Term Project - Green vs. Intelligent

I am working with Issa Haddad and Jay Ng on this project. We are looking at green vs. intelligent building in light of our senior project, with our design goals serving generally as the “green” aspect and an attempted BIM model as the main “intelligent” aspect. For more background information on our senior design project see either Jay or Issa’s post.

As Gayaneh mentions, the definition of intelligent building seems to be muddy at best. While “green” construction is better defined, especially with the advent of LEED certification in the early 00’s, the concept tends to be mingled with that of intelligent building to form one very confusing impression of the “architecture of the future.” Furthermore this impression tends to resemble a conglomerate of all the cool ideas and new technology we’ve been exposed to, invoking visions of glistening facades and space-agy designs, self-driving cars parking under wind-turbines as a spandex-clad future-human emerges with the press of a button, suavely removes his google-glasses and jetpacks up to the green -roof of his sustainable habitat (by 2020 they will no longer be called homes.) You get the picture.

Our aim, first of all, will be to clear away all of the misinformation and confusion associated with the concepts of “green building” and “intelligent building” by presenting a singular, clearly stated definition of these terms. As Jay points out, the “green” aspect at this point seems to be most easily definable by LEED goals and requirements. “Intelligent building” may likely end up meaning something very similar to what Professor Mitchell has proposed in his first lecture. With a clearer picture of what these separate parts are, we hope to gain a clearer picture of what our senior design project is, or wants to be.

The next step will be an investigation of BIM vs. traditional approaches to building modeling. Steering clear of the obvious advantages in ease of drawing collaboration, modeling capabilities, etc, we hope to take a deeper look at the comfort level of the people using BIM. Is it appropriate in all circumstances? Is it always better? My guess is that the majority of the time BIM trumps all, but there may be a few specific cases we run across in looking at the applicability of BIM to such green analyses as daylighting, stormwater, energy, and life cycle. I suspect interoperability between programs designed for these specific analysis will be flawed if not completely unworkable.

Of course all of this will become clear as we attempt to model our green resource center and include as many systems as Revit will allow. We are hoping that through a discovery of the various capabilities of Revit and linkable analysis programs we will be able to get a much better handle on what exactly our building requires and how our proposed systems can affect these requirements. With net-zero energy, runoff, and environmental impact as our design goals, It seems that Revit will become an indispensable part of figuring this all out.

Some quick research on the topic of Green BIM yielded an interesting viewpoint on the applicability of BIM in the future of green building. It seems that BIM is on the rise in the field, and small “green” renovations are taking precedence among the majority of engineering and contracting firms. The report I looked at went into some case studies, each showing the importance of BIM for integration and import to other analysis programs, allowing for more focus on the design of the building rather than crunching numbers and entering data. This in turn led to higher efficiency in material, time, and money. One of the most interesting examples, pictured below, was the Grange Insurance Audobon Center in Columbus OH,  which used a number of BIM programs for daylighting analysis that clearly influenced the shape of the building.

References:
Green BIM: How Building Information Modeling is Contributing to Green Design and Construction. McGraw Hill, 2010

Not viewable online, but available for download here.

Week 5: Term Project - BIM through the Life Cycle

My term project is based on exploring the benefits of using Building Information Modeling throughout the entire life cycle of a building project. This will include all traditional phases of a project, including the Bidding phase, Design phase, and Construction phase. However, much more can be done with BIM to assure the building continues to run at an optimal efficiency and maintains its effectiveness at servicing its users.

Through some of the research and blog posts that have been done up to date, we can see some of the benefits that will be elaborated on within my project for the use of BIM during the design phase. Some of these include the collaboration between contractors and the ability to have interdisciplinary building information. Also, while there may be various “hands in the pot” during the design of a building project, the use of BIM will allow for clash detection and in turn save lots of time and money. Along with the same idea in mind of saving time and money, using BIM in the design phase can help with construction planning and estimating along with the prefabrication and procurement of construction materials. The more that can be established prior to reaching the construction site, the more time and money can be saved. During the construction phase of a project, one can use BIM for onsite verification and guidance along the way. Also BIM can be used to keep track of any additions or modifications a contractor may make during construction in order to have a log of any and all changes to previous designs.

