Could We Design and Plan a Sustainable Future? a Possible Challenge
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Chinese Business Review, May 2018, Vol. 17, No.5, 257-262 doi: 10.17265/1537-1506/2018.05.006 D DAVID PUBLISHING Could We Design and Plan a Sustainable Future? A Possible Challenge Andrea Rocchi Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy Processes that aim at continuous innovation and help to plan paths that can support and help to build sustainable development are encouraged by all of us and in particular by public administrations and private companies. Solar Decathlon Middle East 2018 is an international competition, aiming to design and realize the best sustainable and energy-efficient housing prototype on a real scale. The project aims to create a smart solar house that can guarantee maximum efficiency and effectiveness in the use of technology resources and provide an attractive, accessible, and comfortable environment. The aim of the paper is to analyze the contest from educational standpoint, highlighting the aspects of smart systems and smart people. The university team which is competing in this edition has the objective of designing and building in two years a full-scale prototype of the best and most attractive sustainable, zero energy, and smart solar house. Keywords: environment, sustainable future, innovation Introduction With the project “ReStart4Smart”, Sapienza team wants to take on new challenges of contemporary society that require a different way of designing, constructing, operating, and upgrading the buildings in which people live. IoT in a Smart House Internet of Things (IoTs) technology is a new development pattern through a network of physical objects and devices, embedded with electronics, software, sensors, and network connectivity, that enables these objects to collect and exchange data through network infrastructure (Ruggieri, Rossetti, D’Ascenzo, & Cappelli, 2017). The IoTs is an ecosystem made up of standard technologies and sensors that allow factory objects, devices, and finished products, to communicate and interact with each other via network (Machine to Machine—M2M) and people (Human to Machine—H2M). The “IoTs” is a term coined by Kevin Ashton in 1998. All the surrounding things are connected to the network, providing access to information (Gomez, Huete, Hoyos, Perez, & Grigori, 2013). Then it describes the interconnection of the objects, allowing the identification, the communication, and the data collection (Oriwoh, Sant, & Epiphaniou, 2013). The IoTs should change the information and the related social processes, providing unexpected possibilities (Vermesan et al., 2011). Kyriazis and Varvarigou (2013) suggested that the IoTs enables the provision of added-value applications, exploiting a crowd of devices Andrea Rocchi, Ph.D., professor, Coris Department, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Andrea Rocchi, Coris Department, Sapienza University of Rome, Via Salaria 113, Rome 00186, Italy. 258 COULD WE DESIGN AND PLAN A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE contributing to the information. Wi-Fi is used for remote monitoring and control. Home devices are an important characteristic of the IoTs, when remotely monitored and controlled via the Internet (Jin, Jia, & Spanos, 2017). The web objects are focused on energy efficiency, allowing the monitoring in/outdoor environment, offering a comfortable room environment, managing the energy consumption, and adjusting the home appliances. IoTs has a basic role in the smart house and these objects characterize the entire ecosystem, creating the domotics that involve the control and automation of lighting, heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and security, as well as home appliances, such as washer/dryers, refrigerators/freezers. In the building automation, the smart house is a home where the IoTs technologies are present every day and interfaces with it as a building, as a plant system, in order to create a combination of simplicity and comfort supported by house performance in order to meet the household’s needs (R. Li, Yi, H. C. Y. Li, Mak, & Tang, 2016). Home automation is one of the most important issues in lifestyle-related technology and begins to have a major impact on residential safety (Rocchi, 2013). Due to comprehensive networking and individual adaptation to user experience, personal data protection and data security are particularly important issues. Networked devices constantly exchange signals and data and this traffic has to protect against unauthorized viewing and access. It is possible to secure the digital building technology, following these few basic rules: use contracts to protect the privacy, set up a multi-functional security concept, ensure professional installation, use secure passwords, protect networks carefully, carry out regular updates, and protect wireless networks carefully. Despite the data privacy limits, technology has to be exploited in order to improve people’s lives and let them progress in everyday life to make them aware that automating an action could be a big plus and to make certain tasks possible to those who are unable to carry them out. An International Competition Solar Decathlon is a competition between international teams composed by university students. The aim is designing and building the best solar powered house during a contest long three years. Solar Decathlon is so much more than a simple competition and can be compared to an international process of sustainability promotion, impacting stake holders and common people too. The first Solar Decathlon was held in 2002; from 2005 the competition has occurred biennially. The next Solar Decathlon is planned in Denver, Colorado. Solar Decathlon’s goals are several. Each of them is linked to promote sustainability in large scale. In details, we can target three different goals: provide participating students with unique training; educate students and the public about the latest green technologies and sustainable buildings; demonstrate to the public the comfort that combines energy with onsite renewable energy production. Since 2002, the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon has expanded to Europe, China, Latin America, and the Middle East. A new Solar Decathlon Africa is being planned for 2019 in Morocco. Solar Decathlon Middle East Solar Decathlon Middle East (SDME) is the first edition of this inter-university competition to have place in the Middle East. As the original Solar Decathlon U.S., one of the main characteristic elements of the SDME competition is its emphasis on sustainability, innovation, and research. The participant teams work not only to develop and build their houses, but also to enhance the systems’ integration and generation of knowledge on sustainable construction. As well as the American edition, the matrix of SDME 2018 is institutional. The contest was created through an agreement signed between Dubai Water and Electricity Authority (DEWA) and COULD WE DESIGN AND PLAN A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE 259 the Department of Energy of the United States of America in June 2015 with the aim to organize a sustainable solar houses competition in Dubai in 2018 and 2020. The rules of the competition have been developed and adapted from the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon Rules and the Solar Decathlon Europe Rules in order to meet the unique objectives and principles (see Table 1) of the Solar Decathlon Middle East Organization. Table 1 Solar Decathlon Middle East 2018 Principles Middle East climate Innovation Sobriety Mobility Developing and promoting Architects and engineers are Through a limitation of Even if it is not an international ideas, capacities, and required to find the most photovoltaic power installed, competition for electric technologies that can be adapted solutions for the an important evaluation of vehicles, the social relevance implemented for the benefit of specific context while sharing energy efficiency and a strong about this topic cannot be the inhabitants of the Middle the most innovative ideas with incentive to produce and ignored in order to guarantee a East region, in consideration of colleagues from other countries consume wisely, coherently holistic approach on the cultural, climatic, and through an intercultural debate with the aim to increase the sustainability and lifestyle social particular contexts people awareness about sustainability The challenge in the Solar Decathlon Middle East 2018 International Competition is to safely and effectively design, build, and operate solar-powered houses that are energy-efficient. In addition, they should be attractive and have the necessary customization to adapt the house designs to the heat, dust, and high humidity experienced by the Middle East region during part of the year. Competition designs must be sustainable for the Middle East climate zone based on temperature, humidity, aerosol, heating, and cooling degree-days. The climate in the Middle East is diverse and the designs will have to adapt to solve specific issues across the region. The winner of the competition is the team that best blends innovation and design excellence with optimal energy production and maximum efficiency. Competing solar houses will be evaluated on the basis of 10 separately scored contests (see Table 2). Table 2 Solar Decathlon Middle East 2018 Contests Constests Sub-contests Architecture Spatial and environmental factors Engineering and construction Construction and engineering systems Energy management Management and reduction of energy consumption Energy efficiency Functionality and efficiency of the house design Comfort conditions