Buildings Could Save Energy By Spying On Workers

Galactic_grub writes "In the future, your place of work (or apartment) may very well spy on you. But that doesn't mean it'll be able to name and shame you for all your nasty habits. Researchers at Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratory (MERL) have devised a 'dumb' surveillance system that monitors the movements of workers without identifying them individually. The idea is to have a computer system automatically configure the air-conditioning to save money, or illuminate the most appropriate escape signs in an emergency."

Comments

Emergencies?

[msauve]

illuminate the most appropriate escape signs in an emergency.

Well, I would illuminate all escape signs in an emergency, infinitesimal energy savings be damned!

Re:Emergencies?

[dgatwood]

The biggest problem, IMHO, with emergency evacuation is a little fact that is often overlooked: people tend towards exits with which they are familiar. If you have two main exits and four emergency exits which trigger an alarm, nearly all people will automatically take the two main exits because they are comfortable entering and leaving the building through those entrances and exits. The four emergency exits will almost never get used. The only exception is a situation where you have to pass right by the emergency exit to get to the main exit, and even then, most people will be reluctant to use the emergency exit.

Similarly, stairs that culminate in an emergency exit door will almost never get used because people usually won't use them to get between floors and can't use them to enter or leave the building. As a result, only a small percentage of people will know where they are, and even fewer will know those stairs well enough to take them in an emergency. The rest will be too afraid of getting turned around and going the wrong way.

Making this even funnier is the corollary: nearly every alarm resulting from use of emergency exits is a false alarms. (A large percentage are either A. shoplifters at department stores or B. small children.) That makes the automatic alarm a complete waste of resources. You are far better off with a normal door and a pull handle.

What does this mean for emergency preparedness? Simple: you should NEVER have an entrance or exit that is "for emergency use only" unless it leads to an unsafe area such as a rooftop. All exits should be clearly marked and USED REGULARLY. Workers should be encouraged to frequent the entry/exit stairs closest to their offices/cubicles whenever possible, and to enter and leave the building through the most direct route, which by definition means that the most direct route cannot have one of those stupid "alarm will sound" bars on it.

If every emergency entrance and exit were turned into a normal entrance/exit with a pull handle and were used in the normal course of entering and leaving buildings, the typical time to evacuate a building in the event of an emergency would drop dramatically. If you'd like to take the easiest possible step towards making your workplace safer and you have an emergency management team at your workplace, point this out to them, and ask them why safe entrances and exits are marked as being for emergency use only. If they can't answer that question, ask that they change the doors into normal entrances and exits, then continue to nag them at every opportunity until they do so. You may not successfully change anything, but at least you'll get them thinking about the problem.

I'm sorry Dave

[spun]

I'm afraid I can't allow you to turn that light on. My cooling systems take precedence over the illumination needs of primates. How can I compute your optimal escape route in case of a fire if my systems are overheating?

You'll just have to pee in the dark, Dave.