What many people may not usually associate design programs and Building Information Modeling with is the life of a building after it is already constructed. This is where I believe the majority of my term project will focus so as to look into new ways and ideas in using BIM to give a building a better future, last longer, and keep up to date with the fast-changing world around it. BIM can be used to plan schedules for and track maintenance, optimize operability, and help maintain a building’s serviceability to its users.

I believe there is a long future ahead for BIM and that many more advantages (and challenges) will arise as our technologically advancing world continues to strive for efficiency.

Term Project

Similar to M. Gonzalez and E. Cilifgu, I too am researching robotics in construction, but I will be focusing on the socioeconomic impact of robots in construction.  During many of our class discussions regarding different topics we have shifted the focus of “what all of this intelligent building actually means” for our job market.  So, I decided to use this project as an opportunity to try to figure out what it actually does mean based on research into what effect robotics had on the aerospace and automotive industry.  I choose these two fields as we have also determined in class that the technologies of these industries eventually become used in some form in the building and construction industry.

I realize that the socioeconomic impact on the construction industry as a whole would be a rather large range to try to tackle in just one paper so I have decided to focus on contractors/construction workers for the time being and possibly extend it to engineers and owners if time and resources permit me to.

In my preliminary research, I have found a source [1] that proposes that robots do not always take jobs and can actually create them.  This is interesting as most assume that the introduction of robotics means a loss of human jobs, especially those that are repetitive in nature.  And if this is potentially the case, what kind of jobs are they creating.  Are they similar to the old jobs or is it an entirely new kind of job?  And if it is not necessarily creating the same or new kinds of jobs, does it allow workers to focus their attention on another aspect of the industry?  A different industry?

I, of course, will also discuss the effect that robots have on the safety of workers and the positive social impacts of this.

And in my conclusion, I plan on making projections for the future of robotics in the construction industry based on what we’ve seen in the other two industries.

[1] http://www.ifr.org/uploads/media/Metra_Martech_Study_on_robots_02.pdf

Term Project Description

For my term project I chose to explore the uses and potential uses of robotics in construction, particularly in the structural component manufacturing and assembling.  Professor Mitchell suggested I further narrow down my topic to make it a more manageable project for the term.  Taking this into consideration I think I am going to research how robotics can and will impact the precast concrete industry. More particularly, the manufacturing of prestressed elements in the plant.  I had done a co-op with a precast manufacturer my sophomore year and have first hand experience with how the plant is run.  I am also currently taking a concrete design course, as well as a prestressed concrete design course.  Using all of the knowledge I have gained from these and the knowledge I will gain from these courses, I would be able to better understand in which ways the use of robotics would benefit this facet of the industry.  While I believe that robotics could and eventually will become the main components of a prestressed concrete plant, I believe that there is still a large human component necessary for the success of the plant.

While I had worked at the precast plant I had noticed that there was great deal of automation within the plant, but was in a very primitive form.  I am not sure if this was just because the plant I worked at was in great need of an update, or if this was common among precast plants.  Either way, there was much room for improvement.  I remember the concrete mixing plant being in the back of the building, where normal concrete trucks would receive the concrete and then continue to drive through the plant to their destination, all the while mixing as if they were delivering concrete to a site in the field miles away.  This seemed very inefficent and time consuming and potentially dangerous.  A truck meant for operating on an open road was opperating in an environmet with people walking aroud in close quarters.  These trucks have many blindspots and are not meant to be driven indoors like that.  There was also the issue of pulling the prestressing tendons to their design tension, a very dangerous taks.  If one of those strands had pulled or snapped it could have easily killed someone.  There is also the health hazard of working in an environment with all of the chemicals and dust associated with precast plants. 

