Low carbon technology

Low carbon technology is a scientific method to help achieve lower the amount of carbon dioxide emission to protect our atmosphere environment. There are many kinds of method of using building structure or equipment to implement low carbon technology to our dwelling, such as heat pumps, LED lighting, solar PV, wind turbines, and solar thermal arrays. However, sometimes these low carbon technology method could be overlooked the cost of benefits, it causes a major factors to reduce the efficiency of the system. 

Heat Pump
Application of Heat Pumping, basically it is a system that uses a small amount of electric energy to move the heat by using the heat pump at the house, it makes the heat transfer from one place to another. Hence, during the winter time, when outside temperature is extreme freezing, the continuous heat supply would be affect the house temperature rises and keep warm by a thermostat to control the pump's ON/OFF (refer photo A). On the other hand, if the household buy a few fan heater to solve the cool problem, their expenses would be increased. 
There is another heat pump called ground source heat pump ( Photo B), this kind of heating system it takes time to make the floor to be heated before the house is warm enough, and it is relatively a very high installation cost and should be implemented within construction period.

(Photo A)

(Photo B)

Solar PV- Using sun energy is a most green power source. But, when come across with the intermittent weather, there may not have enough sunlight for supplying the energy to the Solar PV. Therefore, we can applying the solar PV for the house installation.  The Solar PV built-in an inverters to convert sun energy to electric energy and storage onto the batteries for later usage during the sunlight period is less. The Solar PV operation costs is low and almost free maintenance. But their initial cost on the setting up the whole system is expensive.

Wind turbines- 
It converts kinetic energy from wind to electrical power, it is a most economical green power, but needs suitable space location and big investment. As it requires wind to producing energy, when a place surrounding by high rise building or the area without wind. Thus, it is a waste of money for using wind turbine for the above reasons. 

Wind turbines at Aston University not producing much energy as the wind is not strong enough.

Low energy lighting
  A fluorescent lamp its cost is higher, the lamp lighting cost is cheaper on continuously use base. And when a fluorescent lamp uses for such a period of ON & OFF times, the brightness will dimmer. 

From the above case studies, it explains the choosing and applying the right low carbon technology method is important to affect on our living cost. Also it improves our atmosphere environmental protection and keep our air fresh. Such as Oxley Wood, they have chosen to use an EcoHat for the dwelling. It does cost a lot, however the energy efficiency and is much more than other low carbon technologies.

Sources:

Erin Watson-Price. (2013). reasons-isn_t-producing-enough-heat.Available: http://www.ehow.com/list_7329576_reasons-isn_t-producing-enough-heat.html. Last accessed 20th Nov 2013.

energysavingtrust. (2013). Solar-panels-PV. Available: http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Generating-energy/Choosing-a-renewable-technology/Solar-panels-PV. Last accessed 20th Nov 2013.

energysavingtrust. (2012). Wind-turbines. Available: http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Generating-energy/Choosing-a-renewable-technology/Wind-turbines. Last accessed 20th Nov 2013.

wisegeek. (2013). What are Advantages and Disadvantages of Fluorescent Lighting?. Available: http://www.wisegeek.org/what-are-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-fluorescent-lighting.htm. Last accessed 20th Nov 2013.

Building fabric: performance and integrity

Specification is a progress when designing a building. It can estimate the cost of construction and save the cost of the construction. There are different products provided from NBS for specification. There are B to Z product listings http://www.ribaproductselector.com/CAWS.aspx. Below is an example of presenting a specification.

Below is an example for NBS specification list G10 STRUCTURAL STEEL FRAMING.

Service and equipment

Architectural Technologist, Architects, building service designer, manufactures and suppliers, consultants, buyers and installers may all contribute in some of their part to the overall design. Therefore, Architectural Technology has their responsibility to understand the building service and equipments usage in order to ensuring their deign is matched with the other parties to made the whole design works. In modern house, there are different kinds of building service, and equipment using in our dwelling. They are as follow:

As water is so important to related our daily life usage, a dwelling must be able to provide a stable supply of hot and cold water. To ensure our the water supply must be safe to drink. We need boiled or hot water.There are different types of water heaters. The most popular one in UK is storage water heater (Photo A). Compare to tankless water heater, storage water heater have the advantage of using less energy. As I mentioned about sustainable, solar water heaters ( Photo B) are being used increasingly, and the system are designed to supply hot water for most of the year. But during winter due to the less heat gain from Sunlight may not be sufficient, and affect the supply of hot water from Solar water heater.

(Photo A)

(Photo B)

In UK, there are companies supplying gas and electricity. Normally for a household, they pay high bills in winter time than summer due to the above heating service. 

Same as gas and electricity public services company, there are few companies in UK providing telecom service for household. They normally provides communication services of TV channel, phone line and internet service. However, such as Birmingham city center, the choice of services provider companies is oligopoly.

As I mentioned about flooding in UK. Rainwater drainage system (Photo C)is one of the method of reducing the risk of flooding. However, the most effective method to relieve pressures on the drainage system is reducing flood risk, eg. green roofs or rainwater harvesting (Photo D).

