QA Graphics Names Nichols School as Winner of Green School Contest

Contact:
Sarah Erdman, Marketing Director
888.965.3403
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June 21, 2010

QA Graphics, a provider of educational solutions for green buildings, is proud to announce Nichols School as the winner of their Showcase Your School’s Green Efforts contest. QA Graphics will award the school with an Energy Efficiency Education Dashboard that can be used to educate students, parents and the community about the school’s sustainable initiatives.

This spring QA Graphics held the Showcase Your School’s Green Efforts contest, calling sixth to twelfth-grade schools nationwide to share what steps have been taken to green their school, and is rewarding Nichols School for their sustainable efforts. QA Graphics worked with the national U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) to reach out to state USGBC chapters for contest support and judging of the entries. Then the public cast their vote to name the final winner – Nichols School in Buffalo, New York.

The Energy Efficiency Education Dashboard (EEED) is an interactive educational display used to showcase an organization’s green initiatives. It can be incorporated into the school’s curriculum, using interactive demonstrations, quizzes, photos and environmental tips to provide education about sustainable features and how those features help the environment. Plus, the content can be edited, so that the school can continue to use the EEED in their curriculum as the school’s sustainable initiatives grow.

“We received entries from schools all across the country telling us about their sustainable efforts,” said Dan McCarty, president of QA Graphics. “We’re excited to create an Energy Efficiency Education Dashboard for Nichols School; they have implemented so many sustainable efforts at the school and this interactive tool will allow the school to even further their educational efforts.”

Nichols School was chosen as the winner of the contest for their dedication to environmental responsibility, education, and sustainability. The school’s environmental efforts are organized through their Big Green Initiative, a group of administrators, staff, faculty, and students that work together to promote a green campus. Six separate buildings make up the Nichols campus, and a number of efforts have been made to update the older buildings, adding new energy efficient windows, energy efficient lighting and an efficient heating system. The newest building, the Class of 1963 Center for Math and Science, opened in January of 2010 and was built with sustainability in mind. The new building makes use of passive solar heating and solar lighting, with a building management system in place to monitor energy consumption. High efficiency boilers are in place as part of the heat pump-based HVAC system, and low-flow plumbing fixtures have been installed to reduce water consumption.

“Between preparing essays for entry into the contest, and rallying the school to vote for us as the top finalist, the environmental program at Nichols found the Showcase Your School’s Green Efforts contest to be a cohesive and inspiring experience for our community,” said Edward Spangenthal, a senior in Nichol’s environmental studies class. “At a time when our world has unprecedented environmental challenges, Nichols is grateful for QA Graphics’ support. Undoubtedly, the Energy Efficiency Education Dashboard will be a valuable tool as we prepare more students to be leaders in sustainability and conservation.”

Sustainable initiatives are continued in the school’s curriculum, using SMART board™ technology in every classroom and incorporating environmental education into the lesson plans. The school has also committed to reducing their carbon footprint by continuing to develop green curriculum through all the grades and joining the Green Schools Alliance, a non-profit organization “created by schools for schools,” which works with schools worldwide to set and meet greening goals, raise environmental awareness, and empower students, faculty and staff.

“The Green Key Curriculum will allow students to gain environmental consciousness and responsibility by incorporating what they’ve learned into their everyday lives,” said Joshua Ring, a science teacher at Nichols who worked with his environmental studies class to submit the winning entry. “Environmental awareness is not enough; we want students to actually change their behaviors so that their interactions are future-looking and responsible.”

Many outdoor features add to the campus’ sustainability. Pedestrian transportation is encouraged through improved access to public transportation stops, the addition of bicycle racks, and expanded sidewalks. The outdoor landscaping is designed with native plant materials as well as a rain garden and green roof to partially manage storm water. A student-run composting program is also in place on the campus.

QA Graphics will work with Nichols School throughout the summer to develop a custom Energy Efficiency Education Dashboard that the school can use to showcase their sustainable initiatives and further the campus’ environmental education efforts.  The dashboard will display the campus’ real-time electric and water use, allowing the school to see what impact their sustainable initiatives have made, and interactive demonstrations will show how the school’s green roof, day lighting and efficient HVAC system all function. Students will also be able learn about sustainable features that are in place throughout the campus, and test their “green” knowledge by taking an interactive quiz.

“The dashboard will allow students to actively learn math by compiling building data,” said MaryAnne Hejna, math department chair at Nichols. “Students will study how electric, water and air needs vary on a day-to-day basis as well as on a seasonal cycle. Do we use more energy during the winter? Do our needs vary over the course of a school week? The dashboard will collect this tangible data and infuse live math into daily classes for students to manipulate and learn from.”

