SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE-IX Pavneet Pal Singh 21/09

Q-Explain various solar passive techniques for building design.

In passive solar building design, windows, walls, and floors are made to collect, store, and distribute solar energy in the form of heat in the winter and reject solar heat in the summer. This is called passive solar design or climatic design because, unlike active solar heating systems, it doesn't involve the use of mechanical and electrical devices. The key to designing a passive solar building is to best take advantage of the local climate. Elements to be considered include window placement and glazing type, thermal insulation, thermal mass, and shading. Passive solar design techniques can be applied most easily to new buildings, but existing buildings can be adapted or "retrofitted".

Key passive solar building design concepts:

There are six primary passive solar energy configurations:

direct solar gain indirect solar gain isolated solar gain heat storage insulation and glazing passive cooling

Direct solar gain

Direct gain attempts to control the amount of direct solar radiation reaching the living space. This direct solar gain is a critical part of passive solar house designation as it imparts to a direct gain. The cost effectiveness of these configurations are currently being investigated in great detail and are demonstrating promising results.

Indirect solar gain

Indirect gain attempts to control solar radiation reaching an area adjacent but not part of the living space. Heat enters the building through windows and is captured and stored in thermal mass (e.g. water tank, masonry wall) and slowly transmitted indirectly to the building through conduction and convection. Efficiency can suffer from slow response (thermal lag) and heat losses at night. Other issues include the cost of insulated glazing and developing effective systems to redistribute heat throughout the living area.

Isolated solar gain

Isolated gain involves utilizing solar energy to passively move heat from or to the living space using a fluid, such as water or air by natural convection or forced convection. Heat gain can occur through a sunspace, solarium or solar closet. These areas may also be employed usefully as a greenhouse or drying cabinet. An equator-side sun room may have its exterior windows higher than the windows between the sun room and the interior living space, to allow the low winter sun to penetrate to the cold side of adjacent rooms. Glass placement and overhangs prevent solar gain during the summer. Earth cooling tubes or other passive cooling techniques can keep a solarium cool in the summer. Measures should be taken to reduce heat loss at night e.g. window coverings or movable window insulation

Examples:

Thermo siphon Barra system Double envelope house Thermal buffer zone Solar space heating system Solar chimney

Heat storage
The sun doesn't shine all the time. Heat storage, or thermal mass, keeps the building warm when the sun can't heat it. In diurnal solar houses, the storage is designed for one or a few days. The usual method is a custom-constructed thermal mass. This includes a Trombe wall, a ventilated concrete floor, a cistern, water wall or roof pond. It is also feasible to use the thermal mass of the earth itself, either as-is or by incorporation into the structure by banking or using rammed earth as a structural medium. In subarctic areas, or areas that have long terms without solar gain (e.g. weeks of freezing fog), purpose-built thermal mass is very expensive. Don Stephens pioneered an experimental technique to use the ground as thermal mass large enough for annualized heat storage. His designs run an isolated thermo siphon 3 m under a house, and insulate the ground with a 6 m waterproof skirt.

Insulation
Thermal insulation or super insulation (type, placement and amount) reduces unwanted leakage of heat. Some passive buildings are actually constructed of insulation.

Special glazing systems and window coverings

The effectiveness of direct solar gain systems is significantly enhanced by insulative (e.g. double glazing), spectrally selective glazing (low-e), or movable window insulation (window quilts, bifold interior insulation shutters, shades, etc.). Generally, Equator-facing windows should not employ glazing coatings that inhibit solar gain. There is extensive use of super-insulated windows in the German Passive House standard. Selection of different spectrally selective window coating depends on the ratio of heating versus cooling degree days for the design location.

Equator-facing glass
The requirement for vertical equator-facing glass is different from the other three sides of a building. Reflective window coatings and multiple panes of glass can reduce useful solar gain. However, direct-gain systems are more dependent on double or triple glazing to reduce heat loss. Indirect-gain and isolated-gain configurations may still be able to function effectively with only single-pane glazing. Nevertheless, the optimal cost-effective solution is both location and system dependent.

