Portfolio on the Lecture Materials about Environmentally Sustainable Design - Assignment Example

PORTFOLIO By Name Course Instructor Institution City/State Date Portfolio Reflections on the Lecture Materials The lecture materials have not only improved my understanding with regard to ways of designing energy efficient houses but also how to reduce overreliance on conventional heating and cooling systems. Initially, I used to believe that designing a smart home could result in higher energy bills, but chapter one enabled me to understand how careful consideration during the design stage could improve energy smart features without incurring extra cost. These features consist of correct home orientation as well as room layout, placing the wind appropriately, and utilising appropriate materials that would facilitate the realisation of appropriate thermal mass. I think that the people of the society could benefit from smart home by espousing new technologies which would allow them to adopt habits that are consistent with the ‘aware consumption’ principle. Introducing smarter technologies in homes can help people improve energy savings as well as reduce costs. Smart housing is an outcome of the concerted action, whereby private initiatives and public policies come together for the benefit of our homes (Newsletter European, 2014). The second chapter allowed me to understand how factors like ceiling insulation, air leakage, as well as thermostat could be adjusted after construction. I established that it is impractical and very costly to modify factors like window location, building orientation, wall and floor insulation, and thermal mass in the later stage of construction. Therefore, a smart energy design should develop an indoor climate that is comfortable and energy efficient. Every person in this world desires for improved comfort; therefore, chapter three deepened my understanding of variables that influence comfort: cloths’ thermal resistance, users’ activity levels, relative air velocity, humidity, mean radiant temperature, and air temperature. I learned that direct sun could bring forth the same heat as a one bar radiator, but shading the house successfully could block this heat by nearly 90 per cent. When a building is shaded appropriately, it can help reduce high temperatures during the summer season, save energy costs, and improve comfort. As mentioned by McGee (2013), different shading methods could help homeowners to save energy, but this depends on the orientation of the building in addition to the area’s latitude and climate. If our homes have adequate shading, the likelihood of being exposed to harmful ultraviolet rays could be reduced. With the view to chapter four, I learned that the house must be placed on the block in order for the major windows as well as living areas to face north. For the existing homes, extensions together with renovations could utilise the same principle in order to become energy efficient. When people in the society make decisions regarding the best orientation for their houses, they should consider the fact that global warming would affect the area’s climate; for instance, extreme heat waves have become a norm during the summer. Therefore, we should all focus on shading our walls and windows and make sure our houses are exposed to cool breezes. Thanks to the fifth chapter, I now know that the windows size play an important role in the energy smart design. More importantly, I learned that for brick veneer houses, the total glass area must be between 20 to 25 per cent while for double-brick houses it should be between 22 and 30 per cent. In the society, people should take into account three factors while sizing their house’s windows; ensuring the window area is within the required limits, use various balance orientations of the glass, and make certain that the glass utilised in individual rooms are sized correctly. It came to my attention that the windows which are designed poorly are likely to make the buildings too cold or too hot. Therefore, if we design our windows correctly, they will eliminate the need for artificial cooling during the summer and heating in the winter. They will also help maintain year-round comfort (Your Energy Savings, 2016). Chapter six deepened my understanding regarding thermal mass. I was able to learn that maximum effectiveness can be realised if thermal mass is insulated from exterior temperatures; that is to say, it must be placed within the insulated walls. More importantly, thermal mass is exceedingly beneficial when the external envelope is insulated. It realised that thermal mass cannot be valuable in desert climates since they have large swings of temperature. In Australia where the climate is sometimes hot (summer) and other times cold (winter), the effect of thermal mass could actually be disadvantageous; as a result, when the temperature is below or above the comfortable range, it may lead to discomfort because of undesired radiant losses or gains. During the warm equatorial and tropical climates, buildings are inclined to be extremely lightweight and open. In extremely sub-polar and cold regions, buildings are normally insulated and the exposure to the thermal mass is very little, even though it is utilised for structural reasons. In Chapter seven, I learned that enclosing the under-floor space is the initial step in reducing heat loss. More importantly, sufficient ventilation should be maintained in order to meet the local building requirements to avoid rotting. The people in the society can improve their comfort levels by sealing the leaks as well as increasing insulation in their homes. Air leakage, as we observed in chapter eight, comprises of infiltration (where the external air enters the house through the structural gaps and other openings) and exfiltration (losing air from indoors in the same manner as infiltration). The majority of the houses leak air through doors and windows as well as construction gaps. Every time the wind blows, a difference in pressure is generated between the outside and the inside; thus, leading to the forcing of outside air into the house on the windward side. I believe we can reduce air leakage by paying attention during the design stage. Considering that heat loss normally happens through poorly-fitted windows, fixed wall vents, as well as external doors. It is difficult to achieve energy-efficient home without adequate ventilation; therefore, air sealing techniques could help reduce air leakage to the extent that contaminants cannot enter the house. Effective air movement facilitates moisture control, which normally result in structural damage and mould growth. The ninth chapter enabled me to understand how to find the most energy-efficient appliances and electronics in the market. When buying my electronics and appliances in the future, I will consider a number of factors like their economy of operation, energy efficiency, and whether they are ‘energy star’ certified. The household electronics and appliances account for large percentage of the energy used; therefore, people should look for ‘energy star’ certified appliances and electronics in order to reduce energy costs and achieve improved durability, quality, and performance. Since my teenage years, I have always admired houses that are surrounded by different types of trees. To me they were attractive, but