Blog 1-The HVAC system and the environmental challenges for the future buildings

  Now is 2019, so the “future” is here. Currently, for those new buildings, computers and smartphones are not the only staffs can connect to the internet and log in the database. The doorbell can record guess’ message when we are not home; the lights would be turned off automatically when there is no one occupied in the room; the fire alarm would call the fireman for us. But the future is still coming. “The home devices are able to communicate with each other, send the message to the host, and take commands for improving. This is not science fiction anymore. Because of the Internet of Things (IoT), it is possible to build the home automation.” Wrote by Colon and Griffith. [1] When it comes to practice, the HVAC system would be the main part to be automated. Here is an AD for the air vent, “Keen’s Smart Vents make it possible for homeowners to close the vents when the room is not in use with an app, instead of a ladder. The vents are rigged with sensors for temperature and pressure. After you install it, you can set up a profile for the room to tell the vent how it should work. For an office room, the original program is set to work between 9 in the morning and 6 in the afternoon for the workdays. If there is a hard-working guy wants to stay longer, he can use the app to adjusted time. Keen will also remember user habits and intelligently open and close vents accordingly. Initial studies show that Keen can reduce 22% of running time on the air vents.” [2] The benefit of the automated HVAC system and the electricity system is to save our planet. Rhodes wrote, “If we turn down the air vents during the unoccupied period, the efficiency of a 3,500-square-foot building can decrease to the same efficiency serving a 2,000-square-foot home.” [2] A lot of energy would be saved.  

  Of course, as engineer students, we all have been told that environmental problem is not an ignorable problem for the building constructions. “40% of greenhouse gas is produced by the buildings in the U.S. In New York, this number even raises to 80%. This happens because the commercial buildings waste a large amount of energy by heating and lighting unoccupied buildings. There is also another problem for the architects and engineers, the green building conferences are packed with everything from recycled building materials to solar awnings. The challenge is choosing the products that offer the best return on investment and fitting them into an overall design.” Martin LaMonica wrote. [3] For better life of our progenies, engineers should start to save the Earth. However, to construct a green building is not as easy as its definition. Martin LaMonica wrote: “One of the challenges in green building design is making dramatic energy reductions to existing buildings. The constructor would fill the insulations, such as the vacuum insulation panels, between the brick walls or ceilings. The building will use efficient lighting and HVAC systems. Engineers and designers can save energy and money by using smaller HVAC machines in an insulated and tight constructed building. Another method to improve the overall efficiency of the building is by certain practices like, to precool the conference rooms before meetings, Cheimets says.” [3]

 The development of the buildings and technology is important but it does not mean that we can ignore the problems they have, such as environmental problems. I believe the balance is much more essential than the developing speed. 

Reference:

[1] Colon, Alex and Griffith, Eric. “The Best Smart Home Devices for 2019.” PCMAG, 1 Nov. 2018,

https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2410889,00.asp. Accessed 13 Jan. 2019.

[2] Rhodes, Margaret. “The Brilliant Air Vents You Never Knew You Needed” Wired, 14 Jan. 2015,

https://www.wired.com/2015/01/brilliant-air-vents-never-knew-needed/. Accessed 13 Jan. 2019

[3] LaMonica, Martin. “Putting Building Science into Practice” Technology Review, 21 Jan. 2013,

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/510131/putting-building-science-into-practice/. Accessed 13 Jan. 2019.

Comments for others:

Alec Silverstone: (Blog Post 1- The Future of Sociology, Databases, and Networking)

I totally agree with your appointment. The problem is very serious. The database is not only sharing the information, which been put into the database on your own initiative but also passively. For example, nowadays, everybody talks to their smartphones for doing a favor, and we think they are helpful. However, did you ever think about that the devices are "monitoring" us by that function as well? One time, my friend told me about "23andme" which is a genetic resolution test and I had never heard about that and never searched anything related to the "23andme" using my smartphone before. But a few hours later, there was an ad of "23andme" showing on my device, and I and my friends were freaked out that time. If the personal privacy is not "personal" anymore, then who will care about the "person" as an individual in the future? Undeniable, the "big data" makes a convenient life, and humans will get more benefits from it in the future. However, the sociology will become one of the largest roadblocks for the development of the database.

Christian Tait:

Yes, the material is the largest limitations of 3-D printing. When it comes for the building construction, 3-D printing is an environmentally friendly method. The construction wastes can be reused by 3-D printing. In 2014, at Shanghai, China, there were 10 3-D printed houses built out for selling. The large properties of the "ink" were from the construction wastes. In this case, the building cost and the constructing time would decrease, and it is good for the environment. However, some parts of construction wastes were not safe enough, and for separate those harmful wastes, the cost would rise back. Also, the material is not fully developed, so the stability of the building is a big problem. So, because of the materials, 3-D printing still has a long path to go for constructing purpose.

Tyler Madden:
There is another interesting story about the facial identifying. Xueyou Zhang is a super famous artist in China, polices caught five escaped criminals on his concerts. This happened because of the real-name facial identifying system at ticket checking entrances. As you said, even though the database is touching our privacy, it is also helping us to get rid of the hiding dangerous. This contradiction will be sharpening in the future.