Kerry and I are doing our project on intelligent appliances
and their place in buildings. This topic came from a very entertaining
brainstorming discussion, I initially was looking at possible topics and came
across fancy technologically advanced toilets. Kerry brought up the Disney
Channel Original Movie, “Smart House”. This led us to decide on the topic of
intelligent appliances. Intelligent appliances refer to appliances that use AI
to help make a house both “smarter” and more efficient. The reason why we chose
this topic is because of our interest in new appliances and how people can use
to get the most out of their homes. We want to focus on new kitchen appliances
like refrigerators and stoves, move onto bathroom fixtures like intelligent
toilets and finally move onto living rooms fixtures. The reason why Kerry and I
wanted to focus on these fixtures because they can all be combined to create a
smart network in the house. This home network can be given the home owner, can
track usage and can give suggestions to make the building more sustainable and
energy efficient.
Intelligent appliances relate to the intelligent buildings
because they are the backbone to the buildings and they make sure that these
buildings run at optimal performance. When designers design for intelligent
buildings, they must take into consideration the appliances that make up the
home. It would be very unproductive to have an intelligent building with just
regular appliances. The appliances will help the building meet the level of
performance that the owner wants. Renovations can turn an old building into an
intelligent building, and the best way to do this is to implement intelligent
appliances. These appliances can help the building become smarter and opens up
all the different ways for the owner utilize the building and get the most of
the building.
There are many possible challenges with intelligent
appliances and implementing them into buildings. The first is convincing owners
that this is a good investment, it may be difficult to have a movement towards
buying and implementing intelligent appliances as these things cost more up
front that conventional appliances. But the tradeoff with these appliances that
they can help make owner’s lives simpler and can even help save the owner money
in utility costs. The challenge that Kerry and I will face is gathering the
information on the appliances, understand what them special and understanding
the complex system needed to connect everything together to get a smart
network.
Comments:
Dee Dee
I like the topic you and Andrew chose, I think that there is
a lot of overlap between Green Buildings and Intelligent Buildings. I
personally think that Green Buildings rely heavily on intelligent building
methods. This is common in controls, MEP designers are using controls to make
systems more efficient and sustainable, and these controls are based on AI
systems so that they can be able to run continuously by themselves.
Cody,
I really like the topic and Brad chose, I think that it can
change the construction industry and make much need improvements to how things
are conducted and hopefully it can bring some much needed modernization to a
field that is stubborn in its approach. I just think that your topic will have
the same challenge as my topic, and the fear is that it will have trouble
getting implemented, and it will take some time to have everyone buy into the
idea.
Lauren,
I like the topic you and Tyler chose and I think your
experience in sustainable design from Senior Design will definitely help you in
this project and hopefully the knowledge gained in this project will be used in
the Senior Design project. I think that Green Design and Intelligent Buildings
go hand and hand together, as one concept can be applied to both disciplines,
and that there is a good amount of overlap in the design methods.
Intelligent appliances are such an integral part of what can help make a building more user adaptive and intelligent. I really like how you are going to research and see how many smart versions of appliances are available on the market today because I feel as though much of society is not adequately taught when it comes to better environmental practices. Even with the addition of so many improved products on the market now, many people assume that making a more intelligent or green building will cost so much more and isn't worth it. Little do they know that the returns can start in as little as one year! Your topic is such a good representation of this.
ReplyDeleteChris,
ReplyDeleteSounds 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.
Thach,
ReplyDeleteI found your project subject very inspiring, and implementing intelligent appliances into intelligent building is a must in order to get the network system of the building more efficient. I completely agree with the fact that switching these appliances in an old hose is one of the first step into intelligent building, but I wonder what would be the outcome if such appliances are installed in a green house.