Sustainable building - Assignment Example

? Sustainable Building No: Sustainable Building Introduction Sustainable building is the one that has higher energy efficiency, does not or less produces or less contribute in producing the green house gases emissions and the building that makes no burden to the ecology and environment. The construction of such a building is practically possible by making smaller changes to the way we live and construct our houses. Sustainable building utilized the sustainable materials that are renewable. Moreover a structure that utilizes less resources and utilizes the sustainable resources like solar, wind, geothermal, etc to provide the energy demand and provides an environmental security, is a sustainable building. However, other features like producing less waste, building life time, utilizes and produces non- toxic or less toxic materials, durability towards the harsh atmospheric affects, utilization of the natural resources, use of recyclable materials, use of renewable materials, use of durable materials and utilization of the technology makes the construction a green construction. For example, the utilization of the natural ventilation and geothermal cooling can be utilized in the building to make the building be in a desirable temperature, which certainly reduces the cooling cost and energy. Similarly, the utilization of the bigger glass windows makes the building enlighten in the daytime, which reduces the requirement of the artificial lightening in the building and reduces the carbon footprints of the building. In the same way, the utilization of the passive solar construction makes the building cooler in summer and warmer in the winter. The utilization of the onsite water treatment plants reduces the water footprints of the building. Some simple methods like making the faucets and showers heads to mix the air with the water, reduces the flow of water but the pressure remains the same thus reducing the water foot prints. The utilization of the most modern techniques like utilizing the solar photovoltaic panels and utilizing the wind turbine to fulfill or reduce the energy requirement of the building can make the building more environments friendly and contribute much in reducing the carbon footprints. In the similar way solar water heating can be utilized to attain the warm water and also make the building warm during the winter season. Some other methods like growing plants on the rooftops of the building also reduce the cooling and heating energy requirement of the building. The vegetation on the rooftops blocks the direct sunlight and maintains the temperature of the building. This technique is utilized by several structures like the ‘California Academy of Science’, which is designed by ‘Renzo Piano’. If some or all of the sustainable method are utilized in a construction, the structure will be a sustainable building. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) LEED is a certification that certifies a building to be a green or sustainable building or not. LEED certification verifies the green methods utilized in the building like the carbon emission of the building, quality of the resign, production of the waster, energy efficiency, energy dependency, energy management, waste management and social and environmental aspects of the building (USGBC 2011). LEED certification has different rating LEED System LEED rating makes the LEED system. A building is rated on the basis of points that the building gets after evaluating that which methods are employed in the construction of the building, how is the energy managed and utilized in the building and if the building presents a sustainable architecture or not. Points are given from a total of 100 points. If the building gets 40 to 49 points, the building is LEED certified. If it remains in-between 50 to 59, it gets the silver status. If the building is rated in between 59 to 80, it gets a gold status and it the building rates more than 80; it gets the platinum status (USGBC 2010). The building that has the least points; utilized the least sustainable methods in the construction, is less energy efficient and has architecture that is less sustainable. However, the building that gets the gold; utilizes the most sustainable methods and materials in the construction, more environment friendly, produces less waste, has more energy efficiency, it produces less or no carbon emissions and it has a more sustainable architecture. International Agreements to Control Global Warming Due to the rapid increase in the level of green house gases in the atmosphere, the climate of the earth is changing. Scientists have the view that the temperature of the earth is risen one degree due to the depletion of the Ozone. This increase in the temperature not only affected the human habitat of the earth but also other species. Besides species, the Atlantic glaciers and glaciers at other places are much affected by the rise in the temperature. Glaciers are melting in all the regions of the world and thus increasing the water level in the seas and oceans. The rise in temperature is also making the floods, hurricanes and cyclones strike more in different regions of the world. Seeing the consequences and estimating the further results of this climate change, different nation of the world made certain agreements. Kyoto Protocol Kyoto protocol is a treaty that aimed to limit the green house gas emissions. It is a protocol to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This agreement has much significance as the agreement is signed by thirty seven countries. The Kyoto protocol takes the commitment of all the 37 countries to contribute in reducing the four greenhouse gases, which are; carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and sulphur hexafluoride. The 37 countries also committed that they also contribute in reducing the two groups of gases that are hydro-fluoro-carbons and per-fluoro-carbons that are produced by them in the manufacturing of various goods. According to this agreement all the members agreed to averagely decrease the fatal emissions by 5.2% during 2008 to 2012. The vital mission of the