AE-510 AY15-16 Student Work: B1- Yuyang Shi- Group D

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

B1- Yuyang Shi- Group D

Key words:

HVAC
sensors
AI
database
future

Buildings are artificial, so we cannot talk about intelligent buildings without being aware of the existence of Artificial intelligence. Although we have seen many debates on whether we should take the risk of implement AI to our daily life, for its potential to outthink and even endanger human beings. I personally believe that AI has far more advantages than disadvantages. So whether or not it is wise to invest more on AI technology is quite difficult to find an answer. As it is such a broad topic to conclude all in few sentences. Everything are both good and evil, so why don’t we look at the bright part of this technology?

As I did some research online about AI, I noticed something interesting. When ever people think about AI, people think about robots, or super computers. But AI is much more than that. In building industry, we can also find the footprints of AI. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, 20% of energy consumption are from commercial buildings, and releases 12% of U.S`s greenhouse gases. Thus, Companies like BuildingIQ are doing a lot of investment and effort on making a more intelligent environmental controlling systems in order to reduce energy consumption, as well as make the indoor environment more desirable. How is this related to AI? Whereas the traditional HVAC system requires human inputs in order to make a desire indoor environment , HVAC system in the future would be much smarter in terms of making our life easier. Such system can study human habits and needs. It uses sensors to collect data of human activities, study from these data, and make changes to the indoor environment accordingly.

Of course the process of making this type of system would be very complex. A lot of algorithms and concepts are involved. What it does is simple and easy to be accepted by us: It saves money. With intelligent control, customer savings can be reduced up to a 25% in HVAC energy cost, said by the company BuildingIQ. Most importantly, if there is a problem happening in the system, the system would be able to know exactly what the problem is, where the problem is, and how to fix the problem . As a result the maintenance fee can also be reduced.

In sum, our future is bright. We are lucky to be born in such era with so many fascinating technologies that are waiting for being explored. So with Artificial Intelligence HVAC system, a single click of a button to make a desirable indoor environment can not only be dream come true, but also, ironically, not necessary.

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Comments:

2 comments:

UnknownJanuary 12, 2016 at 1:28 PM
You make a very valid point when you discuss that AI is not just restricted to robots as many people, and myself to a certain extent believe. Though, after this first week of looking at intelligent buildings, I know realise that AI has much more applications. Although an AI controlled HVAC system may not seem as impressive as a human emulating robot, it is clear from the articles you discussed that there are gains to be made by utilising them. These range from cost to ensuring the consistency of a controlled environment for a hospital.
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Bridget FrascaJanuary 12, 2016 at 5:47 PM
I agree that AI has more potential advantages than disadvantages. AI has already made great leaps in the past years and it can only get better. As you said, the intelligent controls can reduce up to 25% in HVAC energy cost, and as the technology improves, it will improve even more. Advances in AI are producing smarter AI with better capabilities of identification. These improvements can be tied into the HVAC systems so that the AI can monitor them to create even more efficient systems.
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