Looking Towards the Future
CIEMAS was constructed with state of the art monitoring systems that reports everything from electricity and water use to the strain on the pedestrian walkways on the third floor. However, it does not currently have an integrated system that allows the public to watch and monitor the way it functions. But thanks to grants from the university (and the work of an intern this coming summer), all of the monitoring devices may soon feed to a central server where the data will be compiled (using software by Lucid Designs) for use in educational applications such as a website and kiosks in the entrances to the building.
What are the Benefits?
Beyond the obvious economic benefits of having a building's systems highly monitored and efficiently coordinated, there are some other advantages to having a building's insides exposed to the public:
Teaching/Learning Tool
A building's data output can be put to use in teaching and research in the academic world. A building can be used by a complete spectrum of students: K-12, undergraduates, and even graduate students could make use of a building outfitted with sensors.
The Engineering School at the University of Colorado at Boulder has
developed a concept they call BLT--Building as a Learning Tool. At their
Integrated
Teaching and Learning Laboratory (ITLL), the Colorado Engineering
faculty and students have access to data from more than 300 sensors
distributed throughout the building from HVAC to electricity use to
structural strain gauges.
Environmental Awareness
Another way that a building's operational data can be put to use is by increasing occupant awareness about the environmental impacts of buildings. According to an EPA Report on green building, the nationwide environmental impact of buildings in the US is extensive. Of the nation's total environmental impact, the following have been attributed to buildings alone:
- 42% Energy Use
- 40% Atmospheric Emissions
- 30% Raw Materials
- 25% Solid Waste
- 24% Water Use
- 20% Water Effluents
- 15% Land Use
- 12% Other Releases
At Oberlin College, students and faculty of the Environmental Studies Department helped design their very own Environmental Studies building that has very low environmental impact: It generates its own electricity from the sun, it uses passive solar heating to reduce heating costs, and it has a biological "living machine" that turns the building's wastewater back into potable water. In addition, they designed the building so that it could be fully monitored to asses its actual environmental impacts. Click here for a look at real-time and energy usage trends at the Adam Joseph Lewis Center for Environmental Studies (requires Flash).
Occupant Performance Optimization System
The CIEMAS: Alive project seeks to incorporate ideas (and even some of the software) from buildings like the AJLC and the ITLL, but this project also seeks to take the concept a step further. In addition to making available the data for use by professors and students, we envision the software giving occupants of CIEMAS direct feedback as to the environmental impact of the users' behavior, and suggest ways for lessening the overall impact of the building on the environment. Click on the link below to read a proposal written by Sam Hummel, (Duke's Environmental Sustainability Coordinator) for the Occupant Performance Optimization System (OPOS):