WELCOME

The motivation for having a solar-powered building on campus has been first to save natural resources by reducing energy consumption, while providing a high level of thermal comfort. Secondly, the building demonstrates its suitability in the Pittsburgh climate, with limited availability of sun throughout the year. A low maintenance sensor network and data acquisition system in the house monitors the energy consumption and helps maintain a comfortable living environment inside the building.

This Kiosk is designed to display and share the trends of data acquired and serve as a teaching tool for students, researchers and the general public interested in modeling solar houses.

The sensors deployed in the house measure the following:
   - Energy Consumption
   - Energy Generation
   - Available Solar Energy
   - Outdoor Temperature
   - Indoor Temperature
   - Indoor Relative Humidity
   - Indoor Carbon Dioxide Levels
   - Indoor Light Availability
   - Open/Closed Doors and Windows

The sensors are coupled to FieldPoint data acquisition system which writes data to a database through LabView code and is eventually displayed on the Kiosk.