ENERGY SERVICES

The present application relates to the field of energy service and more particularly to a system and method of lifecycle energy management.

Traditional product selling happens at the point of sale, and after-sale activities are activities are mainly restricted to installation and maintenance. An energy service is the process in which energy service companies (ESCO) first identify a potential lead for their offering, do a site audit, generate a proposal for energy-efficient measures (EEM) for a client's facility; second, installing new or retrofit existing energy efficiency measures (EEM); third, monitoring energy consumption and find upgrade opportunities, and fourth, receive part of the energy saving as income. See for example, Masaaki Bannai et al., "Energy Service Business Method and System," USP7130832.

Unlike traditional product sale, energy service delivery is a process involving many phases from proposal generation to measurement and verification, and usually spans a relatively long period of time, i.e., several months or years. Due to many dynamic factors such as system degradation, usage pattern shift, changing policies and availability of new technology, energy service upgrade opportunities can appear continuously during the period when the service is delivered. Furthermore, there exists the risk that the expected energy saving may not be realized due to the fact that it is hard to establish a baseline (see, for example, E. James Hondroulis et al, "System and Method for Energy Measurement and Verification with Constant Baseline Reference," EP1012742A1) and determine the energy consumption model of a target building in a short amount of time (see for example,

rishnappa Subbarao et al., "Method and Apparatus for Improving Building Energy

Simulations," US613451 1).

In addition, going "green" is a choice that many companies are considering in their initial design and in subsequent retrofits and upgrades. Going green improves an

organization's public image, customer relationship, operating efficiency and employee engagement. Employees also feel proud to work for environmentally conscious

organizations. A proud and engaged workforce is a key to the success of the organization. Naturally, many organizations invest significant capital to promote sustainable practices.

There are well established programs and organizations promoting sustainable design and operations of the buildings. The U.S. Green Building Council, (USGBC) is a prominent organization that is known for its development of the Leadership in Energy and

Environmental Design (LEED) rating system There is a growing trend towards requiring LEED certification for new construction or major renovation. Since most organizations realize the importance of going green, LEED certified buildings are in higher demand and have better value than those that are not LEED certified. Lately, many cities and states are also mandating LEED certification for new construction or major renovation. Those cities and states require that new permit applications for commercial (and in some case residential) buildings must submit the supporting

documentation to achieve LEED certification.

In LEED 2009 there are 100 possible base points distributed across five major credit categories: Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy and Atmosphere, Materials and Resources, Indoor Environmental Quality, plus an additional 6 points for Innovation in Design and an additional 4 points for Regional Priority. Projects earn points by satisfying various LEED requirements. Within each of the LEED credit categories, projects must satisfy prerequisites and earn points. The number of points the project earns determines its level of LEED certification. Buildings can qualify for four levels of certification. Thus, utilizing green technology is beneficial to companies in reducing costs, reducing

environmental concerns and improved public relations.

In addition, lighting retrofit has been considered as one of the most effective approaches for improving building energy efficiency compared to retrofitting other building systems, such as HVAC systems. Traditionally, lighting retrofit heavily focuses on improving or replacing the current lighting system solely for higher energy performance. Other than large-scale renovations, where a lighting designer is available, the lighting design aspects, both photometric and aesthetic, are seldom taken into account in lighting retrofit projects.

Typically, it is simply too expensive to include a lighting professional in a team of a building retrofit project. Consequently, lighting retrofit is usually based only on a few indicative numbers, such as horizontal task illuminance at sampled locations. The resulting lighting condition, while being more energy-efficient, is not guaranteed to be better than the original design in terms of photometries and aesthetics.

Hence, there is a need in the industry for a system and method for lifecycle energy management. Such a system should include a service provision for energy service including the initial proposal generation, retrofit design and post-installation upgrading that provides a user with options in selecting one or more initial proposals, retrofit designs or upgrade options.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a system for providing solutions to design a new system or retrofit an existing system to improve the efficiency of the system.

It is an object of the present invention to identify clients and/or potential clients that may benefit from implementing one of a plurality of solutions to improve the efficiency of a system.

It is an object of the present invention to incorporate at least one of new technologies, corporate policy, governmental policy and compliance, costs of modifications and

implementation in determined a plurality of solutions to improve the efficiency of a system.

