No abstract
There is a serious need for developing an optimized solution of sustainability and intelligence in buildings that will help the agenda of living in a healthy, comfortable, technologically advanced world. A review of the aspects of intelligent buildings and sustainability is presented followed by the study of certain existing projects over the world that incorporates intelligent techniques to achieve sustainability. These concepts were examined through an exploration of the existing literature on impacts of intelligent technologies including scientific literature; government and private organisation reports; and statements from various stakeholders. The research adopts an approach of strategic and critical evaluation of literature to grasp the fundamentals of the current state of knowledge. Outputs from the study highlight the various benefits of intelligent buildings, which include decrease in energy costs, increase in productivity, and investments. Moreover, the comparison of the attributes of intelligent buildings and sustainable practices illustrates the fact that there is a considerable overlap and intelligence can aid greenness. Thus the research concludes that architectural design; green technologies and intelligence in combination may be a pragmatic approach towards the sustainability aspect. Implications from the study also suggest that though intelligent buildings have been a positive impact there is still a wide scope for enhancement.
A number of buildings worldwide are achieving ‘sustainability scores’ on being assessed by green building rating systems. These buildings employ a range of intelligent building technologies (IBTs) to varying degrees. To determine the relationship between building intelligence and sustainability, it was strategised that the IBTs used in these buildings would be analysed to assess their impact on sustainability scores. Forty Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodology- and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certified buildings were chosen from the UK and Europe. The data was subjected to qualitative and quantitative analysis methods. Bivariate correlation, regression analysis and fivefold cross-validation provided a best-fit logarithmic model that predicts the sustainability score of a building as an estimate value, based on the number of IBTs. Two overarching themes emerged: how the number and type of IBTs affect the sustainability score and how there needs to be an optimisation between the user’s needs, the building’s functionality and the core intelligence function of the technology against the prescriptive parameters imposed by the rating systems. A positive correlation was observed between the variables. The buildings reported reduction of 41% in energy consumption, 39% in water consumption, 36% carbon dioxide emissions and significant economic and social benefits.
Are intelligent buildings a pragmatic approach towards achieving a sustainable built environment?' is the research question that this review article aims to answer. It has been argued that there is a serious need for intelligent buildings to be evaluated against the parameters of total sustainability (environmental, economic and social) so as to help the agenda of living in a technologically advanced, healthy and comfortable world. This paper reviews existing theoretical concepts of intelligence and sustainability in the built environment, through an exploration of various scientific literature and U.S Green Building Council's LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) databases. A systematic qualitative review approach has been employed to select an appropriate definition of sustainable development and use it as a theoretical framework to assess the technological impact of intelligent buildings on the environmental, economic and social front. Subsequently five case study buildings from around the world, which exemplify the use of intelligent technologies to achieve sustainable gains were chosen and analyzed to further validate the literature findings. Outputs from the study highlight the various benefits of intelligent buildings, which include decrease in energy and water consumption, operational costs, as well as increase in productivity and investments. Additionally the analysis of the case studies revealed that the use of intelligent building technologies has contributed significantly towards a higher sustainability rating on the LEED rating scale. Moreover, the comparison of the attributes of intelligent buildings and sustainable practices in buildings, illustrates the fact that there is a considerable overlap between the two and intelligence can aid sustainability in the built environment. Thus the research suggests that green technologies and intelligence in combination may be a pragmatic approach towards the sustainability aspect.
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