The Research & Technology Forum hosted by SyracuseCoE on November 13th featured a presentation by faculty from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY ESF). As one of SyracuseCoE’s key academic collaborators (along with Syracuse University, SUNY Oswego, and SUNY Upstate Medical University), SUNY ESF provides key expertise in sustainable resources management and environmental engineering.
Two SUNY ESF faculty members, Professors Paul Crovella and Shayan Mirzabeigi, spoke about their research on drone-based techniques for conducting building assessments, specifically for building envelope inspection procedures that collect informative data. In this talk, Dr. Mirzabeigi takes the lead on exploring current and future opportunities to utilize these drone technologies to increase affordability, efficiency and scalability of the building assessment processes that ultimately inform retrofit designs.
Dr. Mirzabeigi began his presentation with a data review of building energy consumption and loss at present, focusing on the importance of a balanced building envelope that maximizes occupant comfort while reducing inputs of energy, carbon and cost over time. He highlights building information modeling (BIM) as a method that requires a range of data necessary for creating an efficient building envelope; BIM provides efficient detection of building defects, timely quality control, support for decision making and maintenance of buildings. The presentation continued with a look at specific metrics for gauging building inefficiencies such as energy loss, along with various softwares that translate and present drone-attained multi-view images into informative data points. To watch Dr. Mirzabeigi’s presentation in full, view the recording of the forum below:
SPEAKERS:
Dr. Shayan Mirzabeigi is an Assistant Professor of Sustainable Construction Management at SUNY ESF. His current research interests include Energy Efficient Buildings, Integrated Building Assessment, Building Physics, Building Envelope and Materials, and Sustainable and Resilient Built Environments. More
Dr. Paul Crovella serves at SUNY-ESF, where he provides teaching, research and outreach in Sustainable Construction Management. He leads an interdisciplinary “Discovery Challenge” team that is working to remove barriers, lower costs and reduce risk for mass timber construction. More