In one aspect of the invention, a method for providing efficient energy management is disclosed. The method including, identifying at least one potential beneficiary of the efficient energy management, collecting data within with an area of an identified at least one potential beneficiary, the collected data being associated with an existing system within the area;

preparing a plurality of proposed solutions of efficient energy management, the proposed solutions representing combinations of modifications of the existing system, selecting one of said plurality of proposed solutions; and implementing the selected proposed solution.

For a better understanding of exemplary embodiments and to show how the same may be carried into effect, reference is made to the accompanying drawings. It is stressed that the particulars shown are by way of example only and for purposes of illustrative discussion of the preferred embodiments of the present disclosure, and are presented to clarify the most useful and readily understood description of the principles and conceptual aspects of the invention. In this regard, no attempt is made to show structural details of the invention in more detail than is necessary for a fundamental understanding of the invention, the description taken with the drawings making apparent to those skilled in the art how the several forms of the invention may be embodied in practice. In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary system in accordance with the principles of the invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates a further example of an exemplary system in accordance with the principles of the invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary system in accordance with the principles of the invention;

FIG. 4 illustrates a flow chart of an exemplary process in accordance with the principles of the invention;

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary service upgrade process in accordance with the principles of the invention;

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary system for establishing a baseline condition in accordance with the principles of the invention;

FIG. 7 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of the solution engine in accordance with the principles of the invention; and

FIG. 8 illustrates a flow chart of an exemplary process in accordance with the principles of the invention.

It is noted that the drawings of the invention are not to scale. The drawings are intended to depict only typical aspects of the invention, and therefore should not be considered as limiting the scope of the invention. In the drawings, like numbers represent like elements between the drawings.

It is to be understood that the figures and descriptions of the present invention described herein have been simplified to illustrate the elements that are relevant for a clear understanding of the present invention, while eliminating, for purposes of clarity, many other elements. However, because these omitted elements are well-known in the art, and because they do not facilitate a better understanding of the present invention, a discussion of such elements is not provided herein. The disclosure herein is directed to also variations and modifications known to those skilled in the art.

Figure 1 illustrates a block diagram of a conceptual system 10 in accordance with the principles of the invention.

Figure 1 illustrates a lead creation phase 1 1, a data collection phase 12, a proposal generation phase 13 a proposal review phase 14 and an installation and maintenance phase 15.

The lead creation phase 1 1 provides methods for soliciting, tracking, sorting and determining the quality of potential leads or clients that may warrant further consideration. The data collection phase 12 provides methods for collecting data at a potential client. A proposal generation phase 13 provides methods for generating proposals for the potential client with regard to energy management and/or upgrades and savings. The proposal review phase 14 provides methods for reviewing and selecting a proposal for implementing a proposed energy management plan. The installation phase 15 provides methods for installing and maintaining the elements of the selected proposal.

Figure 2 illustrates an exemplary system 100 associated with the proposal generation (step 13, Fig. 1) phase in accordance with the principles of the invention.

The system of Figure 2 illustrates a block diagram of the service upgrade engine 1 10 receiving inputs such as new technology 120, policy and standards 130. The policy and standards 130 may be policy and standards that may be internal to the user or imposed on the user by governmental agencies. The upgrade engine 110 further receives inputs from the equipment in the facility. For example, energy expended by lighting 140, air conditioning 150, elevators 160, etc. may be input associated with energy expended from equipment within a facility. In addition, the service upgrade engine 1 10 may receive information regarding energy rates, demand response, load, etc. (block 125).

The service engine 1 10 may then generate one or more design or upgrade proposal

190 based on the inputted data regarding changes that may be made to the equipment within a facility and the effects of the proposed changes. The one or more proposed designs or upgrades may then be provided to a client (i.e., user) 170 or to a company 180.

Figure 3 illustrates another example of the exemplary system shown in Figure 2, wherein the service upgrade engine 1 10 may receive inputs, such as system performance data 210 (i.e., lighting, elevator, etc.), policy data (e.g., government) 130, technology 120, energy prices 125, etc., as previously discussed with regard to Figure 2.

