ITE students find way to help Singapore reduce carbon footprint through Artificial Intelligence

This article was contributed by the Institute of Technical Education (ITE).

Lim Jia En Ryan
Asyramil Naszri B Rohani
Christa Yeow Wai Fong
Chan Wai San Stella
Higher Nitec in Electronics Engineering @ ITE College West
Lee Kuan Yew Technology Awards 2021 winning project for AI4 Eco Office

Reducing Carbon Footprint through Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Four ITE students used their AI knowledge to help Singapore reduce its carbon footprint.

The "AI4 Eco Office" uses AI to sense the level of human activity in a room and automatically adjusts the temperature and lighting intensities to optimal levels.

For example, with fewer occupants, the controller will adjust the air conditioner to lower its air supply rate without compromising comfort, while saving energy.

As part of the smart energy management system, the device measures energy consumption and allows users to monitor their energy consumption in a timely way.

Hence, users can learn to be more energy conscious and take steps to use energy more efficiently.

The industrial and commercial sectors use the highest proportion of energy, with air-conditioning and lighting usage consuming the most.

Hence, the team created the AI4 Eco Office mainly for the office environment.

However, this device is also scalable to residential rooms and auditoriums.

An Urgent Problem to Solve

Ryan shared: "Climate change is a challenging problem that we must tackle today.

"It has already led to dire consequences like the global rise in temperatures and sea levels.

"I think more people must understand these environmental issues better.

"Young people can play a part too.

"We should only use the energy that is necessary and no more.

"This project is our team’s way of using our AI skills to contribute to saving the earth, by reducing our carbon footprint."

What’s So Significant

• "AI4 Eco Office" harnesses the strengths of different technologies, including Internet-of-Things (IoT) to connect the appliances to a cloud; Message Queuing Telemetry Transport IoT Protocol, a network protocol that transports messages between devices, for sensors to share data with the controller; and Long Range Networking to send data on human activity to the smart controller.

• Smart lighting. The system varies the light intensity depending on the number of people in the room.

• Consume by demand. The AI4 Eco Office adjusts air supply based on the level of human activity.

• Smart Energy Management System. The device uses a smart power meter to measure and collect energy consumption date, including voltage, current and power. Users can monitor energy consumption using a software called ThingsBoard.