The Importance and Necessity of Adaptation of Sustainable Technology - Term Paper Example

1.0 Abstract In order to attain great carbon foot print reduction goals that have been set by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, there should be a transformation in the building sector towards more energy efficient mechanisms through innovations in technology, change of public policies, informed and better customer choices, not forgetting good business decisions. Surprisingly, 40% of the global consumption of energy can be attributed to buildings. There are opportunities that exist for the reduction of the use of energy in buildings. At the moment there exist energy efficiency technologies that can reduce carbon footprints in addition to having financial returns (Roberts, 2008). 2.0Introduction Amidst growing concern for accelerated depletion of environmental resources, there is an increased need for the adaptation of technology and innovation in all the spheres of human activity. The principle of diminishing returns states that any human progress which is made at the cost of natural resources and environment is limited. This idea is very well conceptualised in the ‘S’ shaped curve of Technology life cycle, which represents a decline in advancement after a period of growth. This study aims to highlight the importance and necessity of adaptation of sustainable technology in one such very important area of human advancement, namely the construction, design and maintenance of existing office buildings in United Kingdom. This study reflects the principles of sustainable development, as defined by the Brundtland commission, formerly the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), notably, the “process of meeting present needs without compromising future needs.” That implied sustainability and renewability, which is a conscious reversal of the consumptive tendencies of history. It also emphasis the efforts that have already been taken in this area to increase the consciousness of participants in the field. The study will also bring about the advantages that would accrue to the people involved in taking these measures. An attempt would also be made to expose any gaps that lie in innovative methods to make this a feasible economic activity. It will also try to expose the barriers that come in the way of managers and industry in adopting these standards . The study specifically investigates the issue as to how innovation and technology can be used to convert the existing building and office premises in UK to sustainable models that are eco-friendly and benefit all the people both financially and environmentally. 3.0 Climate change issues The unprecedented rate of increase of global temperatures that has been recorded during the 20th century is the highest in the last millennium. And, according to the IPCC, most of this increase is attributable to human activities. The increase of global average atmospheric surface temperature is related to the greenhouse effect as a consequence of enhanced emissions of greenhouse gases. Increased global temperature is just one of the consequences of the impacts of human activities on the climatic equilibrium of the planet, with modifications of precipitation patterns, droughts, storminess, ocean temperature and acidification, sea level rise, etc. Increasing temperatures are revolutionizing life in the United Kingdom. This has forced a change in the general public and also in the industry. For instance since the seas are hotter, it has become a necessity to catch different species of fish; farmers have changed their farming methods due to climate change. It is a no wonder that climate change is also affecting the foundations of the built environment as the soil is drying out. There is scientific evidence to prove that climatic change is presenting a serious risk globally hence a quick response is required. Increased cooling load is expected for most parts of United. Increases in energy demand for summer cooling will be offset by decreased heating loads for locations in cooler climate zones. For office buildings, reduced heating loads in cooler climates are less significant due to the high internal loads from equipment and lighting (Brown, 2003). More frequent hot spells could have significant health implications because elevated temperatures over extended periods stress the cardiovascular system, especially when temperatures remain relatively high overnight. The temperatures people experience during hot spells will be influenced by the buildings they inhabit. Temperature also affects the capacity to work. Fatigue increases at higher temperatures and people find it harder to concentrate and accidents are more likely to happen. The threshold at which capacity to work and study begins to decrease depends on acclimation and type of work. Climate change may increase the risk of structural damage to buildings, especially damage resulting from strong winds associated with more intense tropical cyclones and storms. Residential buildings are considered more vulnerable to such damage than commercial buildings. A lesser risk to the structure of buildings arises from possible increased cracking as soils become drier. The risk of bushfires is expected to increase as the climate changes and this will increase the risk to property. It should be noted, however, that severe bushfire frequency in any particular location is not likely to exceed one every fifteen years because of the time needed for fuel loads to rebuild. Flooding is expected to become more frequent as the climate changes and the risk to buildings in some areas will increase. Government Policy 4.0 Sustainable Buildings Sustainable development in the context of civil construction and designs means adoption of such measures and practices that impose a lesser penalty upon the environment during all stages of lifecycle of a building beginning from its design ,to construction and to the final scrapping of the building .It covers areas like selection of eco-friendly architecture , usage of renewable