More information about QA Graphics’ Energy Efficiency Education Dashboard can be found at: http://www.qagraphics.com/energy-efficiency-education-dashboard/schools.html.

About QA Graphics
QA Graphics is an innovative graphic development company specializing in the building automation and green building design industries. The company is an industry leader in the design of graphical user interfaces (GUI) and energy education dashboards used to showcase a building’s green initiatives. The company provides a variety of graphic design solutions including graphic outsourcing, 3D design/animation, interactive content and Web site development.

Click the thumbnails to view images of Nichols School.

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QA Graphics Expands Capabilities to Offer Building Information Modeling (BIM) Services

Contact:
Sarah Erdman, Marketing Director
888.965.3403
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June 15, 2010

QA Graphics, a provider of creative design solutions for the building industry, is pleased to announce the expansion of their capabilities to provide building information modeling (BIM) solutions for building product manufacturers.

QA Graphics provides a great deal of graphic outsourcing for the building industry, including the creation of 3D models and animations for  manufacturers’ building products, designing control system graphics, and the development of energy education dashboards to provide education about a building’s sustainable features.  The company has worked with a number of manufacturers to provide 3D design and animation services to accurately represent their HVAC equipment (heating, ventilating, and air conditioning) and MEP equipment (mechanical, electrical, and plumbing). QA Graphics has also developed a 3D symbol library for the building automation industry, which provides images of equipment and components that allow users to create more appealing and realistic system graphics than provided by BAS software.  The 3D symbol library has successfully been implemented into numerous facilities and several leading control system manufacturers have worked with QA Graphics to acquire custom libraries. Through this experience, the company has expanded their services to provide building information modeling (BIM) design.

“We’ve watched our customers’ needs evolve as the adoption of BIM increases, and expanding our services to assist product manufacturers with BIM design was a natural progression,” said Dan McCarty, president of QA Graphics. “With our familiarity of the building industry and experience in the 3D design of MEP equipment, the jump to providing BIM design was not a big step. We look forward to providing additional sales tools that will help our customers gain a competitive edge in the market.”

The advantage of building information modeling (BIM) is that it provides the ability to include detailed information about the building and include specific product details early on in the design process.  As BIM becomes more widely used, the demand for product-specific object models is increasing.  QA Graphics looks to primarily provide BIM object creation services to meet the needs of building product manufacturers, allowing them to provide BIM-based libraries for their own product lines. This will allow designers, architects and contractors to easily include the products in their building information models.

QA Graphics will work with product manufacturers to create 3D BIM objects that accurately represent their building product lines.  This will allow for 3D visualization, as well as the inclusion of specific details about the product’s performance, manufacturer information and associated costs. Manufacturers will be able to provide designers with these intelligent objects to increase the specification of their products in the early stages of a building’s design. And as green construction continues to increase, QA Graphics anticipates that the demand for models of major equipment to be specified in the early design process will further the demand for BIM objects, as it will allow contractors to view product-specific details and plan ahead for building performance and associated costs.

The company will primarily develop BIM objects for MEP equipment, with intelligent connections for mechanical equipment, ductwork, pipes, etc.  QA Graphics follows Autodesk Seek standards, providing fully parametric models that are data-rich, but with efficient file sizes, to contain all of the product-specific information that designers and contractors will need for their building information models.  To learn more about QA Graphics’ BIM design solutions, visit: http://www.qagraphics.com/graphic-services/bim.html. 

About QA Graphics
QA Graphics is an innovative computer graphic development company specializing in the building automation and green building industries. The company is an industry leader in the design of graphical user interfaces (GUI) and energy education dashboards used to showcase a building’s performance and sustainable initiatives. The company also provides design services including graphic outsourcing, 3D design/animation, BIM design, drafting, interactive content and website development.

Energy Efficiency Investments Remain Strong Despite Global Recession

A press release, “Energy Efficiency Investments Remain Strong Despite Global Recession,” distributed by Johnson Controls, discusses that the investment in energy efficiency will continue to increase. Johnson Controls recently released a study, the Energy Efficiency Indicator, which surveyed members responsible for making investments in energy and managing the energy efficiencies of commercial buildings worldwide.

 

Energy Efficiency Education Dashboard in ASHRAE Journal

May 2009

The May issue of the ASHRAE Journal included a mention about our Energy Efficiency Education Dashboard and how it can display a building’s resource use,  carbon footprint, green features and more. View the ASHRAE Journal.