(Photo C)

(Photo D)

Mechanical ventilation is also a equipment for a dwelling. As I mentioned of EcoHat, it is an example of modern ventilation for a house.

Sources:

ottawa.ca. (2013). building-and-equipment-plan. Available: http://ottawa.ca/en/residents/public-health/food-safety-and-inspections/building-and-equipment-plan. Last accessed 19th Nov 2013.

london.gov. (2013). managing-rainwater-and-drainage. Available: https://www.london.gov.uk/priorities/environment/looking-after-londons-water/managing-rainwater-and-drainage. Last accessed 19th Nov 2013.

Home: site context, climate change ( Heating Load)

Overheating is one of a problem for building design. As the fact of global climate change and temperature increasing, we need to reduce the energy consumption. When a person stay long period in experiencing overheating in the house, it could make him/her feeling uncomfortable  or heat stress, also it may hurt people’s health. As the issue of global warming, overheating becomes a more seriously cause. Thus, NHBC foundation has a lot of guidance for designer to know more about overheating. 

In addition, there are two factors causes of overheating:

External heat gains- As mentioned of “external”, the heat come outside from the building. When the sunlight shining through the window, the heat will rise the temperature at interior of the dwelling. Besides, the top floor of the house may also affected by overheating as the sunlight shine on the roof directly, the occupant at the top floor may feel hot during the day time.

Internal heat gains- Bad ventilation design will led to insufficiently circulation remove heat from the building. Additional with lighting, service from the building (eg. water boiling system), cooking, the occupants themselves, could also brought out overheating problem. 

Oxley Wood is an example of solving the issue of overheating. As you can see the floor plan below, in terms of (Purge Ventilation). There is a balcony on every floor, and windows at the house northern and southern side. It can allows large amounts of air entry the home for circulation. As I mentioned EcoHat, it can also allow and improve the ventilation of the house. Second, for window design, all windows in Oxley Wood are double glazing windows, it helps to solve the problem of preventing sunlight directly entry to the house. Besides, solar shading structure (Photo A) could also help for blocking the sunlight directly entry to the house. But Oxley Wood does not have such feature for the dwellings. More information about heating load please refer: (http://www.architecture.com/Files/RIBAHoldings/PolicyAndInternationalRelations/Policy/Environment/PrinciplesLowCarbSUMnew.pdf)

(Photo A)

Sources: zerocarbonhub. (2012). OverheatingInHomes. Available: http://www.zerocarbonhub.org/resourcefiles/OverheatingInHomes8pp_2013_8March.pdf. Last accessed 17th Nov 2013.

Building fabric performance

As I mentioned about heat on (Climate Change) post. Thermal bridging could also affect on the heat loss of a building. In term of zero carbon home, good practice on fabric energy efficiency could solve the problem of overheating. Wall, roof, floor, window or door in a dwelling can minimizing the heat loss. For building form, a building’s shape will also affect the internal temperature and heat loss. The smaller surface are of a dwelling, the less heat escape, but it could also affect natural ventilation. Below diagram shows the percentage of fabric heat loss, bridge and ventilation. 

U-Value:
The U-Value is for measuring the amount of energy. When the U-Value is lower, it means the materials could preventing the heat loss better, or vise versa. Below is the method of calculating the U-value.

In my example of Oxley, the walls of the U-Value is U= 0.12W/m2K. As the dwelling of Oxley Wood is made of timber panels, it provides a better thermal efficient to lessen the heat loss. The timber panels of Oxley Wood are filled with Warmcel cellulose fibre insulation. It can decrease the construction cost as they are made of recycle materials, and providing better performance value (Photo A). The U-Value of the roof in a dwelling of Oxley Wood is U=0.17 E/m2K. As the timber panels are covered with rigid polyurethane (Photo B) board, it has lower thermal conductivity and higher thermal resistance. Also it could solved the problem of the timber getting rod in a period of time. As the windows of Oxley Woods are using double glazed window, the U-Value is U= 1.7W/m2K. 

(Photo A)

(Photo B)

In terms of heat loss, as I mentioned of Ecohat, the feature helps to reduce the energy consumption. The system can also help to prevent the timber frame rod due to the occurs of condensation by the change of heating, ventilation and unforeseen reasons. 

Sources:

BING. (2006). Thermal insulation materials made of rigid polyurethane foam (PUR/PIR). Available: http://www.excellence-in-insulation.eu/site/fileadmin/user_upload/PDF/Thermal_insulation_materials_made_of_rigid_polyurethane_foam.pdf. Last accessed 15th Nov 2013.

CMS. (2011). Warmcel Cellulose Fiber Insulation. Available: http://cms.esi.info/Media/documents/20909_1320849921647.pdf. Last accessed 15th Nov 2013.

RIBA. (2009). Principles of Low Carbon Design and Refurbishment. Available: http://www.architecture.com/Files/RIBAHoldings/PolicyAndInternationalRelations/Policy/Environment/2Principles_LC_Design_Refurb.pdf. Last accessed 15th Nov 2013.