Roof-angle glass / Skylights

Skylights admit harsh direct overhead sunlight and glare either horizontally (a flat roof) or pitched at the same angle as the roof slope. In some cases, horizontal skylights are used with reflectors to increase the intensity of solar radiation (and harsh glare), depending on the roof angle of incidence. When the winter sun is low on the horizon, most solar radiation reflects off of roof angled glass ( the angle of incidence is nearly parallel to roof-angled glass morning and afternoon ). When the summer sun is high, it is nearly perpendicular to roof-angled glass, which maximizes solar gain at the wrong time of year, and acts like a solar furnace. Skylights should be covered and well-insulated to reduce natural convection ( warm air rising ) heat loss on cold winter nights, and intense solar heat gain during hot spring/summer/fall days.

Angle of incident radiation

The amount of solar gain transmitted through glass is also affected by the angle of the incident solar radiation. Sunlight striking glass within 20 degrees of perpendicular is mostly transmitted through the glass, whereas sunlight at more than 35 degrees from perpendicular is mostly reflected. All of these factors can be modeled more precisely with a photographic light meter and a heliodon or optical bench, which can quantify the ratio of reflectivity to transmissivity, based on angle of incidence. Alternatively, passive solar computer software can determine the impact of sun path, and cooling-and-heating degree days on energy performance. Regional climatic conditions are often available from local weather services.

Operable shading and insulation devices

A design with too much equator-facing glass can result in excessive winter, spring, or fall day heating, uncomfortably bright living spaces at certain times of the year, and excessive heat transfer on winter nights and summer days. Although the sun is at the same altitude 6-weeks before and after the solstice, the heating and cooling requirements before and after the solstice are significantly different. Heat storage on the Earth's surface causes "thermal lag." Variable cloud cover influences solar gain potential. This means that latitude-specific fixed window overhangs, while important, are not a complete seasonal solar gain control solution. Control mechanisms (such as manual-or-motorized interior insulated drapes, shutters, exterior roll-down shade screens, or retractable awnings) can compensate for differences caused by thermal lag or cloud cover, and help control daily / hourly solar gain requirement variations. Home automation systems that monitor temperature, sunlight, time of day, and room occupancy can precisely control motorized window-shading-and-insulation devices.

Exterior colors reflecting - absorbing

Materials and colors can be chosen to reflect or absorb solar thermal energy. Using information on a Color for electromagnetic radiation to determine its thermal radiation properties of reflection or absorption can assist the choices.

Landscaping and gardens

Energy-efficient landscaping materials for careful passive solar choices include hardscape building material and "softscape" plants. The use of landscape design principles for selection of trees, hedges, and trellis-pergola features with vines; all can be used to create summer shading. For winter solar gain it is desirable to use deciduous plants that drop their leaves in the autumn gives year round passive solar benefits. Non-deciduous evergreen shrubs and trees can be windbreaks, at variable heights and distances, to create protection and shelter from winter wind chill. Xeriscaping with 'mature size appropriate' native species of-and drought tolerant plants, drip irrigation, mulching, and organic gardening practices reduce or eliminate the need for energy-and-waterintensive irrigation, gas powered garden equipment, and reduces the landfill waste footprint. Solar powered landscape lighting and fountain pumps, and covered swimming pools and plunge pools with solar water heaters can reduce the impact of such amenities.

Sustainable gardening Sustainable landscaping Sustainable landscape architecture

Other passive solar principles

Passive solar lighting
Passive solar lighting techniques enhance taking advantage of natural illumination for interiors, and so reduce reliance on artificial lighting systems.

This can be achieved by careful building design, orientation, and placement of window sections to collect light. Other creative solutions involve the use of reflecting surfaces to admit daylight into the interior of a building. Window sections should be adequately sized, and to avoid over-illumination can be shielded with a Brise soleil, awnings, well placed trees, glass coatings, and other passive and active devices. Another major issue for many window systems is that they can be potentially vulnerable sites of excessive thermal gain or heat loss. Whilst high mounted clerestory window and traditional skylights can introduce daylight in poorly oriented sections of a building, unwanted heat transfer may be hard to control. Thus, energy that is saved by reducing artificial lighting is often more than offset by the energy required for operating HVAC systems to maintain thermal comfort. Various methods can be employed to address this including but not limited to window coverings, insulated glazing and novel materials such as aero gel semi-transparent insulation, optical fiber embedded in walls or roof.

