"Smart building" tech to reduce energy use.

[skids]

It's basically one of those "turn the lights on in my office when I'm there" systems hyped up on mathematical steroids. The point being those sensors are cheap, and can be anonymous versus RFID tags or cameras.

A smart building that monitors the movements of people inside it sounds like a way for your boss to spy on you. In fact, a building with a network of motion detectors can improve the energy efficiency and safety of the building while remaining deaf and blind to the activities of individuals.

Such systems could use their knowledge of where groups congregate to turn down the air conditioning when there are only a few people in one part of the building, for example. In an emergency, electronic signs could direct people to the nearest available escape route when one becomes congested.

Rather than using cameras, which would invade people's privacy, Christopher Wren at the Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratory (MERL) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is using "dumb" infrared motion sensors similar to those used to control automatic lights.

http://www.newscientisttech.com/article/dn11734-buildings-could-save-energy-by-spying-on-inhabitants.html

[lapfog_1]

1. Crap I hated those things.

I often worked "after hours" and the lights would turn off automatically every 15 minutes (if you are just sitting at your desk there wasn't enough "motion" to detect)... so then I'd have to wave my arms like a madman to get the lights back on. Plus, once an hour I'd have to walk to the other side of the building to hit the button for a manual override on the HVAC (otherwise it would get very "stuffy" and hot otherwise). I didn't mind that so much most of the time as the break and hike were good for me.

Anyway, I don't think the motion detectors lights saved any energy at all since turning on fluorescents uses sooo much more energy then just leaving them on all the time (at least that's my understanding).

Oh, and lights in the conference rooms were ALWAYS on motion detectors... so if you were in the middle of a meeting and nobody made any large movements for a while... all of a sudden everyone would be in the dark (very annoying).

[jwirr]

2. This is a good idea but I and my family do it manually. Air conditioner,

TV, computers, lights and heat are turned off or down whenever we can. So it can be done by everyone even if you do not have this device.

[lapfog_1]

3. Oh yeah, another pet peeve.

Turn off the fluorescent lights but every computer in the building was on, and except for a few servers and overnight test machines... completely unused.

[jwirr]

4. I blow my stack when I walk into a store selling TVs and other

electronic devices and every set in the department is on. Our local Walmart is selling the new fluorescent bulbs and I have never seen so many TVs lit up at one time. I told my daughter that one of these days I am going to just walk up and turn everyone of them off.

[eppur_se_muova]

5. Christopher Wren? No foolin'? nt