Tuesday, March 12, 2019

Technical Report Draft 1B



1.         Introduction

1.1              Background Information

This report has been prepared in response to the letter of authorisation requesting for proposal on developing sustainable solutions to an engineering problem.

Electricity has become one of the essential daily needs. With the continued development of technology that requires electricity, the demand for electricity to power up electrical devices has also increased. Despite the importance of electricity, many people are still unaware that they may be responsible for electricity wastage in their everyday lives. For example, electricity wastage is common in educational institutions as faculties and students often forget to turn off the air-conditioners, lights, fans and other equipment before leaving.

According to the Energy Market Authority (EMA) of Singapore (n.d.), Singapore imports natural gas from Indonesia and Malaysia to generate approximately 95 per cent of her electricity. Even though natural gas is "cleaner and more energy efficient" than coal and oil, burning of this gas still releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere (Ng, 2018). Parfit (n.d.) claimed that it is evident that carbon dioxide produced by coal and other fossil fuels is warming the planet. The carbon emitted from the burning of these fossil fuels traps solar energy in the atmosphere, causing global temperatures to increase.

1.2              Problem Statement

Currently, electrical appliances such as air-conditioners, fans and lightings in SIT@Dover are left switched on even when the premises are unoccupied. An ideal situation would be to switch off these electrical appliances when not in use. However, based on our recent observations of SIT@Dover, these appliances are operated manually. Therefore, if the users do not switch off these appliances, it will result in unnecessary electricity wastage.


1.3              Purpose Statement

The report aims to propose solutions to the SIT Estates Division on reducing electricity wastage in the campus through the use of automation technology. The focus of the solutions will be on addressing the main issue with electricity wastage which is the manual nature of operating the electrical appliances.

2.         Proposed Solution

2.1       Incorporating electricity management system into the campus’ CCTV

The team’s proposed solution to electricity wastage in SIT is to incorporate an electricity management system into the campus. The electricity management system originates from combining the idea of human monitoring used in video surveillance and the application of motion sensors in buildings to improve energy efficiency.

2.1.1    Human monitoring in video surveillance

According to Kaur and Singh (2014), human monitoring in video surveillance can be breakdown into four steps: 1) video, 2) background modelling, 3) human detection and 4) human tracking.  The first step involves the recording of the video footage in the designated area. Followed by background modelling to specify on the background in the designated area for the purpose of differentiating the moving objects from the background. Next, would be human detection to distinguish humans in the video by separating the foreground from the background. Lastly, it would be human tracking to monitor the movements of the human. This is also known as computer vision (CV) which the camera’s software analyzes sequential frames of live video for differences and records a motion event when a significant change is detected.

2.1.2    Motion sensors in buildings

According to Riyanto, Margatama, Hakim, Martini and Hindarto (2018), one of the approach to motion sensors operation is via motion detection by differentiating the foreground image from the background image in order for the moving objects to be detected. In the case of Passive Infrared Receiver (PIR), the device detects the change in infrared radiation caused by moving objects and responds by releasing output voltage (e.g. switching on the lights when a person enters the toilet).

2.1.3    Application

In the context of reducing electricity wastage in SIT, CCTV will be used to replace the need for motion sensors in the automation of electrical appliances such as lightings, air-conditioning and computers. Based on observations, most of the high asset classrooms in SIT such as lecture theatres, computer labs and interactive classrooms are installed with CCTVs for the purpose of surveillance. Existing CCTVs can be programmed to have human monitoring served as an added function.

The concept of electricity management system is to detect students and lecturers entering the classroom through the CCTV monitoring system and responds by switching on the lights and air-conditioning in the classroom. Similarly, if students and lecturers are seen leaving the classroom at the end of a class by the CCTV, the electricity management system will response by switching off the power supply.

Artificial intelligence (AI) will be incorporated into the electricity management system to create a more intuitive approach as compared to the rigid structure commonly found in the application of motion sensors in buildings. According to Jarrahi (2018), artificial intelligence (AI) can assist to simplify complex problems by using the correlation between variables and provide a suitable solution from many possibilities. In the case of the electricity management system at SIT, the AI can help to determine the call to action for various scenarios using software algorithms. For example, if students are seen carrying their bags out of the classrooms, it would represent the end of a class and the lightings and air-conditioning can be switched off. While students who entered the classroom with their bags on but left without their bags will be seen as going for a break, hence, the electricity appliances can go into standby mode instead of switching off.
The electricity management system in SIT will be a localized system catered to individual classrooms in the campus. The advantages of having an isolated system is that it does not affect the system operation in the entire campus in the event of a system breakdown.

