Jianfeng Xiao - Blog 1

HVAC & Future: Putting Building Science into Practice

By: Martin LaMonica

Published By: MIT Technology Review

Date: January 21, 2013

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/510131/putting-building-science-into-practice/

In this article, new technologies including HVAC system, windows and walls are discussed. The Fraunhofer Institute in south Boston was built in different new technologies and materials to test their performance. The technology products chose were based on their effectiveness, low energy emission and best return investment. This building used chilled beams for lighting and HVAC system. The advantage of the chilled beams are its cooling and heating performance and its low cost. It requires smaller ceiling space and little maintenance compares to traditional HVAC system. In addition, the smart glass and insulation wall was used to keep the heat out of building, which makes the HVAC system more efficiency. The different technologies used in this building were still in energy retrofit. I believe in the future, there will be more energy efficiency technologies being invented and applied in building construction.

Sensor: The world's most sustainable building is also the smartest

By: ELEANOR PEAKE

Published By: WIRED

Date: November 1, 2017

http://www.wired.co.uk/article/this-is-the-worlds-smartest-building

In this article, sensors are discussed. The Deloitte’s new Amsterdam Headquarter, a most sustainable building designed by Ron Bakker, is the smartest building in the world. This building does not use any energy for heating and cooling. Because a huge atrium is designed to provide air flow and sunlight, which stores sunlight heat in the summer to be used in the winter. In addition, the 30000 sensors are placed throughout the office to measure every aspect of lighting, CO2 level and humidity. This will help to measure the air quality and wellness condition of building.

AI & Future: Alibaba's AI Outgunned Humans in Key Stanford Reading Test

By: Bloomberg

Published By: ITPro

Date: January 15, 2018

http://www.itprotoday.com/machine-learning/alibabas-ai-outgunned-humans-key-stanford-reading-test

This article talks about the recent development of AI. The Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. put its deep neural network model to test the AI’s intelligence compares to human intelligence. This test was to ask AI for exact question for more than 10000 questions. The AI final scored 82.44, which past the 82.304 human achieved. This shows the AI technology has made a huge advancement. This AI technology can be applied to numerous application such as customer service, online responses to medical inquiries from patients and even autonomous driving. I believe the AI technology will be used widely in different areas which helps to develop the quality of life in the future. But the only concern right now is how much we should develop the AI technology.

Database: Software equal to or better than humans at cataloging published science data

Published By: Kurzweil

Date: December 2, 2014

http://www.kurzweilai.net/software-equal-to-or-better-than-humans-at-cataloging-published-science-data

In this article, database is discussed. A computer system called PaleoDeepDive has extracting data from scientific publications and placing it in a database for individual studies. This system rapidly and precisely summary, collate, and index the vast output of scientists around the globe. This database allows people to access information without going back to library for original documents.

Cody Johnson Comments:

Cody,

I agree that boundaries should be set up for AI by developer since AI is widely applied in different areas. If boundaries were set up, the AI could bring our life a lot convenience. It can be applied in customer service, online response and even autonomous driving in the future. But as you mention, if boundaries were taken away, AI could learn anything that could lead to negative direction. This is not what we want. Therefore, discipline should be set up for developer to develop AI.  

Bradley DiGiovanni Comments:

Brad,

I read the same article as you about this sustainable building. The interesting part of this article is this building use 30000 sensors in the office to measure every aspect of lighting, CO2 level and humidity. These sensors help to measure the air quality and wellness condition of building. In addition, one interesting part you do not mention is that this building does not use energy for cooling and heating. They use natural sunlight, and they store heat in the summer to be used in winter. This really help to decrease energy use.

Dee Dee Strohl Comments:

Dee Dee,

Your post about the HVAC and sensor part is interesting. I agree with you that this technology will help to decrease the energy use in a building. In addition, this will increase the quality of our life. You can control the HVAC system to adjust temperature or humidity using app on your phone when you are not at home.