Site context

When producing a development plan, the designers have to consider on layout, good practice, better engineering solution in order to have a most effective and the best method on energy efficient solution. In terms of sustainable, zero carbon technology could affect the implement of it. Besides, there are numbers of main elements go into site contest, they are: Neighborhood context, location, site and zoning, legal, climate and human and culture. 

As I mentioned Oxley Woods is a good example of sustainable home and development, their site context was more based on the term of “neighborhood”. Other than budget and regulations, they wanted to created a place which people could have a “unique life style”, each dwellings has its owns external colour and size, which it makes the houses look separately (Photo A). 

(Photo A)

In addition, there is a standard of building for life, it influence the idea in term of site context. The 4 criteria are: environment and community, Character, Street, parking and pedestrianization and design and construction. These criteria are based on Code for Sustainable Homes and Lifetime Homes which I have mentioned on previous posts. Moreover, the standard has given the ideas to have a good transport links, roads and parking to Oxley Woods. In Oxley Woods, most of the parking are in courtyards instead of on the streets, it helps the car not being crashed. Even the private car park in the house area (Photo B) , there is a shelter cover it, it helps to prevent the rain  during the rainy days. As you can see in the photo below, each area of housing have a car park in the middle, it can also create a higher privacy for the people who are living there. As you can see in the develop plan (Photo C), each houses were built with a big garden and gap between houses. It allows for a better ventilation. 

(Plan of Oxley Wood)

(PhotoB)

(Photo C)

Site context is an important issue when developing a building project. Having a good plan could increase the living standard, also it could decrease issue of crime in the area in terms of security.

Reference: 

hamilton. (2013). SitePlanGuidelines. Available: http://www.hamilton.ca/NR/rdonlyres/1F64E9A0-AD13-4265-A0E3-3E0537418FD3/0/SitePlanGuidelinesSec2.pdf. Last accessed 15th Nov 2013.

Alan Gilpin (1972). Environmental Planning: a Condensed Encyclopedia. Park Ridge, New Jersey: Noyes Publications, 1972. 271.

Ventilation, MVHR, integration and control of services and equipment

Modern Ventilation can provide a good indoor air quality for people who are living in the house, and make sure the building performance is effective enough and improves the health and comfort. Carbon Dioxide, waste, pollution and ecology are always the factors accessing sustainabllity. Bad ventilation could cause energy waste. Besides, under the Building Regulation of UK Rule F (Ventilation), it ensure houses with good indoor air quality and ventilation. 

Below is the link of Part F Regulation:

http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/uploads/br/BR_PDF_AD_F_2010_V2.pdf 

Link about code of sustainable home:

http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Organisations/Technology/Free-resources-for-housing-professionals/New-build/The-Code-for-Sustainable-Homes

Fans, windows and vents are the types of ventilation which provided in the pass. They all can extract the room moisture and decrease the humidity. Extractor fan is the most common type of ventilation in bathroom. It turns on when the lights is on, and it will stay for 5-10 minutes on when the light is off. (Photo A). This type of fan it normally can see it on top of the bathroom window. For those bathroom without a window, it normally use Vents fan (Photo B), the duct connect between Sofie vent and fan and ventilate  the bathroom. In the modern days, these types of ventilation depends on the type of dwellings.

  

(Photo A)                        

  (PhotoB)

                                                                 

Mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR) is one of the modern type of ventilation. The idea of MVHR is like “exchange” the cold air to hot air, vice versa. Air from the extract hood and bathroom is removed and exchange to fresh air. However, some houses are small may just need a small amount of input heat, therefore MVHR may not applicable to some dwellings.

As Oxley Wood is an example of sustainable house, the designer chose to apply EcoHats (Photo D)  in the dwellings. EcoHats is a new system of ventilation. It is fitted on the top of the roof. The diffuser inside the base unit filtered fresh air into the building, and it reuses the air due to it can prevent the loss of heat. Besides, it uses solar energy to provides solar preheated the air . Thus, it can decrease 23% of carbon dioxide emissions. 

(Photo D)

In addition, one other advantage of a dwelling in Oxley Wood is some areas in the houses does not have a window, and the designer put a ventilation spacer at those places. It helps the enteral house can always getting fresh air. It led to more energy efficiency. (Photo E). As I mentioned about window, windows are applied in all bathrooms, it helps the bathroom ventilate the humidity after shower quickly. (Photo F). Balcony also can help the ventilation. In Oxley wood, every floor fitted with a big balcony, as the doors of the balcony can open, during the summer time, it can ventilate the heat in the house. It helps cool down the temperature during summer time. (Photo G)

(Photo E) Ventilation at the conor

(Photo F) Window in the toilet

(Photo G) Balcony on every floor

Reference:

taylor wimpey. (04/07). oxleywoods. Available: http://www.oxleywoods.com/Oxley_Woods_Lo_Res_We_1_.pdf. Last accessed 13th Nov 2013.

energysavingtrust. (2006). The Code for Sustainable Homes. Available: http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Organisations/Technology/Free-resources-for-housing-professionals/New-build/The-Code-for-Sustainable-Homes. Last accessed 13th Nov 2013.