No abstract

This paper present the building performance of a house in Newfoundland, Canada. This house is built under the guidelines of the Passive House Institute United States (PHIUS+2015) standards. This is an important step took towards sustainable living in Newfoundland and Canada in general. Detailed energy consumption modelling of the house has been performed along with the steps involved in the simulation process of Passive House planning and renewable energy system sizing. A significant part of the study presents the majority of the construction details of the house and the components involved. In this study, we present actual energy consumption data acquired from the house and the simulation performed in both preconstruction and post-construction phases. Additionally, steps followed during the planning and construction phase have been discussed in detail, and both static and dynamic energy modelling has been compared. Moreover, a cost comparison has been performed to calculate all the additional costs spent on the resources to build the house according to the Passive House (PHIUS+2015) standards; the analysis indicated a cost of 12% extra when compared with the house built under local regulations. Finally, a renewable energy system is proposed for the house to meet the electricity needs of the house.

Efficiency in farming productivity and optimum utilization of resources in the agriculture sector in developing countries is a challenge that can be addressed with technological advancement. There is also a strong need to work on the farming community’s engagement to make better farming decisions. This study aims to create an expert knowledge-based system (KBS) in a mobile application to help Indian farmers improve their agricultural practices and increase crop productivity. A prototype mobile application, ‘Farm-n-Pedia,’ is designed and used to fulfill the farmers’ informational and engagement needs. It provides a tool for agriculture management using a single platform. The expert KBS incorporates a crowdsourcing system as part of the knowledge base and interface design. The mobile application enables the users to access the worldwide information they want, get personalized expert guidance, interact with the local agrarian community, know about the latest farming techniques and technology, crowdsource data collection and increase agricultural productivity.