Kenneth Wacks - Conferences
Home Systems & Energy Management

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IREC (Interstate Renewable Energy Council) asked Dr. Wacks to chair the Customer Grid Edge committee, a committee of experts that seeks to improve interoperability between energy service providers and customer-sited equipment including renewable energy, energy storage, and microgrids. Among the topics his committee is exploring are:

  • The grid edge in transition
  • A pragmatic approach to solar and storage installation
  • Consumer incentives for load management adoption
  • Home network configuration, operation, and cybersecurity
  • Net-zero communities
  • Transactive energy impact on consumers
  • Load shaping for charging electric vehicles
  • Decarbonizing buildings
  • The Equitable Approach to a 100% Clean Energy Future
  • IREC: Visioning the Future of DER Integration to Support a 100% Clean Energy Transition
  • Tool For Achieving an Optimum Power Grid Load Shape
  • Shaving the Peaks and Filling the Valleys: ANSI/CTA-2045 Energy Management Standard for Water Heaters
  • Achieving Optimum Load Shaping Without PII [Personally Identifiable Information] or Transactions
  • The Grid of the Future: Architecture, Technology, and Regulation
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NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) and SGIP (Smart Grid Interoperability Panel) appointed Dr. Wacks chair of the Home/Building/Industry-to-Grid Committee exploring grid-edge challenges. This became the SEPA (Smart Electric Power Alliance) Home-to-Grid committee. He has directed and critiqued the development of white papers about:
  • Home-to-grid requirements
  • Implementing interoperability
  • Protection of consumer privacy
  • Electromagnetic compatibility
  • Appliance interface requirements
  • Modular Communications Interface (now an American National Standard: ANSI/CTA-2045, and
    international standard: ISO/IEC 10192-3)
  • Installation of energy management equipment
  • Large scale production of appliances responsive to energy management
  • Broadcast communications for energy management
  • Local grid and nanogrid terminology
  • Transactive energy (overview, tariffs, use cases)
  • The energy services interface between grids and premises
  • Energy storage for commercial and industrial facilities
  • Consumer metrics for smart grid programs
  • Economic value of consumption preferences in planning electric systems
  • Gateway standards requirements for cybersecurity, privacy, and safety
  • Energy management requirements for customer solar plus storage
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Dr. Wacks conducted research and interviews with leading suppliers to produce Home Networking: State of the Market for Parks Associates. Topics covered included:
  • The purpose of a home network
  • Connecting a home network to an external network
  • Types of home networks
  • Wired home networks
  • Power Line Carrier (PLC) networks
  • Wireless Networks
  • Cellular systems
  • The business of home networks
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Dr. Wacks wrote an in-depth report for the Consumer Technology Association that introduced smart grid concepts to consumer electronics executives and managers. The objective was to describe potential business opportunities for consumer electronics products that complement smart grids in homes. These products might be a new line designed specifically to support smart grid functions or might be an existing line with additional features for enhancing these functions.

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Electricity generated from renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power is proliferating. The outputs from these power sources fluctuate with the weather and time-of-day. To accommodate these sources while maintaining grid stability, the GridWise Architecture Council is investigating Transactive Energy. Transactive Energy consists of economic and control tools that enable suppliers and consumer to adapt to this fluctuation while maintaining a reliable and resilient smart grid. Dr. Wacks worked with the GridWise Architecture Council to organize workshops and conferences on Transactive Energy.
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Dr. Wacks helped the GridWise Architecture Council organize a workshop to focus on local initiatives for sustainability. Speakers from Canada and the United States addressed opportunities for new companies in the local community to provide power generation services, electric vehicle charging stations, and energy management services. Some energy management may be incorporated into consumer electronics installed in the house. Creating a smart grid is much more than a technical challenge. Therefore, in addition to discussing technologies, the speakers explained how they handled business and policy issues.

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The concept of a smart grid extends the electricity grid beyond the meter to connect with home networks for energy management. Some have suggested that the industry should have uniform standards for networks that access the home and for networks within the home. However, a group of companies led by CableLabs was concerned that mandating standards for access networks and home networks might inhibit a competitive market. Instead, CableLabs proposed that NIST (United States National Institute of Standards and Technology) accommodate customer choice in access and home networks. CableLabs is a non-profit organization that conducts research for the cable telecommunications industry. CableLabs and Dr. Wacks wrote Creating a Robust Market for Residential Energy Management through an Open Energy Management Architecture.

