Best building management system in the USA: seven options compared
Siemens, Johnson Controls, Honeywell, Schneider Electric, Automated Logic and Tridium Niagara cover most of the US shortlist, and any of them can run HVAC in a single building well. Owners facing Local Law 97, a state performance standard or portfolio benchmarking should also weigh Aqueduct, which sits across those systems and measures energy, water and air per building against a weather-normalized baseline.
What US owners are now measured on
Local Law 97 penalty for each metric ton of CO2e above a building's limit, every year.
Source: NYC Department of BuildingsShare of US commercial building space actively benchmarking in ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager.
Source: ENERGY STARMedian savings from fault detection and diagnostics in the DOE Smart Energy Analytics Campaign.
Source: US DOEFour questions for a US building management system
Emissions against a legal limit
New York, Boston, Washington DC, Denver and Washington State now test a building's energy or emissions against a target. Ask whether the system tracks each fuel against that target month by month, or only raises equipment alarms.
Learn moreMetering written into code
ASHRAE 90.1 section 8.4.3 asks new buildings to measure HVAC, lighting, plug loads and other end uses, record them every 15 minutes and keep 36 months. Ask where that data lives once the commissioning agent leaves.
Learn moreWho can edit sequences
Ask who is allowed to change programming and graphics. When every edit runs through a single dealer, a portfolio standard takes years to reach the last building.
Benchmarking without keying bills
A Portfolio Manager score needs 12 months of every fuel. Ask whether the system exports monthly totals per meter, or whether someone still types utility bills in by hand.
Learn moreSeven systems on the US shortlist
Product descriptions follow each vendor's own pages and announcements, linked under Sources. Fit and questions are our guidance for buyers.
| System | What the vendor says it is | Best fit | Question to put to the vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Siemens Desigo CC and Building X | Desigo CC is a multi-discipline integration platform; version 9 adds cloud data exchange with Building X, which Siemens calls a vendor agnostic platform for energy, sustainability, operations and maintenance apps. | Large campuses combining fire, security and HVAC. | Which Building X apps depend on Siemens field devices? |
| Johnson Controls Metasys and OpenBlue | A family of servers, including ADS/ADX, Open Data Server and Advanced Reporting System, alongside OpenBlue applications for net zero, equipment performance and central plant optimization. | Owners with Johnson Controls chillers and central plants. | How are OpenBlue savings verified against a baseline? |
| Honeywell Forge for Buildings | Software, hardware and services for one site or a portfolio; the Carbon and Energy Management Optimize package adjusts zone controls with machine learning and connects to an existing BMS. | Portfolios pursuing zone-level energy optimization. | What data leaves the building, and who owns it? |
| Schneider Electric EcoStruxure Building Operation | A BMS with views from device to floor, building, campus and portfolio, native BACnet, LonWorks and Modbus, and MQTT for IoT sensors. | Sites pairing building controls with Schneider power monitoring. | Which certifications must an integrator hold to edit it? |
| Automated Logic WebCTRL | Web-based software with native BACnet controllers, ASHRAE Guideline 36 sequences and a fault library covering over 100 HVAC faults, hosted on premises or in the cloud. | Facilities wanting browser access and built-in fault detection. | Can anyone besides the dealer change programming? |
| Tridium Niagara Framework | Software infrastructure that connects devices to enterprise systems, with over one million Niagara instances in use. | Integrators normalizing mixed-vendor controllers. | Who maintains the stations after handover? |
| Aqueduct | A command and control layer over existing controls: twins of water balance, electrical single line and RTU states, bill-based baselines, and control through LoRaWAN relays or BACnet and Modbus. | Multi-state owners reporting emissions, water and air. | Not a controls hardware maker; installation runs through partners. |
Why US portfolio teams switch to Aqueduct
Most arrive with a reporting problem. Each building exports something different, and the Local Law 97 or benchmarking figure is assembled by hand once a year. Aqueduct reads every meter and controller into a site model of floors, zones and devices, then compares each building with a regression on its own usage and heating and cooling degree days, so the dollar gap shows up in March rather than after the filing.
Proof sits at scale: a top 25 US airport was connected within two weeks, part of 300+ sites in 21 countries. Where control is enabled, with owner approval, Aqueduct runs occupancy-driven schedules on RTUs and AHUs over BACnet, and its command history shows whether each instruction actually executed.
Keep, replace or build in, US edition
Keep your BAS
Aqueduct reads the installed BAS and meters without touching sequences, which suits buildings partway through a service agreement.
Learn moreReplace at end of support
When a head end or its controllers lose support, Aqueduct can take over scheduling and setpoints through field device network controllers, floor by floor.
Learn moreBuild into new construction
Specify Aqueduct with the 90.1 metering package so end-use meters are mapped and trending on the first day of occupancy.
Learn moreSources15 references cited on this page
- Siemens: Desigo CC building management platform
- Siemens: Building X
- Johnson Controls: Metasys software and servers
- Johnson Controls: OpenBlue
- Honeywell press release: Honeywell Forge for Buildings, May 2023
- Schneider Electric: building management system (EcoStruxure Building Operation)
- Automated Logic: WebCTRL building automation system
- Automated Logic: WebCTRL software
- Tridium: Niagara Framework
- NYC Department of Buildings: Local Law 97 presentation
- NYC Department of Buildings: Local Law 97
- ENERGY STAR: benchmark your building with Portfolio Manager
- US DOE: Smart Energy Analytics Campaign results
- ASHRAE: Standard 90.1
- Washington State Department of Commerce: Clean Buildings Performance Standard
Related
Common questions
Aqueduct supplies the evidence, not the filing. It meters electricity, gas, steam and oil per building and projects the year's emissions against the Local Law 97 limit as each month closes. A registered design professional still certifies the annual report. See Local Law 97.
Yes. Aqueduct speaks BACnet and Modbus, so it can read WebCTRL and Niagara stations and the controllers beneath them. Owners often keep those systems for sequences while Aqueduct adds metered baselines, the water balance and portfolio views. See integrations.
Two weeks, in the case of a top 25 US airport with 5,000 meter points connected. Timing depends on meter access and network approvals, which are planned with the installation partner before work starts. Read the airport case study.
Yes. Aqueduct keeps monthly totals for every meter and fuel, so the 12-month Portfolio Manager entry covers the whole property rather than the meters someone remembered. Gaps are flagged before the submission date. See ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager.
See Aqueduct on your own facility.
Bring a site, a utility bill or a question. We will show you where the loss is.