Agilewaves dashboard displays green building's health

Green-building company Agilewaves and a California school have flipped the switch on a computer display that's meant to give life to the school's eco-friendly features and enhance its science curriculum.

The prekindergarten-through-eighth-grade Nueva School in Hillsborough, Calif., has incorporated a number of green features, including a 30-kilowatt solar array and a "living roof" of plants that lessens water runoff and insulates.

Displays in common rooms show students the positive impact of a school's green features, including its 'living roof.'

(Credit: Agilewaves)

Agilewaves makes Resource Monitor software, which can display how the building is performing as a whole. The idea is that creating a visual representation of the green building in action will drive changes in people's behavior and generally raise awareness of the environment.

In a statement, the school said the application will be valuable to facilities managers and to students as an educational tool.

Building monitors are still the purview of high-end green buildings and generally only viewed by facilities managers.

But there are a number of products being developed for homes. GE, for example, has developed an in-home display for new housing developments that is meant to give people a better idea of usage and their carbon footprint.