Artificial Intelligence (AI) is proving to have promising application in construction industry. Seeing how HVAC systems contribute to the largest share of energy consumption in commercial and residential buildings, energy efficiency measures that target HVAC can help achieve major savings. AI can help improve both energy efficiency as well as indoor air quality by optimizing airflow, humidity and temperature while maintaining the lowest possible energy consumption.
However, it is advised that energy saving HVAC upgrades should not hinder with the indoor environmental quality as it can cause discomfort and health issues in some cases too. This can also have a negative impact on productivity at work places and business settings.
Let’s take a look at how AI can improve HVAC efficiency with the following cases:
HVAC control
Controlling an HVAC system effectively becomes quite a challenging task when the building conditions are constantly changing. Consider the following scenarios:
With changing outdoor temperature, the heating or cooling required to maintain a suitable indoor temperature is affected.
HVAC control and optimization is also affected by indoor activities. For example, a commercial kitchen would require more ventilation than an work place of the same size.
The ventilation requirements and temperature control systems are also affected by people entering and leaving the buildings.
All the above situations cannot be efficiently managed with manual controls for optimal performance. This is where AI makes the job easy by allowing smart control systems that process real-time data and adjust the HVAC systems accordingly. This helps HVAC systems to operate at peak optimal performance even with variable building conditions.
Smart Controls for Ventilation Systems
For optimizing ventilation systems, considering the outdoor airflow for determining the optimal variables is a must. Air Handlers consume less energy than space heaters and air conditioners. However, the outdoor airflow determines the heating and cooling needs of a building. For example, if the outdoor airflow is increased during winter, more heat is needed to maintain the suitable indoor temperature. The same can be applied for air conditioners during summer when ventilation system increases outdoor airflow.
Many buildings have ventilation systems operating at full airflow. This leads to a major waste of energy. Overventilation leads to energy wastage while underventilation leads to detrimental effects on indoor air quality. Ventilation system coupled with AI can determine the optimal airflow for maintaining a suitable environment of the building. AI can also keep a track of number of occupants and also the air pollutants concentration. It is highly recommended that the ventilation systems should never reduce the airflow below the required minimum value as suggested by the local building codes.
Optimizing Space Heating and Air Conditioning
According to a study by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), peak human productivity is reached when the indoor temperature is around 22 degree Celsius. The study also observed that as the temperature increases or decreases, it caused discomfort and lowered the productivity. Extreme temperatures are highly unlikely even with deficient HVAC systems. However, the indoor air quality degrades gradually as the temperature diverges from the ideal range. Improved and efficient performance is possible with AI enabled smart controls for the HVAC system.
Building furnaces, boilers, chillers and other HVAC equipment are now available with in-built AI. Thus, major energy savings can be expected just by upgrading the old equipment. The use of smart controls leads to efficient working of the entire HVAC system at all times.
AI Synergy with Energy Efficiency Measures
Based on the previous points, it is evident by now that energy efficiency measures are more effective when coupled with artificial intelligence. Two examples of HVAC upgrades that work best with AI are Airside Economizers and Energy Recovery Ventilations.
Airside economizers can help save energy in some climate conditions. When outside air is within suitable temperature and humidity range, the economizers increase ventilation rates and reduce the need for air conditioning. Since ventilation fans need less energy than air conditioners, electricity can be saved. Smart controls can further maximize these savings.
In energy recovery ventilation, when the outdoor airflow is optimized, the energy wastage for heating or cooling is avoided. ERV can then exchange heat between supply air and exhaust air, ultimately reducing the workload on HVAC even further, ERV works for both summer and winter by maintaining suitable temperature with indoor air precooling or indoor air preheating.
As the eCommerce industry is growing day by day, it is now compulsory to provide the customers a good shopping experience so that they don’t leave your eCommerce website from the checkout page. According to research, nearly 67.45% of the shopping carts get abandoned after adding the products to the cart. The complex and time-consuming checkout process is one of the main reasons for cart abandonment.
Prestashop One Page Checkout module incorporates the whole checkout process on a single page and removes the unnecessary checkout steps. The clean and attractive UI of the checkout page enhances the shopping experience of the buyers and reduces the chances of cart abandonment. The Prestashop One Page Checkout Extension is easy to install and configure from the back office. The module is compatible with Prestashop v1.5.x.x – v1.7.x.x.
Key Features of the Prestashop Fast Checkout Addon:
Customizable Checkout layout: The module can be easily customizable from the back office. The admin can choose from 3 different checkout layouts i.e., 1-column, 2-column, 3-column checkout. Along with the layout, the admin can also customize the look and feel of the checkout page including customizing the color of the button, buttons background color, button text color, Progress bar background color, etc.