I want to discuss how and if robotics will be implemented into the precast manufacturaing industry in the near future.  I feel this is an industry that can benefit from the use of robotics in a big way.

I found the project being done by Maria Gabriela Gonzalez and her partner to be very interesting and pretty similar to my project.  They talk about using robots in construction in the field; particularly for the more repetetive, automated tasks as well.  I think that once the technology becomes more advanced this will become much more feasible. 

Sources:  My first hand experience in a precast plant at Universal Concrete Products Corporation

 

Team 12

Talking about buildings being “Green” people mainly think about using green energy such as solar panels or wind turbines and it is mostly put in prospect to commercial buildings being able to gain the most from it. But going green can also mean using less energy and can also be put in prospect to residential real-estate having a great impact to going green. So my group and I plan on designing a database and prototype suggestions for integrating common systems in residential buildings to save energy. We plan on basing our design and prototypes based off the research and technology which was used to create a successful product out in the market called Nest. For people who are unfamiliar with Nest, it is an innovated new “smart thermostat” out on the market which can learn its owners tasks based on patterns and also wirelessly connect to the web to acquire outdoor conditions and integrate it with indoor conditions to run the HVAC system in the building efficiently. It has an easy plug and play installation with a very simple to use interface which can be learned quickly by an average person. Its Wi-Fi connection to the web able its user to have wide range of accessibility which is a key feature for better options for integration. Additionally the Nest is compatible to a wide range of units in its field and offered for an affordable cost for any average family in the United States with return on investment of rest than two years.

For our project, just as Nest operates for the HVAC system of the residential buildings, we will research how a very similar concept can be incorporated with other important systems in the residential building such as lighting system, electric system, curtain system and etc. we will also look into how the interface which is provided by Nest with its products can be expanded to link these additional systems without affecting the simplicity and very low learning curve of the Nest interface and controls. Key factors that will play the main goals of the research and design will be simplicity, accessibility, wide range of compatibility, affordability, and options of integration. As a team we have a growing interest in the key factors mentioned in the previous sentence in addition to electronic gadgets which also relates to the topic of integration being explored in class that has lead us to this project. None of the team members have every worked with creating a database which we believe will be the biggest challenge when completing this project.          

  

Sources:

http://www.nest.com/blog/category/technology/

http://www.technologyreview.com/view/429449/new-nest-thermostat-the-bigger-deal-is-the-software/

Term Project

Nowadays, the mission of most contractors is to help people make the most while using less of their energy and simultaneously providing various operational and security services to a building.  This is all achieved by also promoting a “green” environment.  Energy management is aimed in making energy be efficient, reliable, productive, and green, all in order to provide energy usage for appliances, machinery, HVAC systems, security and motors.  Rita Pauliushchyk claimed that the use of sensors improves the efficiency of operations in a building. I could not agree with that statement more considering that one of the biggest technologies that are emerging from intelligent buildings and that rely on energy management is sensors. 

Even though sensors have been around for quite a while now, they are now being used a lot more.  Now sensors come in the smallest sizes and their functionality has increased.  Considering that I have a mechanical concentration, I thought it would be interesting to explore the variety of uses of a sensor in a building, for heating, ventilating and air conditioning, as well as for security measures. I will also explore how the design methods of a contractor vary when placing sensors in a building.  These include the challenges that can be encountered while designing in an existing building, as well as a contractors design preference during the construction phase of a building.  In addition, I will further examine how energy efficient sensors can be, their reliability and how they promote “green”.

My original project idea was to compare two different types of programs, Autodesk Storm and Sanitary Analysis and EPA SWMM.  Because I will be using EPA SWMM for my senior design project in order to plan and design a hydraulic system, I thought it would be interesting to compare it to a similar program by Autodesk.  I was going to first create a design using EPA SWMM and then attempt to exchange this design to the Autodesk software, modify it and send it back.  My initial idea was to investigate the interoperability of both, yet I came to realize that it does not have a big connection to BIM.  Because sensors have such a wide variety of uses and are multifaceted, I decided to explore this topic for my term project.

