Jeff Gavin

Wireless connectivity may be a trend with staying power, but its successful installation in existing multitenant buildings can prove challenging. A lack of planning or training or a standing building’s infrastructure can...

We are halfway through 2019. It has been a period of tariff talks, crippling floods and an elusive infrastructure bill. Have these events thrown the 2019 construction forecast off its axis? The short answer is no. Dodge Data...

In new construction, creating a smart building can be straightforward if planned correctly and collaboratively. But the path to make an older building smart isn’t always straight. Electrical contractors can succeed by reading...

A new use of light emitting diodes (LED) has emerged. LED light is killing bacteria, fungus and mold, and the scientific community has validated the results. Lab researchers, diode fabricators and fixture manufacturers are...

Acoustics and lighting manufacturers have joined forces to raise awareness about the need for noise reduction. Contemporary design choices have amplified sound with opened or high ceilings and hard materials such as concrete,...

Self-generated power is an old idea gaining new currency. Thanks to an aging grid, a quest for different power solutions and the march of technology, time has caught up to the microgrid. It’s a market on the rise. “The...

It’s a new year, but will it be different from last year? From 2012–2015, the wind was to our backs, and we made great strides. Total construction starts (breaking ground) grew between 11–14 percent. In 2016–2017, we...

Wireless home automation may seem like it snuck up on us, yet the smart home market has been around for four decades. What’s changed is the rapid success of voice assistants, the internet of things, technologically confident...

Lighting controls have elevated energy efficiency. Dynamic white lighting control is something different. Also known as tunable white lighting, it has the capacity to fine-tune LED light to better sync with our biological...

Wind power is now well-established and enjoying impressive growth. Federal assistance disappears after 2019 (for the most part), so the growth may slow, but for how long is debatable if wind-power electric rates remain...

It seems likely that designing a building digitally will become standard practice; the question is when. Certainly, contractors of all sizes have digitally designed to one degree or another, but building information modeling...

The City of Chicago has earned some bragging rights. By the end of 2017, its crane count stood at 60, bested only by Seattle. As Mayor Rahm Emanuel posted on Twitter: “Chicago’s 60th crane marks a 5x increase from 2010, when...