Electronic Design Methods and Technologies for Green Buildings

Abstract

h BUILDINGS, INCLUDING HOMES, offices, and retail spaces, are amajor source of energy consumption and resources. As our society grapples with the high cost of fossil fuels, global warming, and climate change, ‘‘green buildings’’ have caught our imagination. Today, green buildings are a reality and they are driving a lot of concerted research and innovations in diverse fields that encompass design, construction, renovation, operation, maintenance, and demolition. The design and test community has addressed energy and resource optimization problems for integrated circuits and electronic systems for many years. It is, therefore, only natural that many of the design and optimization problems for green buildings can leverage technologies that we are familiar with, such as embedded computing, sensor networks, low-power design, and cyberphysical systems. In fact, electronics and computing systems can be viewed as a part of the problem (energy consumer), but also as part of the solution. This timely issue introduces Design and Test of Computers readers to the role that electronic design methods and technologies can play in the design of green buildings of the future. Design and test techniques can, therefore, migrate ‘‘up’’ from the ‘‘nano’’ and ‘‘micro’’ worlds of integrated circuits to the much larger scale of green buildings. Guest Editors Yuvraj Agrawal and Anand Raghunathan have taken the initiative and worked diligently to put together this special issue with a set of selected articles, which include contributions by experts and active researchers who can relate to design and test technologies. These articles cover the landscape of research advances, practical experiences, and perspectives on future trends. The special issue covers control systems for energy management, occupancy driven HVAS systems for heating and cooling, energy minimization of HVAC systems using prediction, innovations in sensing and actuation for energyefficiency, and the use of a distributed network of embedded computers for building automation and control system design. Readers will also find two perspectives articles from visionaries in this field. The first article highlights the promise of software-defined buildings, where a building can incorporate operating systems on which applications can be built. The second perspectives column describes a sensors-based substrate that can provide measurements to guide sustainable choices by building users. I thank Yuvraj and Anand for serving as Guest Editors of the special issue, the authors for their contributions, and the reviewers for their adherence to an extremely tight review schedule. I also thank the column editors for their contributions. I hope you will enjoy reading this special issue, as well as the subsequent issues of Design and Test of Computers in 2012. We have lined up an exciting set of special issues for the remainder of 2012 and for the first half of 2013. We are now preparing the lineups for the remaining issues of 2013. Inputs and participation from theDesign and Test of Computers readership are always welcome!