Sensor Network for Hagerty Library

For my term project I am working in a group with Jeanine Lancellotti and Rita Pauliushchyk. We knew we wanted to further explore the role of sensors in intelligent building design. Clearly that is an incredibly broad topic and needed to be narrowed down significantly if we wanted to write a successful research paper. We met in the basement library to discuss different possibilities and directions we could take the project, when inspiration struck us. We were in a study room in the basement of the library; it was stuffy, hot, and hard to concentrate in those room conditions. We decided we would explore how sensor technology can be applied in the W.W. Hagerty library to create a more suitable and comfortable study environment for Drexel students.

The physical environment is very important in a library because there are specific conditions ideal for academic work.  Conditions such as temperature, humidity control, lighting levels, and heating and cooling requirements for computer rooms must be considered.  Sensors can help building systems efficiently control any condition within a building through monitoring indoor and outdoor climates, occupancy, energy usage patterns, lighting, and water usage.  Implementing a sensor network would greatly improve student comfort levels as well as help increase overall building efficiency.

We will be using a survey consisting of nine simple questions to collect feedback from students on the conditions of the library.  These questions address issues such as temperature, humidity and “stuffiness”, noise and light levels, energy and water consumption, and overcrowding.  After analyzing the survey answers, we will be able to determine what qualities most affect students and explore sensors that can best address those issues.  We will be able to create a network of sensors that could theoretically be utilized throughout the Hagerty library.  Factors we will consider include cost, efficiency, ease of maintenance, and how easily integrated the sensors can be into the existing building systems.  

Term Project: Intelligent and Green Buildings

.                For the term project I plan to study the similarities and differences of  “intelligent” and “green” buildings. Next year for my senior design, I want to research the loading on roofs caused by the components that make it a “green” or “intelligent” building. Green buildings and LEED certifications are becoming very important and idealized in the construction of new buildings in our modern day. There has been a big push towards Green design within the past 10 years, and it’s still a growing field. To my understanding, Green buildings deal with making certain components in a structure more environmentally friendly.  On the other hand, I believe that an intelligent building focus more on making existing components more tactical and useful. I feel that “Green” buildings are a lot more popular then intelligent buildings, yet they share a lot of similarities and differences. Like Ryan Krall also mentioned, people hear the word green and immediately want to implement any changes to their building to make it green even if they don’t understand the full meaning or concept of the word. I still feel that people can relate to a green building more than they can to an “intelligent” building. When one thinks green, we think green roofs, storm water management, green walls, and so on. However like Gayaneh Gulbenkian stated, “everyone has their own definition of what exactly an intelligent building is” and for that reason, it will be harder to summarize and describe it as whole.

                Being that both are fields with lots of areas of research, I plan on focusing  my report on green and intelligent design with respect to roofs. Intelligent roofs can vary and define roofing such as solar panels, cool roofs, or sometimes just a more “intelligent” use of the roof space. A green roof on the other hand can be anything related to storm water management, or sometimes even biowalls that greatly reduce the water runoff. I want to study the effects of hydroponics on these green roofs, to see how it’s a combination of green and intelligent building systems.

Sources:

http://www.supergreenme.com/go-green-environment-eco:Intelligent-Roofs-Save-Energy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflective_surfaces_(geoengineering)

Term Project Description

For projects large and small, complex and simple, architects and other building industry professionals around the world use Autodesk Revit today for building design, documentation, construction and management. So it is critical to completely master this important software. For my term project I will be use Revit to design a 2 floor house and install HAVC system in it. I wanted to do this because as we have discussed in class the industry that we all want to work in is heading in the direction of completely digital 3D BIMs in order to complete construction projects in the future. The future intelligent building will be tightly related with BIM software like Revit and it will become a basic requirement in china for next decade. As a student major in HVAC, I also interest in the energy analysis tool embed in the Revit. Because the energy consumption will be more and more important factor when evaluate a building.