Digital Media Networks

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Dr. Wacks conducted research to produce Set-top Boxes: Innovations and Trends for Parks Associates. Topics covered included:
  • Multimedia services
  • Technologies for multimedia services
  • Monetizing set-top box data
  • Strategies for retaining set-top box customers
  • Responses by the Industry
  • The future of set-top boxes
  • Observations and recommendations
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Dr. Wacks investigated technologies for distributing high quality video in buildings with minimal impact on the wiring infrastructure. He developed reports on HDBaseT™ technology for distributing audio, video, control, and power over structured cabling used for home and building networks.

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CABA, the Continental Automated Buildings Association, conducted a multi-client research project on streaming video. Streaming video consists of Internet Protocol (IP) data packets interspersed with other IP packets carrying e-mail, web content, data files, voice data (VoIP), etc. The video packet stream is also called Over-The-Top video (OTT video) because the video is “riding on top of” the broadcast channels that may be carried on the same medium, such as a coaxial or fiber optics cable. OTT video on the public Internet has become a vehicle for amateur video productions such as YouTube and for commercial services that are ad-sponsored or subscription. The CABA study explored consumer viewing of OTT video and preferred displays: TV, computer, or mobile devices. Focus groups ranging from teen-aged to retired Americans and Canadians were interviewed. Dr. Wacks managed this project and wrote a summary in TV Anytime, Anywhere, Any Program.

Building Automation Systems

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Dr. Wacks chairs the ASHB (formerly CABA) Connected Home Council. He also chairs the white-papers committees of this council and the ASHB Intelligent Building Council. He oversees the development of information reports about technologies, products, and markets for building and home systems. These councils have published the following papers:
  • Fire Alarm Systems in Smart Buildings
  • Power-over-Ethernet: Basics
  • Cybersecurity for Building Automation Systems
  • Benefits of Advanced Light Systems on the Human Experience
  • Application of Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) in Smart Homes and Buildings
  • Bipolar Ionization and its Contribution to Smart and Safe Buildings
  • Power-over-Ethernet: Basics
  • What is Li-Fi?
  • The Commercialization of Li-Fi
  • IoT Cybersecurity Guidelines, Standards and Verification Systems
  • Impacts of Automated Shading in Building Projects
  • The Future Delivery/Business Models for Smart Home Services and Infrastructure
  • Connected Home Use-Case Audit
  • Human Skin Cells: A Potential Source of Building Contaminants
  • Artificial Intelligence and the IoT Connected Home
  • Elevator Systems for Future Intelligent Buildings (3 papers)
  • Creating a New Deal for Buildings
  • The Road to Smart Cities: Considerations for a Templated Approach
  • Development and Training of a Knowledge-based Workforce for the Intelligent Buildings and Connected Home Industries
  • Intelligent Building Advances in the Quick Service Restaurant Industry
  • Home Automation Distribution Trends: An Analysis for 2017
  • Driving Energy Efficiency & Occupant Comfort through Printable & Flexible Electronics Applications in
    the Next Generation Connected Home
  • The Role of Hybrid AC/DC Building Microgrids in Creating a 21st Century Enernet
  • Printable and Flexible Electronics Enabled Intelligent Buildings
  • Project-Haystack
  • Cybersecurity in Smart Buildings: Preventing Vulnerability While Improving Connectivity
  • On Intelligent Home Offices: A Model and Potential Impacts
  • The Connected Car: Lifestyle Impact on Consumer and the Ecosystem
  • High-Quality Multimedia Distribution in Commercial Buildings
  • Improving Organizational Productivity With Building Automation Systems
  • Towards Zero Net Energy (ZNE) Super High-Rise Commercial Buildings
  • The Impact of Cloud Computing on the Development of Intelligent Buildings
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Dr. Wacks chairs the ASHB (formerly CABA) Publication Review Committee, which selects papers for the ASHB library that have been published by manufacturers or the trade press. He and his committee review papers for relevance to the home and building system industries. They complete a checklist for each paper that includes an executive summary and keywords to facilitate searching by subject. Each paper must convey useful information without promoting one product as the only solution to an industry need. He has contributed reviews of hundreds of papers to the library, which contains about 1000 qualified papers.

