Growing up everyone had at least one friend with a pet reptile. But whether it was a snake, iguana or turtle, the most memorable thing wasn’t the animal itself. Rather, it was that mesmerizing reddish-pink glow of the infrared heat lamp inside its cage. Localized, targeted and direct, the lamp was an efficient way to keep that cold-blooded friend comfortable.
What if the same technology could be adapted for humans?
Crazy as it sounds, MITs Senseable City Lab is looking to do just that, reports Wired magazine. Given that commercial buildings account for 20 percent of national energy consumption but are rarely filled to capacity, this cost is a massive drain on our wallets — and a waste of energy to boot. So researchers are hoping to decrease this energy usage through hyper-localized beams of infrared heat on a human scale.
While HVAC systems blanket entire spaces with hot or cool air, Local Warming, as the concept has been dubbed, uses LED bulbs to directly beam rays of infrared light onto people, heating up the area around them.. A WiFi-enabled tracker allows this system to sense when a human is present and beam heat down like a spotlight from a ceiling rig.
Similar to track lighting, the system is comprised of a large infrared bulb surrounded by rotating mirrors that can direct the light in a focused beam. The current iteration is bulky, but future prototypes will use smaller LEDs to adapt the technology for home use. “It’s almost like having a your personal sun,” says Carlo Ratti, a professor in the Senseable City Lab.
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For now, perhaps the best use of Local Warming is in airy spaces where energy use is least efficient, like lobbies. Revolving doors have helped save thousands of dollars in energy costs but the addition of localized heat where foot traffic is less predictable can, according to Ratti, reduce energy consumption up to 90 percent.
Cheap, practical delivery of heat is the goal now, but the Energy division of Advanced Research Projects Agency (the folks who brought us the internet) is looking to invest in further research and development. Down the road this technology has the potential to free architects from the aesthetic and design constraints imposed by traditional HVAC systems for even more efficient and energy-saving innovation.
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Tag: energy-efficient bulidings
Top 10 Cities for Energy Efficient Office Buildings
It takes a lot of energy to go to work, and we mean that quite literally. In fact, most of a city’s carbon emissions come from commercial buildings. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, commercial buildings in Chicago are responsible for 70 percent of the city’s carbon emissions; in New York City, it’s a staggering 80 percent.
In recent years, however, many metropolitan cities have committed to reducing their carbon footprint. These days you’ll see many high rises sporting green roofs, LED lighting, and automated heating and cooling systems, in addition to other green upgrades. As Fast Company reports, since 1999, more than 23,000 commercial buildings have earned the EPA’s Energy Star rating.
These buildings use 35 percent less energy and produce 35 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions than similar buildings, the EPA said. To earn the seal, a commercial building has to score 75 or higher on an energy efficiency scale out of 100 (50 is the average).
MORE: This Amazing Home Creates More Energy Than It Uses
Impressively, Los Angeles topped the list for the sixth consecutive year with 443 Energy Star certified buildings. In 2013, these green structures helped the city save $132.2 million in utility bills and prevented greenhouse gas emissions equal to 45,100 homes. A reason for Los Angeles’ success is that California requires buildings to disclose their energy use.
Here’s a complete list of the top 10:
1. Los Angeles
2. Washington, D.C.
3. Atlanta
4. New York
5. San Francisco
6. Chicago
7. Dallas-Fort Worth
8. Denver
9. Philadelphia
10. Houston
Did your metro area make the list? Here, the top 25 as well as which small and mid-sized cities that also made the cut.