The Smart Building

Smart buildings or intelligent homes were futuristic ideas from science fiction books and films depicting the time when our sanctuary would be like a living machine, making decisions and adjustments, even to the point of prediction, in our living and working space in order to meet our needs. The Jetsons cartoon show we all know and love typically comes to mind when we speak of the intelligent home and quite recently the television series Eureka shows how an intelligent home would look like in a more realistic (non-cartoon) scenario.

The definition of a smart building has continuously changed, depending on the current technology of the times. From the 70s to the present, smart buildings or intelligent homes have had several evolutions - first was just incorporating energy efficiency in building designs, then to using personal computers in controlling the various systems inside and finally the emphasis on the building making occupants more efficient.

Early on, building intelligence was limited to its economic viability and the existing technology where customized devices were needed to implement a smart building. In contrast, a lot of today's commercial information technology is now useable in a smart building. Like wireless technology, which is used in computer, networks are also found in security cameras, various sensors and controls. Modern appliances too already come with network interfaces, which can easily be hooked up to the smart building's network backbone - from refrigerators and air conditioners to elevators are only some of these smart appliances already in the market.

Another of today's current technologies incorporated into a smart building and intelligent home is the Internet. With the Internet, remote controlling or monitoring of a structure is easily implemented without having to rely on proprietary systems. This again allows the use of commercially available products and even free software solutions. Any computer with a browser that has an internet connection can be used to monitor a web enabled smart building system. It has also enabled online access to "live" data like weather forecasts, which helps the smart building determine internal environment temperature as well as future power usage. The term "convergence" describes this blending of building systems with information technology and the Internet.

Today's technology has also produced not only devices and appliances but also smart materials. Where standard materials are static, these smart materials are dynamic and responsive. Some of these smart materials are:

. Smart windows. There are smart windows that can control the amount of light that passes through it. When electricity is applied to its special coating, the properties of the window will change varying from either more or less light coming through.

There are also other smart window technologies with special coatings that let light in but keep the heat out.

. Photovoltaic roofing materials or "Solar Shingles". Early adoption of solar power was to replace water heaters. But today, Solar Shingles are now commercially available to generate power from sunlight for the building or the home. And these are designed to look like regular shingles instead of those unsightly solar panels.

. Smart bricks. Just like regular bricks but with wireless sensors and battery packed inside it which helps to monitor the building's temperature, vibration and movement, wirelessly.

. Smart cement. As concrete gets deformed or stressed, these can be detected and monitored to help assess the structural integrity of a building. This is most helpful especially following an earthquake.

This dream of an intelligent building that offers the utmost comfort and cost efficiency by managing temperature, indoor air quality, lighting, security, structural integrity and appliances is slowly becoming a reality. And it also helps save our environment as well.