Interior reflecting
Reflecting elements, from active and passive daylighting collectors, such as light shelves, lighter wall and floor colors, mirrored wall sections, interior walls with upper glass panels, and clear or translucent glassed hinged doors and sliding glass doors take the captured light and passively reflect it further inside. The light can be from passive windows or skylights and solar light tubes or from active daylighting sources. In traditional Japanese architecture the Shji sliding panel doors, with translucent Washi screens, are an original precedent. International style, Modernist and Mid-century modern architecture were earlier innovators of this passive penetration and reflection in industrial, commercial, and residential applications.

Passive solar water heating

There are many ways to use solar thermal energy to heat water for domestic use. Different active-and-passive solar hot water technologies have different location-specific economic cost benefit analysis implications. Fundamental passive solar hot water heating involves no pumps or anything electrical. It is very cost effective in climates that do not have lengthy sub-freezing, or very-cloudy, weather conditions. Other active solar water heating technologies, etc. may be more appropriate for some locations. It is possible to have active solar hot water which is also capable of being "off grid" and qualifies as sustainable. This is done by the use of a photovoltaic cell which uses energy from the sun to power the pumps.

Q-What is sustainable development? Construct its various dimensions.

Sustainable development is an organizing principle for human life on a finite planet. It posits a desirable future state for human societies in which living conditions and resource-use meet human needs without undermining the sustainability of natural systems and the environment, so that future generations may also meet their needs. Sustainable development ties together concern for the carrying capacity of natural systems with the social and economic challenges faced by humanity. As early as the 1970s, 'sustainability' was employed to describe an economy "in equilibrium with basic ecological support systems." Scientists in many fields have pointed to The Limits to Growth, and economists have presented alternatives, for example a 'steady state economy', to address concerns over the impacts of expanding human development on the planet. The term 'sustainable development' rose to significance after it was used by the Brundtland Commission in its 1987 report Our Common Future. In the report, the commission coined what has become the most often-quoted definition of sustainable development: "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." The concept of sustainable development has in the past most often been broken out into three constituent domains: environmental sustainability, economic sustainability and social sustainability. However, many other possible ways to delineate the concept have been suggested. For example, distinguishing the four domains of economic, ecological, political and cultural sustainability. Other important sources refer to the fourth domain as 'institutional' or as 'good governance.'

Domains Economics
The domain of 'economics' is fundamental to considerations of sustainable development, however there has been considerable criticism of the tendency to use the three-domain model of the triple bottom line: economics, environment and social. This approach is challenged to the extent that it treats the economy as the master domain, or as a domain that exists outside of the social; it treats the environment as a world of natural metrics; and it treats the social as a miscellaneous collection of extra things that do not fit into the economic or environmental domains (see the section on Economic sustainability below). In the alternative Circles of Sustainability approach, the economic domain is defined as the practices and meanings associated with the production, use, and management of resources, where the concept of resources is used in the broadest sense of that word.

Ecology
The domain of 'ecology' has been difficult to resolve because it too has a social dimension. Some research activities start from the definition of green development to argue that the environment is a combination of nature and culture. However, this has the effect of making the domain model unwieldy if culture is to be considered a domain in its own right . Others write of ecology as being more broadly at the intersection of the social and the environmental - hence, ecology. This move allows culture to be used as a domain alongside economics and ecology. The sustainability of human settlements is implicit in the focus of study into the relationship between humans and their natural, social and built environments. Also termed human ecology, this broadens the focus of sustainable development to include the domain of human health. Fundamental human needs such as the availability and quality of air, water, food and shelter are also the ecological foundations for sustainable development; addressing public health risk through investments in ecosystem services can be a powerful and transformative force for sustainable development which, in this sense, extends to all species.

