To understand the financial value proposition for Respond! make the right cost comparisons.

Respond! is the world’s first battery-powered office system. When you invest in Respond! you are not just investing in furniture, you are investing in your power infrastructure as well.

An “apples to apples” analysis must, at the very least, include the costs of delivering power to each workstation.

A simplistic furniture-versus-furniture or furniture-versus-furniture-budget analysis does not capture all the financial implications.

Depending on your facility situation, the broader analytical approach could indicate substantial savings in electrical infrastructure. You might even conclude “the furniture is free!”

120V Power is the Past, Battery Power is the Present, Building Microgrids are the Future

Until Respond!, we lived in an interior furnishings world that assumed power would always be 120V AC. Furniture designs that incorporated power assumed it would be connected to 120V AC circuits. In our financial evaluations, we could compare furniture alternatives alone as the furniture did not impact the cost of electrical infrastructure.

With Respond!, the investment you make in furniture reduces the investment you make in building infrastructure. A proper analysis combines the costs of both.

Carefully consider what you include in the costs. For example, your motive for purchasing carpet tiles may be to accommodate under-carpet wiring. There is an obvious cost for each power drop. Not so obvious are the costs of wiring, conduit, breakers, breaker boxes, and other upstream components to the building electrical system.

And what about the future?

Starting in January 2023, the energy efficiency rules in California, for example, mandate Solar+Batteries on all new residential and commercial construction. If commercial buildings can get power from solar and use it on the premises, is there any reason to sell locally generated power back to the utility at wholesale prices when it can be consumed on-premises? The next big thing; building microgrids.

What happens next?

What do you believe is the working life of your layout? Do you think your business might outgrow your current facility? Do you think you might have organizational changes?

In your financial analysis, the present value of future changes should be considered. This might be difficult to calculate, but you know this for sure: the possibility of change and its associated costs is not zero.

With Respond! you make one investment. You can move to a new floor, a new building, a new location, or a new city and everything can move with you. Or it can be connected to the aforementioned building microgrids.

In a world that values sustainability, short-lived investments are a waste of good resources. If you knew there was a better way, why would you even consider wasteful electrical infrastructure?

Respond!

• Create workstations around mobile, battery-powered Console Desks.

• Purchase a 3-place or 24-place charging center. Deliver power to every workstation with portable batteries, charged using off-peak power.

• Changing locations? Every investment moves with you.

Conventional Wisdom

• Purchase workstations using panel systems or desking systems.

• Submit an application for an Electrical Permit, and wait for your permit to be approved.

• Then find and pay an electrical contractor to install 120V power to every workstation; requires breaker boxes, conduit, power drops, or under-carpet-wiring + carpet tiles.

• Then get sign-off.

• Pssst. Don’t say anything, but after the inspector leaves, buy multiple-outlet extension cords because the new system you just installed doesn’t have enough outlets.

• Changing locations? The electrical expenses are sunk costs. Start the permit to build to sign-off process again.