agreement is to control and maintain the climate change and thus maintain an environment that would be suitable for the human and other species of the world. If the agreement enables to decrease the emissions by 5.2%, which is its first round commitment involving the countries Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, India, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, new Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian federation, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom and United States of America. The concentration of the green house gases in the atmosphere will reach at much lower level if the agreement meets the 5.2% decrease in the green house gases emissions. Montreal Protocol Montreal protocol is the set of rules by Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer. This protocol is the set of rules that controls the materials or substances that are responsible for the ozone layer depletion. Montreal protocol was opened for approval on 16th September 1987 and it completed its due process on 1st January 1989. The international treaty is such designed to recuperate the depleted ozone layer by 2050. The treaty is signed by one hundred and ninety six states and European Union. The aim of the treaty is to minimize the flow of such compounds that are responsible in the ozone depletion like the compounds that contain chlorine or bromine and the compounds that are in the group of halogenated hydrocarbons. The effects of the Montreal protocol can be seen if the concentration of the compounds that are responsible for the depletion of the ozone is measured from the day the protocol came into force till today. The concentration some of the harmful compounds like the chlorofluorocarbons and chlorinatedhydrocarbons, which are responsible for the depletion of ozone, lowered in the atmosphere. However, the concentration of some of the compounds like halogenated hydrogenated and CFCs and HCFCs are constantly increasing in the atmosphere due to their increased utilization in various applications like refrigeration, etc. Sustainable Materials Stone, stone and soil or clay brick, Bamboo, Coconut palm are all the sustainable materials that can be utilized in the construction of a building. Stone and wood were the major construction materials when man developed the knowledge for the construction. But as a little time passed soil and clay bricks were also utilized to construct the building. Wood is largely utilized in the construction and thus the construction that involves the wood requires many trees to be cut down to fulfill the demand. The wood that is utilized in the construction comes from the trees that have the long age periods and thus the growing period of these trees is slow. Hardwood trees like oak tree has a longer growing period and cutting a tree means that the sapling will take much time to re-grow. Trees are major source that can produce oxygen and take carbon-dioxide from the atmosphere to make the glucose to fulfill the energy requirements of the tree during the process of the photosynthesis. If we continue cutting down the forest for the wood, we will certainly reduce the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere and increase the level of carbon-dioxide. Moreover, forests serve as the place where several animals and plant species find their home. No forests mean no forests’ habitat and then the animal will move to other places like cities where they will be killed by the cruel humanity. The whole scenario will alter the balance of the nature. Then what should we do to continue the construction process in a more sustainable manner. One method is to reduce the need of the wood and other is to find any other sustainable material that could replace the wood. The wood from the sustainably managed forests can be utilized instead for cutting down the trees that are vital part of the forest. Rainforest have the higher rate of decay and trees have comparatively lower ages as compared to other type of forests trees. Managing the forest according to the ages of the trees can solve the matter and provide the wood for the construction purposes. Bamboo is a type of wood, however, it belong to the grass family. It was in the utilization of many people in the world in the construction and for many other purposes. Bamboo is a renewable material that grows much faster as compared to any other type of wood and the most significant characteristic of bamboo is that it can re-grow from a bud that appears when it is cut from any point since it grows in sections. Bamboo has flexibility that is greater than any other type of hard or soft woof due to the long fibers present in the bamboo. The long fibers are mostly as long as the bamboo itself. The strength of the bamboo is more than the steel and it is comparative a light wood that is much stiff. Bamboo has the full capability to replace the wood in the construction. Now a day, it major use is making the scaffold that allows the workers to work in a proper manner. Bamboo can be utilized in making the floors and furniture easily. It can also be utilized in making the pillars and walls of a building. If the bamboo is shaped in strips it can be utilized to construct and manufacture anything that a wood can. Plywood can be utilized instead of wood. Wood chunks, natural fibers presents in the crops and residue of the sugarcane, etc are combined with some industrial resin, epoxy or glue to form a sheet of plywood. Byproduct from sugar industry and sawdust are also utilized in the manufacturing of plywood. The sheet of plywood may have any desired width and size. It is utilized in making the furniture now a day. A material is a sustainable material if it obeys the three characteristics of sustainable materials; it should be resource efficient, the material should be energy efficient and the material should be in an affordable range (Smith 2010). Naturally occurring compounds or grown materials are more sustainable as compared to manmade materials like wood, sand, clay and other such materials comes in category of resource efficiency. During the construction, the major issue is of the waste, so the material