Myers-Lawson School of Construction
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Browsing Myers-Lawson School of Construction by Author "Agee, Philip"
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- A Cost-Effective, Scalable, and Portable IoT Data Infrastructure for Indoor Environment SensingAnik, Sheik; Gao, Xinghua; Meng, Na; Agee, Philip; McCoy, Andrew P. (2022-05-15)The vast number of facility management systems, home automation systems, and the ever-increasing number of Internet of Things (IoT) devices are in constant need of environmental monitoring. Indoor environment data can be utilized to improve indoor facilities and better occupants’ working and living experience, however, such data are scarce because many existing facility monitoring technologies are expensive and proprietary for certain building systems. With the aim of addressing the indoor environment data availability issue, the authors designed and prototyped a cost-effective, distributed, scalable, and portable indoor environmental data collection system, Building Data Lite (BDL). BDL is based on Raspberry Pi computers and multiple changeable arrays of sensors, such as sensors of temperature, humidity, light, motion, sound, vibration, and multiple types of gases. The system includes a distributed sensing network and a centralized server. The server provides a web-based graphical user interface that enables users to access the collected data over the Internet. To evaluate the BDL system’s functionality, cost effectiveness, scalability, and portability, the research team conducted a case study in an affordable housing community where the system prototype is deployed to 12 households. The results indicate that the system is functioning as designed, costs $73 per zone and provides 12 types of indoor environment data, is easy to scale up, and is fully portable. This research contributes to the body of knowledge by proposing an innovative way for establishing a distributed wireless IoT data infrastructure for indoor environment sensing in new or existing buildings.
- flEECe, an energy use and occupant behavior dataset for net-zero energy affordable senior residential buildingsPaige, Frederick; Agee, Philip; Jazizadeh, Farrokh (Nature, 2019-11-26)The behaviors of building occupants have continued to perplex scholars for years in our attempts to develop models for energy efficient housing. Building simulations, project delivery approaches, policies, and more have fell short of their optimistic goals due to the complexity of human behavior. As a part of a multiphase longitudinal affordable housing study, this dataset represents energy and occupant behavior attributes for 6 affordable housing units over nine months in Virginia, USA which are not performing to the net-zero energy standard they were designed for. This dataset provides researchers the ability to analyze the following variables: energy performance, occupant behaviors, energy literacy, and ecological perceptions. Energy data is provided at a 1 Hz sampling rate for four circuits: main, hot water heater, dryer, and HVAC. Building specifications, occupancy, weather data, and neighboring building energy use data are provided to add depth to the dataset. This dataset can be used to update building energy use models, predictive maintenance, policy frameworks, construction risk models, economic models, and more.
- A measured energy use, solar production, and building air leakage dataset for a zero energy commercial buildingAgee, Philip; Nikdel, Leila; Roberts, Sydney (2021-11-23)This paper provides an open dataset of measured energy use, solar energy production, and building air leakage data from a 328 m(2) (3,531 ft(2)) all-electric, zero energy commercial building in Virginia, USA. Over two years of energy use data were collected at 1-hour intervals using circuit-level energy monitors. Over six years of solar energy production data were measured at 1-hour resolution by 56 microinverters (presented as daily and monthly data in this dataset). The building air leakage data was measured post-construction per ASTM-E779 Standard Test Method for Determining Air Leakage Rate by Fan Pressurization and the United States Army Corps (USACE) Building Enclosure Testing procedure; both pressurization and depressurization results are provided. The architectural and engineering (AE) documents are provided to aid researchers and practitioners in reliable modeling of building performance. The paper describes the data collection methods, cleaning, and convergence with weather data. This dataset can be employed to predict, benchmark, and calibrate operational outcomes in zero energy commercial buildings.
- User Experience of Green Building Certification Resources: EarthCraft MultifamilyJefferson, Dwayne; Paige, Frederick; Agee, Philip; Jackson, France (MDPI, 2021-07-14)To improve the construction industry’s capacity to deliver sustainable infrastructure, guidance on delivering green building systems needs to be more usable. Green buildings have certifications and ratings in place that ensure that projects are environmentally responsible and meet standards in resource efficiency. EarthCraft Multifamily (ECMF), an evolving green building certification, has been successful in increasing the delivery of energy-efficient affordable housing, and this study leverages user experience (UX) methodologies to understand how to further improve ECMF and replicate its success. This study identifies the impact ECMF tools and resources, such as the program manual, worksheet, and technical guidelines, have on enhancing project delivery for architects. This study conducted data analysis on project specifications, heuristic evaluation data, and stakeholder interview data. As the strengths and weaknesses of ECMF were identified, knowledge on the usability of the green building certification program was unveiled. Heuristic evaluations data show that accessibility and usability issues are present in ECMF resources. Interview data show that architects’ experiences with ECMF resources were affected by some of the usability issues identified in the heuristic evaluation data. Coded interview transcripts show the most prominent participant-identified improvements represented within the data. Resources need appropriate visual representation such as readability and hierarchy to improve their usability. Understanding how ECMF resources are utilized during project delivery allows for the appropriate content and options to be strategically framed to improve accessibility and enhance user decision making. ECMF resources can allow for the inclusion of a broader set of stakeholders by lowering the level of expertise required for sustainable infrastructure delivery.