The service upgrade engine 1 10 may further be connected, through a network (not shown) to a web server 230 and a data base 240. The web server 230 provides to a user the ability to enter information regarding current conditions in an area and also to receive information regarding updating and/or upgrading an existing system. The database includes information regarding existing products, for example, and their energy characteristics. The database may also include information regarding potential clients and/or leads to potential clients. The web server 230 and the data base constitute, in part, the lead creation phase 1 1 shown in Figure 1. As would be recognized, the web server 230 and data base 240 may be local to, and/or remote from, the service upgrade engine 1 10.

Service upgrade engine 1 10 comprises features such as continuous data monitoring 250, service upgrade evaluator 260 and proposal generator 270 among other features and algorithms.

The service upgrade engine monitor 250 continuously monitors system performance data in the form of one or more dataflows and from various external data sources through various communication means, as shown in Figures 2 and 3. System performance data includes energy consumption data, fault rate, etc. As an exemplary example, let input vector / = (io, ij, iy) denote the system performance input variables. A sample input vector may be represented as:

/ = (lighting energy consumption, HVAC energy consumption, government policy, new technology, supply cost, energy price structure ...)

where io denote the first component of the input vector,

ij the second component, ....

Each input variable can be either numerical or categorical, either continuous or discrete.

Wherever there is a significant change in one or more variables in /, the upgrade engine 1 10 generates at least one upgrade proposal to accommodate the change. A computation process is triggered to calculate the E (economic, environmental, energy) factors of the proposed service upgrade to evaluate its cost-effectiveness (which will be described in detail later).

Figure 4 illustrates a flow chart 300 of an exemplary service upgrade process in accordance with the principles of the invention.

In the illustrated service upgrade process shown in Fig. 3, real time data collection is performed at block 310. In this case, system performance data of one or more energy subsystems, e.g., lighting, HVAC, etc. is monitored by system built-in meters, for example. A significant change in system performance data may occur due to system degradation or a usage pattern shift. For example, an HVAC system's energy consumption ( _? ) to maintain a fixed temperature may gradually increase due to the degradation of a refrigerant. The change in energy consumption can be detected by comparing current energy consumption with historical energy consumption data. The historical energy consumption data may be collected during the data collection phase (see Fig. 1). To avoid false alarms, only when the change in performance data is greater than a pre-determined threshold will the upgrade engine trigger the service upgrade process (block 320).

In another embodiment, the service upgrade engine 110 monitors two or more system performance data and identifies the causal relationship between them using data correlation techniques. The interaction between different energy sub-systems may also generate energy upgrade proposals. For example, a daylight harvesting system to save lighting energy consumption (io) may be found to increase the HVAC energy consumption (/;) in summer (block 325). Therefore, a shading control system may be needed to intelligently control the daylight that is admitted into the facility. In another aspect, government policy (z ^' 2), such as mandate on energy savings, incentives and tax rebates, may be automatically monitored (block 330). Such monitoring may be performed by receiving information from, or monitoring, government website content, newsletters and RSS feed using natural language processing techniques. For example, a new government policy with a strict energy consumption cap for certain industrial sectors can be captured by the upgrade engine 1 10 in real-time. In another example, an event of a launch of government subsidy for certain products (e.g., LED lighting, solar panels, etc.) may also be detected by the service engine 1 10. The service upgrade engine 1 10 may perform a change impact analysis to evaluate the change in service cost and energy saving target (block 335). The service upgrade engine may also leverage advanced artificial intelligence techniques, such as a recommender system, to find upgrade options by collecting related topics of a keyword. For example, the keyword "smart building" may be linked to "intelligent control", "building energy management system".

In another aspect, the availability of latest technology (13) and change in supply cost (14) (block 340) can be detected by the service upgrade engine 1 10 via receiving data from, or monitoring, major manufacturers' websites, industry news websites and/or supply chain networks. Keywords and important terms are extracted in real-time. For example, news on a new type of LED lamps with 20% improved energy efficiency can be detected by the upgrade engine, serving as a potential candidate for the current/new energy saving project.

In this case, a supply cost determination may be made (block 345).

In another aspect, changes in energy price structure (z ^' j) (block 350) due to the relation between supply and demand in smart grid, or energy price regulation can be monitored in real-time. To reduce false alarms, a relatively long period of monitoring may be necessary for the change to be stable. A service upgrade to change the schedule of energy consumption activities can be proposed so that low-rate time slot can be utilized to save the utility cost.

In another aspect, after a service upgrade proposal is generated (190), an analysis of the service upgrade is performed (block 370) by quantifying the effectiveness of the service upgrade in terms of E factors.

