ASHRAE Journal - February 2020 - 68

COLUMN IEQ APPLICATIONS

Living Lab Integrates IEQ
Q
Technologies in Singapore
BY ZURAIMI SULTAN, PH.D; COSTAS SPANOS, PH.D.; EDWIN GOH; GAO CHUN PING, PH.D.; MAJID SAPAR

Indoor environmental quality (IEQ) monitoring and control are important in the
operation of a smart building. Focus has been placed on minimizing energy consumption while ensuring the health, safety and comfort of the occupants. Through tailoring
air conditioning, ventilation, lighting and electrical power services, signiﬁcant levels
of energy efﬁciency can potentially be achieved (Ratliff et al., 2014). However, to be
more effective in providing customized services, the building must be able to respond
to occupant feedback. In this project, we deploy several technologies that incorporate both user preferences and sustainability goals seamlessly into a building operation. The Singapore-Berkeley Building Efﬁciency and Sustainability in the Tropics
(SinBerBEST)* programme has partnered with the Building and Construction Authority
(BCA) to build a living laboratory for this purpose, visualized as an "Ofﬁce of the Future."
Technologies
Buildings involve a complex integration of multiphysical systems and subsystems. Besides the obvious
civil engineering infrastructure, thermal, electrical,
mechanical, control, communication and computing
subsystems must co-exist and be operated such that the
overall operation is smooth and efﬁcient. Design and
deployment of these subsystems is rarely synchronized;
lighting, security, heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems are often designed and operated independently. In this building, we focused on providing an
*SinBerBEST is a research program supported by the National
Research Foundation Singapore (NRF) under the Campus for
Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise programme in
Singapore.
†The

Zero Energy Building (ZEB) was named one of Singapore's
top 50 engineering feats by the Institution of Engineers.

ASHRAE JOURNAL

ashrae.org

FEBRUARY 2020

integrated solution that links various state-of-the-art
technologies utilizing a system-level approach to provide comfort, safety and functionality while minimizing
energy cost, supporting a robust electric grid and mitigating environmental impact.
The technologies are being implemented in the entire
ﬁrst ﬂoor of the three-story BCA Zero Energy Building
(ZEB) Singapore.† (Witkopf, 2015) located in the central
part of Singapore and recently retroﬁtted. The indoor
space comprises two zones with open plan ofﬁce for
occupants and a zone for three meeting rooms and common areas. The ofﬁce is a mix of 51 smart permanent
Zuraimi Sultan, Ph.D., is the program director for SinBerBEST at the Berkeley Education
Alliance for Research in Singapore (BEARS) Limited. Costas Spanos, Ph.D., is the Andrew
S. Grove Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at UC
Berkeley and the Chief Technical Ofﬁcer of BEARS. Edwin Goh is the laboratory manager at
BEARS. Gao Chun Ping, Ph.D., is program director and Majid Sapar is senior manager at the
Building and Construction Authority, Singapore.

https://www.ashrae.org/

ASHRAE Journal - February 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ASHRAE Journal - February 2020