Sustainability and Renewable Technologies - Essay Example

? SUSTAINABILITY AND RENEWABLE TECHNOLOGIES Introduction Sustainability is the concept of reaching todays goals without affecting the future generations’ ability of achieving their goals. This concept can be applied to construction. The aim of sustainable construction is to reduce the impacts on the environment caused by a building throughout its lifetime. It aims at providing new, better ways of constructions that depends mostly on less energy, less raw material, little or no pollution and releases less waste. This ensures that the economic viability, safety and the comfort of the building is not compromised but optimized. Discussion The Benefits of Sustainable Construction According to the UK’s Strategy on Sustainable Construction published in June, 2008, sustainable development can only be achieved if the construction industry also engages in sustainable construction practices. The strategy laid down several initiatives aimed at achieving sustainable construction. It focused mainly on effort that would ensure the United Kingdom construction sector engages in long-term sustainability efforts that would ensure the UK meets its sustainability targets. It emphasizes on the need to build new homes that are free from carbon and new commercial buildings that are rated, zero carbon. It proposes amendments to the regulations that govern building and construction which will see CO2 emissions from new homes reduced significantly. The policy requires those new houses are constructed in such a way that they are water efficient and have standards for minimum efficiency. It also emphasizes on the use of renewable energy and effective management of wastes by encouraging reuse and recycling. Being a joint government and industry policy to ensure sustainability in construction, it is imperative that the company considers sustainable construction. This will be within the regulations of the country and local authority. The benefits of sustainable construction to an ISO 14001 certified insurance company that is committed to meeting high environmental standard are many. This discussion aims at explaining these benefits and their implications to the business at large. As opposed to standard building approaches, sustainable construction employs practices that give emphasis to efficiency, quality and long-term affordability. The quality of life and comfort increases as a building is developed using sustainable construction best practices. This leads to a decrease in the negative effects on the environment and a substantial increase in the projects ability to sustain itself. Less raw materials, water, land and energy are consumed if a building is sustainably constructed. The negative impacts on the environment by the building and construction sector are far reaching. This severely damages the earth’s ecosystem that is currently at a critical stage. The damages are irreversible and rob the ecosystem of its critical life supporting function. It is a known fact that more than more than 30% of the greenhouse gas emissions globally, 40% of energy used, 40% of generated solid waste and 30% of used raw material are due to building and construction in OECD countries. Sustainable construction reduces these adverse effects on the environment by a much greater percentage. It helps minimize pollution, waste and energy use. Re-cycling and reuse is also maximized thus reducing costs. This helps preserve the earth’s ecosystem that is currently threaten. Most people spent about 90% of their time in buildings. This has seen the rise in sickness related to buildings thereby increasing the cost related to treating such sicknesses. Sustainable construction practices emphasizes use of less toxic paints for indoor paintings and construction of big, wide windows that allow natural light and fresh air into buildings. This ensures confortable and healthy indoor environments. Such environments significantly contribute to human well-being and health. Diseases and sicknesses caused by poor and unhealthy indoor environments are significantly reduced thereby reducing the costs associated with treatment. It is also a fact that healthy indoors increase workers’ productivity and sometimes may help keep highly skilled workers who may have opted to leave. Inefficient land use and congestion is normally due to bad building patterns. This in turn results in pollution of surface water, loss of farm lands, increased travel time, loss of productivity and high energy consumption. Poorly fragmented settlements and financial strain on local communities also occurs. Sustainable construction promotes efficient land use and construction well planned habitats. This ensures that there is reduced pollution, travel time and minimal fiscal strain on communities. Although sustainable construction practices come at a small additional cost, its benefits cannot be ignored. It is estimated that the construction cost for a green building is about 17% higher than that of a standard building. There are arguments that that estimate is about three times more that the true value, 5% which experts argue that is very well compensated by the advantages and cost cuts associated with the lifetime use of an Energy efficient building. Investor who own sustainable buildings reap benefits such as lower costs of operation and maintenance. It is also very easy to market sustainable buildings and occupants tend to stay for long. The well-being and overall productivity of occupants, long life-spans and stable cash flows implies more economic benefits. This results in overall sustained and protected environment, increased economic returns and improved social well-being of the society. It is therefore cheaper to operate and maintain a sustainably constructed building. Overall sustainable development will be achieved through reusing and recycling of wastes, minimizing the quantity of virgin raw material used, using less energy, emission of less waste, minimizing pollution and efficient use of land. It is safe to conclude that the overall cost of operating a sustainable building is less than that of an ordinary building. Renewable Technologies appropriate for the client’s proposed building There are several green technologies that can be used as way of ensuring sustainable construction. These renewable technologies includes: solar heating systems, wind energy systems, rain water harvesting systems, air heating and cooling systems, Ground Source Heating Pumps etc. This new office building will however implement only three of the above renewable technologies. Solar Heating System