Sustainable Development Project - Case Study Example

Sustainable Design Name: Institution: Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Energy 4 1.Conditional Requirement 5 2.Greenhouse Gas Emissions 5 3.Energy Sub-Metering 6 4.Lighting Power Density 7 5.Light Zoning 7 6.Peak Energy Demand Reduction 8 Management 9 1.Green Star Accredited Professionals 9 2.Building Information 10 3.Building Tuning and Commissioning 10 4.Ongoing Monitoring and Metering 11 5.Green Cleaning. 11 6.Environmental Management 12 7.Commitment to Performance 13 Conclusion 13 References 14 Introduction Sustainable development is not only a millennium development goal, but has been an issue of concern over the last three decades after the world realised that too much carbon emissions could destroy the planet (United Nations, 2015). Various measures of energy conservation and reduction have since being employed the world over to deal with the pollution menace. In the construction industry, the likely effects of a construction project are of great deal to all stakeholders; hence all kinds of measures have to be taken into consideration to reduce environmental damage caused by a given project. The damage should not only be in terms of air pollution but every aspect of the project that impacts the environment in a negative way. The Green Star Rating System (GSRS) is a product of the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) which had the idea of having a standard rating system for any building. It plays a huge role in ensuring that the environment is not harmed in any way and that in the pursuit of this goal, the construction is not hindered United Nations (2015). The Green Star Rating System is hence the Australian Free-to-adopt protocol that ensures concepts of green building methodologies, designs, innovations and activities are factored in in the construction of buildings. GSRS brings on board all players including designers, developers and contractors by setting out best standards for each. It has nine aspects which are Energy, Land Use and Ecology, Innovation, Materials, Water, Management, Emissions, Indoor Environmental Quality and Transport. A proposed eight storey building is being set up in Dee Why CBD. The aim of this work is to therefore to incorporate the Green Star Rating System requirements and give recommendations on the best possible strategies to be used in its design and the best methods that can be applied to reduce environmental impacts caused by its construction (James, 2012). It focuses on two main aspects of the GSRS which are management and energy. Below is the proposed development is shown in the figure below. Figure 1: The proposed Development site at 914-930 Pittwater Road Dee Why, NSW Energy Buildings are the largest contributors to the world’s energy consumption and also greenhouse emissions. The GSRS will award for application of measures to reduce the buildings operational energy use, greenhouse emissions and reliance on grid energy supply (James, 2012). Several aspects are under consideration under the energy segment of the Green Star Rating System. These are Conditional Requirement, Green House Gas Emissions, Energy Sub-Metering, Light Zoning and Lighting Power Density. 1. Conditional Requirement Under this conditions, the design of a given construction project should limit the amount of greenhouse gas emissions in comparison to the amount of energy that is used during operation. The GSRS recommends that this should be accompanied with the highest efficiency especially at the base of the building’s operational energy. In line with two protocols, that is the Australian Building Greenhouse Rating (ABGR) and the Validation Protocol for Computer Simulations it is recommended that Greenhouse emissions for this particular building should be lower than110kgCO2/m2/annum. 2. Greenhouse Gas Emissions Even with the conditional requirement setting 110kgCO2/m2/annum as the minimum greenhouse emission, several strategies have to be put in place to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas that the building will emit. The contactor on site will therefore have to take the following measures into consideration if the amount of greenhouse emission has to be reduced. i. Refrigerants. The refrigerants that are used in the building must have a much lower GWP so that leakage is reduced. It is worth noting that for such a development, many refrigerants will be installed and by taking such measures, greenhouse emissions will be reduced. ii. Waste water treatment- Any waste water treatment that is used in the building should be energy efficient, in the event that the developer wishes to have this kind of system. The recommended efficiency from this system should be such that the emissions from the water treatment system do not exceed 1.5% of the total emissions from the building (United Nations, 2015). iii. Waste Management System- the efficiency of the waste management system of the building can be improved by employing strategies such as recycling, reduction of the building’s general waste and application of the land-fill methane capture system (United Nations, 2015). This will significantly reduce the amount of solid waste that decomposes in the landfills. iv. Energy Consumption Systems- The building’s Energy Consumption Systems should in such a way that they are of low energy consumption. This will in turn significantly reduce the amount of greenhouse emissions from the building. 3. Energy Sub-Metering One of the methods that the Green Star Rating System recommends so that there is reduction in the energy consumption of a building is energy sub-metering. When buildings occupants have sub-meters for each of their units, accountability is now put into consideration and they will most likely react by reducing their energy consumption through avoiding energy wastage. The building is commercial hence will have relatively small units for each individual tenant compared to residential buildings. The contractor will hence have to install sub meters for each of the units, so that the occupants are able to monitor the amount of energy they consume. It is preferable that sub-meters are separated, at least one for lighting and the other for power for each of the building’s units. Such kind of action is very effective in ensuring that energy consumption is minimised to levels of over 100Kva. 4. Lighting Power Density Many people would say that lighting consumes little energy which is true. However, measure must be put in place to reduce the amount of energy that a building consumes on lighting alone. This is due to the fact that every single room in the building has to have a bulb. Previously, people wouldn’t give lighting much thought but today, extensive measure have to be put in place to reduce the amount of energy that light consumes. Take for instance developments that have been made in the manufacture of lighting bulbs, today there are bulbs that can be used to give very good light quality and have low voltage hence lower energy consumption. During the design of this building, a default maintenance factor of 0.8 will have to be maintained. 