The paper addresses the main issues of the technology shift much needed in the construction sector of Singapore. The reason being there is a prevalent understanding that this sector invests little in information technology (IT) as compared with the other economic sectors. Essentially, the shift entails the bridging of a knowledge gap between industry and research academia. And, it is argued that a mindset change among construction practitioners will be required as a move to embrace artificial intelligence (AI) in their business and operational decisions. The recommendations put forward are that, in the short term, the knowledge gap can be filled when construction-sector organisations have acquired the basic infrastructures (or building blocks) of intelligent enterprise architecture and, in the long term, education can sustain the growth of intelligent enterprises by supplying knowledge workers to these enterprises. The research methodology comprises a postal questionnaire survey of construction-sector organisations and a review of the literature on AI in construction management.
With a strong dependency on regions and climate, passive design is the most economically effective strategy to reduce energy consumption. Using Climate Consultant 5.5 software, data analysis is conducted to analyze 16 cities in Northeast China. The independent and integrated effectiveness of nine kinds of passive design strategy are studied like sun shading of windows, high thermal mass, high thermal mass night flushed, direct evaporative cooling, two-stage evaporative cooling, natural ventilation cooling, passive solar direct gain low mass, passive solar direct gain high mass, wind protection of outdoor spaces. The results show that passive solar heat gains are the most important passive design strategy, whether in the heating or non-heating season, with an average contribution rate of 14.64% and 28.38%, respectively. This study provides suggestions on passive design in severe cold regions in Northeast China. The effectiveness-evaluation tables proposed can be referred to by architects in their passive designs.
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