Developing Flexible, Networked Lighting Control Systems That Reliably Save Energy in California Buildings

An important strategy to meet California's ambitious energy efficiency goals is to use innovative wireless communications, embedded sensors, data analytics and controls to significantly reduce lighting energy use in commercial buildings. This project developed a suite of networked lighting solutions to further this goal. The technologies include a platform for low-cost sensing, distributed intelligence and communications, the “PermaMote,” which is a self-powered sensor and controller for lighting applications. The project team also developed a task ambient daylighting system that integrates sensors with data-driven daylighting control using an open communication interface, called the “Readings-At-Desk” (RAD) system. To address the problem of building occupants being confused about how to operate traditional lighting control systems, the research team created content that could be the basis for a user interface standard for lighting controls. Finally, to address the difficulty of ensuring that advanced lighting control systems actually deliver their promised energy savings, the project team developed a new method for evaluating and specifying lighting systems’ performance. The research team validated these technologies in the laboratory, showing significant lighting energy savings, up to 73% for the PermaMote sensor system from occupancy control and daylight dimming features, compared to the same light source (LED replacement lamps) operated via simple on/off scheduling. The project team also developed a proposed standard lighting data model and user interface elements, which were contributed to the ANSI Lighting Systems Committee (C137) for standardization. Existing data models are incomplete and inconsistent, whereas the lighting-specific data model developed here is clear and comprehensive, to serve as a starting point for creating common, universally agreed upon semantic definitions of key lighting parameters, to promote interoperability. For the task on verifiable performance of lighting systems, the project team developed a more effective metric for capturing the actual energy impact of a lighting system over time — the energy usage intensity (kWh/ft2/year). Three commercial lighting systems were tested in FLEXLAB® using this new metric, and the tests show a wide range in the accuracy of the self-reported energy-use metric, from 0.5% to 28% error compared to direct measurement of lighting energy using dedicated submeters. Overall, the project team estimates that these advanced technologies can reduce California office lighting energy use by 20% (above and beyond normal advanced lighting controls mandated by Title 24), resulting in about 1,600 GWh/year in savings

DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF AN AUTOMATED STREET LIGHTING SYSTEM

This Project report presents details of the design and construction of a microcontroller based automated intelligent street lighting system. The circuits are designed specifically for self-intelligence and fault detection of the system.The street light system consists of two circuit boards; the main printed circuit boards and the street light pole printed circuit board.The major components of the main printed circuit board are PIC microcontroller, GSM module, voltage translator, multiplexer integrated circuit, resistors, and capacitors, while the major components of the street light pole circuits are the light dependent resistor circuit sensors, infrared sensors, PIC microcontroller, capacitor and resistors. The Light Dependent Resistor is used for Automation, the Infrared sensor is used for Intelligence; sensing movement and taking the LEDs to a full ON state and the GSM module for fault detection. The Printed Circuit Board circuits and their components are housed in its physical framework. The circuit for the main board and the circuit for the street light pole were tested and worked properly as intended

Future bathroom: A study of user-centred design principles affecting usability, safety and satisfaction in bathrooms for people living with disabilities

Research and development work relating to assistive technology 2010-11 (Department of Health) Presented to Parliament pursuant to Section 22 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 197

