Regulating comfort in small commercial buildings could become more efficient and less expensive thanks to an innovative low-cost wireless sensor technology being developed by researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Buildings are responsible for about 40 percent of the energy consumed in the United States. Studies indicate that advanced sensors and controls have the potential to reduce the energy consumption of buildings by 20-30 percent.
“It is widely accepted that energy-consuming systems such as heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) units in buildings are under, or poorly, controlled causing them to waste energy,” said Patrick Hughes, director of ORNL’s Building Technologies Program. “Buildings could increase their energy efficiency if control systems had access to additional information.”
Collecting data such as outside air and room temperature, humidity, light level, occupancy and pollutants is currently cost prohibitive, whether the information is gathered by inexpensive conventional sensors that must be wired, or by using today’s expensive $150-300 per node wireless sensors.
ORNL’s new wireless sensor prototype could reduce costs to $1-10 per node by leveraging advanced manufacturing techniques such as additive roll-to-roll manufacturing. This process enables electronics components like circuits, sensors, antennae, and photovoltaic cells and batteries to be printed on flexible plastic substrates (base materials). The nodes can be installed without wires using a peel-and-stick adhesive backing.
“If commercially available at the target price point, there would be endless application possibilities where the installed cost to improve the control of energy-consuming systems would pay for itself through lower utility bills in only a few years,” Hughes said.
The ultra-low power smart sensors collect and send data to a receiver, which can capture data from many different peel-and-stick nodes and provide the information to the energy-consuming system. The more information received, the better the building’s energy management.
Both new construction and retrofitted buildings can benefit from ORNL’s smart sensors.
Read more: Innovative, Lower Cost Sensors and Controls Yield Better Energy Efficiency
The Latest on: Smart Sensors
[google_news title=”” keyword=”Smart Sensors” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
via Google News
The Latest on: Smart Sensors
- Ecobee Premium review: The valedictorian of smart thermostatson May 17, 2024 at 3:00 pm
Regarding national electronics retailers, Ecobee’s top-shelf thermostat is widely available. The Ecobee Premium smart thermostat retails for $250, but you may be lucky enough to catch it on sale now ...
- Ikea Smart Lights Are Excellent and Cost 75% Less Than Philips Hueon May 17, 2024 at 9:53 am
Ikea's Zigbee connections also help extend battery life on remotes and sensors. Unlike a constant connection to Wi-Fi, Zigbee only communicates with a hub when sending and receiving commands. In other ...
- Smart Pumps Market Size Rising to USD 2,165.7 million by 2033on May 16, 2024 at 11:14 pm
According to forecasts, the smart pump market is expected to be valued at USD 1,021.9 million in 2023 and USD 2,165.7 million by 2033. The market is likely to have many opportunities to flourish due ...
- The Role Of Technology In Creating Smart And Sustainable Buildingson May 15, 2024 at 6:00 am
AI-enabled technology can track, control and measure energy usage and emissions. In addition, Internet of Things (IoT) devices like sensors, actuators and smart meters can help FMs baseline energy ...
- Tado adds Matter to new smart heating rangeon May 15, 2024 at 4:53 am
The Tado X system is designed to replace traditional thermostats to control a boiler, underfloor heating, and radiator valves. It includes the Thermostat X, Smart Radiator Thermos ...
- Consumers Energy to install nearly 3,000 line sensors, other smart technology this yearon May 15, 2024 at 1:31 am
Consumers Energy has made a commitment with our Reliability Roadmap to ultimately restore power in 24 hours or less,” Chris Laird, Consumers Energy’s vice president of electric operations, said. “New ...
- Elliptic Labs Ships AI Virtual Proximity Sensor on HONOR 200 Lite Smartphoneon May 14, 2024 at 10:14 pm
Elliptic Labs (OSE: ELABS), a global AI software company and the world leader in AI Virtual Smart Sensors™ currently deployed in over 500 million devices, is shipping its AI Virtual Proximity Sensor™ ...
- The best smart thermostats for keeping summer electric bills in checkon May 14, 2024 at 1:57 pm
As summer heats up, a smart thermostat is a great way to save money on bills and keep your home comfortable. Many of the best smart thermostats of 2024 let you set and adjust the temperature remotely ...
- IKEA adds energy monitoring feature to its Home Smart appon May 14, 2024 at 3:40 am
IKEA has added a new Energy Insights feature to its Home Smart app, designed to help customers monitor their electricity consumption with greater precision. The announcement follows the brand's recent ...
- Xiaomi Human Body Sensor with three years of battery life launched under crowdfundingon May 13, 2024 at 11:24 pm
The Xiaomi Human Body Sensor has been announced in China via a crowdfunding campaign. The new Xiaomi Human Body Sensor is the latest gadget to be integrated into the Xiaomi smart home ecosystem. The ...
via Bing News