As an example to calculate the energy saving component E _g of the E factor for an LED retrofitting project, a simple calculation may be performed based on a power

consumption of old CFL lamps and newer LED lamps, and a count of LED lamps to be installed. In another example, to estimate the energy saving of a daylight harvesting system, a model may be used to evaluate the impact of daylight on HVAC system load. The estimated energy saving is then divided by the cost to implement the service upgrade to calculate the per-dollar energy saving, which determines if the proposed upgrade should actually be implemented, at block 370

In addition, the cost saving (the economical component of E vector) E _c due to the service upgrade is calculated or estimated through cost analysis tools. For example, with the installation of a new type of energy efficient LED, the cost saving can be simply calculated by knowing the energy saving and the energy price structure. A more comprehensive estimation may also include the installation and maintenance cost, i.e., total cost of ownership including capital expenditure and operating expenditure brought about by the long lifetime of LED product or the service contract term. The amount of estimated cost saving is then used to determine if the proposed upgrade should actually be implemented.

In one aspect of the invention, weights to the E factors may be applied to reflect the user's energy saving priority. For example, a government agency may put more spending on reducing consumption of an energy consumable (the energy component of E ) per government mandates; an environmental organization may care more about C0 ₂ emission

(the environment component of E ); and a profit-driven commercial company may emphasize dollar savings (the economics component of E 3 ) more than other factors. The weighted E 3 factor can then be normalized to give an overall energy score/index as an indicator of the effectiveness of the upgrade to that particular customer.

At block 380, an evaluation of the cost effectiveness of the services upgrades is made.

For example, the provided proposals may be reviewed to determine a benefit of implementing one proposed service upgrade over another proposed service upgrade.

At block 390, a determination is made whether the proposed service upgrades, if any, are cost effective. If not, then at block 393 the proposed service upgrades are discarded and a new proposed upgrade may be initiated based on more recently collected data (block 310).

Otherwise, a selected one of the service upgrades is realized (block 396).

Fig. 5 illustrates an exemplary example of the service upgrade process of a system comprising multiple energy sub-systems, in accordance with the principles of the invention. Initially, in response to a government incentive regarding LED technology (410) the availability of inexpensive and energy-efficient LED lamp is detected by the service upgrade engine 1 10. The energy service company (ESCO) begins to implement an energy service plan proposing to replace all the lighting (e.g., incandescent, fluorescent and CFL) in its facility with energy efficient LED lamps (block 415). At some future point in time (420) news regarding a launch of a national energy saving initiative and corresponding incentives for smart buildings, the service upgrade engine 1 10 may generate a proposal for replacing older LED lamps with newer LED lamps that produce even greater efficiency. At some further future point in time (430), the service engine 1 10 may determine that occupancy sensor and other zone-based advanced control systems (LED luminaire arrays) may be used to further improve the energy efficiency of the lighting system. With more control options, and thus correlating the lighting consumption, HVAC consumption and outdoor light level, a saving potential is discovered by the upgrade engine, which generates a proposal of an advanced daylight harvesting system (435).

Figure 6 illustrates an exemplary process 500 of a data collection phase (block 12, Fig.

1) in accordance with the principles of the invention.

As shown an image capturing mechanism 510, (e.g., camera, video, infra-red, etc.) takes images of a space that is to be designed or upgraded. For example, the ceiling, walls, as well as the work plane of the target are captured (preferably, digitally) in order to capture the energy consumption (e.g., luminaire and light distribution, heat, cooling, etc.) within the space. It can be realized in various combinations of image capturing approach and image types. In one aspect of the invention, the image capturing approach is to utilize a camera cart that navigates through the space and snap pictures (or takes heat/cooling ratings)

automatically. Another alternative is to take pictures manually while making sure the images cover the entire space. In one aspect of the invention, the best type of image is luminance- calibrated images, where the value of each pixel in a picture represents the actual luminance of the point. This requires an elaborated camera calibration process. Another type of image is a high dynamic range (HDR) picture, which is already available, even on some smart camera phones. An HDR image can also be synthesized from still pictures with multiple exposure levels of the same scene. In another aspect of the invention, a heat (or cooling) measure may be applied to each image in order to determine a heating and/or cooling distribution within the space.