material and products during construction phase to prudent usage of electricity ,water and heating equipment during the subsequent lifecycle of the building. It calls for adoption of things like rain water harvesting ,solar energy electricity plants , ground source heat pumps , on site waste management and green roof top designs. The very premises of the sustainable building is that, the environment cannot bear the cost of human progress and development forever and natural resources are limited They must be used prudently to ensure the safety of environmental resources for a long time. 5.0 Importance of Adaptation of Existing Premises to sustainable models In the year 1999, UK Government (DETR, 1999) produced its own strategy for sustainable development. That identified four aims, namely: social progress, which recognises the needs of everyone; effective protection of the environment; prudent use of natural resources; and maintenance of high and stable levels of economic growth. After this action by the Government focused research into existing building in the Greater London Area increased with a new enthusiasm. A 2000 UK government report, “Building a better quality of life – a strategy for sustainable construction” (DETR, 2000), identified the role that the construction industry could play in improving quality of life for UK citizens. That provided a more specific brief for “Design Construction and Operation of Buildings for People” (IDCOP), the multi-disciplinary research consortium that is the focus of this article. The UK report identified ten action areas for sustainable development, relating to energy conservation, waste, and renewability of resources, the interaction of people and systems, and performance benchmarks. 6.0 Existing Buildings and Sustainable Development Report by the “UK Built Environment and Transportation Foresight Panel, Constructing the Future” (DTI 2001), observed that only a small percentage of the UK built environment would be replaced annually over the ensuing twenty years. The bulk of construction and development would therefore relate to existing buildings. Although a lot of research has been brought to bear on new buildings and related technologies, the impact of such initiatives is limited. The greater impact must relate to the built stock and that became the focus of IDCOP. The IDCOP consortium is led by a management committee drawn from the aforementioned universities, whose objectives were to identify teams that could be tasked with researching issues relating to urban sustainable development. Through a number of iterations, the team determined three foundational principles, which are summarized as follows: 1. People are at the core of sustainability, thus research must focus on how people interface with the environment from day to day. 2. The biggest challenge relates to the existing, built environment and how that is manipulated to achieve the objectives of sustainability. 3. Learning from the project could inform new building projects. 7.0 What the government has done At the moment in the UK, building and planning regulations are not strict enough to stop people from constructing houses with large demands of energy. However, there has been a proposal to build around 16,000 residential houses with solar panels. However this may be countered by the increase in cost that would be passed to the final user. Although there is much talking about green energy there is a gap between the targets and budgetary allocations from the government. However there is will from the government of urban renewal and there have been calls for local governments to use environmentally friendly agenda. Infact Ken Livinston (Mayor of London) wanted to make London to become “Green capital of Europe” Ray Noble, Manager BP Solar, has the opinion that there is need for designs for buildings and also homes. The government should therefore be swift in convincing this designs since people are running out of fuel due to the unchecked use in the past. UK is miles behind Japan and Germany in the use of solar power in buildings and homes UK Government seems interested in the PV and many other green policies that can be used for building, but there exist a gap between these ideas and the actions by the government. This is so because building and the solar industry will have the capacity to satisfy the demand in the next couple of years (Brown J. , 2009). 8.0 Discussion 8.1 Responsibilities Constructors are more concerned about their profitability. There major concern is reducing the cost of building while providing as much services to their clients as possible The contractor must be enlightened with the concept of eco-friendly building techniques . Contractor must agree to use a minimum amount of recyclable building material as specified by the architect . However a few questions still remain to be addressed . Can the contractor be asked to provide a certain level of energy consumption during the maintenance period of the building. Can other environment protection requirements be placed on his shoulder . If yes then what could be the scope and legal implication of such a bond. The best method in this case is to re-access and redefine the role of a contractor in view of the recent requirements of construction of sustainable buildings . It is equally important to find out ways how can the contract of already constructed buildings can be changed so as to address this all important question (McCallum ,M. , General Counsel’s Corner). 