With my partner Wang Chunyi, we plan to present a sheet, composed of house floor plan, elevations and HAVC system construction and its distribution in the house. We also want to generate one report recording all the technical problems we meet and how we solve them. Within the drawing process, we can share the experiences and how to make the design effective and powerful. We can summary what we have learned through the design process.

After reading other posts, I think Rita Pauliushchyk 's group topic about use of sensors in W.W. Hagerty Library is very practical. Since we spend a lot of time studying library, it is critical to analyze the library to see how people feel in its environment and related to sensors. And other people choose intelligent/green building as there topic like Gabrielle Carpenter. Because of energy limitation, the green building is the future direction of our industry. I am also interest in how to design and operate properly in order to make building friendly with environment. As she mentioned in post, I hope to know more about LEED certification and improvement suggestion for their evaluation standard. I am looking forward to hear what they find.

Term Project - Sensors in Residential Buildings

In the class so far we have talked about a lot of different types of things that go into Intelligent building design. One that keeps being brought up is the use of sensors to do any number of different things. Rita and Dan talk about the applications of sensors in commercial building, Rita more about what sensors would be useful, and Dan about how the information sensors gather can be used in building. However, in class we have not really seen the use of sensors in residential applications. For our project, Nathan Barry, Jalpesh Patel, and myself will be exploring the use of sensors in residential homes, in both new construction and renovation.

What originally got us thinking along this path was This post by Tom, in which he talks about Nest thermostats and how they can be used in a residential home to drastically improve the quality and efficiency of the building. This is the type of sensor that we will do more research on. In David's post, in which he is working with Tom, they seem to be further investigating how to take the Nest thermostat and make it even better. This is similar to what our group will be doing, but while they are choosing to focus on the Nest, we will be taking a much more general look at all different types of sensors and what they could possibly do for a building.

Our primary objective to accomplish in this project is not to simply talk about sensors that could be used in new construction, but find sensors that could also easily be integrated into an existing home.We hope to find sensors that are easy to install and have a payback time of less than 5 years. Using this information we would like to make a theoretical 'intelligent building upgrade' package which would be a series of different sensors that could upgrade your home in many ways, and would also highlight the saving you could potentially get from have a smarter home.

Sources:
http://www.nest.com/

Term Project - Autonomous Houses

Week 5

2/5/13

Research Project Description – Autonomous “Off-the-grid” Houses

                My initial plan was to analyze how a building can function differently given the presence of a “green-roof” system.  The focus would have been on the impact to the building in regard to thermal quality, water runoff, appearance and increased loading and on the community in regard to environmental advantages.  It became clear during research that this topic does not present enough opportunity to engage in Intelligent Building design as it has been presented in class.  The focus turned more to the environmental and aesthetic side rather than technological and intelligent aspect.

                My new topic is autonomous homes and will suite the idea of Intelligent Building much better.  I plan to present detailed research on the different methods of producing a house that can completely sustain itself and not rely on outside resources.  The services discussed will range from electricity and heat to building materials and water runoff issues.  In addition to current and proven methods, I plan to extend my discussion to conceptual ideas that will be the next wave of technology.  The research will not only focus on the equipment used to design an autonomous home, but also on the impact that a structure like this will have on the community and environment as well as economic impacts to the owners.

                Although I did not think of it originally, it was brought to my attention by Junwah and Kayleigh that this assignment can relate to and enhance senior design projects.  Although I have not yet started senior design, I have been thinking about the possibilities.  I have always enjoyed incorporating the environment and efficiency into building systems and this topic will help me develop further ideas for my Senior Design project.  I also found it interesting how John Scanlon proposed to investigate the advantages of advanced materials and energy efficiency means on pre-existing buildings that would need to undergo renovations.  By focusing on the city of Philadelphia and basing the designs on a realistic renovation cost of 10%, John is creating something that is both personally interesting as well as practical.