Guest Checkout: The Quick Checkout Extension Prestashop allows the customers to place the orders as guests. Along with guest checkout, the customers can also register themselves or login in order to place the order successfully.
Social Login options: The Quick Checkout Addon Prestashop allows the customers to login with most popular social media networks i.e., Facebook, Google, and Paypal. The store admin can add these login options by adding App ID and Secret ID from the back office of the module.
Make Fields Optional or Mandatory: The store admin can make any checkout field optional or mandatory to fill on the checkout page. If a mandatory checkout field is missed to fill then the customer can’t complete the order without filling it.
MailChimp, Sending, and Klaviyo Integrator: The Prestashop Quick Checkout addon offers integration with MailChimp, Sending, and Klaviyo which allow you to send the collected customers’ data directly to these accounts.
Free Shipping Progress Bar: With this progress bar, you can encourage your customers to increase the order value to get free shipping of the products. Once the order amount reaches the minimum amount limit, the customer gets eligible for free shipping. This minimum order amount limit can be specified by the store admin from the back office.
Auto-detect Country: The Prestashop Simplified Checkout Addon detects the country of the customer automatically if this feature is enabled from the admin interface. It detects the country with the help of the IP address of the user.
Supports Major Payment Methods: The Prestashop One Page Supercheckout provides a variety of options to make the payment securely. The module supports nearly all the major payment methods including PayPal, Advanced Paypal, Authorize.ne AIM, Boleto, PayU, Stripe, ePay, ccAvenue, Quickpay, 2Checkout, etc.
Custom CSS and JS: If the store admin wants to customize the look and feel of the Prestashop One Step Checkout Addon, he can do it with Custom CSS and JS also from the Customizer tab in the back office.
The past decade has been impressive in the context of technology-driven concepts. And out of all these concepts that have now managed to become mainstream, perhaps none is quite as famous as mobile apps for restaurants. Sure enough, it is a consequence of the online food delivery app revolution. However, mobile apps have given restaurants the means to pursue and achieve renewed growth individually as well instead of merely relying on generalized food delivery apps. But mobile apps on their own are a tricky concept, so when it comes to developing one for a market as competitive as restaurants and food delivery, you need a specialized approach.
With custom mobile apps, the focus is only on your restaurant. The obvious benefits of that mean, you don’t have to compete for the business of folks visiting your app. Then there’s also the fact that instead of overwhelming customers with countless choices, you can offer them a carefully curated menu that is following what they prefer. Now, one may be inclined to believe that third-party apps such as Swiggy and Zomato are more popular among customers. Thankfully, studies have shown that restaurants’ dedicated websites and apps are substantially more popular than third-party solutions. Fortunately, that’s not the only reason why you should consider restaurant application development. Here are some other compelling reasons to take the plunge.
1. Simplified user experience: The quickest way to win over a customer is to deliver a seamless, fuss-free experience. Suffice it to say that a custom mobile app is decidedly one way to go about because it saves customers the effort of sifting through several restaurants and menu options to find your restaurant. This convenience is what will drive them back to your app when just want to order in and relax or other such moments.
2. Loyalty programs: For any customer-facing business, rewards programs are a crucial part of its strategy. However, with third-party solutions, one can’t run an exclusive rewards program and instead has to partake in the third-party app’s policy. However, when you have a dedicated app for just your restaurant, you are free to innovate with your rewards and loyalty program and also integrate technologies such as location technologies to drive more customers to your establishment.
3. Access to valuable data: Data stands to deliver incredible value for the restaurant industry as it would for any other industry. However, with third-party solutions, the quality and quantity of data, you can access is significantly reduced. So, when you create your restaurant app, you can collect data about everything — starting from customer behavior, popular time slots, direct feedback about food and service, etc. This data can then be used to customize operations, marketing strategy, and more to drive better growth for the business.
Today, smartphones are everywhere and they are going to become even more prevalent in the future. Hence, the most potent way to leverage this opportunity and achieve the benefits such as the ones listed above is via restaurant application development.
iOS apps, being the second largest contributor to top-notch mobility solutions and revenue generation because of its world-wide usage, corporate entities and businesses are leveraging iOS app development at a fast pace. Let’s look at some enticing insights by Business of Apps, a reputed online portal for statistics. Their report forecasts:
In May 2019, the number of apps published in the iOS App Store was 2.2 million.
Every month, about 35,000-42,000 apps were uploaded on the iOS App Store between March and May 2019.
The annual growth rate of iOS App Store Revenue is 13.2%.
Another well-known research portal- Statista forecasts that in the U.S. alone, the average user spending on iPhone apps amounted to $100 in the year 2019 which was reported to be $79 in the year 2018.