0.95 of the NLA power densities will have to use energy of at most 2.0 W/m2 per 100 Lux at 720 mm AFFL. Since the system incorporates artificial lighting system, preferably a two-component lighting technique will be used. This includes a task lighting component lighting system and a base building design background component lighting system. The base building design background component will be designed to generate an approximate amount of lighting power density of 110 lux to the office space, the task lighting component lighting system will have a density of 290 lux at least on each desk or table. This means that the building’s illuminance will not at any one time exceed 350 lux. 5. Light Zoning In a bid to reduce the amount of energy that lighting alone will consume, light must as well be utilized only where it is required. So as to achieve this, lighting is installed in strategic positions which will be occupied and is avoided is areas that have no occupants. All this will avoid energy wastage. In this particular building, the designers will have to incorporate this aspect. Such will be achieved during the design of the building where light entry points will be maximized. Each unit will have a light entry point, preferably a window that is strategically positioned to illuminate the room well. This avoids occupants from having to use electricity to light during the day hours. Every unit will also have its own switching system. Incorporating this will ensure that an occupant will switch the light on for only the space they are using, rather than having to light up a whole floor when they are using a single room. The designers will have to ensure that they set a standard for which every area that is less than 100 m2 for 0.95% of the NLA will have to be individually switched. The system also has to be well labelled so that occupants can easily use the system. Another recommendation is that for all the eight floors, separate individually addressable lighting system. This is equivalent to 0.9 of the NLA. 6. Peak Energy Demand Reduction Peak Energy Demand Reduction takes into consideration reduction of the strain power outlets get during peak hours when energy is in demand by most if not all occupants of the building. If this is not put into consideration, power outages may be frequent in certain areas when the energy demand is more than the production. For this reason, the Green Star Rating System awards projects whose design will reduce the energy demand during peak seasons. Doing so, not only economical but increases the profile and rating of the building in overall. For this specific building, two mechanisms will have to be put in place. First is energy storage and the other is energy-load-sifting technology. With these two in place, it will lead to ensuring a 40% difference in the average demand and the peak as required by the GSRS. Management The Green Star Rating System puts into place seven elements under management that should be taken into consideration during the design and development of a given building. These elements are: Green Star Accredited Professionals, Building Information, Ongoing Monitoring and Metering, Tuning and Commissioning, Environmental Management, Green Cleaning, Commitment to Performance. 1. Green Star Accredited Professionals Green Star Accredited Professionals are usually recognized for their comprehensive knowledge, competence and experience in their application of the Green Star environmental rating system. The Green Star Rating System hence requires the active involvement of an Accredited Professional in a building’s facility management or even in its operations team during the period of the building’s performance evaluation and the Green Star certification period. For this specific building, a Green Star professional will have to be in the team for the following reasons (James, 2012). First is that having a Green Star Accredited Professional will ensure that the rating tool is effectively applied and used as intended. Having the professional on board will also ensure that every member of the building’s management and operations is offered guidance during the period of certification so as to ensure optimum environmental performance is realised. This means that the Green Star Accredited Professional has to be involved in all stages of the construction and also preferably employed as part of the management team to ensure standards are observed. 2. Building Information This specific credit is usually designed to ensure that the management of the building as well as its tenants are well and adequately informed about the best ways of operating the building so that they can achieve optimum building performance. For this particular project therefore, measures have to be put in place to ensure that both occupants and management are well informed about the building’s operation. For the managers, they will have to be provided with well-maintained operations and maintenance manuals that will cover all the systems of the eight storey building. For the occupants of the building, the will be provided with all the relevant information. They will have signage that informs them on the best ways to operate the systems installed in the building. It is crucial that all this information is regularly updated and that both the tenants and the management are always informed when these changes are made. 3. Building Tuning and Commissioning So that a building is able to operate at its best performance level, there must be continuous and effective tuning of best practice, commissioning, recommisioning and rectro-commisioning which should be undertaken in all stages of the buildings life cycle. For the project, all these have to be undertaken, this plays a big role in ensuring that the systems of the building use less energy, water and even gas. All these will help in decreasing the impact of the building on the environment. Continuous tuning and commissioning will also significantly reduce the operation costs of the building, avoid unintended service problems and help improve staff performance. The building will have to be continuously and comprehensively tuned and in addition be thoroughly reviewed in comparison to its operational requirements. Such tuning will include double glazed windows to reduce noise and the use of bright colours to enhance the warmth inside the building. Use of wooden tiles may also be incorporated not only for warmth but to give an elegant finish. 