Term Project - Sensor Database in BMS

For my AE-510 term project I am researching how a collection of data, provided by sensors throughout a building, is compiled into a database and how this database interacts with the Building Management System (BMS) to specifically influence HVAC system control. Like Rita Pauliushchyk stated in her blog post, sensors improve the overall efficiency of building operation. By themselves, sensors provide very little information; it is not until the sensor data is compiled and processed that the information can be used to report data or perform a task. My project will explore the interaction of the sensors in a database with the BMS to operate the various components of the HVAC system efficiently in order to optimize the building and lower the operating cost and environmental impact.

In order to do this I will define the aspects of a building management system which involves a network of controllers, sensors and output devices that can control metering, air systems and water systems within the building. I will then explore the various kinds of sensors and how their data is collected and formed into a database of all the sensors within the building. This data is processed and recorded and displayed to the user through the database so the information can be used. I will look at the specific ways that data is used in order to automate the building systems. I will also look at the future of sensors and their interaction with the BMS.

Many of the students in the class are researching intelligent vs. green building. I believe that the interaction between sensors and the BMS are a link between these two as it is using the intelligence of sensors and automation in order to improve system efficiency, lowering the amount of energy used and minimizing the buildings impact on the environment.

Term Project

My group consists of Issa Haddad, Mitchell Butler and me, Junwah Ng. For our term project, we decided to do the topic about green and intelligent buildings. This is a great topic for us considering our senior project also correlates with green/intelligent buildings. Our senior project is about trying to make a zero net building. This means zero run off, zero energy use, and zero environmental impact. Our site is a small 2-1/2 acre land in the Mantua district of Philadelphia, not far from Drexel University. To achieve this goal of a zero net building, we have chosen many different types of systems; photovoltaic, passive solar, earth sheltering, green roofs and much more. Through this term project we would like to distinguish the difference between green and intelligent buildings. In an article I’ve read it seems that “green” buildings have more to do with being LEED certified than anything else and intelligent buildings are to be more on the technological side. But more research is needed to really understand the differences. By defining what a green/intelligent building is, we would be able to consider which type of building design would best fit our senior project. Whether it would be more beneficial for our building to be 100% green, 100% intelligent, or even a combination of the both. Furthermore we would like to also include the use of BIM for our senior design. We would integrate the many uses of Revit that we’ve heard about in class and put them into the design of the building. Probably making a model that analysis each system to optimize the efficiency of the building. Kayleigh's blogged that she is also doing her term project with her senior design as well. Her project is slightly different then ours, she is making a sustainable elementary school while ours is making a zero net building much smaller then a school. I find it really great that someone is also using Revits full potential, probably even more so than us considering her experience with Revit. Overall if the outcome of this term project is successful, then our findings will alter the course of our design for senior project.

http://www.costar.com/josre/pdfs/CoStar-JOSRE-Green-Study.pdf

Term Project - Robotics in Construction

As Maria Gonzalez mentioned in her blog, we chose to write a paper about Robotics in Construction. Robotics is a highly developed technology and it is starting to be a big part of the construction industry due to the increased efficiency and productivity. Robots often perform tasks that are repetitive, dangerous, or distasteful which could potentially create safety hazards for humans. Additionally, from the business point of view, robots can work anytime without long breaks.

The paper will focus on the present and the future of the industrial robots. There are already robots involved in the construction industry; the wall and brick assembly robots, the tele-operated concrete distribution robots, and automated building construction systems. As mentioned above, there are many tasks that could potentially result in dangerous situations; robots can perform arc welding of metal components of building frames, insulation and application of adhesives or sealants to building materials such as windows.The use of robotics in the construction industry can result in an unlimited number of applications and capabilities. We all have heard about the 30-story hotel built in 15 days in China.

The paper will also discuss the social impacts of employing robots in the construction industry. There is a lot of discussion around this topic and whether robots will replace the human workforce or not. According to Sam Stathis, an electrical contractor, inventor and CEO of Theometrics, there will be plenty of jobs for everyone. However, there are other people that think robots will take over.

