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.

Building Regulations/Planning Portal (Home: legislation, planning)

Planning portal is a guidance of developing housing in UK. It is the responsibilities for the developer to follow the regulations when carrying out the building work, it can ensure the safety and health for people in or about those buildingsIf the developer or designer does not follow the Building Regulations, the local authority may decide to take them to the court.

For example in Oxley Woods the houses were designed to exceed 2002 Plan L Building Regulations. As the houses in Oxley Woods were planned to become an example of sustainable home, Plan L is about the conservation of fuel and power such as CO2 emission rate, energy efficiency requirements. Besides, “Oxley Woods 20% more efficient than Building Regulations required”, it led the way of low energy housing and  it shows the idea is more innovative. Besides, the building regulation helps improving the living quality and helps to improve the environment more ECO- friendly. Thus, Every year new details are incorporated into building regulations. 

Oxley Wood also involved in Plan M (Access to and Use of Buildings). As I mentioned about the Handrail on previous blog ( Lifetime Home (House design metrics) Sunday, 20 October 2013 ). Handrail is also printed on the Building Regulation. There are also requirements for a handrail such as surface size, the height from the floor to the handrail. Car park is also one of the requirements in Plan M. As Oxley Woods is an example of a sustainable housing property development, therefore most of their houses car parks are in the countyards, but not on the street. This can avoid the car gets salves by the other car. (Photo A) 

(Photo A) 

Reference:

NBS. (2010). Plan L Building Regulations. Available: http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/uploads/br/BR_PDF_AD_L1A_2010_V2.pdf. Last accessed 11th Nov 2013.

Merlin Fulcher. (2013). Is Oxley Woods the answer to the housing crisis?.Available: http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/daily-news/is-oxley-woods-the-answer-to-the-housing-crisis/8650221.article. Last accessed 11 Nov, 2013.

Indoor temperature (Climate change)

During the winter period, sunlight is not strong as other seasons, but due to the air is dry and cold, radiators are on, indoor humidity may not suitable for living. And the furnitures could also crack due air humidity is too dry. It is important to have appropriate temperature and humidity in the indoor environment, it directly affects a person's health, if the temperature and humidity is too high or too low, will not conducive to human health.

In general, the indoor temperature best to human body is 15-18C. When indoor humindity is less than 35% or ventilation is unfavorable or indoor temperature is more than 25C. It could affect a person feeling uncomfortable. As most people spending a lot of time in indoor place, good indoor condition is important. Besides, ventaliation is the greatest thing that affecting these  factors.

In UK, there are regulation requirements that requires the designers to follow when designing a building in terms of the ventilation. From the building regulation F (ventilation) it outlined the requirements when designing a house. As I mentioned about EcoHats on previous blog, the EcoHat can also supplies pre-heated air in winter times and cooled air at night time, the system can also help not to overheating in a house. As you can see the photo below, Oxley Woods houses is a good example in terms of ventilation, there are windows in different rooms, even in the toilet. Also on every floor, there is a balcony which it allows tenant open the balcony door to providing fresh air for the corridor area and rooms. 

Lifetime Home (House design metrics)

In early 1990s, a building for life, “livable” and “sustainable” were more concerned. Group of people were suggested a home should be accessible, comfort, convenience and inclusive. Lifetime Home is a guide for designer as a reference when designing a building, it creates better living standard to everyone, for small children, illness people, and the disability people. 

For the Lifetime Home standard, there are 16 design criteria for the designer to follow, it covers both internal and external of the dwellings  Such as the bathroom size, main entrance size, circulation space etc. All of these standards are not necessary to follow it, however the more in the house, the better living for the special need people. ( You may view the details of 16 criteria here http://www.lifetimehomes.org.uk/pages/revised-design-criteria.html  )

From my example of sustainable house ( Oxley Woods), they have WC at ground floor, first floor and second floor, it helps the disability people living more comfortable in the house. The size of the toilet has over 30m to 30m size, which the size is even more than the standard required. Besides, as I mentioned about the standard is just a reference for the designer, "(12) Stairs and potential through-floor lift in dwelling", some Lifetime Home houses may design a life shaft for putting the lift inside the house, but not for Oxley Woods. Moreover, you may look at the photo below, they used a clear span construction enable future adoption like stair lift for the Lifetime Home.

In addition, the standard also mentioned the external part of the dwelling. Oxley Woods has also have a covered main entrance (Photo A). There is a Balcony on top which it could provide a shelter for the tenant when getting in the house. The designer also fitted a handrail at the stairs which some houses built in olden days are not included (Photo B).

(Photo A)

(Photo B)

Marcus Fairs. (31 May 2007). Oxley Woods by Rogers Stirk Harbour and Partners. Available: http://www.dezeen.com/2007/05/31/oxley-woods-by-rogers-stirk-harbour-and-partners/. Last accessed 19th Oct 2013.

Lifetime Home. (5 July 2010). 16 Design Criteria from . Available: http://www.lifetimehomes.org.uk. Last accessed 20th OCt 2013.