3.         Benefits of Proposed Solution

3.1       Reduction in carbon footprint

If the problem of electricity wastage has been reduced, the electricity consumption would also decrease. Therefore, lowering the carbon footprint produce.

3.2       Low implementation costs

Instead of retrofitting the classrooms with motion sensors, the CCTV can do the job of the motion sensors by introducing a new function to the CCTV known as human monitoring. Therefore, the costs of purchasing the motion sensors and retrofitting the motion sensors into the classrooms can be removed.

3.3       Innovation breakthrough in electricity management

The adoption of human monitoring using CCTV to replace motion sensors will provide building management with an alternative to electricity management. One of the main advantages of using human monitoring through CCTV is that it allows for greater analysis of the scene.

In addition, the success of the pilot project in SIT would enable the electricity management system to become a case study for other existing buildings on ways to reduce electricity wastage. Therefore, SIT will be able to gain more publicity and improve its reputation among the other universities in Singapore.

3.4       Cost savings

If the electricity wastage in SIT is being minimized, there will be more energy savings for SIT in terms of lower electricity bills. This will allow the school to have more funds that can be better utilized in other areas such as student development.

4.         Proposal Evaluation

The electricity management system addresses the problem identified in electricity wastage in SIT. With the automation of electrical appliances, the problem of operating the electrical appliances manually has been solved.

Other methods to reducing electricity wastage such as motion sensors and operation timer for electrical appliances based on the booking of the venue have been considered before deciding on using human monitoring in the electricity management system. The primary reason for choosing human monitoring is that it provides a balanced approach to the problem. For example, if the operation of electrical appliances is based on the booking of the venue, there will be shortcomings such as electricity wastage when the venue is used for a shorter period as compared to the original timeslot booking.

One of the challenges faced in the implementation could be due to the complexity of the solution. The software for human monitoring is relatively new in the market and may not be readily available, hence, the time needed to implement the solution may take a longer time. The project can be collaborated with other SIT courses such as Information Technology and Electrical Engineering to create the software for human monitoring in CCTV. This will also help to reduce the cost of implementing the solution.

Another challenge would be the accuracy of the human monitoring in CCTV. There may be chances of false detection by the device.

5.         Methodology
In this section, the research methodology used in the report is described. The primary research is based on our observation and on the utility bills and energy usage data. The secondary research is based on implementation of Electricity Management System has been conducted.

5.1       Primary Research

The utility bills of SIT@Dover were obtained from the SIT Estates Division to understand how much is being paid for the electricity monthly. This is shown in Appendix _. SIT is paying a total of a total of $59,715,90 for 314 582 KWh and $60,668.20 for 320 119.41 KWh respectively at Academic Plaza and University Tower.

Research were being made in National Environment Agency’s GO GREEN TIPS Singapore where setting an air conditioner at the temperature about 25˚C would save up to $25 a year for every degree you raise. This is based on average 2012 electricity tariff of $0.2989 per kWh, assuming a single-split, 1000W air-conditioner. Used for 365 days a year.

In addition, standby power can account for up to 10% of electricity use. Switching them off when not in use will save up to $70 a year. This is based on average 2012 electricity tariff of $0.2989 per kWh, assuming 35W of standby power in a home.

According to Energy Efficiency Programme by NEA, computers should be switched off completely when not in use for long periods (e.g. more than 30 minutes). Leaving a desktop (300W) switched on for 8 hours (e.g. overnight) daily will cost about $240 a year.

Observation were made in SIT@Dover campus when the team noticed electricity wastage in classroom after 10pm for 3 consecutive days as shown in Appendix __.

5.2       Secondary Research

To further reinforce the Electric Management System, secondary sources from journal/scholar articles and conferences were used for the purpose of this report. This is in order to find out the functionality, cost and efficiency for both human monitoring in video surveillance and motion sensors. Researches were also being made on Artificial Intelligence on the detection of human behaviours in and out of the classroom for the system’s functionality. In conclusion, information on these functions were needed for research in order to invent the improvised Electric Management System for minimising electricity wastage in SIT @ Dover.

6.         Conclusion

Electricity wastage has a negative impact on the environment as it increases electricity consumption which will increase carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere.
Electricity wastage increase the carbon footprint

With the implementation of this proposal, it will not only help to reduce the utility bills of the schools, but also improve energy efficiency and reduce electricity wastage in Singapore.

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