Planning: Energy-harvesting Concrete Batteries for Smart Buildings and Cities

随着世界人口的不断城市化，拥有密集建筑的大都市地区将越来越成为环境保护、节能和温室气体减排政策的重点。在美国，建筑消耗了约49%的总能源，贡献了约47%的温室气体排放。智能建筑和城市不仅需要为传统的供暖、通风和暖通空调系统供电，还需要为传感器网络和连接的数字技术供电，以进行实时数据收集、通信和控制，以提高效率并增强可靠性和安全性。能源供应已成为阻碍智能建筑和城市发展实施的突出问题。建筑物周围和内部都有大量不同形式的能量，例如来自人类行走的动能、风能和热能。收集这种能源可以成为电池的可持续替代能源，实现连续且免维护的物联网运营，而不会对环境造成影响。因此，该规划项目将探索一种新的智能建筑结构的可持续能源产生和储存解决方案。这项拟议的合作努力将为HBCU的本科生和研究生提供丰富的主题和学习机会，特别是对代表性不足的人和少数群体。该项目的实施将加强HBCU的科学和工程教育，并扩大代表性不足群体的参与。面向K-12学生的国家暑期交通学院(NSTI)也将把这些概念应用到他们的活动中，帮助年轻人很早就意识到智能建筑和城市的重要性和好处。这个规划项目的目标是建立一个融合的研究团队，并利用教职员工的互补专业知识，通过探索能量收集和可充电混凝土电池来应对智能建筑和城市中的能源挑战。拟议的各种规划活动包括1)小组会议；2)研讨会：将举行为期两天的研讨会，以确定智能建筑和城市的能源收集和可充电混凝土电池方面的知识差距和研究问题；3)NSF资助的智能建筑项目访问：团队成员和来自TSU、JSU和PSB的选定学生将前往阿拉巴马大学伯明翰分校(UAB)的可持续智能城市研究中心(SSCRC)。团队成员和学生不仅可以通过参观填补智慧城市知识的空白，还可以帮助团队成员学习零能耗智慧城市研究的成功经验；以及4)拓展活动：将提供课程模块，通过NSTI夏令营和项目网站教育广大公众。这项合作工作的开展将推动在智能建筑和城市的能源收集和储存技术、先进建筑材料和能源解决方案研究方面的最先进水平。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

As the world’s population continues to urbanize, metropolitan areas with intensive buildings will increasingly be the focal point of environmental protection, energy conservation, and greenhouse gas reduction policies. Buildings consume around 49% of the total energy and contribute around 47% of the greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. Smart buildings and cities not only need to power traditional heating, ventilation, and HVAC systems, but also require energy to power sensor networks and connected digital technology for real-time data collection, communication, and control to improve efficiency and enhance reliability and safety. The energy supply has become a prominent issue that hinders the development and implementation of smart buildings and cities. There is plenty of energy around and inside a building in different forms, such as kinetic energy from human walking, wind, and thermal. Harvesting this energy can be a sustainable alternative power source to batteries, enabling continuous and maintenance-free Internet of Things operations without environmental impact. Therefore, this planning project will explore a new sustainable energy generation and storage solution for intelligent building structures. This proposed collaborative effort will provide abundant topics and learning opportunities for both undergraduate and graduate students in HBCUs, especially for the underrepresented and minorities. The implementation of this project will enhance Science and Engineering education at HBCUs and broaden the participation of underrepresented groups. The National Summer Transportation Institute (NSTI) for K-12 students will also involve these concepts in their activities to help young people realize the importance and benefits of smart buildings and cities at an early age.The objective of this planning project is to establish a convergent research team and leverage the complementary expertise of faculty members for addressing energy challenges in smart buildings and cities by exploring the energy harvesting and rechargeable concrete batteries. Various planning activities are proposed, including 1) group meetings; 2) workshops: A two-day workshop will be held to identify the knowledge gap and research questions in energy harvesting and rechargeable concrete batteries for smart buildings and cities; 3) NSF-funded smart building project visit: Team members and selected students from TSU, JSU and PSB will travel to the Sustainable Smart Cities Research Center (SSCRC) in the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). The team members and students cannot only fill the gaps in the knowledge of smart cities from the visit, but also help the team members to learn the successful experience of research on zero-energy smart cities; and 4) outreach activities: A course module will be provided to educate the general public through the NSTI summer camp and project website. The development of this collaborative work will advance the state-of-the-art in the research of energy harvesting and storage technology, advanced construction materials, and energy solutions for smart buildings and cities.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.