Pro Audio Video Industry Takes a Big STEP

Every facet of the economy has been looking for ways to more efficiently use our planet’s resources, from using less material during the manufacturing process, to ensuring that a high percentage of all material is recyclable and the amount of energy consumed during manufacture and use is minimized.

In support of those objectives, the InfoComm Board of Directors authorized the formation of a new Green AV Task Force in 2009 with the mission of creating a body of knowledge and associated best practices as to how the AV industry could become more Green. Subsequent to that initial endeavor, the AV Sustainability Task Force, with representation from AV manufacturing, integration, consulting, software programming and the technology manager communities, was formed.

The result of their hard work: creation of the Sustainable Technology Environments Program (STEP) in a strategic industry partnership with CompTIA, the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) and the Building Industry Consulting Service International (BICSI).

“STEP will finally provide pro AV consultants, designers, integrators, and owners with a clear, concise, and mutually beneficial method for reducing the carbon footprint of AV equipment, installation practices, and system use.” Brian Huff, CTS-D, LEED AP, from Systems Contractor News, June 2011

While STEP uses a different approach from the U.S. Green Building Council‘s globally recognized LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) program, the systems do work well in tandem, as a high percentage of the 32,000+ LEED registered projects within the U.S. will contain some amount of AV equipment throughout their facilities, from auditoriums to video walls and digital signage.

Contra Costa Courthouse Designed by HOK - Photo Courtesy of HOK

The East Contra Costa County Courthouse provides an example of implementing Green AV technology by way of empirically calculating just how much can be saved with a valid Green AV systems design.

The actual assessment of the ROI was accomplished by measuring the energy draw, in watts, on the system when it was in a fully on state, then measuring the differences in power draw as each of the components would go into standby mode, and finally into a fully off state. The calculations also took into account predictable periodic activity breaks during the court day schedule during which equipment would have otherwise stayed on. – Green Leadership by Dan Daley, Sound & Video Contractor

In a future post we’ll talk about how high-density computing platforms, based on PCI Express 2.0 backplane technology, maximize compute and I/O capability while minimizing required rack space.