Culture
Working with a different emphasis, some researchers and institutions have pointed out that a fourth dimension should be added to the dimensions of sustainable development, since the triple-bottom-line dimensions of economic, environmental and social do not seem to be enough to reflect the complexity of contemporary society. In this context, the Agenda 21 for culture and the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) Executive Bureau lead the preparation of the policy statement Culture: Fourth Pillar of Sustainable Development, passed on 17 November 2010, in the framework of the World Summit of Local and Regional Leaders 3rd World Congress of UCLG, held in Mexico City. This document inaugurates a new perspective and points to the relation between culture and sustainable development through a dual approach: developing a solid cultural policy and advocating a cultural dimension in all public policies. The Network of Excellence "Sustainable Development in a Diverse World", sponsored by the European Union, integrates multidisciplinary capacities and interprets cultural diversity as a key element of a new strategy for sustainable development. The Circles of Sustainability approach defines the cultural domain as practices, discourses, and material expressions, which, over time, express continuities and discontinuities of social meaning. However, culture falls within the social/sociopolitical dimension of sustainability, and therefore the proposal for adding a fourth "cultural" dimension has not been widely accepted.

Politics
The United Nations Global Compact Cities Programme has defined sustainable political development is a way that broadens the usual definition beyond states and governance. The political is defined as the domain of practices and meanings associated with basic issues of social power as they pertain to the organisation, authorisation, legitimation and regulation of a social life held in common. This definition is in accord with the view that political change is important for responding to economic, ecological and cultural challenges. It also means that the politics of economic change can be addressed. This is particularly true in relation to the controversial concept of 'sustainable enterprise' that frames global needs and risks as 'opportunities' for private enterprise to provide profitable entrepreneurial solutions. This concept is now being taught at many business schools including the Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise at Cornell University and the Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise at the University of Michigan. Sustainable development is an eclectic concept and a wide array of political views fall under its umbrella. The concept has included notions of weak sustainability, strong sustainability and deep ecology. Different conceptions also reveal a strong tension between ecocentrism and anthropocentrism. Many definitions and images (Visualizing Sustainability) of sustainable development coexist. Broadly defined, the sustainable development mantra enjoins current generations to take a systems approach to growth and development and to manage natural, produced, and social capital for the welfare of their own and future generations. During the last ten years, different organizations have tried to measure and monitor the proximity to what they consider sustainability by implementing what has been called sustainability metrics and indices. This has engendered considerable political debate about what is being measured. Sustainable development is said to set limits on the developing world. While current first world countries polluted significantly during their development, the same countries encourage third world countries to reduce pollution, which sometimes impedes growth. Some consider that the implementation of sustainable development would mean a reversion to pre-modern lifestyle

Q-Generalize the various efforts of India in sustainable development.

Wary of the threats imposed by climate change and pressures on natural resources, sustainability and environment are increasingly taking centrestage in the Indian policy domain. India has been part of 94 multilateral environmental agreements. India has also voluntarily agreed to reduce its emission intensity of its GDP by 20-25 per cent over 2005 levels by 2020, and emissions from the agriculture sector would not form part of the assessment of its emissions intensity. Indian economy is already moving along a lower carbon and sustainable path in terms of declining carbon intensity of its GDP which is expected to fall further through lower carbon strategies. It is estimated that India's per capita emission in 2031 will still be lower than the global per capita emission in 2005 (in 2031, India's per capita GHG emissions will be under 4 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2eq.) which is lower than the global per capita emissions of 4.22 tones of CO2eq. in 2005). Along with the national efforts in different sectors, India also recognizes that rural areas are equally prone to stress and pressures from natural resource exploitation. In this context, schemes for rural development and livelihood programmes are very relevant. A vast majority of the works under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) are linked to land, soil, and water. There are also programmes for nontimber forest produce-based livelihood, promotion of organic and lowchemical agriculture, and increased soil health and fertility to sustain agriculture-based livelihoods. These schemes help mobilize and develop capacities of community institutions to utilize natural resources in a sustainable manner and their potential can be further developed. Together with efforts to incorporate sustainability in the rural development process, India is increasingly making efforts to integrate the three pillars of sustainable development into its national policy space. In fact, environment protection is enshrined in our Constitution (Articles 48 A and 51 A ). Various policy measures are being implemented across the domains of forestry, pollution control, water management, clean energy, and marine and coastal environment. Some of these are policies like Joint Forest Management, Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment, Coastal Zone Regulation Zone, eco labeling and energy efficiency labeling, fuel efficiency standards etc . Over a period of time, a stable organizational structure has been developed for environment protection. The country has been making fast progress in increasing its renewable energy capacity and has displayed the fastest expansion rate of investment of any large renewables market in the world in 2011, with a 62 per cent increase to $12 billion (Frankfurt School of Finance and Management 'Global Trends in Renewable Energy investment 2012'). The Twelfth Five Year Plan with a prominent focus on sustainability makes provision and provides for many more opportunities like these.

