Alright, "smart" buildings. Another day, another tech "innovation" promising to solve all our problems. Give me a break. First, it was smart fridges that tell you when you're out of milk (as if you can't just look), now it's buildings that adjust the thermostat based on your "physiological parameters." What could possibly go wrong?
The HIBO Lab: A Fancy Rat Maze
So, the University of Nebraska–Lincoln has this new "Human-centered Integrated Building Operations" (HIBO) Laboratory. Sounds impressive, right? It's a 1,000-square-foot box where they can mess with the lighting, acoustics, and temperature and then watch how people react. They even measure your heart rate and skin temperature. It's basically a high-tech Skinner box for humans.
They got a $1.2 million grant from the NSF to develop an AI that can "dynamically and autonomously operate building systems." In other words, an AI that decides if you're too hot, too cold, or too loud. This AI is supposed to merge data from sensors, "knowledge about building systems," and human feedback. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln highlights this New facility, NSF grant advance smart building technology in a recent article.
But here's the thing: "human feedback" usually means filling out some stupid survey. And let's be real, who actually enjoys those? What if I'm just having a bad day and I'm crankier than usual? Is the AI going to misinterpret my mood and turn the office into a meat locker?
Dublin's Digital Twin: Big Brother Goes 3D
Speaking of surveillance, Dublin is building a "city-scale AI digital twin." They're using AI-powered traffic sensors to monitor pedestrians, cyclists, and vehicles in real time. They're tracking "close passes" and other "safety-related interactions." It's all in the name of making the streets "safer and greener," offcourse.
They even found out that rain doesn't stop cyclists. Groundbreaking stuff. Who knew that people who choose to bike in a city actually like biking?
Jack Kavanagh from Dublin City Council says, "Our aim is that every resident is within five minutes or 500 metres of a walking or cycling route." Sounds great, but what about the five minutes inside the building? Are they monitoring my every move there too? According to Traffic Technology Today, Dublin is piloting this Dublin pilots AI digital twin to boost active travel to improve safety.
Here's what really gets me: all this data collection is supposed to lead to "evidence-based planning." But who decides what counts as "evidence"? And who gets to interpret that evidence? It always seems like these "data-driven decisions" conveniently align with whatever the city council wanted to do in the first place.
SaltX: Electrified Lime and Cement? I'll Believe It When I See It.
Then there's SaltX, a Swedish Greentech company that's trying to "electrify emission-intensive industries." They're working on electrified quicklime production and have a partnership with Holcim to develop electrified cement technology. Sure, Jan.
Their CEO, Lina Jorheden, says their "success is built on strong technological leadership and deep industrial integration." That's corporate-speak for "we're burning through cash but we have a cool PowerPoint presentation."
Net sales are up, but so are operating losses and cash flow from operating activities. They got a 12 million SEK order from a U.S. Direct Air Capture company, but that's a drop in the bucket compared to the overall problem.
I mean, I want to believe in this stuff. I want to believe that technology can save us from ourselves. But let's be real, most of the time it just creates new problems while pretending to solve the old ones.
Maybe I'm just being cynical. Maybe these smart buildings and electrified industries really are the future. Then again, maybe I'm the crazy one here.
So, Are We Living in a Sci-Fi Dystopia Now?
Look, I ain't gonna lie. This all feels a little too "1984" for my taste. We're surrounded by sensors, algorithms, and AI that are constantly monitoring our behavior and adjusting our environment. At what point do we say enough is enough? At what point do we reclaim our privacy and our autonomy? I don't have the answers, but I know that I'm not comfortable with where this is heading.
