Pervasive sensing for collaborative facilities management

Completed

Energy Efficiency(Residential and commercial)

Basic and strategic applied research

PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS (Computer Science and Informatics)
ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Electrical and Electronic Engineering)
ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Mechanical, Aeronautical and Manufacturing Engineering)
ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Architecture and the Built Environment)

Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Environmental dimensions)
Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Consumer attitudes and behaviour)

Professor J Clarke
Mechanical Engineering
University of Strathclyde

Standard

EPSRC

01 September 2014

28 February 2017

30 months

£493,819

Energy

Scotland

Energy : Energy

Professor J Clarke, Mechanical Engineering, University of Strathclyde

Ms F Bradley, Architecture, University of Strathclyde
Dr R Comber, Culture La, Newcastle University
Dr N Kelly, Energy Systems Research Unit, University of Strathclyde
Professor P Olivier, Computing Sciences, Newcastle University
Dr P Strachan, Mechanical Engineering, University of Strathclyde

Project Contact, Freescale Semiconductor Uk Ltd
Project Contact, TreeGreen Ltd
Project Contact, HR Wallingford
Project Contact, MITIE
Project Contact, Building Research Establishment (BRE) Limited

A major bottleneck in the UK Government's drive to reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions in the non-domestic sector has been the lack of involvement of building users in implementing the required measures. This project will equip facilities managers, who are in the forefront of tackling the problem, with the localised data and analysis tools they can use to increase engagement with building users. These users, in turn, will gain opportunities to influence their preferred working environment - a major advance on the usual situation where they have no influence. There is increasing evidence of the economic impact associated with increased productivity derived from energy efficiency and improved working conditions.The project will develop a radically different, data-centred and negotiated approach to facilities management as a means to resolve the conflicting demands of occupant comfort and energy use. It will establish continuous, personalised information on environmental conditions and energy use in support of occupant engagement and negotiation between co-workers and with facilities management. The research will investigate the potential of personalised information in social and digitally-mediated negotiations to meet common energy and comfort needs, and develop the tools and procedures that facilities managers can utilise to improve user engagement and decide fairly between potentially conflicting demands between users and between users and efficient building operation.The project will deploy a previously developed pervasive sensing system, BuildAx, to capture data on environmental conditions, occupant behaviour (movement and activity) and personalised energy use at high spatial and temporal resolution, and map these data to continuous information in support of digitally-mediated negotiation between occupants and facilities managers. Approaches to staff-centred facilities management, including occupant-activated alerts, collective and individual action in working practices adaptation and reward-driven negotiation will be investigated.

17/12/14