QA Graphics Develops Energy Efficiency Education Dashboard Module for Niagara AX

Contact:
Sarah Erdman, Marketing Director
888.965.3403
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June 8, 2010

QA Graphics, an industry leader in providing energy education dashboards and interactive displays for sustainable buildings has developed a module for their Energy Efficiency Education Dashboard solution that is compatible with the Tridium Niagara AX platform.

The Energy Efficiency Education Dashboard is an interactive solution used to provide education about the importance of a building’s efficiencies and sustainable features. The educational display can show a building’s resource use in real-time, providing a series of screens with live and historical building data, such as electric use or water use. The data is presented in an easy to understand format for building occupants and the public. Any building data pulled from the control system can be displayed on graphs for a daily, weekly, monthly or yearly time period. Showing a building’s resource use is important; it allows viewers to see if the building is performing as it should be and motivates them to be more aware of their resource use. The solution also helps facility managers and building owners manage their building’s resource use, as the data is readily accessible and the metrics are easier to understand.

Typically, to display real-time data, the Energy Efficiency Education Dashboard requires certain hardware components to integrate the application with a building’s control system. With QA Graphics’ development of the new EEED Module for Niagara AX, users of the Niagara AX platform can purchase the Energy Efficiency Education Dashboard at a significantly lower price, because the module allows customers to utilize the control system’s existing hardware. The module also simplifies the process and reduces the set-up time needed to integrate the application with the AX platform.

In addition to displaying a building’s performance data, the Energy Efficiency Education Dashboard is also used to educate building occupants and the public about the building’s sustainable practices. A variety of educational information can be displayed, like calculators that compute the resources saved, educational demos that show how a solar hot water panel system collects solar energy to provide a facility with hot water, and environmental tips that everyone can follow to help sustain the environment. Interactive features like quizzes, games and LEED checklists make the display fun and encourage viewers to learn more.   Energy education dashboards are increasingly being used by schools, universities, libraries, retail facilities, hotels, restaurants, and governmental buildings, and when combined with supporting educational efforts, may help achieve the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Innovation in Design LEED credit.
  
The Energy Efficiency Education Dashboard can be displayed on the internet, intranet, and/or hardware devices located throughout the building, such as touch screens or kiosks. The application is also editable, giving the end-user the ability to change much of the content and images as the sustainable initiatives evolve. To learn more, visit http://www.qagraphics.com/energy-efficiency-education-dashboard.html or contact QA Graphics at 515.965.3403 to view a demo.
 
The EEED Module for Niagara AX is the second module compatible with the Niagara AX system that QA Graphics has recently released to help simplify the use of their products with the AX platform. QA Graphics has also developed a BAS Image Module which users can rely on to build better graphics within their BAS software. The BAS Image Module is offered in conjunction with QA Graphics’ 3D Symbol Library, which provides both static and pre-built animated images that are more realistic than provided by default with the Niagara AX platform. The library and module function smoothly within Niagara AX, allowing the user to build graphics, pull in the pre-built animations, and bind the points and animations. The module can be opened though Niagara AX’s palette sidebar, where the user can drag and drop the symbols onto their canvas, making the process of assembling high-end graphics simpler and faster. 

About QA Graphics
QA Graphics is an innovative computer graphic development company specializing in the building automation and green building industries. The company is an industry leader in the design of graphical user interfaces (GUI) and energy education dashboards used to showcase a building’s performance and sustainable initiatives. The company also provides a variety of design services including graphic outsourcing, 3D design/animation, drafting, interactive content and website development.

QA Graphics Welcomes Izaak Moody

Contact:
Sarah Erdman, Marketing Director
888.965.3403
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June 7, 2010

(Ankeny, Iowa) QA Graphics is proud to announce the hiring of Izaak Moody. Izaak earned his Bachelor in Fine Arts, with an emphasis on 3D animation and concept art, from Iowa State University. He has joined QA Graphics’ interactive design team to assist in the development of 3D graphics and animation for a variety of the company’s interactive project needs.

Prior to joining QA Graphics, Izaak worked at the Virtual Reality Applications Center at Iowa State University, where he helped create various types of educational video games. The most recent game he assisted in creating was a game meant to help teach biology to high school students.  In this previous role, Izaak also served as the Art Director on a project called Battlespace, which was developed to help train soldiers in urban combat. Izaak has always been passionate about computers and art, so 3D animation and concept art has come naturally to him. QA Graphics is excited to have Izaak join the team and look forwards to seeing the creative ideas that he can add to the company’s interactive graphic solutions.