I believe that Robotics and Intelligent Buildings are closely related to one another. As John Scanlon mentions in his blog, we have to find solutions in order to increase the efficiency of the buildings. Although he is talking about existing buildings, it is very true for new construction as well and robotics can rapidly increase the efficiency of the buildings.


Sources:
Healey, John. November 2012. Coming Soon: Robots that Help Build Buildings. <http://articles.latimes.com/2012/nov/13/news/la-ol-theometrics-robots-not-my-enemy-20121113>

Describe Term Project

The term project I am choosing to work on will be to research and formulate primary and secondary systems that will be employing usage sensors and supporting conservation systems for water consumption in residential buildings. Water is an integral part of our daily lives and is often overlooked as a resource because it is always available and clean when it is needed. This normality may soon change as the population continues to rise and put strain on the already deteriorating water treatment and distribution systems while the amount of investment remains has reduced or remained unchanged. The costs associated with delivering clean and healthy water to American cities will most certainly rise do to major infrastructure investments needed in the water treatment sector. According to ASCE’s “Failure to Act – The Current Infrastructure Investment on America’s Economic Future”, the funding gap for fresh/waste water is expected to be $84 billion by 2020. The funding gap is the largest among the biggest sectors of infrastructure (Surface transportation, water/waste water, electricity, airports and inland waterways and marine ports) with a funding gap of 60% of the total amount needed.

The system that I plan to research and implement relates to Intelligent Buildings in that it utilizes sensors to record the amount of water being consumed for different uses in the building. The system will analyze three types of water resources, solar heated hot water, re-cycled grey water and normal treated water. The system will measure the temperature of the solar water heater product to know if it needs to be heated by other means. Sensors such as Ph-level, bio-mass, chemicals and minerals will be used to determine the quality of the used water to determine if it can be used for grey water or if it has to be sent to a treatment plant. The main concept of the Intelligent Building water system is the capacity to analyze water usage patterns and be able to store or reuse different types of water to avoid paying for clean treated water for every consumer demand. The technology would be intelligent enough to, with the support of external tanks, store clean treated water during off-peak treatment times for use during the next day. An innovative feature of the system would be point of use fixtures that would show the users the current state of the system. This feature would allow for goal setting to reduce consumption levels as well as act as positive reinforcement for lowering operating costs. The usage patterns and goals could be set for different time periods, such as weeks or months. The interaction with the users could be simple graphs or color changes on the fixtures themselves that convey information such as conservation and water reuse.

The challenges that are relevant to a project like this are the costs associated with such new technology and systems. The amount of rework for the distributing pipes within the residence could prove to be expensive and not worth the investment in a new system. Other challenges with the type of system that I am proposing is the accuracy and quality of the sensors to be used within the grey water reuse system. Even though this water will not be used for human consumption, it is still important the sensors are accurate and not releasing water that is not safe for humans to be in contact with, for uses such as cleaning, flushing and others. Another way the grey water could be used would be a closed loop radiant heating/cooling system. I am also agreeing with the challenge that a couple of people have mentioned such as in Gabrielle's blog post, that information relevant to intelligent buildings is hard to find because the idea is very new. I believe that most of the information that is available is all about "green building" techniques. The way that we must approach intelligent buildings to use the available technologies, which some may well be "green", but be truly innovative in developing whole systems and interactive portions of said systems. 

[1] Failure to Act: The Economic Impact of Current Investment Trends in Airports, Inland Waterways and Marine Ports Infastructure. Publication. Economic Development Research Group/ASCE, 2012. Web. 4 Feb. 2013. <http://www.asce.org/uploadedFiles/Infrastructure/Failure_to_Act/Failure%20To%20Act%20Ports%20Economic%20Report.pdf>. 

Comment left on: 
http://ae-510-ay12-13.blogspot.com/2013/02/project-intelligent-andor-green.html

Term Project Blog

Many of my fellow students chose to compare “green and intelligent” buildings. Gayaneh Gulbenkian explains, “Intelligent, energy-efficient buildings are expected to be an important part of future energy systems.” This statement is very true. We must effectively find solutions to increase the efficiency of our existing buildings.

