Connected Glazing

到2035年，英国的建筑存量预计将在2019年的基础上减少78%的碳排放。因此，实施有效的改造，既能节约实体能源，又能节约运营能源，是至关重要的。玻璃系统构成了建筑的关键元素，因为它们对于视觉、安全和热舒适的室内环境至关重要。与此同时，它们也负责显著的热量增益/损失。事实上，利用新材料和物联网的高效响应玻璃系统已经取得了广泛的进步。这些进步的节能潜力已经在新建建筑中得到了证明，但尚未在建筑改造中得到利用——部分原因是设计解决方案必须符合现有结构的额外限制，但也因为它们缺乏与建筑物更广泛的能源和环境管理的整合和协调。该项目的主要目标是优化响应式玻璃系统，用于改造建筑物。优化将考虑将玻璃系统作为更广泛的集成改造策略的连接智能组件，并优化成本、运营节能、隐含碳和人体舒适度。第二个目标是在能源改造的背景下，研究“透过玻璃的智能”和“透明智能”的概念，涉及使能技术（例如，与人工智能相结合的电子交互和传感能力）。

By 2035, the UK's building stock is expected to deliver 78% reduction in total carbon emissions from 2019 levels. Implementation of effective retrofits that yield both embodied and operational energy savings is thus critical. Glazing systems constitute a key element of a building as they are essential for a visual, safe, and thermally comfortable indoor environment. At the same time, they are also responsible for significant heat gains/losses. Indeed, there have been wide-ranging advancements in highly efficient and responsive glazing systems that harness new materials and IoT. The energy saving potential of these advancements has been evidenced across new-build but is yet to be leveraged in building retrofits -- partly because design solutions must conform to additional constraints of an existing structure, but also because lack of their integration and harmonisation with the wider energy and environmental management of buildings.The principal objective of this project is to optimize responsive glazing systems for retrofitting buildings. The optimisation will consider glazing systems as a connected intelligent component of a wider and integrated retrofit strategy, and optimise for cost, operational energy savings, embodied carbon, and human comfort. A second objective is to investigate the concept of 'intelligence through glass' and 'transparent intelligence' with respect to enabling technologies (e.g., electronic interaction and sensing capability in conjunction with Artificial Intelligence) in the context of energy retrofitting.