At block 520, a processing engine performs an imaging processing procedure in order to determine (explicitly or implicitly) a design intent of an existing installation and/or a maintenance healthiness of a current system (e.g., energy consumption, such as lighting and/or heating/cooling). In one aspect of the invention the image processing procedure associates an image with a respective location within the target space. If the images are taken in an automatic manner, this may be achieved by recording the location information at the time each image is taken (e.g., GPS location). If the images are taken manually, their locations may be digitally indicated on a floor plan or drawing contained within the processing engine. If the space is directed towards a particular type of task, the location(s) of the task area(s) should be noted in the processing engine. The image processing engine then converts the image pixels into luminance values, where if the pictures are not taken by a calibrated camera, a calibration procedure is applied to correct the pixel values to appropriate luminance values. The processing engine either receives inputs regarding an original design intent or infer an original design intent from the collected images. For example, the design intent may be inferred from the luminance values reading from the images. For example, the luminance ratio, accent of a surface or an object, light layer composition, brightness of the space, and work plane light level distribution may be used to determine or infer the original design intent of the target space. In one embodiment of the invention calculating of the luminance ratio is taken as the ratio of the aggregated luminance value of a task (T), near surroundings (NS) and remote surrounding (RS). The aggregated luminance may be an average, median, or an average over the center 50% of the luminance values of each area. The definition of NS and RS with respect to T are well-defined in the literature. In one aspect of the invention identifying accented surface(s) or object(s) is to detect the focused area with significantly higher average luminance values (e.g. more than l Ox higher) than its immediate surroundings or adjacent surfaces. In one aspect of the invention, assessing overall brightness is to evaluate the luminance gradient or distribution on both the horizontal and vertical planes in the space. In another aspect of the invention, layers of light may be used to associate the map of luminance values of an enclosed area to the location of all luminaires, e.g. a room, a designated area or space, etc. Different layers of light are generally provided by different types of luminaires at strategic locations. In one aspect of the invention, assessing workplane light level distribution is to convert the luminance value on the task plane with the knowledge of the task surface reflectance (Prask) - Task surface reflectance, p _Ta sk _> ^ma Y be provided as a user input or be estimated directly from the images by the apparent color and/or the texture of the surface. The simplest conversion from luminance (L) to illuminance (E) is E = L ^■ π/ p _Ta sk - The results of the processing engine 520 are then provided to a solution (i.e., service upgrade) engine 1 10, which has been discussed with regard to Figures 2 and 3.

At block 530, a user may provide further details regarding design criteria or requirements. The design criteria, for example, may be provided to the solution (i.e., service upgrade) engine 1 10. The user interface 530 represents a means of inputting the project detail by users. The user interface 530 may be realized on a visual display terminal with a proper input device (e.g., computer, laptop, desktop, etc.). The user interface may allow the users to input at least one of the following design criteria and constraints: rough dimension of the space, type/scale of retrofit (e.g. luminaire upgrade, lighting redesign, etc.), the satisfaction level of the current lighting condition, space usage type, project budget, desired light level, etc. This information is used to assess to what degree the design intent of the current lighting should be retained and whether the maintenance can be more effective. In addition, if the user has certain level of knowledge in lighting design or would like to intervene during the solution searching process, there may be iterations between the user interface 530 and the solution engine 1 10. In this case, the solution engine 1 10 will display suggested solution characteristics on the user interface, where the user may fine tune the suggested solutions using revised inputs for the solution engine 1 10 to query the product catalog database 550.

The solution (service upgrade) engine 1 10 takes into account the original design intent and maintenance healthiness from the processing engine 520, and the user specified design criteria and constraints from the user interface 530 to derive the characteristics the new lighting solution has to have. For example, the solution engine 1 10 may adjust the current task light level, luminance ratio, layer of light, etc., according to users' opinion on the current lighting condition. It then queries the product catalog database 550 for the products whose attributes meet all the required characteristics. The product catalog database 550 may be a relational database that contains detailed attributes of the products from the manufacturers. The attributes include at least one of price, type, ease of service, wiring, installation and maintenance, optical properties, etc.

The solution engine 1 10 then determines a number of proposed solutions to satisfy the criteria in order to make a decision regarding upgrading and the benefits obtained by the upgrade. The new design then becomes the base for the necessary attribute in searching of the retrofit lighting solution. The proposed solutions are displayed to the user (block 560).