A challenge we face in today’s society is that many of our residential buildings are severely inefficient. For my project I chose to analyze such a building. I chose to look at how to implement green and intelligent design into a typical Philadelphia row home. The preliminary challenge to installing green and intelligent design into these small residential units is cost. Many of the inhabitants of Philadelphia row homes are those who have modest to lower level incomes. I will pick a few of the more inexpensive green and intelligent options and compare their energy reducing facets and look at the overall cost to implement such designs. For example, I will compare the cost of installing new argon filled windows with installing intelligent sensors. I will also compare their energy reducing stats.

In order to accomplish this feat I will have to analyze the building envelope of the typical Philadelphia Row home. I will take an average floor plan (approximately 1000 Sqft) and take average energy cost, average window area, R value, etc. and run scenarios on how the energy efficiency will improve if I install sensors or green argon filled windows. I will look at 2 types of row homes. These types are the end units, that share only one side with a neighboring building and a middle unit which shares both sides with neighbors. Rita says, "we are hoping to stress the point that no building is an island. It exists in a context of numerous and various externalities that constantly influence its performance.” This rings true for row homes. Each unit feeds of the adjacent unit and vice versa. Naturally, end units, will lose more heat to the outdoors because it has an extra wall exposed to the elements.

The overall goal of my project is to maximize energy efficiency while keeping the renovations costs under 10% (arbitrary number for now) of the yearly income of the average tenant. After all, if the tenants cannot afford the initial costs then they will not have an incentive to implement these green or intelligent designs.

Sources:

http://www.rowhouse-magazine.com/featuredHomes/featuredRows_phillyRows.html

Term Project

For the term project I will be documenting my exploration of linking Revit and RAM structural analysis software. I will be doing this through the development of a portion of my senior design project in which I am handling the architectural, structural and HVAC design of a recreation center that will be build in Warminster. In order to document this I will be continually taking notes on difficulties, overall things I learn as well as ways that I wished I had done different steps along the way.

I will basically be trying to create a comprehensive how-to of linking RAM and Revit. I wanted to do this because as we have discussed in class the industry that we all want to work in is heading in the direction of completely digital 3D BIMs in order to complete construction projects in the future. I also know that RAM and Revit are two of the most widely used programs in the industry today.

I found Gabrielle Carpenter and Gayaneh Gulbenkian's project idea on Green Buildings. I completely agree with what Gayaneh said in that green building is definitely the way that the industry is headed, even if people don't understand exactly what it is the clients always love to hear that their building will be green. People hear the word green and they all have different ideas about what it means, however, most believe that it is a positive thing. Who can argue with doing our part to save the planet, right? So as for our jobs in the future and how they will include green engineering, I think that each and every one of us can look forward to more and more green design that we will have to figure out how to deal with. With that said, I am extremely interested to see how these two bring it into the intelligent building realm and make this more of a reality for today and not just something that will be down the road.

Project Topic: Intelligent and/or Green Buildings

For the term project, I will be focusing on the topic of “Intelligent and/or Green” with Gabrielle Carpenter.  I chose this topic because green buildings a hot topic of today in the building industry and I thought it would be interesting to explore the relationship between green and intelligent buildings. I don’t much background in either subject but I figured this would be a great opportunity to learn more about green buildings and intelligent buildings.

Intelligent, energy-efficient buildings are expected to be an important part of future energy systems.

There are practically no limits to the number of functions that can be incorporated into intelligent buildings: lighting, heating/ventilation, climate control and energy management among others. I’m very interested in how these systems will contribute to the “green image” of the building.   

As G. Carpenter mentioned in her post, I think the biggest challenge with our project is going to be finding information of intelligent buildings because they are referenced in many different ways and there is not one single description of an intelligent building. Everyone has their own definition of what exactly an intelligent building is.