chapter ten broadened my understanding by learning how these trees help reduce energy costs. I was able to understand how smart landscape design could help reduce the need for using heating and cooling system. Thanks to this lecture material, I now know how to arrange plantings for maximum energy efficiency. Designing Energy-efficient buildings through Energy Smart Design, Siting and Solar Access, as well as Sun, Climate and Comfort Energy Smart Design The climate change has changed the way of life; therefore, people are no longer waiting for their governments to implement measures to reduce its effects, but instead, they are now taking actions in their own hands. Therefore, this is my suggestion on how people can improve energy efficiency when designing their homes. Designing smart buildings would allow the homeowners to manage as well as control the sources of renewable energy, energy consumption and house appliances through wireless communication technology. More importantly, smart houses would offer the dwellers a new opportunity to improve their lives ubiquitously using computing technology which offers improved functionality, awareness, and communications. The energy smart design should incorporate ICT to ensure that different goals are performed like offering comfortable and smart services to the occupants of the house, monitoring the safety of the people inside the house, reducing energy consumption by handling the building energetic behaviour and making sure that the equipment in the building are durable and healthy. For the occupant of the house to gain smart as well as comfortable services, they should install sensors so as to get real time information regarding the building’s environmental parameters like the lighting, the indoor temperature, and so forth. For example, the sensors would help turn off the lights when the house is not occupied and the room temperature could be dynamically adjusted based on the weather condition. Besides that, security systems could be installed in the smart house so as to improve security and reduce objectionable situations in the house. To manage the building energetic behaviour so as to lessen the consumption of energy, the smart house allows for energy savings by tuning the Air Conditioning, ventilation, and heating systems when the house is occupied and unoccupied. The homeowners can install power smart meter which is connected to various devices to facilitate the measuring of the power used in the house. The figure below shows different features of the smart house as demonstrated in Abdennadher et al. (2015) study. Some of the instruments needed for an energy smart house include; sensor, actuator, controller, interface, and smart meter. Figure One: Smart Building Sitting and Solar Access Passive solar design is important because it capitalises on the building’s materials, climate, and site to minimise energy utilisation. When people live in a passive solar home, they are able to reduce the loads for heating and cooling by means of energy-efficiency strategies. Before adding solar features to an existing house or new home design, one should take into consideration that energy efficiency is an inexpensive strategy that would help reduce the energy used to heat and cool the house. It is imperative to contact building professionals that would help optimise the house’s energy efficiency. For people seeking to remodel their existing home, they should first conduct a home energy audit in order to determine the most energy efficiency improvements that should be made. When siting the building, the designer should ensure that it has properly oriented windows, sufficient thermal mass, and properly sized roof overhangs. People should consider carefully how to position their house in the chosen block so as to maximise the advantages associated with the passive solar design which would make the house more comfortable all year round. A number of points should be taken into consideration while selecting the block of land where to position the house; tree height and coverage, the block slope, orientation and size, surrounding buildings proximity and height, as well as solar access. People are inclined to save costs when their home is sited in a way that the windows face the north. More importantly, a good orientation of the house and window would improve the house energy efficiency. The figure below shows a suitable angle of the sun during the winter and summer seasons. As evidenced in the figure below, a well-designed and well-oriented home should be able to obstruct overhead summer sun and admit low-angle winter sun, as well as winter winds’ cooling effect.   Figure Two: The Sun Angle during winter and summer (Build, 2016) Landscape design We normally use air conditioning system to allow the solar heat passing through the windows to be absorbed through the roofs. Therefore, planting trees is a cost-effective way of reducing the solar heat gain as well as reducing the costs associated with air-conditioning. To utilise shade efficiently, the moving shadow’s shape, size, as well as location must be determined. In order to block solar heat during the summer and allowing it in the winter, the homeowners should utilise deciduous trees. In order to block heavy winds or offer continuous shade, they should utilise evergreen shrubs or trees. Planting deciduous trees to the south would facilitate maximum roof shading during the summer. As evidenced in the figure below, trellis that has a climbing vine could help shade the house and at the same time facilitate air circulation. Besides that, groundcover plants, shrubs and trees could be utilised to shade the house pavement and ground. As a result, the heat radiation is reduced and the air is cooled before reaching the house windows and walls. To reduce the use of air-conditioner during the summers, the homeowners should shade their e a/c units, windows receiving direct sunlight, heat sinks like dark-coloured patios, roadways or driveways. References Abdennadher, I., Khabou, N., Rodriguez, I.B. & Jmaiel, M., 2015. Designing energy efficient smart buildings In ubiquitous environments. In 15th International Conference on Intelligent Systems Design and Applications (ISDA). Marrakech, Morocco , 2015. IEEE. Build, 2016. Window orientation and placement. [Online] Available at: HYPERLINK "http://www.build.com.au/window-orientation-and-placement" http://www.build.com.au/window-orientation-and-placement [Accessed 2 June 2017]. Department of Energy, 2016. Landscaping for Shade. [Online] Available at: HYPERLINK "https://energy.gov/energysaver/landscaping-shade" https://energy.gov/energysaver/landscaping-shade [Accessed 2 JuNe 2017]. McGee, C., 2013. Passive design. [Online] Available at: HYPERLINK "http://www.yourhome.gov.au/passive-design/shading" http://www.yourhome.gov.au/passive-design/shading [Accessed 2 June 2017]. Newsletter European, 2014. Smart housing: a threefold answer for energy savings. [Online] Available at: HYPERLINK "http://www.newslettereuropean.eu/smart-housing-threefold-answer-energy-savings/" http://www.newslettereuropean.eu/smart-housing-threefold-answer-energy-savings/ [Accessed 2 June 2017]. Your Energy Savings, 2016. Windows, doors and skylights. [Online] Available at: http://yourenergysavings.gov.au/energy/heating-cooling/windows-doors-skylights [Accessed 2 June 2017]. Read More