should produce no or less waste. In this way, biodegradable materials are preferred. The material should be the energy efficient, if the has the insulating properties, less heating and cooling energies are required and thus energy efficiency is attained (Smith 2010). Affordability is also an important aspect of the sustainable material. If a sustainable material has a cost that is much higher than the commonly utilized unsustainable material, most of the people will prefer the unsustainable material due to its cost. However, if the cost of the sustainable material comes in the range of the people that they can utilize it instead of the unsustainable material, most of the people will prefer the sustainable material (Smith 2010). If the price still remains a bit higher than the commonly utilized unsustainable material, the cost can be easily covered in the utility bills. Soil and clay bricks are made by compressing the soil into the brick mould, drying it in the sun and then heat the dried brick to a certain temperature. Such type of brick is renewable and can make a wall that has an extremely great strength. Sometimes the strength can be compared to the strength of a stone brick. Clay and soil can also be utilized as a binder and can bind the two bricks together. Utilizing the soil brick can replace the utilization of the cement brick that cannot be recycled and produces a lot of waste. The material can be classified as green material if the material can be recycled, produce less green house emissions, locally produced (decrease transportation and thus green house gases) and protect the habitat. Biodegradability of the material also matters a lot in making the material green. There are three low tech solutions that are Natural Ventilation, Thermal Mass and Facade Integration. This is said that “The vital necessity of perfect ventilation, and even temperature, the maximum of pure air and the minimum of poisonous gases and dust, is too well known to need argument” (Ford Factory Facts Handbook, 1912). Natural ventilation process Natural ventilation process faced triple threats and A/C has replaced natural ventilation process because of three reasons that are fads, status and for superior comfort. Natural ventilation is not as much comfortable as it was expected that is why people prefer to use A/C as well as it does not enhance the art factor in the houses. The people who are status conscience do not prefer to adopt natural ventilation system. In the early time at 4000 BCE and 2000 years ago cooling towers were commonly used and till now they are used in Persia, Iran and Dubai. For example beside the Persian Gulf, buildings are constructed in different way like buildings have wind towers opening towards the puff of air for utmost natural ventilation. These buildings consist of brick and timber. Wind towers can also be curved away from the wind which creates air pressure that extracts warm air from the inside and creates cool atmosphere. Climatic is very much important for the natural ventilation. There are some features of natural ventilation process that are increasing of warm air in the outer atmosphere, air travels from the lower to higher pressure, air travels from hot to cold temperature, air travels from wet to dry atmosphere and natural ventilation process always want to attain the balance in the atmosphere. Natural ventilation process works great when inner temperature is cooler that the outside temperature e.g. in the night time it works great, it works great when everyday temperature does not go beyond 70 F, it works good when average high temperature does not raised u than 80 F and it also works in its excellence when the moisture level is low in atmosphere rationally. There are certain challenges faced by natural ventilation process that are noise enters inside easily in the natural ventilation process, wastage of energy when AC is on and windows remain open and you are not 100 percent sure about the outdoor air. As well as engineers are trained to design closed buildings which, do not have air ventilation process and consist of AC fitted system inside. Thermal mass Thermal mass is the ability of the material to absorb heat from the atmosphere by using the energy from the outside of a high density material for instance concrete which are commonly used in our houses, buildings etc works as thermal mass because it absorbs the thermal energy and take the internal atmosphere in balance. There are some challenges which, faced by thermal mass process that are conventional engineers thought that heat absorption from the sun is the challenge from the external environment. Thermal mass is also considered untrustworthy and unpredictable because of unhurried reaction time. Increasing and decreasing of temperature happens when thermal mass do not work properly and do not work as a cooling sink for instance concrete work properly as a thermal mass when its thickness consist of 3 to 4 slabs and if its thickness is less than 3 to 4 slabs so it does not work as thermal mass and increasing and decreasing in the temperature happens inside. Thermal mass creates moderate temperature in the internal atmosphere. Thermal mass system can easily decreased or eliminate the artificial cooling system in the inner sides of the buildings such as AC, room coolers etc. It can also reduced the energy consumption for the artificial heating and cooling for instance it absorbs the solar energy due to which temperature remain balance in winter as well as summer. Because of thermal mass process a common person can easily save his lots of income. Thermal mass process works better with the natural ventilation process. Facade Integration Basically building facade is the skin which breath means it inhales and exhales from the temperature, absorbs energy, regulates the temperature. It works as sunshades, overhangs, louvers, awnings, trellises, high-performance cladding, glazing, and roofing etc. Facade is uncovered to the flow of air and the beaming forces. Facade skin consists of double layers of glass skins divided by an air space 6 inch to 30 inch. Space is for the flow of air. Primary skins consist of conventional wall