Assuming that the construction site is ideal for tapping solar energy, it will be prudent to cater for the buildings energy needs through solar energy. The roof should be constructed in such a way that it is virtually obstruction free and is in a perfect position for solar panels. It is assumed that the new buildings roof will be able to accommodate about 64 solar panels. This will result in approximately 15.2 Kilowatts hour array that should be able to power the entire building on a sunny day. The PV panels should also blend in well with the roofing tiles. These PV panels are expected to be operational for close to twenty five years without any costs and minimal maintenance. This array will return approximately ?6,000 in excess each year. This is far much cheaper as compared to the use of electricity since it is tax and tariff free. The government also guarantees feed-in payments of tariff thus making the total income generated from this installation worth the initial cost. Ground Source Heat Pumps The earth stores a lot of energy in form of heat. The mother earth can be used as both a heat sink and a heat source in summer and winter respectively. The new company office being built in conformity with sustainable construction practices will definitely consider the use of Ground Source Heat Pumps (GSHP) as a renewable technology. Ground Source Heat Pumps are a source of clean energy that can be utilized in heating a building. They will be used to obtain energy in form of heat from the earth and transfer it into the building during winter. During summer, the ground can be used as a cooling agent of building above. Heat escapes from the building into the ground. This is a very efficient and clean way of heating a building and is free from all carbon emissions. This is in line with the joint UK government and industry policy on zero carbon commercial buildings. GHSP’s are very efficient for a wide range of buildings preferably those that are sustainable or have low impacts on the environment. In the UK, GSHP’s can be installed anywhere. Shallow trenches or boreholes can be used to extract heat from the ground. The pipes collecting heat are closed in a water containing loop. The ground source heat pumps use electric energy as a way of powering the pumps. Typical ground source heat pump delivers 3 to 4 times more energy than that used in driving the pumps. The cost of installing ground source heat pumps is slightly higher than that of normal heating systems. The maintenance cost is however very low. They can also provide reliable, carbon emission free and safe heater for more than 25 years. There are several benefits that accrue from the use of ground source heat pumps as a way of heating the building. Low costs are accrued in running ground source heating pumps as opposed to oiler boilers or electricity. This is because they are easy to maintain. The heat pumps are full automated and thus no much work is need as is the case with biomass boilers. They also take very little space since no storage of fuels is needed. They last much longer than combustion based heating systems. Heat pumps are also very safe since they don’t emit any dangerous gases and no combustion or fuels are involved. They can be used both for cooling and heating in summer and winter respectively. Rainwater Harvesting Systems This is the collection and storage of rainwater before it reaches the aquifer. It can be collected from the roofs of buildings. For the case of the new office building, the roofing materials used will not one that contaminates water. Rainwater harvesting systems are fitted on commercial or domestic buildings to cater for both portable and on-site water needs. These systems range from simple systems to complex industrial ones. The rate of water collected differs from system to system and depends on the area of the system, the intensity of the rainfall and the systems efficiency. Rainwater harvesting is a sustainable option of water supply and its water can be utilized with other supply or alone wherever pure water desired. There are several components of rainwater harvesting which include the catchment, conveyance, storage, roof washing, purification, and distribution. The catchment can be the roof that collects rainfall. Conveyance includes pipes or channels that connect a source which is either a catchment area or the roof. These are then connected to the storage. There is a roof washing system responsible for diverting, removing and filtering contaminants. It is also referred to as a ‘first flush’. Collected rainwater is then safely stored in tanks or cisterns that keep away insects and other rodents. The harvested water can then be purified. The purification includes UV light or ozone purification, and filtration. The water is then ready for distribution through a distribution system. The benefits of rainwater harvesting are diverse. Rain water availability is not subject to any external utility. Its quality is user controlled and it is not subject to any interruptions. Rainwater harvesting can also be used as a cooling agent for the building in question. The quality of harvested rainwater is high since it is naturally pure, soft, and free from chlorine. Conclusion Sustainable construction helps reduce the negative impacts on environment caused by construction activities and maximize on economic viability, comfort and safety of the buildings to occupants. Renewable technologies such as solar systems, wind systems, ground source heat pump etc. enhances sustainable construction and helps preserve the ecosystem. Reference ‘Benefits of Sustainable Construction’ 2010, Pinnacle, viewed 22 November 2011, http://www.bullspreader.com/index_030.htm Boyle, G 2004, Renewable Energy: Power for a Sustainable Future, 2nd Edition, Oxford University Press. DTE, 2004, ‘Sustainable Construction’, Brief 2. Haselbach, L 2010, The Engineering Guide to LEED-New Construction: Sustainable Construction for Engineers, 2nd Edition, McGraw-Hill. Keeler, M & Burke, B 2009, Fundamentals of Integrated Design for Sustainable Building, Wiley and Sons. Kibert, C 2008, Sustainable Construction: green building, design and delivery, Wiley and Sons. Komor, P 2004, Renewable Energy Policy,iUniverse, Inc. Wengenmyr, R &Bhurke, T 2008, Renewable Energy: Sustainable Energy Concepts for the Future, 1 edition, Wiley-VCH. ‘What is Sustainable Construction’ 2009, Isover Saint Gobain, viewed 22 November 2011, http://www.isover.com/Our-commitment-to-sustainability/Toward-sustainable-buildings/What-is-sustainable-construction Yudelson, J 2008, The green building revolution, Island Press. Read More