Figure 7 illustrates a block diagram 700 of an exemplary embodiment of the aspect of the service upgrade engine 1 10 for further processing of the image collected data.

In this exemplary embodiment, images are collected and processed, block 610, as previously described (Fig. 6, block 510). The processed images may then be provided to block 630, wherein an original design intent is determined based on the collected images and the associated luminance ratios, accents, etc. The determined original design and proposed upgrades are then provided to the solution generator 650.

The collected images are further provided to block 640, wherein a maintenance health of the system is determined. In this case, a check of efficiencies regarding different aspects of the lighting system is determined. For example, determination of burnt out (or predicted burnt out) bulbs is determined. The determined healthiness of the system is provided to the solution generator 650.

In addition, user inputs 530 are provided to the solution generator 650 to generate recommended solutions. The user inputs may comprise one or more of a design criterion, a bulb replacement schedule, a user work schedule, etc.

The solution generation 650 then determines one or more proposed solutions to provide an appropriate design and/or maintenance for the target area.

The proposed solutions are then displayed to the user (block 660) for evaluation and subsequent implementation.

Figure 8 illustrates a flow chart 700 of an exemplary service upgrade and proposal generation in accordance with the principles of the invention.

In this illustrated process, current lighting conditions are determined at block 710. If the current lighting is satisfactory then the current design is maintained at block 715.

Otherwise, a determination is made whether the task lighting is satisfactory at block 720. If not, then a determination is made whether the lighting is too low at block 730. If the lighting is too low, then the lighting is increased at block 735. However, if the lighting is not too low, then a determination is made at block 740 whether the lighting is too high. If the lighting is too high, then the lighting is decreased at block 745.

At block 750, a determination is made whether the space is too bright. If so, then the luminance ratios are decreased at block 755. Otherwise, a determination is made whether the same is too dark at block 760. If so, then the luminance ratio is increased at block 765.

At block 770 a determination is made whether the retrofit (or upgrade) is being performed. If a retrofit, then a luminaire lumen output is determined at block 775.

Otherwise, a major renovation is assumed

If a major revocation is determined at block 780, then the characteristics of the renovation are calculated (i.e., luminaire spacing, lumen output, etc.) at block 785. At block 790, a determination is made whether the maintenance in the original installation is effective. If it is determined to be non-effective (due to excessive number of burnt lamps or de- energized luminaires or dirt accumulation), ease of maintenance is added as one of the criteria in searching for the candidate solution in the product catalog at block 792.

At block 793 a product database is accessed to determine one or more of luminaire products that may be used in satisfying the proposed retrofit/renovation requirements.

At block 794, a calculation of the ability to satisfy the project requirements is made regarding each of a plurality of proposed solutions (i.e., proposals). For example, lighting calculations using different luminaire products may be performed in order to determine which products satisfy the retrofit (or renovation) requirements.

At block 796 a determination is made whether the proposed solutions using different products satisfy the requirements. Those proposals that satisfy the requirements are stored (block 798). Those requirements not satisfying the requirements are discarded (block 797).

An example, of the processing disclosed herein is now presented. In this exemplary example, a retail store is considered. As discussed, images are collected and associated with respective physical locations and processed to represent luminance values. The design intents are extracted as follows.

Luminance ratio- excluding the spots with notably high luminance values. The ratio of the average luminance of the bright regions, likely the merchandise (T), and their surroundings (NS) is calculated to be about 3: 1.

Accenting

in this exemplary example, there are three separate areas on the south wall with notably high luminance values, and the ratio between the high luminance region and the rest of the wall is 5: 1. These three areas are thus most likely accented to highlight visual edges, such as artworks on the wall. There are also five spots in the store where the luminance values are significantly higher than the adjacent areas with a ratio of 10: 1. These are likely featured floor displays.

Brightness

In addition, from the collected images, the average luminance on the horizontal plane at merchandise height (e.g., 2.5ft.) is calculated to be about 150 cd/m with a ratio of 1 :3 between minimum and average, and 1 :5 between minimum and maximum.

Similarly, the average luminance on the vertical plane at average human eye height (5ft.) is calculated to be about 100 cd/m with the ratio of 1 :2 between minimum and average, and 1 :3 between minimum and maximum.

