An IoT-based solution for monitoring a fleet of educational buildings focusing on energy efficiency

Raising awareness among young people and changing their behaviour and habits concerning energy usage iskey to achieving sustained energy saving. Additionally, young people are very sensitive to environmental protection so raising awareness among children is much easier than with any other group of citizens. This work examinesways to create an innovative Information & Communication Technologies (ICT) ecosystem (including web-based, mobile, social and sensing elements) tailored specifically for school environments, taking into account both theusers (faculty, staff, students, parents) and school buildings, thus motivating and supporting young citizenś behavioural change to achieve greater energy efficiency. A mixture of open-source IoT hardware and proprietary platforms on the infrastructure level, are currently being utilized for monitoring a fleet of 18 educational buildings across 3 countries, comprising over 700 IoT monitoring points. Hereon presented is the system's high-level architecture, as well as several aspects of its implementation, related to the application domain of educational building monitoring and energy efficiency. The system is developed based on open-source technologies andservices in order to make it capable of providing open IT-infrastructure and support from different commercial hardware/sensor vendors as well as open-source solutions. The system presented can be used to develop and offer newapp-based solutions that can be used either for educational purposes or for managing the energy efficiency ofthebuilding. The system is replicable and adaptable to settings that may be different than the scenarios envisionedhere (e.g., targeting different climate zones), different IT infrastructures and can be easily extended to accommodate integration with other systems. The overall performance of the system is evaluated in real-world environment in terms of scalability, responsiveness and simplicity

Development of intelligent buildings and their impacts on architecture In Turkey

Thesis (master)--İzmir Institute of Technology, Architecture, İzmir, 2002Includes bibliographical references (leaves: 176-185)Text in English; Abstract: Turkish and Englishxiv, 205 leavesRelated to every period.s life conditions the community.s needs show differences. Today.s people giving prior importance to business life and depending on this priority and the incoming intense, active life flow bring up the need of .facilitating life. and again one of the most main problems in today.s life described as energy loss is reduced by designing .energy conscious. buildings. At this point of view, developing technologic and construction sector take on the roles as two important inputs to help design concept. Considerably the technological developments that took place with .Industrial Revolution. started the use of machine power, created new bazaars and new work areas, and brought up the creation of new life styles with itself. With these points, this process came across the new trends in architecture and construction. Spreading use of information technologies, make differences in expectations about daily life standards. As men can adapt the changing needs and obtain maximum suitability, need buildings with minimum cost for usage and upkeep. The main aim of the buildings described as .intelligent buildings. is use of minimum energy and besides to obtain system works and comfort at an optimal level. To be considered as intelligent, building must; With these points, besides the advantages that intelligent buildings bring up, they can cause important problems to take place. With their electrical infrastructure they may cause the inhabitants to be abstracted from the outer life, and with respect the people working in multi-storey buildings have health problems like .building syndrome. or because of the computer aided structure of these buildings .accessibility. problems can occur. These problems come in the first places on the problems rank. In the solutions of the problems occurring by intensive use and by the way increasing demands, at the point architectural solutions become insufficient electro-mechanical systems join. For providing high life standards complete for today and tomorrow.s life, the buildings which are designed bye using series of technological solutions, are composed of the integration of these systems. All these developments, different than the conventional design process, need the information flow with the other science branches -interdisciplinary approach-. A building to be formed as intelligent by .architectural concepts., with a large proportion is related to the .architect.s intelligence.. In these terms architect must be following all new developments in technology. In other ways, intelligent buildings will be the buildings designed by engineers. Nearly in the past ten years, intelligent building applications are also seen in our country. But whether the lack of investigation about the abroad works or these buildings participated in our lives with the unnecessary ambition of consumption, so with these facts intelligent buildings cannot deserve their attribute. To state that a building is totally intelligent, from the design process, the project must be taken up as a total work with the sub-systems providing central supervision and administrating. But the approach in our country sees the sufficiency as a building that owns one of the named systems or any residence full of intelligent house products. Of course these terms are not enough for intelligence. As a result, this work examines the approach to the subject in our country by evaluating sub-systems of intelligent building concept, design criteria, the advantages and disadvantages of these buildings, and the degree of intelligence. Key words: intelligent building, building automation system, office automation system, telecommunications system, information technology, and energy conscious buildings

