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Sustainable Architecture
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Sustainable architecture is architecture that seeks to minimize the negative
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environmental impact of buildings by efficiency and moderation in the use of
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materials, energy, and development space. Sustainable architecture uses a
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conscious approach to energy and ecological conservation in the design of the
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built environment.
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The idea of sustainability, or ecological design, is to ensure that our actions and
decisions today do not inhibit the opportunities of future generations.
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Sustainable energy use
K2 sustainable apartments in Windsor, Victoria, Australia by DesignInc (2006)
features passive solar design, recycled and sustainable materials, photovoltaic
cells, wastewater treatment, rainwater collection and solar hot water.
The passivhaus standard combines a variety of techniques and technologies to
achieve ultra-low energy use.
Following its destruction by a tornado in 2007, the town of Greensburg, Kansas
(USA) elected to rebuild to highly stringent LEED Platinum environmental
standards. Shown is the town's new art center, which integrates its own solar
panels and wind generators for energy self-sufficiency.
Energy efficiency over the entire life cycle of a building is the most important
goal of sustainable architecture. Architects use many different passive and
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active techniques to reduce the energy needs of buildings and increase their
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ability to capture or generate their own energy. One of the keys to exploit local
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environmental resources and influence energy-related factors such as daylight,
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solar heat gains and ventilation is the use of site analysis.
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Heating, ventilation and cooling system efficiency
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Numerous passive architectural strategies have been developed over time.
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Examples of such strategies include the arrangement of rooms or the sizing and
orientation of windows in a building and the orientation of facades and streets
or the ratio between building heights and street widths for urban planning.
An important and cost-effective element of an efficient heating, ventilating, and
air conditioning (HVAC) system is a well-insulated building. A more efficient
building requires less heat generating or dissipating power, but may require
more ventilation capacity to expel polluted indoor air.
Significant amounts of energy are flushed out of buildings in the water, air and
compost streams. Off the shelf, on-site energy recycling technologies can
effectively recapture energy from waste hot water and stale air and transfer that
energy into incoming fresh cold water or fresh air. Recapture of energy for uses
other than gardening from compost leaving buildings requires centralized
anaerobic digesters.
HVAC systems are powered by motors. Copper, versus other metal conductors,
helps to improve the electrical energy efficiencies of motors, thereby enhancing
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the sustainability of electrical building components. (For main article, see:
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Copper in energy-efficient motors).
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Site and building orientation have some major effects on a building's HVAC
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efficiency.
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Passive solar building design allows buildings to harness the energy of the sun
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efficiently without the use of any active solar mechanisms such as photovoltaic
cells or solar hot water panels. Typically passive solar building designs
incorporate materials with high thermal mass that retain heat effectively and
strong insulation that works to prevent heat escape. Low energy designs also
requires the use of solar shading, by means of awnings, blinds or shutters, to
relieve the solar heat gain in summer and to reduce the need for artificial
cooling. In addition, low energy buildings typically have a very low surface area
to volume ratio to minimize heat loss. This means that sprawling multi-winged
building designs (often thought to look more "organic") are often avoided in
favor of more centralized structures. Traditional cold climate buildings such as
American colonial saltbox designs provide a good historical model for
centralized heat efficiency in a small-scale building.
Windows are placed to maximize the input of heat-creating light while
minimizing the loss of heat through glass, a poor insulator. In the northern
hemisphere this usually involves installing a large number of south-facing
windows to collect direct sun and severely restricting the number of north-
facing windows. Certain window types, such as double or triple glazed insulated
windows with gas filled spaces and low emissivity (low-E) coatings, provide
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much better insulation than single-pane glass windows. Preventing excess solar
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gain by means of solar shading devices in the summer months is important to
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reduce cooling needs. Deciduous trees are often planted in front of windows to
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block excessive sun in summer with their leaves but allow light through in
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winter when their leaves fall off. Louvers or light shelves are installed to allow
the sunlight in during the winter (when the sun is lower in the sky) and keep it
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out in the summer (when the sun is high in the sky). Coniferous or evergreen
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plants are often planted to the north of buildings to shield against cold north
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winds.
In colder climates, heating systems are a primary focus for sustainable
architecture because they are typically one of the largest single energy drains in
buildings.
In warmer climates where cooling is a primary concern, passive solar designs
can also be very effective. Masonry building materials with high thermal mass
are very valuable for retaining the cool temperatures of night throughout the
day. In addition builders often opt for sprawling single story structures in order
to maximize surface area and heat loss.[citation needed] Buildings are often
designed to capture and channel existing winds, particularly the especially cool
winds coming from nearby bodies of water. Many of these valuable strategies
are employed in some way by the traditional architecture of warm regions, such
as south-western mission buildings.
In climates with four seasons, an integrated energy system will increase in
efficiency: when the building is well insulated, when it is sited to work with the
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forces of nature, when heat is recaptured (to be used immediately or stored),
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when the heat plant relying on fossil fuels or electricity is greater than 100%
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efficient, and when renewable energy is used.
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