A multidisciplinary research approach to energy-related behavior in buildings

Occupant behavior in buildings is one of the key drivers of building energy performance. Closing the “performance gap” in the building sector requires a deeper understanding and consideration of the “human factor” in energy usage. For Europe and US to meet their challenging 2020 and 2050 energy and GHG reduction goals, we need to harness the potential savings of human behavior in buildings, in addition to deployment of energy efficient technologies and energy policies for buildings. Through involvement in international projects such as IEA ECBC Annex 53 and EBC Annex 66, the research conducted in the context of this thesis provided significant contributions to understand occupants’ interactions with building systems and to reduce their energy use in residential and commercial buildings over the entire building life cycle. The primary goal of this Ph.D. study is to explore and highlight the human factor in energy use as a fundamental aspect influencing the energy performance of buildings and maximizing energy efficiency – to the same extent as technological innovation. Scientific literature was reviewed to understand state-of-the-art gaps and limitations of research in the field. Human energy-related behavior in buildings emerges a stochastic and highly complex problem, which cannot be solved by one discipline alone. Typically, a technological-social dichotomy pertains to the human factor in reducing energy use in buildings. Progressing past that, this research integrates occupant behavior in a multidisciplinary approach that combines insights from the technical, analytical and social dimension. This is achieved by combining building physics (occupant behavior simulation in building energy models to quantify impact on building performance) and data science (data mining, analytics, modeling and profiling of behavioral patterns in buildings) with behavioral theories (engaging occupants and motivating energy-saving occupant behaviors) to provide multidisciplinary, innovative insights on human-centered energy efficiency in buildings. The systematic interconnection of these three dimensions is adopted at different scales. The building system is observed at the residential and commercial level. Data is gathered, then analyzed, modeled, standardized and simulated from the zone to the building level, up to the district scale. Concerning occupant behavior, this research focuses on individual, group and collective actions. Various stakeholders can benefit from this Ph.D. dissertation results. Audience of the research includes energy modelers, architects, HVAC engineers, operators, owners, policymakers, building technology vendors, as well as simulation program designers, implementers and evaluators. The connection between these different levels, research foci and targeted audience is not linear among the three observed systems. Rather, the multidisciplinary research approach to energy-related behavior in buildings proposed by this Ph.D. study has been adopted to explore solutions that could overcome the limitations and shortcomings in the state-of-the-art research

Towards a Sustainable Life: Smart and Green Design in Buildings and Community

This Special Issue includes contributions about occupants’ sustainable living in buildings and communities, highlighting issues surrounding the sustainable development of our environments and lives by emphasizing smart and green design perspectives. This Special Issue specifically focuses on research and case studies that develop promising methods for the sustainable development of our environment and identify factors critical to the application of a sustainable paradigm for quality of life from a user-oriented perspective. After a rigorous review of the submissions by experts, fourteen articles concerning sustainable living and development are published in this Special Issue, written by authors sharing their expertise and approaches to the concept and application of sustainability in their fields. The fourteen contributions to this special issue can be categorized into four groups, depending on the issues that they address. All the proposed methods, models, and applications in these studies contribute to the current understanding of the adoption of the sustainability paradigm and are likely to inspire further research addressing the challenges of constructing sustainable buildings and communities resulting in a sustainable life for all of society

An aesthetic for sustainable interactions in product-service systems?

Copyright @ 2012 Greenleaf PublishingEco-efficient Product-Service System (PSS) innovations represent a promising approach to sustainability. However the application of this concept is still very limited because its implementation and diffusion is hindered by several barriers (cultural, corporate and regulative ones). The paper investigates the barriers that affect the attractiveness and acceptation of eco-efficient PSS alternatives, and opens the debate on the aesthetic of eco-efficient PSS, and the way in which aesthetic could enhance some specific inner qualities of this kinds of innovations. Integrating insights from semiotics, the paper outlines some first research hypothesis on how the aesthetic elements of an eco-efficient PSS could facilitate user attraction, acceptation and satisfaction

Towards displacing domestic air conditioning in KSA, an assessment of hybrid cooling strategies integrated with 'Fabric First' passive design measures

