Intelligent buildings, its application, and contribution to energy efficiency

Abstract

The world is fast changing; the survival of mankind in future depends on the adaptations and innovations which lead to evolution as any other living being on earth. Man being more intelligent creates tools and systems that are beyond the need for basic survival to acquire better quality living by changing the natural environment and its processes./ Throughout history man has been creating new lifestyles and environments especially built environments with the influence of social, economical, religious and political aspects as well as environmental aspect like the climate. These brought about new technological advancements in architecture./ The idea of an intelligent building in its most general sense means a building that in some way can sense its environment, reach decisions about the state of that environment and communicate these decisions. In practice this means that the building can adjust the interior or exterior of the building in response to a change in the environment, user needs and situations. The concept behind intelligent buildings is the coherent integration of various systems to create efficient well controlled environments./ This intelligent building systems are rapidly coming up in the intenational arena. In the Sri lankan context too this trend can be seen as a futuristic approach. The use of intelligent systems create efficient working environments have gone beyond to creating energy efficient environments. In a broader sense intelligent buildings concept deals with enhancing the sustainability in the built environment, economically, ecologically and some times socio culturally.