Looking at the figures above, it is evident that iOS apps rakes in far more revenue than Android apps. No wonder why this market is blooming and expecting massive investment from entrepreneurs across the globe.
But the real challenge arises when it comes to the choice of the right technology for building the iOS applications. For this purpose, the two technologies- React Native and Swift are largely being preferred. Both are relatively new yet vibrant. So which one to pick for your new iOS app?
To resolve this query, I will outline the advantages and drawbacks of both these technologies and also walk you through the comparative analysis of both. So, let’s get started.
Native App Development with Swift
Swift is the first technology that comes to mind when we think of iOS development. Swift is the best-suited option for complicated apps that need to take advantage of the native components to the fullest. So, let’s have a look at the pros and cons.
Pros of Swift App Development
Easy to read and ensures faster and effective coding
Requires less maintenance and better handling of errors
Easy scaling and compatibility with all Apple products
Higher performance and captivating UI
High safety and security
Compatibility with Objective C
Cons of Swift App Development
Young language with a limited talent pool
Bad interoperability with third-party tools and IDEs
No proper support for earlier iOS versions
Also read our article- “Why Start-ups Prefer Swift Over Objective-C” for more details.
Cross-platform App Development with React Native
This framework is a combination of JavaScript library and native components. It is a cross-platform framework used for building fully-functional apps having simple design requirements. So, let’s look at some pros and cons of React Native.
Pros of React Native App Development
Code reusability, third-party plugins, hot reload feature, lesser efforts for debugging, etc. for speedy development
Provides optimal performance with native controls and modules
Provides native features like scroll accelerations, animations, keyboard behaviour, usability, UI with native widgets, gestures, push notifications, camera, location, etc,
Simplified and responsive UI
Allows feature expanding with ease
Cons of React Native App Development
Issues with memory management
App Store rejects these apps if these apps use libraries that dynamically updates native code
Platform specific code needs to be written to create native functionality
Frequent updates required to the app as this framework updates its components very often
Also read our article “https://www.biz4solutions.com/blog/noteworthy-pros-and-cons-of-the-react-native-framework/” for more details.
React Native vs Swift: Comparative Analysis
Coding Speed
Both of these technologies ensure faster app development. React Native, being a cross-platform framework, allows reusing the code due to which a single code can be utilized for developing apps for multiple platforms. Swift requires less code for the same task as this language is very crisp.
Cost-effectiveness
In React Native apps, the overall development cost is reduced by 30%-35% as compared to Swift. So, for a limited budget requirement, React Native is the most relevant option. Besides if Swift is used for iOS app development, separate code needs to be written for Android apps.
Performance
Swift leverages all the possibilities of the device. This platform fares better when dealing with complex tasks and graphic effects. App developed with React Native have to leverage internal libraries and APIs. Hence React Native Developers need to create required modules on their own. This means that they have to add a mediator between platform and code which impacts the performance of the app.
User Interface
React Native enables building native-like UI in the apps but it does not match the quality that Swift offers. Swift seamlessly integrates with the iOS platform for creating remarkable UI. But the Swift app developers need to write the code from scratch and separately polish the design elements. React Native developers can use ready-to-use components and internal APIs for creating a simplified UI which can adjust to different screen sizes automatically.
Security
React Native uses third-party libraries like React-native-sensitive-info, React-native-keychain, and React-native-secure-storage for securing data in the apps. On the other hand, Swift offers high security using its technologies like Cryptographic Message Syntax Services, Randomization Services, Keychain Services API, etc. Swift ensures better security than React Native.
APIs and Third-party Libraries
React Native’s constantly growing community often adds third-party libraries and enriches this framework. Likewise, Swift also has a host of open-source libraries and APIs to support the smooth functioning of the apps.
Maintenance
React Native app development services face several maintenance issues while updating codes, compatibility with third-party libraries, and many other unresolved issues. For every new version of react native framework that is released, developer needs to check whether updated version works with the library version being used in the app. But Swift, being a statically-typed programming language, can be easily maintained and errors can be handled easily.
Community Support
Both Swift and React Native have powerful communities to support and respective developers enjoy assistance from worldwide technical experts in case of any doubts.
Final Words:
Coming to the end of this blog, both these technologies are powerful and have their set of pros and cons. After all, it depends on your end goals and budget constraints.
Swift is a great tool when you want to develop a complex, performance-oriented and highly secured app. It is a good choice when you want to maintain the app for longer time, if the app requires frequent interactions with UI like resource intensive games, etc.
But React Native is best when you aim to reach a wide range of audiences through both iOS and Android platform, with comparatively lower investment due to code reusability for multiple platforms, etc.
I hope this article was insightful. Do share your thoughts in the comment section.