Bio-inspired Adaptable Facade Control Reflecting User\u27s Behavior

The purpose of this research is to develop the process of methodology in designing adaptable façade. This study focuses on the processes of façade operation control for each resident’s unit according to the user’s lifestyle. This study aims to develop the design methods that are applicable to the adaptable facade, which is inspired by the design inspiration of the biomimicry. The ideal façade to increase comfort in internal space is an adaptable façade that can constantly respond to changes in the environments. This chapter attempts in active adoption of adaptable facade that makes it possible to respond to changing requirements and environments, eventually enabling the creation of customized services for users. This chapter explores the processes of designing an adaptable façade controlled by three rules inspired by the behaviors of flocks of birds. This chapter shows how adopted bird intelligence can produce various façade controls. Also, this chapter demonstrates biomimetic façade control that has been implemented by behavior-based design. Through this demonstration, this chapter identifies the potentials of biomimetic design in facade using rules of bird flocking as source of design inspiration. This study concludes that a behavior-based approach provides flexibly responding façade to environments increasing users’ quality of life

High-Performance Integrated Window and Façade Solutions for California

The researchers developed a new generation of high-performance façade systems and supporting design and management tools to support industry in meeting California’s greenhouse gas reduction targets, reduce energy consumption, and enable an adaptable response to minimize real-time demands on the electricity grid. The project resulted in five outcomes: (1) The research team developed an R-5, 1-inch thick, triplepane, insulating glass unit with a novel low-conductance aluminum frame. This technology can help significantly reduce residential cooling and heating loads, particularly during the evening. (2) The team developed a prototype of a windowintegrated local ventilation and energy recovery device that provides clean, dry fresh air through the façade with minimal energy requirements. (3) A daylight-redirecting louver system was prototyped to redirect sunlight 15–40 feet from the window. Simulations estimated that lighting energy use could be reduced by 35–54 percent without glare. (4) A control system incorporating physics-based equations and a mathematical solver was prototyped and field tested to demonstrate feasibility. Simulations estimated that total electricity costs could be reduced by 9-28 percent on sunny summer days through adaptive control of operable shading and daylighting components and the thermostat compared to state-of-the-art automatic façade controls in commercial building perimeter zones. (5) Supporting models and tools needed by industry for technology R&D and market transformation activities were validated. Attaining California’s clean energy goals require making a fundamental shift from today’s ad-hoc assemblages of static components to turnkey, intelligent, responsive, integrated building façade systems. These systems offered significant reductions in energy use, peak demand, and operating cost in California

Shape morphing solar shadings: a review

This paper provides an overview of available innovative shape morphing building skins and their design principles. In particular, the proposed review deals with comfort-related issues associated with dynamic solar shading devices, building integration of smart materials, and morphological analyses related to the most recent shape morphing solar skins. In the first part of the paper, an introduction to the typologies of movement in architecture, its concept and application are presented. An explanation of biomimetic principles together with an overview of user's response to dynamic shading devices is also provided. This is followed by the description of the design principles for shape morphing solar shadings with particular focus on energy and comfort aspects, smart materials and biomimetic principles for efficient movements. A review of most recent developments on the topics of comfort, users' response and control of dynamic shading devices, is presented and summarized in a comparison table. The main technical and mechanical properties of the most diffused smart materials (Shape Memory Alloys, Shape Memory Polymers and Shape Memory Hybrids) that can be used for innovative shape morphing solar skins are illustrated in detail and compared. Biomimetic principles for efficient movements complete this part of the work. The principles illustrated in the previous part of this paper are then used to critically analyse the most recent examples of building integrated shape morphing shadings

Performance prediction of buildings with responsive building elements challenges and solutions

Modelling and simulation can play an important role for design support and product development of responsive building elements (RBEs). There is, however, limited guidance on how to model such adaptable construction elements in an appropriate way. This paper investigates two different strategies for representing the dynamic aspects of RBEs using whole-building performance simulation tools. Simulations are performed for two case studies: (i) a coating with variable emissivity/absorptivity properties, (ii) a storage wall with switchable insulation. The results show that a simplified simulation strategy is not always capable of accurately capturing the relevant physical phenomena in RBEs. Especially when thermal storage effects are involved, the adaptation needs to take place during simulation run-time, to prevent significant errors in the results

What is an intelligent building? Analysis of recent interpretations from an international perspective

In recent years, the notion of intelligent buildings (IBs) has become increasingly popular due to their potentials for deploying design initiatives and emerging technologies towards maximized occupants’ comfort and well-being with sustainable design. However, various definitions, interpretations, and implications regarding the essence of IBs exist. Various key performance indicators of IBs have been proposed in different contexts. This study explores the notion of IBs and presents an analysis of their main constituents. Through a comparison of these constituents in different contexts, this study aims to extract the common features of IBs leading to an evolved definition which could be useful as a reference framework for design, evaluation, and development of future IBs. Findings also scrutinize the long run benefits of IBs, while demonstrating the constraints and challenges of the current international interpretations