Layer of light The image of the ceiling shows a grid of evenly distributed bright spots with a maximum around approximately 9500 cd/m . These spots are identified as down lights for providing general lighting to achieve the 3: 1 luminance ratio. A series of bright spots at approximately 30,000 cd/m in a linear pattern close to the south wall are also detected. These series of bright spots are identified as track lights associated with the accent lights highlighting the features on the south wall. In addition, five very bright spots at

approximately 60,000 cd/m on the ceiling are detected, which are inferred as fixtures throwing lights to accent the featured floor displays.

Light level distribution

Given the estimated reflectances on the surfaces of interest (provided by the user through the user interface (13) or estimated from the images directly), the luminance values are converted to illuminance values. The average horizontal illuminance at the merchandise height (2.5ft.) is calculated to be about 600 lux, and the ratio between the maximum and minimum illuminance in the merchandise area is calculated to be 1 :2, which indicates that the area is fairly evenly lit around 600 lux. Also, the average vertical illuminance at average eye height (5ft.) is calculated to be about 450 lux around the merchandise areas with the ratios of min:avg and min:max calculated to be 1 :3 and 1 :4, respectively. This indicates that the vertical plane is mostly lit close to 450 lux with some notable dim areas.

Evaluation of the maintenance healthiness: One or more of the following maintenance status may be derived from the images, including number of burnt lamps, number of de- energized luminaires, lamp color temperature consistency, and ease of reach of lamps. The maintenance effectiveness should inform the selection of retrofit solutions.

For example, a number of burnt lamps made be determined by examining the locations in the image(s) where there is supposed to be a lamp and identify spots with significantly low luminance values. Another example is to directly process a color image with proper exposure to identify dark spots in the luminaires. In another aspect, detecting the number of de-energized luminaires is to identify missing bright spots in the image(s). The distribution of luminaires in a region, regardless of luminaire type and purpose, is usually uniform or with a simple pattern, which is easily identifiable. A missing bright spot in the pattern will indicate a de-energized luminaire. In another aspect, consistency of the lamp color temperature may be determined by analyzing color composition of the image near the lamps. In this example, it is determined that the original lighting design is satisfactory based on the extracted design intent (luminance ratio, accenting, brightness, light layers, light levels, etc.). The user has indicated that this is a project where only luminaire replacement is in the scope of the project. Consequently, a calculation is carried out to determine the lumen output required from each luminaire in order to meet the design intent. It is further determined that the current maintenance is reasonably effective, so ease of maintenance is not considered as a necessary design requirement. The required luminaire lumen output is then used as the criterion to search for the candidate products in the product catalog database. For each returned result, a calculation is then performed based on the detailed product

specification, and only those actually fulfilling the design requirements are retained in the proposal. In addition, the energy usage of each candidate solution is also included in the proposal.

In accordance with the principles of the invention, proposed solutions may be determined considering energy cost, energy generation, and/or cost of implementing the proposed solution(s). For example, in determining proposed solutions, the solutions may be group based on criteria such as target LEED point. For example, proposal A would include components, devices, functions, features and services to earn 20 LEED points, proposal B would include components, devices, functions, features and services to earn 25 LEED points and so on. Alternatively, the proposal may be configured to earn a specific number of LEED points in a specific LEED category e.g. under energy and atmosphere category, proposal A would earn 15 points, proposal B would earn 17 points and proposal C would earn 19 point.

In another embodiment the grouping criteria could be code/standard compliance. For example, proposal B would comply with ASHRAE 90.1-2004 whereas proposal C would comply with ASHRAE 90.1-2007.

For each proposal the following metrics may be obtained and/or calculated as shown in Table 1 in accordance with the principles of the invention.

ASHRAE 90.1-2007 11 iii 111

35 30

ii

Table 1

The values of the metrics are summarized in Table 1. In general, a user would like to earn more LEED points, reduce capital investment and/or have shorter payback time.

Using the provided information shown in Table 1 , a user may review the plurality of proposed solutions and, based on criteria such as return on investment, payback period, energy consumption and/or compliance, one of the proposed solutions may be selected and subsequently implements.

Return to FIG. 1, a web based user interface may be employed for lead creation element 1 1. .