Q-Interpret the ecological buildings. How these are different from Green buildings?

Ecological Building is both a design process and the structure that is a result of such a design process. The Ecological Building design process is a modern architecture variant of permaculture design. An Ecological Building is a structure that is designed to create and sustain mutually beneficial relationships with all of the elements of its local ecology. A building's local ecology, or environment, is made up of particular physical and biological elements and their interactions. The abiotic, or physical elements are defined by the local geology and the local climate. The local geology is defined by the soil type, substrata, local land use, and water patterns of the site and its surroundings. The local climate is made up of the weather patterns, wind patterns, solar patterns, and pollution patterns for the site and its surroundings. The biotic or living elements are all of the local species and local ecosystems - including humans and urban ecologies - that interact with the site. This concept is distinctly different from green building, or sustainable architecture where the goal is to "minimize the negative environmental impact of buildings". Ecological building is a positive design goal that sets out to increase beneficial interactions, whereas green building is a negative design outlook that seeks only the reduction of negative interactions. Inherent in green building is the assumption that any human interaction with a site is unavoidably negative, and that mitigating these negative impacts is the best that is possible. With Ecological Building, the designer acknowledges that humans can play an integral, beneficial role in improving and sustaining the health and vitality of their local ecology.

Q-Tell about your understanding of the embodied energy. How do you select the building material for sustainable buildings?
Embodied Energy is the sum of all the energy required to produce any goods or services, considered as if that energy was incorporated or 'embodied' in the product itself. The concept can be useful in determining the effectiveness of energy-producing or energy-saving devices, or the "real" replacement cost of a building, and, because energy-inputs usually entail greenhouse gas emissions, in deciding whether a product contributes to or mitigates global warming. One fundamental question is: does the device produce more energy or save more energy than it took to make it? Embodied energy is an accounting method which aims to find the sum total of the energy necessary for an entire product life-cycle. Determining what constitutes this life-cycle includes assessing the relevance and extent of energy into raw material extraction, transport, manufacture, assembly, installation, dis-assembly, deconstruction and/or decomposition as well as human and secondary resources. Different methodologies produce different understandings of the scale and scope of application and the type of energy embodied. The total amount of embodied energy may account for 20% of the buildings energy use, so reducing embodied energy can significantly reduce the overall environmental impact of the building. Embodied energy must be considered over the lifespan of a building, and in many situations, a higher embodied energy building material or system may be justified because it reduces the operating energy requirements of the building. For example, a durable material with a long lifespan such as aluminum may be the appropriate material selection despite its high embodied energy. As the energy efficiency of a building increases, reducing the energy consumption, the embodied energy of the building materials will also become increasingly important. Buildings should be designed and materials selected to balance embodied energy with factors such as climate, availability of materials and transport costs. Lightweight building materials often have lower embodied energy than heavyweight materials, but in some situations, lightweight construction may result in higher energy use. For example, where heating or cooling requirements are high, this may raise the overall energy use of the building. Conversely, for buildings with high heating or cooling requirements but where there is a large diurnal (day/night) temperature range, heavyweight construction (typically with high embodied energy) and the inclusion of high levels of insulation can offset the energy use required for the building. When selecting building materials, the embodied energy should be considered with respect to:

the durability of building materials how easily materials can be separated use of locally sourced materials use of recycled materials specifying standard sizes of materials avoiding waste selecting materials that are manufactured using renewable energy sources.