Off-site construction

Precast is a method of building construction. It meant the building construction method is a pre-process, what we so called "prefabrication". From the factory site and move all the pieces to the building site. Now prefabrication technology has been upgraded to "three-dimensional level", by the inner and outer walls, floor tiles and a bathtub etc., made it in the factory, after transport to the construction site and assembly.

In terms of sustainable, construction industry is considered producing a lot of pollution. And off-site construction can benefits more eco-friendly. Precast everything at the factory can effectively reduce material consumption, especially precast the interior parts as it always produce a lot of  construction waste. Besides, other than the waste, precast construction can also reduce the sound and air pollution during the construction.

Oxley Woods is one of the sustainable building example in UK. For that reason, the chose precast technology to built all those 145 houses. "each house to be quickly and economically erected while maintaining build quality "As you can see from the photos, the building method is like a "lego", put everything piece by piece. Yet, they even just required less amount of people and skills to construct everything. 

Marcus Fairs. (31 May 2007). Oxley Woods by Rogers Stirk Harbour and Partners. Available: http://www.dezeen.com/2007/05/31/oxley-woods-by-rogers-stirk-harbour-and-partners/. Last accessed 19th Oct 2013.

Standard of a bathroom (House design metrics)

A quality and sustainable houses is necessary to have a standard quality of bathroom. In terms of essential practicality, the bathroom is used often in our daily life, without it people just could not live comfortably. For example, the shower might be sounds not really important to us, but it is used at least once per day. Second, from the view of resale value, some buyers when purchasing a new home, the first things that he/she may look at is the bathroom condition. Besides, a better interior of the house could easily to attract the buyers consideration.


In addition, there are few standards for the designer for referencing when designing a house. The most heard standard is "Parker Morris Standard". "In one, two and three bedroom dwellings, one flushing toilet is required, and it may be in the bathroom". As human life compared to olden days has improved a lot, it is now important to have a bathroom in every drawling instead of few families sharing one. Besides, there is another standard by National House Building Council (NHBC), however the minimum standard for the bathroom is very small. The diagram below is the standard of gross internal floor area that Parker Morris suggested.

As everyone should have many stuffs at home and need a space for storage, Parker Morris Standard also mentioned about each home needs to have a store room for storage. For Oxley Woods, as you can see the in the floor plan below, there is a store room below the stairs on the ground floor.


Metric handbook is a reference about the latest construction standards and new building types. It also presented the idea of sustainable design. It  gives the requirements when designing, it also status out the regulations for the designer needs to be aware of when designing a building.

You can see the floor plan of Oxley Woods, 3 bedrooms dwelling also includes with 1 WC and two bathrooms. And the size of each WC are reasonable enough. As Oxley Woods is an example of a sustainable housing, ventilation has to be considered. Therefore, each toilet has included with a window, even if cleansing or dyeing hair, the window can easily to get rid of the smells from the chemical. A window in the toilet can even get more natural light in during the day time, it is more eco-friendly and saved the cost of the bill due to lessen the use of electricity.

Reference: HATC Limited . (August 2006). Housing Space Standards. Available: http://legacy.london.gov.uk/mayor/planning/docs/space-standards.pdf. Last accessed 17th Oct 2013.

Low energy design- EcoHat ( Design precedents)

UK Government promised that all new homes would be 'zero carbon' from 2016, National House Building Council (NHBC) is a guidance department to help the industry meet its challenges. There are 10 elements in the guide that helps to design, one of them is "Low and zero carbon technology". Besides, solar heating system, floor cooling system, Photovoltaics..etc are the technologies which can apply in houses to made it more sustainable. 

The houses at Oxley Woods are using a new technology called "EcoHat". When the solar panels in the boxes got heated by the heat, it will sends it into the house for heating the home, or it can be used to heat hot water. In addition, the difference of the system is, it allows hot air to rise and consequently be reused to provide passive solar water heating. Hence, the system can significantly reduce the energy required to heat and cool the homes compared to standard homes. That also can solved the problem of the solar panel on the roof are ugly argument. The system could help  reduction in CO2 emissions.

Sustainable Homes (design precedents)

The standards of housing in the UK have been widely criticized and today housing improvement is a major concern. A house designed to reduce pollution,water and energy usage, improve tenant comfort and create healthier living environment which we so called "sustainable", is a manner which the designer has to follow and the tenant demand or it. Oxley Woods is an example to define the meaning of sustainable housing. "The houses were designed to exceed 2002 Part L Building Regulations, meeting Code Level 3 in the Code for Sustainable Homes." 

In terms of reduceing pollution,water and energy usage to be more sustainable, the entreance hall of the houses were built with marmoleum tiles eco flooring, and all rooms are built with  LED eco lighting. Therefore, from the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) graphs shows, the houses got 81 points for the energy efficiency rating. 

Sources:
Uk Gov. (2013). code for sustainable homes. Available: https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/improving-the-energy-efficiency-of-buildings-and-using-planning-to-protect-the-environment/supporting-pages/code-for-sustainable-homes. Last accessed 15th Nov 2013.