8.2 Facility Management Sustainable facility management is all about controlling the damage already done or being done to the environment using eco-friendly techniques to meet the requirements of local community and economy. The facility managers must understand that eco-friendly techniques are not just good for environment but are equally lucrative in terms of money. They should understand that running costs can be greatly reduced upon their usage .They should be encouraged to adapt techniques like movement sensor light control ,low-flush toilets , minimized packaging , reuse of waste material . They should understand that decisions taken about facilities are business decisions and strategic decisions in organizations. In order to accelerate their shift towards these techniques ,the facility managers must be provided knowledge in this regard and must be made aware of the cost-effectiveness of adopting eco-friendly techniques . They should also be given training in the techniques and some incentive must also be provided to them so that their enthusiasm in this field is increased (Sustainable development Commission , NHS). 8.3 Strategic Thinking Business strategies need to simultaneously shape the form of organizations as well as the working environment through which that future can be achieved, Paul robathan, presenting his paper The intelligent Perspective at the EuroFM Conference in Rotterdam in September 1992, has suggested that facility managers are best placed in organizations for this kind of business re-engineering. The strategy must be formulated aligning all the goals so that facility managers are well versed with their role in bringing about a change in modeling the existing buildings to the sustainable building . This is not an easy task , they should understand that just painting the building with green color would not make the building environment friendly , it is required to come up with a concrete course of action and rework of existing practices and norms .New technologies should be introduced and a clear cut plan must be formulated to bring about the change after analyzing all the risks and challenges. While every organization will differ in this approach , but some common set of guidelines need to be designed for all the parties involved be it contractors , workers ,occupants or facility managers (Stapledon , T. , Aligning mission, vision and strategy for sustainable commercial buildings) . 8.4 Buildings Building's performance is influences by user actions and that user action are influenced by building's performance. Building size, age, and the density of occupation are in relation to CO2 emissions. One of the critical factors is the physical characteristic of the building. Buildings have different energy characteristics that have to be considered, such as plan shape, and energy efficiency, alongside indoor environment quality and occupant comfort. Buildings have variety of cladding consistent with architectural preferences prevailing at the time of construction-such materials have varying thermal properties that render some buildings more efficient than others, e.g. glass curtain walling is less energy efficient than natural stone panels. Office building vary in size on the floor plate ranging from deep to narrow plan, with both types having different energy efficiency characteristic. Newer buildings produce the lowest CO2 emissions. It can be hypothesized this due to lower or negligible obsolescence in contrast to older buildings. Buildings in the 10 to 25 years old category produces the higher emissions although decreasing rather than increasing, as the building grow older. 8.5Tenancy Non -residential buildings in particular are likely to become subject to new users and users during their lifetime.Users move in and out and that uses change over time and it's very important to get the systems adjusted to the users and the building. The level of emissions is linked with the amount of office space per worker, where higher levels of occupancy are associated with lower emissions. The owners, striving to maintain or raise the value of a building make the efforts to decrease its wear and obsolescence. 8.6Community user expectation Users obviously shape the energy consumption of a building with their choices. The end user perspective on energy consumption is not about really energy but about everything else, that make the environment more comfortable and it's all about comfort management. There are weak positions of post occupancy studies. Occupant becomes a customer who has to be satisfied as cost efficiently and quickly as possible. 8.7 Building life cycle Although offices require major refurbishment every 20-25 years, many owners opted for minor refurbishments to lower capital expenditure and avoid access problems. The life time of a building begins with determining its purpose when a client and designer define the demand for a building and specify the limitations. 9.0 Why is it needed? Refurbishment drivers are reducing vacancy rates, improving rental levels, upgrading assets and offsetting obsolescence, in essence there are financial. Worldwide it is more common for a government to stimulate maintenance and refurbishment of old buildings than demolish them and construct new ones. The support is rendered as tax regulation, subsidies and so on. Proper building maintenance and refurbishment are often better than the demolishing of old buildings and construction new ones, in addition, it should be noted that low standards of comfort(i.e. improper moisture content and temperature, harmful building materials used, etc.) may threaten human health. 9.1 Management &operators Building operation can act as a link between the end users and technology and how this is connected to the reduction of energy consumption. The good interplay of technology and users in non-residential buildings is a desirable goal, in terms of both user satisfaction and smooth technical operation. Since energy remains invisible to the end -user, the first challenge is to influence the user comfort management in a more sustainable direction.One of the most important ways to manage buildings is to communicate and educate the users in the building. The building operator should repeatedly refer to the owner of the building and owner's interest in maintenance, which indicated that there also were associations between the owner and the building operator. The mediating actor such as building operator can contribute to energy efficiency by influencing user's pattern as well as adjusting technologies. Real estate management includes two varieties: property and