In accordance with the principles of the invention, the web server 230 includes data base 240 that retains information regarding clients and potential clients. The data base 240 may receive information from a plurality of sources. For example, social media websites (e.g., Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook) may be used to gather information regarding clients and/or potential clients. The information associated with these social media sites is considered of a low quality and weighted according. The data base may also include information regarding clients and/or potential clients based on traditional sources such as sales channels, tradeshows, etc. The information associated with the traditional sources may be weighted as being of a higher quality.

The collected information may then be sorted to determine those clients and/or potential clients that are suitable for subsequent investigation. For example, the clients and/or potential clients may be considered suitable for subsequent investigation if the client is of a size that would have sufficient need for a service upgrade, when considering the client's or potential client's structure and assets. Those clients and/or potential clients determined to potentially benefit from a service update grade may then be evaluated to determine whether the clients/potential clients would be pre-qualified for a service upgrade. If so, the client/potential client may then have a site visit performed (i.e., data collection phase, element 12, Fig. 1).

The collected information from the data collection phase may then be incorporated into the database. The collected data may then be subjected to an analysis to prepare at least one proposal (element 14, Fig. 1) to determine the benefits of a service upgrade (element 12, Fig. 1).

In this case, different proposed levels of service upgrade may be provided to the client/potential client to illustrate the benefits of one or more of the proposed service upgrades.

The above-described methods according to the present invention can be implemented in hardware, firmware or as software or computer code that can be stored in a recording medium such as a CD ROM, an RAM, a floppy disk, a hard disk, or a magneto-optical disk or computer code downloaded over a network originally stored on a remote recording medium or a non-transitory machine readable medium and to be stored on a local recording medium, so that the methods described herein can be rendered in such software that is stored on the recording medium using a general purpose computer, or a special processor or in programmable or dedicated hardware, such as an ASIC or FPGA. As would be understood in the art, the computer, the processor, microprocessor controller or the programmable hardware include memory components, e.g., RAM, ROM, Flash, etc. that may store or receive software or computer code that when accessed and executed by the computer, processor or hardware implement the processing methods described herein. In addition, it would be recognized that when a general purpose computer accesses code for implementing the processing shown herein, the execution of the code transforms the general purpose computer into a special purpose computer for executing the processing shown herein.

Furthermore, a computer, a processor and/or dedicated hardware/software are described herein as being capable of performing the processing described herein, and it would be recognized that a computer, a processor and/or dedicated hardware/software are well- known elements in the art of signal processing and, thus, a detailed description of the elements of the processor need not provided in order for one skilled in the art to practice the invention described, herein.

The invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments. One of ordinary skill in the art, however, appreciates that various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the claims.

Accordingly, the specification is to be regarded in an illustrative manner, rather than with a restrictive view, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the invention.

Benefits, other advantages, and solutions to problems have been described above with regard to specific embodiments. The benefits, advantages, and solutions to problems, and any element(s) that may cause any benefits, advantages, or solutions to occur or become more pronounced, are not to be construed as a critical, required, or an essential feature or element of any or all of the claims.

As used herein, the terms "comprises", "comprising", "includes", "including", "has", "having", or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions. For example, a process, method, article or apparatus that comprises a list of elements is not necessarily limited to only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. In addition, unless expressly stated to the contrary, the term "of refers to an inclusive "or" and not to an exclusive "or". For example, a condition A or B is satisfied by any one of the following: A is true (or present) and B is false (or not present); A is false (or not present) and B is true (or present); and both A and B are true (or present).

The terms "a" or "an" as used herein are to describe elements and components of the invention. This is done for convenience to the reader and to provide a general sense of the invention. The use of these terms in the description herein should be read and understood to include one or at least one. In addition, the singular also includes the plural unless indicated to the contrary. For example, reference to a composition containing "a compound" includes one or more compounds. As used in this specification and the appended claims, the term "or" is generally employed in its sense including "and/or" unless the content clearly dictates otherwise.

All numeric values are herein assumed to be modified by the term "about," whether or not explicitly indicated. The term "about" generally refers to a range of numbers that one of skill in the art would consider equivalent to the recited value (i.e., having the same function or result). In any instances, the terms "about" may include numbers that are rounded (or lowered) to the nearest significant figure.

It is expressly intended that all combinations of those elements that perform substantially the same function in substantially the same way to achieve the same results are within the scope of the invention. Substitutions of elements from one described embodiment to another are also fully intended and contemplated.