The University of Salford is part of a Europe-wide project to develop technologies that will allow buildings to optimise how they consume energy and resources, harnessing wireless sensor technology and ‘data mining’ methods that ‘learn to optimise energy consumption, but maintain user comfort’.
At Salford, computer scientists will apply ‘self-learning software’ to the system, which will allow the buildings to become more efficient over time as data is gathered by wireless sensors. Called SEEDS, the project’s first demonstration sites are part of Norway’s University of Stavanger campus, and a Madrid office block – chosen for their high energy use and contrasting local lifestyles and weather conditions. Work will see data collected on, for example, temperature, humidity, luminance, and occupancy. The software will then ‘learn to optimise heating and ventilation’. Professor Sunil Vadera, from the University’s School of Computing, Science & Engineering, is leading Salford’s £299,000 ‘section’ of the £2.2 m, three-year project.