Reducing energy use and CO2 emissions to curb global warming and climate change are the greatest challenges now facing mankind. The vast majority of energy generated from fossil fuels is burned to run vehicles, fuel power stations and cool or heat homes. Saudi Arabia, the world's largest producer and exporter of petroleum, currently consumes almost three times higher than the world average energy use and hence; ranked ninth among nations for CO2 emissions. Among all fossil energy consumers, residential buildings use almost half of the Saudi's prime energy sources and are responsible for almost 50% of the emitted CO2. In such a hot climate region, air conditioning (AC) of dwellings is by far the major consumer representing 69% of domestic energy use and drives peak loading. Future projections predict a continuous increase in energy use as the majority of existing buildings are poorly designed for the prevailing climate, leading to excessive use of mechanical AC. Therefore, it is crucial for Saudi Arabia to consider a horizon where hydrocarbons are not the dominant energy resource. The adoption of energy efficiency measures and low carbon cooling strategies may have the potential to displace a substantial percentage of oil currently used to run conventional AC plants. Therefore, the current study investigates the viability of 'fabric first' intelligent architectural design measures, in combination with hybrid ground cooling pipes integrated with black-body radiant night cooling systems, with a specific purpose to displace AC systems and decrease the carbon footprint while sustaining year-round thermal comfort. The interrogation of this hypothesis was addressed in three stages. The first stage was to generate a baseline analysis of the thermo-physical and energy performance of a typical residential block in Jeddah. The second stage involved developing an alternative low energy cooling approach that could handle high ambient temperatures. The task involved designing ground pipe ventilation integrated with high emissivity blackbody radiator to displace AC systems. The design of such 'hybrid' system required a parametric analysis combined with testing prototypes in field trials to establish actual ground temperatures at various depths and black body emissivity ranges under different sky conditions. This hybrid system became the subject of numerical modelling and simulation using DesignBuilder software in conjunction with EnergyPlus simulation engine. The third stage was to assess the simulation results and validate the cooling efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the hybrid system compared to the baseline. The preliminary results of prototype thermal simulation and field trials suggest that 'fabric first' passive designs and measures (PDMs), combined with night hydronic radiant cooling (HRCS) and supply ventilation via ground pipes (GPCS), can negate the necessity for a standard AC system by displacing over 80% of cooling demand and lower the carbon footprint of a typical housing block by over 75%. Such passive and hybrid system applications also have a remarkably short payback period with energy savings offsetting the capital costs associated with building thermo-physical enhancement.Reducing energy use and CO2 emissions to curb global warming and climate change are the greatest challenges now facing mankind. The vast majority of energy generated from fossil fuels is burned to run vehicles, fuel power stations and cool or heat homes. Saudi Arabia, the world's largest producer and exporter of petroleum, currently consumes almost three times higher than the world average energy use and hence; ranked ninth among nations for CO2 emissions. Among all fossil energy consumers, residential buildings use almost half of the Saudi's prime energy sources and are responsible for almost 50% of the emitted CO2. In such a hot climate region, air conditioning (AC) of dwellings is by far the major consumer representing 69% of domestic energy use and drives peak loading. Future projections predict a continuous increase in energy use as the majority of existing buildings are poorly designed for the prevailing climate, leading to excessive use of mechanical AC. Therefore, it is crucial for Saudi Arabia to consider a horizon where hydrocarbons are not the dominant energy resource. The adoption of energy efficiency measures and low carbon cooling strategies may have the potential to displace a substantial percentage of oil currently used to run conventional AC plants. Therefore, the current study investigates the viability of 'fabric first' intelligent architectural design measures, in combination with hybrid ground cooling pipes integrated with black-body radiant night cooling systems, with a specific purpose to displace AC systems and decrease the carbon footprint while sustaining year-round thermal comfort. The interrogation of this hypothesis was addressed in three stages. The first stage was to generate a baseline analysis of the thermo-physical and energy performance of a typical residential block in Jeddah. The second stage involved developing an alternative low energy cooling approach that could handle high ambient temperatures. The task involved designing ground pipe ventilation integrated with high emissivity blackbody radiator to displace AC systems. The design of such 'hybrid' system required a parametric analysis combined with testing prototypes in field trials to establish actual ground temperatures at various depths and black body emissivity ranges under different sky conditions. This hybrid system became the subject of numerical modelling and simulation using DesignBuilder software in conjunction with EnergyPlus simulation engine. The third stage was to assess the simulation results and validate the cooling efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the hybrid system compared to the baseline. The preliminary results of prototype thermal simulation and field trials suggest that 'fabric first' passive designs and measures (PDMs), combined with night hydronic radiant cooling (HRCS) and supply ventilation via ground pipes (GPCS), can negate the necessity for a standard AC system by displacing over 80% of cooling demand and lower the carbon footprint of a typical housing block by over 75%. Such passive and hybrid system applications also have a remarkably short payback period with energy savings offsetting the capital costs associated with building thermo-physical enhancement