Blog Post 4- How Intelligent Building Technologies Can Be Used to Make A Building More Green

Our project is based on a variation of the “Intelligent vs Green” topic. We aim to explore how these intelligent building technologies are being implemented in the design and operation of buildings to create an overall green building. As intelligent building technologies are developed they primarily focus on making new buildings more efficient to lower operating cost while increasing comfort. Green technologies meet similar goals with a focus on things like utilizing sustainable materials and energy efficient processes. This has led to the two fields coevolving to change the way new buildings are designed and operated.

We plan to start by researching the definitions for what defines an “intelligent” and “green” building. From there we will be finding the technologies that are currently being used or developed to create/operate these building. I suspect that many of these technologies will aim to solve the same problems that designers and operator face which is why they are commonly integrated together in buildings. Both intelligent and green buildings are becoming increasingly popular and regulatory agencies are implementing more strict design requirements that reflect this. Incentive systems are already in place to help push developers to create more efficient buildings, so it makes sense that this will also drive any companies in the technology sector to continue to create products that can be implemented in new and retrofitted buildings.

While doing some preliminary research for this paper I stopped to look at a website that I am currently using. I have an account with Swellinvesting.com, an investing website with a focus on socially responsible companies. The website has 6 portfolios that it manages in various categories like green technologies, renewable energy, zero waste, and disease eradication.  Under the green technologies portfolio, you have companies like Park Electrochemical Corp. who are a materials manufacturer for telecommunications infrastructure, but you also have companies like AutoDesk who create design technologies to help create green and intelligent structures. Swell tracks how these portfolios do against the Russell 3000 and over the last two years the portfolio had performed around 16% better than the market. This reinforces the idea that there is a growing market for these types of technologies and that there will continue to be growth in this area.

   

 Responses:

Chris,

Sounds like a real fun brainstorming session! It will be interesting to see how these “smart” technologies become common place in our homes. I feel like now more than ever the public is more open to new technologies that have the ability to make our lives easier. Things like Amazon’s Alexa are already being implemented into people’s homes and exposing entire families to new technologies. However, I don’t know if homeowners will be interested in having all that data available to them but they would be interested on a system that could update and maintain itself without user input.

The idea of retrofitting old buildings with intelligent devises sounds like a great way to increase the efficiently of outdated structures without a large capital investment.

Isaac,

 I think it is great that you will be applying the engineering skills that you have learned here to teaching others. I think as engineers one of the things you learn how to do is learn new skills quickly and be able to apply them to various projects. This is a skill that can be applied to all fields and can be very valuable. I think in the future their will be more classes focused on technology and how it is implemented in various fields, so being up to date on new programs could be very valuable as an instructor.

Amisial,

We are doing a similar topic and have found that there is a strong connection between intelligent and green technologies. Thankfully there is a lot of research and data available on these types of technologies so researching them should be easy. If companies are able to continue to develop these technologies further the high cost of installation may become less of a factor.