ReVolt House aims to reduce energy consumption
23 February 2012 by Marketing & Communicatie
The ReVolt House team is currently working on reducing the ReVolt House’s energy consumption.
In addition to improving the building and appliance properties, the team will also be introducing an innovative type of user interface for the home automation system in order to achieve modifications to user behaviour.
ReVolt House and sustainability
The ReVolt House is in the running for the title of most sustainable house in the world. Energy reduction is one aspect of sustainability. There are two main ways of achieving reductions in energy consumption:
- Improving the properties of the building and appliances
- Achieving changes in user behaviour that result in reductions in energy consumption.
The latter method is a strategy with huge potential but which, in contrast to the first method, has not been fully explored yet. The first option has almost reached its limit in terms of optimal performances.
Achieving changes in user behaviour
It has been established that human comfort is a state of mind, which can therefore be altered using stimuli. The ReVolt House introduces a new type of user interface for the home automation system, which is user dependent. The system is able to learn user habits and comfort preferences and optimise them over time. The comfort analysis allows users to indicate levels of discomfort on a relative comfort scale, rather than on a Celsius range. For example, the system would be able to detect whether the users are watching TV and dim the lights accordingly, reduce the required level of heating when they are running on a treadmill, or, when it registers them walking around in shorts during winter, advise them to wear something more appropriate to reduce the heat demand.
Team Revolt House
Team ReVolt House is an initiative of the Faculty of Architecture in collaboration with the TU Delft Energy Club and is one of the twenty teams that have been selected by the Spanish Ministry of Development to participate in the 2012 Solar Decathlon. They have designed a house that is completely self-sufficient and that uses only solar energy. It also meets a number of criteria with regard to architecture, construction, functionality and economic feasibility for building companies. During the Solar Decathlon, the team will actually get to build the house they have designed.