having windows and secondary skin consists of non-load bearing curtain/solar glazing system with both opaque and clear glass. There are some challenges faced by building facade that are double glazing in the facade skin prohibit the day light to enter in the building. Compression in the space requires maintenance. Ii is costly as compared to conventional facades. There are many opportunities for the building facade that are excellent cooling and ventilation process, because of its excellent insulating system. Case Studies The ‘Solaire’ is a residential apartment building that has 27 stories and there are about 293 residential units in Solaire. The location of the tower is near Hudson River, Manhattan, New York. Solaire was completed On August 2003 and got the LEED gold status. The location of the tower is such that the public transportation and parks lie near the tower. The tower utilized sustainable methods to reduce the carbon footprints and increase the building’s energy efficiency. In order to reduce the energy required for the heating and cooling the building, plants from the shrubs family are grown on the rooftop of the tower, which helps maintain the temperature of the building by blocking the direct sunlight striking the roof of the building. The plantation on the rooftop covers almost 75% of the roof that also help in maintaining the atmosphere. The utilization of the electronic dimming circuitry with the lightening system saves much energy. Larger windows that are well insulated are also utilized to save energy. In addition, the building utilized the solar panels to contribute a little in generating about 5% of the energy needed. Almost 35% of the power required by the building is saved by the green techniques. It was estimated that the cost of the dimming circuits and the solar array was recovered in three to five years. Building such a structure will produce much waste, however, most of the waste produced during the construction of the building is reused and most of the recycled materials were utilized in the construction (National Resources Defense Council). The architecture of the building is designed by ‘Schuman, Lichtenstein, Claman, Efron Architects’ and it is owned by ‘River Terrace Associates’. The Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) center for health and healing in the Portland is our second case study. The site of the building was an abandoned industrial site. The construction of the health and healing center was completed in 2006 and the total area of the structure is 400,000 square feet. The complex has 16 stories, which also includes offices besides medical centers. The OHSU’s health and healing center has the LEED platinum status for utilizing the most modern sustainable methods and green statistics. A vast wellness center is the significance of the medical complex that has clinics, a facility for the surgical operations and a research center is also included in the wellness area. In order to maintain to maintain good environment inside a medical complex, a huge amount of energy is required but the OHSU’s center for health and healing center utilized many sustainable techniques to reduce the dependency on the energy from the fossil fuel resource (National Resources Defense Council). The use of solar panels and solar shades provides some of the energy required in the complex. Natural ventilation techniques utilized in the complex reduces the cooling energy required by the building (National Resources Defense Council). Micro wind turbines are employed to provide some of the energy required by the building. Moreover, the radiant cooling techniques are utilized to reduce the energy utilized by the internal air conditioning system. Water management and water efficiency is also significant factor that matters a lot in determining a sustainable building. The OHSU’s center for health and healing has an onsite waste water treatment plant. The treated water is utilized for the irrigation purposes and in the toilets (National Resources Defense Council). Another water management technique that is utilized by the building is the rain water collection system. The building is designed by the ‘GDB Architects’ and it is engineered by ‘Interface Engineering’. During the construction of the building the engineers tried their best to produce as less waste as possible. In addition, most of the waste produce onsite is recycled to be utilized in the construction work. Conclusion Sustainable technologies and sustainable methods utilized in construction can be useful for us not only in controlling the carbon emissions into the environment but also makes the economy a sustainable economy. Plants and trees have much significance in our lives as they are the only source to produce the carbon dioxide. Besides controlling the environment, plants and trees are the source of food. Humans directly or indirectly associated with the plants in having their food. The utilization of the sustainable materials in the construction like wood, bamboo, soil, clay, etc must be utilized in the construction to reduce the carbon footprints. Natural ventilation techniques must be utilized to reduce the dependence on the energy produced by the fossil fuel. Moreover, alternative energy resources like solar energy, wind energy, tidal energy, geothermal energy and hydrodynamic energy must be utilized. References U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). LEED for Homes Rating System. January 2010. Retrieved on 8th February 2012 from http://www.usgbc.org/ShowFile.aspx?DocumentID=3638 National Resources Defense Council (NRDC). 2012. Case Studies. Retrieved on 8th February 2011 from http://www.nrdc.org/buildinggreen/casestudies/default.asp Smith, Alden. 2010. Utilizing Green Materials in Home Building. Do It Yourself, Retrieved on 8th February 2012 from http://beta.www.doityourself.com/stry/using-green-materials-in-home-building. U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). 2011. What LEED Is? Retrieved on 8th February 2012 from http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=1988 Ford factory facts Booklet. 1912. The 1912 Ford Factory Facts Booklet. USA. Read More