4. Ongoing Monitoring and Metering The sustainable operation of a building is well ensured by well monitoring systems and quality metering systems. The information that is gathered from the water and energy meters acts as a very useful tool to determine waste from the building and will in addition be a tool to raise the awareness of the benefits of reduced water and energy use among the tenants. To achieve this, thorough metering and monitoring systems will have to be put in place. The management team of the building will have to conduct energy and water audits regularly, they will have to always study the trends in both water and energy usage so that they can make decisions on what action to take. These kind of audits will also be of economical benefit since it becomes easy to know when there are leaks in the system hence call for repairs. For all these to be achieved, energy and water meters will have to be installed for each unit. The management team will have to determine the usage patterns of the buildings using information from these meters. 5. Green Cleaning. Green cleaning policies will help in the reduction of waste and also materials that can impact the quality of the indoor environment, the health of the building’s occupants and the natural environment. So that this is achieved, the management will have to adopt and integrate green cleaning principles into both sustainability policies and cleaning contracts. They should also ensure profound commitment to the policies and standards at all times (Kubba, 2012). During construction, the contractor on site will also have to ensure minimum waste and submit reports regularly on how waste disposal is being carried out. The same will go for the cleaning company which must make sure that waste from the building is preferably recycled and if not does not cause any harm to the natural environment. 6. Environmental Management In the Green Star Rating System, a business is awarded for the measures it takes to identify, manage and reduce the negative impacts to the environment that a building operation causes building (Green Building Council of Australia, GBCA, 2015). For this reason the management of the building will have to put an Environmental Management Plan (EMP) in place that is specifically customised for this office development. The Green Star Rating System states that the EMP should conform to the requirements of Section 4 of the NSW Environmental Management System (EMS) guidelines 1998 to 2007. All these should be put in perspective during the tendering process so that the end result is an environmentally cautious contractor and sub-contractors during the building and evaluation period. The management of the building should altogether ensure that appropriate environmental management systems are in place and that they are able to track, monitor and report on the impacts the operation of the building has to the environment. They should then take action to mitigate these effects or minimize their impacts. The team should also look for opportunities to improve environmental management. The Environmental Management Programme should preferably be certified by a third party organization that must be a member of the International Accreditation Forum and has the proven ability to either provide International Organization for Standardization (ISO) or Australian Standard equivalent (Winchip, 2011). 7. Commitment to Performance The impacts caused by greenhouse emissions, operational waste, indoor environment performance and potable water can be addressed in a bid to reduce them by having joint collaborations between the management and the tenants of the building. To achieve this, the both assign themselves responsibilities so that they can reduce the damage the building causes to the environment (Santamouris, 2006). For this project, it becomes prudent to have these kind of mechanisms to ensure limited waste from the building. Of great importance is therefore addressing lease conditions that at times have negative impacts on the sustainability of the building (Green Building Council of Australia, GBCA, 2015). To achieve all these, the contractors on site will first have to be committed to ensuring that they as much reduce waste disposal or carry out effective waste disposal. Tenants will also have to adhere to agreements between them and the management. While the management will ensure a sustainable procurement framework for the purchase of operating goods in the building. Conclusion The building will hence and in overall try to reduce the impacts its construction and operation will have on the environment by taking into consideration all these factors. It is important to realize that the achievement of these goals will have to be a joint undertaking of the designers of the building, the developer, the management and the contractor on site. The design, construction and operation of the building will at all times try to achieve the following objectives. i. To ensure efficiency of resources such as water and energy. ii. To reduce as much as possible waste and effluents that may cause harm to the occupants, the internal and natural environment. iii. To ensure the safety of workers on site and the occupants of the building. The proposed building in Dee Why CBD will hence at all times ensure that at all stages of construction and occupancy, priority is placed to ensuring that green practices are observed and limited impact to the environment is achieved. References Green Building Council of Australia, GBCA (2015). Available at: http://www.gbca.org.au/ James, C. (2012). Sustainable construction. Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley & Sons. Kubba, S. (2012). Handbook of green building design and construction: LEED, BREEAM, and Green Globes. Winchip, S (2011). Sustainable design for interior environments. New York. Santamouris, M. (2006). Environmental design of urban buildings: An integrated approach. London: Earth scan. United Nations (2015). Sustainable Development Goals Department of Economic and Social Affairs: retrieved from https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/?menu=1300 Read More