About QA Graphics
QA Graphics is an innovative computer graphic development company specializing in the building automation and green building design industries. The company is an industry leader in the design of graphical user interfaces (GUI) and energy efficiency education used to showcase a building’s green initiatives. The company also provides a variety of graphic design solutions including graphic outsourcing, 3D design/animation, interactive content and website development.

 

 

 

HVAC Gets Some Attention on Wall Street

Contracting Business’ article, “HVAC Gets Some Attention on Wall Street,” notes that the HVAC industry got some attention in the financial press recently, stating “the HVAC market has turned the corner” as a result of consumer tax credits for energy efficient equipment.

BIM to the Rescue: Creating Sustainable Buildings

The article, “BIM to the Rescue: Creating Sustainable Buildings,” showcases how sustainable buildings are utilizing building information modeling (BIM) to create 3D models of a building and its overall structure to serve as a resource for facility managers to operate the building as efficient as possible.

Improve Your Graphic Development Process

Published: May 27, 2010
Author: Sarah Erdman

An integrator’s core responsibility is to ensure that a project’s mechanical systems are integrated correctly and operate as they should.  As with every industry, the building industry has evolved so that jobs are supposed to be as efficient as possible, requiring a great deal of multi-tasking and getting more done in less time.  For integrators, this means their job not only requires the integration of systems required for a project, but also the creation of graphics for the end-user to see and manage that integration.

A common trend many integrators follow is outsourcing these graphics needs to companies that can build superior graphics in less time than integrators can do themselves.  If someone else can do the graphics faster and better, why focus a large amount of time on graphics when that time can be focused elsewhere? A resource that integrators can to look to is QA Graphics, an industry leader in the design of control system graphics. The company has provided graphics for a number of major control companies in the U.S.

In addition to graphic outsourcing solutions for the building automation industry, QA Graphics has developed resources that allow integrators to assemble graphics more efficiently themselves.  A new solution that has been created to make the graphic development process simpler and faster specifically helps Niagara AX users reduce their workload.  QA Graphics has developed a BAS Image Module which Niagara AX users can rely on to build better graphics within their BAS software.  Using an Image Module can save integrators time creating system graphics. In addition, they don’t have to build the animations for the graphics; they can simply drag and drop pre-built animations onto the palette. 

The new BAS Image Module is offered in conjunction with the company’s commercial version 3.0 of their 3D Symbol Library for Niagara AX, to provide more appealing and realistic graphics than provided by default with the Niagara AX platform. The BAS Image Module provides users with both static and pre-built animated images. The library and module function smoothly within Niagara AX, allowing the user to build their graphics, pull in the pre-built animations, and bind the points and animations. The module can be opened through Niagara AX’s palette sidebar, similar to the existing graphics provided with Niagara AX, where the user can drag and drop the symbols onto their canvas.

The 3D Symbol Library provides the equipment and components needed to consistently assemble high-end system graphics, allowing users to spend less time assembling 3D BAS graphics and further distinguish themselves in the market. The library offers a competitive advantage within the building automation industry. With over 280 static and 85 animated graphics, the symbols can be used to create most major mechanical systems.  Key symbols include boilers, chillers, dampers, filters, piping, fans, cooling towers, generators, valves, ductwork, coils and more.  Users can develop high-end system graphics and represent mechanical control drawings in a schematic, graphical view. Examples of system graphics may be viewed at: http://qagraphics.com/bas-services/bas-image-module.html.

“Our company provides extensive graphic outsourcing for the building automation industry, so we understand the time and skill needed to develop system graphics,” said Russell Zimmerman, vice president of operations/engineering at QA Graphics. “We are always looking for ways to assist integrators, and we’re excited to announce this new BAS Image Module and other resources to develop Image Modules because we know it will help simplify the graphic development process.”

Also available is a resource developed by QA Graphics that shows how to build your own Image Module within Niagara AX. The time it takes to create your own Image Module depends on one’s skill set, but it could take up to a week to build and verify. This free resource is available at: http://qagraphics.com/bas-services/bas-image-module.html.

If you’re interested in learning how you can simplify the graphic development process and access high-end graphics, contact Sarah Erdman, marketing director of QA Graphics, at 515.965.3403 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Learning Opportunity

School Construction News’s article, “Learning Opportunity,” discusses the importance of building green schools and the importance of providing education about those sustainable features. The administration and faculty must take the initiative to educate students and encourage interaction to fully take advantage of the school’s green features.