustain
CBRE/USD
Pivo/
Fisher
Wiley/
Johnson
 Rental Rate Premium
16%
12%
3%
5%
5%
8%
 Sale Price Premium
6%
1%
16%
31%
9%
0%
 Occupancy Premium
3%
0%
6%
3%
1%
0%
CoStar
Group/USD
Eichholtz/
Kok/Quigley
Fuerst/
McCallister
Percent above non-Energy Star labeled buildings
Source: “Benchmarking and Disclosure: Lessons from Leading Cit-
ies,” Boston Green Ribbon Commission, June 2012, based on data
from the Institute for Market Transformation.
Figure 4
Impact of Energy Star Certification on
Real Estate Commercials

7. cognizant 20-20 insights 7
the performance. A lower score indicates opportu-
nities to review the physical attributes and usage
patterns of the building and make improvements
that will enable energy conservation, reduced
costs and lower greenhouse gas emissions.
Industry research shows that Energy Star certified
buildings offer the following key benefits:
• Lower operating costs.
• Increased marketability.
• Higher rental rates.
• Increased asset value.
• Fewer greenhouse gas emissions.
Figure 4 shows how Energy Star certified buildings
score better than uncertified buildings, based on
data from several major commercial real estate
companies.
Looking Ahead
In the foreseeable future, the convergence of
sustainability strategies, such as active energy
demand management and performance bench-
marking — along with the rise in informed infra-
structure powered by new technologies — will
result in powerful, informed buildings. Such
buildings will be able to dynamically alter opera-
tional behavior, offering enormous benefits to
owners/operators and energy producers in terms
of operational efficiency. This is likely to move
the industry toward greater sustainability-driven
practices and enable it to mitigate the impact of
variations in energy costs.
Quick Take
One of our clients, a prominent manufacturer of
building control systems and HVAC equipment,
was using a remote asset management platform to
manage the performance of its equipment installed
at customer locations, using proprietary analytics
that measured the variation of performance indica-
tors. The remote asset management platform collects
equipment performance data at frequent time inter-
vals, and generates intelligence such as early warnings
and service advisory alerts. These notifications allow
service personnel to triage issues remotely, thus miti-
gating the need and expense of a technician visit.
We advised our client to integrate the Energy Star
Benchmarking system with the existing remote asset
management platform to enable existing customers
to more effectively manage their entire building or
portfolio of buildings and all the equipment in it on
one single platform, without the need to use multiple
systems. We also built reporting and mobile capabili-
ties as part of this integration, which the company is
using to deliver consolidated building performance
reports to customers’ mobile devices.
With this integration in place, our client’s customers
have access to a one-stop shop that offers remote
assetmanagement,equipmentperformanceanalytics,
benchmarking and customer reporting integrated
with mobility in one unified platform. Company deci-
sion-makers now have a holistic picture of asset per-
formance, which has enabled the company to engage
more deeply with its customers and offer advisory
services for improving building performance.
Since the launch of this integrated platform, our client
has sold building energy efficiency service contracts
to over 120 new customers in a year and increased
its footprint in the building energy efficiency market
by engaging with customers in a wide variety of
businesses, such as nationwide theater chains, retail
and grocery stores, hospitals, banks and financial
institutions, sports facilities, and commercial real
estate companies across North America.
End customers have begun to take an active interest
in the evaluation of building behavior over time,
benchmarking against peers and adopting sustain-
able design metrics for buildings and spaces through
these industry programs. The resulting benchmarking
data is helping the company redefine peer groups and
promote a better understanding of building efficiency
performance metrics. This data enables building
owners and operators to take a proactive approach to
establishing key energy conservation metrics (ECMs)
to achieve the larger goal of building energy efficiency
by reducing energy costs and reducing greenhouse
gas emissions.
Energy Star Portfolio Manager Integration with a
Remote Asset Management Platform