In line with two protocols, that is the Australian Building Greenhouse Rating (ABGR) and the Validation Protocol for Computer Simulations it is recommended that Greenhouse emissions for this particular building should be lower than110kgCO2/m2/annum. 2. Greenhouse Gas Emissions Even with the conditional requirement setting 110kgCO2/m2/annum as the minimum greenhouse emission, several strategies have to be put in place to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas that the building will emit. The contactor on site will therefore have to take the following measures into consideration if the amount of greenhouse emission has to be reduced. i. Refrigerants.

The refrigerants that are used in the building must have a much lower GWP so that leakage is reduced. It is worth noting that for such a development, many refrigerants will be installed and by taking such measures, greenhouse emissions will be reduced. ii. Waste water treatment- Any waste water treatment that is used in the building should be energy efficient, in the event that the developer wishes to have this kind of system. The recommended efficiency from this system should be such that the emissions from the water treatment system do not exceed 1.

5% of the total emissions from the building (United Nations, 2015). iii. Waste Management System- the efficiency of the waste management system of the building can be improved by employing strategies such as recycling, reduction of the building’s general waste and application of the land-fill methane capture system (United Nations, 2015). This will significantly reduce the amount of solid waste that decomposes in the landfills. iv. Energy Consumption Systems- The building’s Energy Consumption Systems should in such a way that they are of low energy consumption.

This will in turn significantly reduce the amount of greenhouse emissions from the building. 3. Energy Sub-Metering One of the methods that the Green Star Rating System recommends so that there is reduction in the energy consumption of a building is energy sub-metering. When buildings occupants have sub-meters for each of their units, accountability is now put into consideration and they will most likely react by reducing their energy consumption through avoiding energy wastage. The building is commercial hence will have relatively small units for each individual tenant compared to residential buildings.

The contractor will hence have to install sub meters for each of the units, so that the occupants are able to monitor the amount of energy they consume. It is preferable that sub-meters are separated, at least one for lighting and the other for power for each of the building’s units. Such kind of action is very effective in ensuring that energy consumption is minimised to levels of over 100Kva. 4. Lighting Power Density Many people would say that lighting consumes little energy which is true.

However, measure must be put in place to reduce the amount of energy that a building consumes on lighting alone. This is due to the fact that every single room in the building has to have a bulb. Previously, people wouldn’t give lighting much thought but today, extensive measure have to be put in place to reduce the amount of energy that light consumes. Take for instance developments that have been made in the manufacture of lighting bulbs, today there are bulbs that can be used to give very good light quality and have low voltage hence lower energy consumption.

During the design of this building, a default maintenance factor of 0.8 will have to be maintained. 0.95 of the NLA power densities will have to use energy of at most 2.0 W/m2 per 100 Lux at 720 mm AFFL. Since the system incorporates artificial lighting system, preferably a two-component lighting technique will be used. This includes a task lighting component lighting system and a base building design background component lighting system. The base building design background component will be designed to generate an approximate amount of lighting power density of 110 lux to the office space, the task lighting component lighting system will have a density of 290 lux at least on each desk or table.

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