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Making buildings more energy efficient has been identified as one of the fastest, easiest, and cheapest ways to create jobs, save money, boost manufacturing of energy-efficient materials, and reduce harmful pollution. In 2011 CABA organized research on the Smart Grid Impact on Intelligent Buildings and asked Dr. Wacks to manage this project. The goal of this study was to estimate the potential market for smart grid products and services in non-residential buildings. This study examined net-zero energy buildings.

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Dr. Wacks managed a project for CABA (now ASHB) that investigated the impact of smart grid developments on building operations, performance, and energy conservation. This project also included water conservation.

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The Canadian government retained Dr. Wacks to develop the Best-Practices Guide for Evaluating Intelligent Building Technologies. The objective of the Guide is to encourage the installation of subsystems (lighting, security, HVAC, power management, etc.) that can interoperate in order to enhance services available to building managers and tenants. This work was organized by CABA. The Best Practices Guide builds upon the Intelligent Buildings Technology Roadmap, previously developed by CABA with Canadian government sponsorship. Dr. Wacks was an advisor on this roadmap.

Standards Activities
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Convener (chairman) of ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 25/WG1, the Home Electronic System Committee developing international IoT-related (Internet of Things) standards for home and building automation. Projects include gateway cybersecurity, privacy, and safety, product interoperability, energy management (using artificial intelligence (AI)), and lighting.
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Deputy Convener of an SC 25 Project Team writing structured cabling standards for homes and home offices.
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Chair of CTA2 R7.8, Modular Communications Interface for Energy Management.
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Vice Chair of CEA R7.2, the CEBus Standards Committee, and author of ANSI/CEA-721 (Generic CAL), ANSI/CEA-776 (CEBus-EIB Router), and CEA-844 (XML for Generic CAL).
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Member of US Technical Advisory Group for IEC Systems Committee Smart Cities.
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 Member of CTA R7 Consumer Electronics Networking Committee working groups (WG):
   •  R7 WG3 . . .Versatile Home Network using IEEE-1394b/c
   •  R7 WG4 . . .Enhanced User Interface
   •  R7 WG5 . . .Audio/Video Network Adapter
   •  R7 WG6 . . .Audio/Video Networks Based on Ethernet
   •  R7 WG7 . . .Wireless Entertainment Networks
   •  R7 WG9 . . .User Interface for UPnP/Ethernet
   •  R7 WG13. . .Control Network Based on Echelon LonTalk
   •  R7 WG14. . .IPv6 Working Group
   •  R7 WG17. . .Interoperability Using Standardized Device Descriptions
   •  R7 WG18. . .Home Networking Security and Privacy
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Member of CTA R14, Cybersecurity and Privacy Management committee that developed "Baseline Cybersecurity Standard for Devices and Device Systems"
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Member of AHAM3 Smart Appliance Task Force writing standards for major home appliances (kitchen appliances).
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Participant on AMRA/IEEE SCC314 writing standards for automatic meter reading equipment interfaces.
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Member of ASHRAE5 Standard Program Committee 201, Facility Smart Grid Information Model.
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Member of CABA6 standards committee coordinating public standards with private consortia.
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Contributor to the CABA oBIX7 at OASIS8 writing specifications for XML and web-services control of buildings.
           Notes
1.
The Working Group is formally known as ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 25/WG 1:

ISO = International Organization for Standardization
IEC = International Electrotechnical Commission
JTC 1 = Joint Technical Committee 1, responsible primarily for information standards
SC 25 = Subcommittee 25, Interconnection of Information Technology Equipment
WG 1 = Working Group 1, entitled Home Electronic System

The missions of the ISO and IEC are to foster international trade and commerce.

2.
CTA (CEA was renamed CTA in 2015) is authorized by ANSI to write American National Standards in home networking.
CEA = Consumer Electronics Association
CTA = Consumer Technology Association
ANSI = American National Standards Institute
3.
AHAM is authorized by ANSI to write American National Standards for home appliances.
AHAM = Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers.
4.
AMRA = Automatic Meter Reading Association, now called Utilimetrics
IEEE = Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
SCC31 = Standards Coordinating Committee 31, "Automatic Meter Reading and Energy Management"
5.
ASHRAE = American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers
6.
CABA = Continental Automated Buildings Association
7.
oBIX = Open Building Information Xchange
8.
OASIS = Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards