GREEN BUILDING

Green building (also known as green construction or sustainable building)

DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF ENERGY

EFFICIENT AND ZERO ENERGY HOMES Goal is to design and build homes that reduce or eliminate your need for energy. Freeing you from the grasp of big energy companies. Take a look at some of the innovative ways we have come up with.

THE COMMON OBJECTIVE

Is that green buildings are designed to reduce the overall impact of the built environment on human health and the natural environment by:
Efficiently using energy, water, and other resources Protecting occupant health and improving employee productivity Reducing waste, pollution and environmental degradation.

REDUCING ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

Green building practices aim to reduce the environmental impact of buildings, and the very first rule is, do not build in sprawl (In cluster). No matter how much grass you put on your roof, no matter how many energy-efficient windows, etc., you use, if you build in sprawl, you've just defeated your purpose. The International Energy Agency released a publication that estimated that existing buildings are responsible for more than 40% of the worlds total primary energy consumption and for 24% of global carbon dioxide emissions.

AFFORDABLE ZERO ENERGY HOMES

A few short years ago the notion of a zero energy home was beyond the imagination of most people. Technologies required were available. But the costs to do this was far beyond the average homeowners budget.

 Today

we can build a home that is not only efficient but can produce all of the energy needed through use of renewable energy, primarily the sun. By combining design, methods, materials and systems we have come up with affordable approaches to building energy free homes, today.

Forget the Granite Countertops and chose a solar hot water system instead.

GOALS OF GREEN BUILDING

The concept of sustainable development can be traced to the energy (especially fossil oil) crisis and the environment pollution concern in the 1970s. There are a number of motives to building green, including environmental, economic, and social benefits. However, modern sustainability initiatives call for an integrated and synergistic design to both new construction and in the retrofitting of an existing structure.

Also known as sustainable design, this approach integrates the building life-cycle with each green practice employed with a design-purpose to create a synergy amongst the practices used. Green building brings together a vast array of practices and techniques to reduce and ultimately eliminate the impacts of buildings on the environment and human health.

It often emphasizes taking advantage of renewable resources, e.g.,

Using Sunlight through Passive Solar, Active Solar, and Photovoltaic Techniques

Using plants and trees through green roofs, rain gardens, and for reduction of rainwater run-off.

While the practices, or technologies, employed in green building are constantly evolving and may differ from region to region, there are fundamental principles that persist from which the method is derived:

Siting and Structure Design Efficiency, Energy Efficiency, Water Efficiency, Materials Efficiency, Indoor Environmental Quality Enhancement, Operations and Maintenance Optimization, Waste and Toxics Reduction

There are several key steps in DESIGNING sustainable buildings:

Reduce loads, Optimize systems, Generate on-site renewable energy.

APPLIANCES

Modern energy-efficient appliances, such as:

Refrigerators, Freezers, Ovens, Stoves, Dishwashers, And Clothes Washers And Dryers,

use significantly less energy than older appliances.

SITING AND STRUCTURE DESIGN EFFICIENCY

The foundation of any construction project is rooted in the concept and design stages. The concept stage, in fact, is one of the major steps in a project life cycle, as it has the largest impact on cost and performance. In designing environmentally optimal buildings, the objective is to minimize the total environmental impact associated with all life-cycle stages of the building project.

However, building as a process is not as streamlined as an industrial process, and varies from one building to the other, never repeating itself identically. In addition, buildings are much more complex products, composed of a multitude of materials and components each constituting various design variables to be decided at the design stage.

ENERGY EFFICIENCY

Green buildings often include measures to reduce energy consumption both the:
Embodied Energy Required To Extract, Process, Transport And Install Building Materials And Operating Energy To Provide Services Such As Heating And Power For Equipment.

As high-performance buildings use:

Less Operating Energy, Embodied Energy Has Assumed Much Greater Importance And May Make Up As Much As 30% Of The Overall Life Cycle Energy Consumption.

To reduce operating energy use:

High-efficiency Windows Insulation In Walls, Ceilings, And Floors

Increase the efficiency of the building envelope, (the barrier between conditioned and unconditioned space).

Another strategy
Passive Solar Building Design, is often implemented in Low-energy Homes. Designers orient windows and walls and place awnings, porches, and trees to shade windows and roofs during the summer while maximizing solar gain in the winter. In addition, effective window placement (day lighting) can provide more natural light and lessen the need for electric lighting during the day.

REDUCE THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF THE BUILDING.

Solar water heating reduces energy costs. Onsite generation of renewable energy through:

Solar Power, Wind Power, Hydro Power, Biomass

WATER EFFICIENCY
To the maximum extent feasible, facilities should increase their dependence on water that is collected, used, purified, and reused on-site. Waste-water may be minimized by utilizing water conserving fixtures such as ultra-low flush toilets and low-flow shower heads.

Bidets help eliminate the use of toilet paper, reducing sewer traffic and increasing possibilities of re-using water on-site. Point of use water treatment and heating improves both water quality and energy efficiency while reducing the amount of water in circulation.

WASTE REDUCTION
Well-designed buildings also help reduce the amount of waste generated by the occupants as well, by providing on-site solutions such as compost bins to reduce matter going to landfills. To reduce the amount of wood that goes to landfill, the CO2 Neutral Alliance (a coalition of government, NGOs and the forest industry) created the website dontwastewood.com. The site includes a variety of resources for regulators, municipalities, developers, contractors, owner/operators and individuals/homeowners looking for information on wood recycling.

THERMAL ENVELOPE
A thermal envelope is everything about the house that serves to shield the living space from the outdoors. It includes the wall and roof assemblies, insulation, air/vapor retarders, windows, and weather-stripping and caulking.

WALL AND ROOF ASSEMBLIES

Most builders use traditional Concrete frame construction. Concrete framing is a Tie & Hold Technique construction technique that uses a potentially renewable resourcewood to provide a structurally sound, long-lasting house. With proper construction and attention to details, the conventional wood-framed home can be very energy efficient. It is now even possible to purchase a sustainably harvested wood. And use instead of Concrete.

OPTIMUM VALUE ENGINEERING (OVE)

This method uses wood only where it is most effective, thus reducing costly wood use and saving space for insulation. The amount of lumber has been determined to be structurally sound through both laboratory and field tests. However, the builder must be familiar with this type of construction to ensure a structurally sound house.

STRUCTURAL INSULATED PANELS (SIPS)

These sheets are generally made of plywood or oriented-strand board (OSB) that is laminated to foam board. The foam may be 4 to 8 inches thick. Because the SIP acts as both the framing and the insulation, construction is much faster than OVE or stick framing. The quality of construction is often superior because there are fewer places for workers to make mistakes.

INSULATING CONCRETE FORMS (ICF).

Houses constructed in this manner consist of two layers of extruded foam board (one inside the house and one outside the house) that act as the form for a steel-reinforced concrete center. Its the fastest technique and least likely to have construction mistakes. Such buildings are also very strong and easily exceed code requirements for areas prone to tornadoes or hurricanes.

PASSIVE SOLAR DESIGN WITH

OVERHANG ABOVE THE SOUTH

FACING WINDOWS

WEATHER-STRIPPING AND CAULKING

You should seal air leaks everywhere in a homes thermal envelope to reduce energy loss. Good air sealing alone may reduce utility costs by as much as 50 percent when compared to other houses of the same type and age. You can accomplish most air sealing by using two materials:

caulking and weather-stripping. can be used to seal areas of potential air leakage into or out of a house. can be used to seal gaps around windows and exterior doors.

Caulking

Weather-stripping

CONTROLLED VENTILATION
Since an energy-efficient house is tightly sealed, it needs to be ventilated in a controlled manner. Controlled, mechanical ventilation prevents health risks from indoor air pollution, promotes a more comfortable atmosphere, and reduces air moisture infiltration, thus reducing the likelihood of structural damage.

Furnaces, water heaters, clothes dryers, and bathroom and kitchen exhaust fans expel air from the house, making it easier to depressurize an airtight house if all else is ignored. But natural-draft appliances may be back-drafted by exhaust fans, which can lead to a lethal buildup of toxic

AIR LEAKAGE CAN OCCUR IN MANY PLACE THROUGHOUT A HOME.

HEAT RECOVERY VENTILATION

HEATING AND COOLING SYSTEMS

Specifying the correct sizes for heating and cooling systems in airtight, energy-efficient homes can be tricky. Rule-of-thumb sizing is often inaccurate, resulting in wasteful operation. Conscientious builders and heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning contractors size heating and cooling equipment based on careful consideration of the thermal envelope characteristics.

Generally, energy-efficient homes require relatively small heating systems, typically less than 50,000 Btu/hour even for very cold climates. Some require nothing more than sunshine as the primary source of heat along with auxiliary heat from radiant in-floor heating, a standard gas-fired water heater, a small boiler, a furnace, or electric heat pump. Any common appliance that gives off waste heat can also contribute significantly to the heating requirements for such houses.

If an air conditioner is required, its often a small unit and sufficient for all but the warmest climates. Sometimes only a large fan and the cooler evening air are needed to make the house comfortable. The house is closed up in the morning and stays cool until the next evening.

SOME EXAMPLES OF TECHNOLOGY USED

The technologies supported by the green building projects include:

Fuel efficient stoves (FEW), which include a waterwarming facility (WWF) that can be used while cooking (reduces 50% energy needs) Roof hatch windows (RHW), which allow more sunlight in the home but reduce heat loss Light roofs and efficient construction techniques which use 60% less timber in construction, and due to their thermal efficiency reduce up to 65% firewood needed to heat homes in the winter.These techniques also help reduce hazard risks during earthquakes.

Insulation and other thermally-efficient housing construction techniques which reduce energy use by up to 70% Roof treatment techniques and the introduction of stabilized mud blocks to improve the thermal efficiency of houses in rural mountain environments

Technical descriptions of three techniques the wiremesh knotting equipment, galvanized wire-mesh wall reinforcement, and the house planning tool.

ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS

Global:

The reduced use of biomass energy decreases carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to climate change. The project evaluation estimates that the use of fuelefficient stoves with water-warming facilities in 2,500 households (the current estimate of project impact), would reduce fuel wood consumption by 862,500 kg per month. This is equivalent to 10 tons of fuel wood per year, and 30 tons of carbon emissions avoided over a six-year product life.
Although no studies of this impact are available, the reduced collection of fuel wood and other biomass should lessen pressure on local forest ecosystems.

Local:

IDEAL SCENARIO

THANK YOU

Questions?