8. cognizant 20-20 insights 8
Industry players that wish to capitalize on these
developmentsneedtointernalizethesetrendsand
turn them into action plans. For instance, HVACR
manufacturers with the deepest knowledge base
can play a leading role in educating and providing
consultative services to customers. They can also
explore the possibility of building a proprietary
demand management technology infrastruc-
ture that can function as a platform for selling
services. On the other hand, companies that own/
operate buildings can proactively engage such
manufacturers and apply what they learn from
these encounters.
Our move-forward recommendations for building
portfolio owners/operators include:
• Explore the integration of internal building
automation systems and equipment with third-
party demand management platforms.
• Evaluate internal energy demand needs and
devise strategies to meet them, while also min-
imizing costs by using demand management
platforms and optimizing internal demand
behavior.
• Establish an energy demand baseline and
negotiate pricing with energy aggregators to
derive tangible cost and sustainability benefits
for conforming with negotiated behavior
patterns.
• Identify and adopt a benchmarking process/
platform to establish an energy performance
baseline to compare with peer buildings and
broader sustainability goals.
• Analyze operating practices, evaluate buildings’
physical attributes and underlying equipment,
and implement changes where necessary to
improve upon the established energy perfor-
mance baseline.
• Focus on gradually developing an internal
culture that enables achieving energy perfor-
mance levels that meet the highest industry
standards.
Footnotes
1 “Frequently Asked Questions,” U.S. Energy Information Administration,
http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=86&t=1.
2 “The History of Energy Productivity,” Alliance Commission on National Energy Efficiency Policy,
January 2013, http://www.ase.org/sites/ase.org/files/resources/Media%20browser/ee_commission_
history_report_2-1-13.pdf.
3 Mike Zatz, “A First Look at EPA’s Portfolio Manager Upgrade,” Energy Star, December 2011, https://www.
energystar.gov/ia/business/evaluate_performance/Portfolio_Manager_Upgrade_First_Look_Dec2011.pdf.
Resources
• “Designing for Manufacturing’s ‘Internet of Things,’” Cognizant Technology Solutions, June 2014,
http://www.cognizant.com/InsightsWhitepapers/Designing-for-Manufacturings-Internet-of-Things.
pdf.
• Jim Sinopoli, “Pushing the Envelope: Building Analytics beyond HVAC,” Smart Buildings LLC, 2014,
http://www.smart-buildings.com/uploads/1/1/4/3/11439474/2014marfdd.pdf.
• James Piper, “HVAC Maintenance and Energy Savings,” FacilitiesNet, March 2009,
http://www.facilitiesnet.com/hvac/article/HVAC-Maintenance-and-Energy-Savings--10680.

9. About Cognizant
Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) is a leading provider of information technology, consulting, and business
process outsourcing services, dedicated to helping the world’s leading companies build stronger busi-
nesses. Headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey (U.S.), Cognizant combines a passion for client satisfac-
tion, technology innovation, deep industry and business process expertise, and a global, collaborative
workforce that embodies the future of work. With over 100 development and delivery centers worldwide
and approximately 217,700 employees as of March 31, 2015, Cognizant is a member of the NASDAQ-100,
the S&P 500, the Forbes Global 2000, and the Fortune 500 and is ranked among the top performing and
fastest growing companies in the world. Visit us online at www.cognizant.com or follow us on Twitter: Cognizant.
World Headquarters
500 Frank W. Burr Blvd.
Teaneck, NJ 07666 USA
Phone: +1 201 801 0233
Fax: +1 201 801 0243
Toll Free: +1 888 937 3277
Email: inquiry@cognizant.com
European Headquarters
1 Kingdom Street
Paddington Central
London W2 6BD
Phone: +44 (0) 20 7297 7600
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7121 0102
Email: infouk@cognizant.com
India Operations Headquarters
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Okkiyam Pettai, Thoraipakkam
Chennai, 600 096 India
Phone: +91 (0) 44 4209 6000
Fax: +91 (0) 44 4209 6060
Email: inquiryindia@cognizant.com
­­© Copyright 2015, Cognizant. All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the express written permission from Cognizant. The information contained herein is
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About the Authors
Nikhil Kulkarni is a Senior Consultant within Cognizant Business Consulting’s Manufacturing and
Logistics Practice. He has over nine years of experience in business and technology consulting and
has worked on numerous strategic business transformation and technology implementation engage-
ments. He has worked with clients on new product/service development initiatives, business process
reengineering and mobility-based customer engagement strategies. Nikhil holds an M.B.A. from the
University of Connecticut and graduate degrees in industrial engineering and international affairs
from the University of Florida and Georgia Tech, respectively. He can be reached at Nikhil.Kulkarni3@
cognizant.com | LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/nikhilvkulkarni.
Anand Kalathil is a Senior Consultant within Cognizant Business Consulting’s Manufacturing and
Logistics Practice. He has over nine years of experience working on supply chain consulting engage-
ments in discrete and process manufacturing companies. Anand has worked extensively on process and
product reengineering engagements for leading Fortune 500 clients. He holds an M.B.A. from NITIE,
Mumbai, and a bachelor’s in technology from National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra. He can
be reached at Anand.Kalathil@cognizant.com | LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/pub/anand-kal-
athil/6/556/822.