maintenance management and financial management of property which is aimed at obtaining the highest net profit from the property throughout its economic life. 10.0 Finance There are lacking funding for hiring knowledgeable and skilled staff and for financing improvement measures, together with the lack of external sources fro obtaining such funding. (E.g. loans from financial institutions), are financial barriers that hinder action. The problem of determining the correct relationship between building brief, design, construction and maintenance expenses and benefits obtained has always been very acute. The effort goes toward reduce the expenses while increasing the benefits obtained from a building during its lifetime. The relationship between investment in new construction and maintenance and refurbishment of old buildings usually depends on the advance of national economy. More developed a country, the more living space per person is provided. Technicians and managers engaged in building maintenance and refurbishment should raise their qualification at two levels. 1. Technical personnel who are engaged in elimination of defects found in the water supply, sewerage and electric systems, as well as doing some renewal work should receive appropriate technical training.2. Staff involved as maintenance and refurbishment managers and economists (who manage and co-ordinate the budget) should receive higher level management training. 11.0 Sustainability issues Government requirement of sustainability issues are mainly applicable to new building designs, but such building account for a small percentage of the total building stock. 11.1Methods There is increasing automation in day to day building operation. Energy efficiency is dependent on knowledge through daily experience of the building and the systems. Best practice: The continuous improvement of a building, which is built on intimate knowledge of its conditions, possibilities and challenges. It is important for those who worked in building operation to have a commitment toward users and technologies as well as feeling of ownership and resource fullness and the competence to organize complex organizations in order to create a more energy efficient building. There might be lack of awareness of how energy inefficient a building had become. and lack of the required knowledge and skills to properly operate and maintain services and systems. There is need to identify any existing causes of inefficiency and to advise and implement mitigation measures. 12.0 When to maintain and building Obsolescence Building maintenance may be divided into conservation and redevelopment. In order to conserve a building such preventative measures as everyday check up, current repairs, major repairs, are undertaken. The proper time for undertaking major repairs and their extent depend on the type of building, wear intensity and type of building structure. Building refurbishment is aimed at eliminating the effects of wear and obsolescence. 13.0 Technology and Innovation As buildings become increasingly advanced, the process of getting to know newer building seems to require even more tinkering and tine-tuning that older buildings. Support and training the building operators on new systems are crucial. There has been a surge in innovation in this area , the eco-friendly techniques that were used in 2004 are very different from what are used today .All this is due to the increased contribution of research fraternity in this area. Some areas associated with this field are as follows 1. Construction Material: Discovery of eco-friendly building material like paints and cements 2. Energy: New methods to use solar and wind energy in place of fuel. 3. Water: New techniques to conserve water 4. Emission Effluents and Waste : Eco-friendly waste management 13.1 Passive Solar Design: B This is a very successful concept and it basically involves the usage of solar energy to regulate heating in the rooms without relying on any other energy fuel . There are three strategies of doing so , direct ,indirect and isolated .Direct passive heating relies on designing the windows and doors in a way that solar energy can be used for temperature modulation , indirect techniques require the structuring of the walls ,floor and ceiling so that they can provide adequate regulation of temperature while isolated technique requires capturing of solar energy and then gradually releasing it to regulate the temperature (Sustainable Build ,Passive Design). 13.2 Using Paint to reflect Energy: The pioneer of this concept is Hashem Akbari , a scientist who came out with a concept that energy reflected from flat roof tops does not contribute to global warming . It uses a principle of science that white material is reflector of energy while black material is an absorber .Painting of rooftops with white color would reflect this solar energy and would give atmosphere a time to breathe (Environmentally Friendly Carbon Reflection Techniques , Sustainable Build). Besides this there are other techniques like rain water harvesting , usage of biodegradable building materials and eco-friendly waste management . 13.3 Monitoring and Measuring : Sustainability measurement is another aspect that requires an adequate attention . Scorecard needs to be designed in order to measure how far a building is able to meet the standards required for sustainable development. A scorecard measuring following areas should be prepared 1. Resource efficiency 2. Energy Efficiency 3. Water Efficiency 4. Indoor Environment quality 5. Operation, Maintenance, and Homeowner Education 13.4 Summary: The study highlights the importance of identification of the exact role and responsibility of various stakeholders involved in the construction and maintenance of building. It also calls for an effective dissipation of knowledge and benefits of eco-friendly construction and maintenance techniques amongst contractors, occupants and facility manager’s .Besides this need is also there for defining a sophisticated score card to measure the progress in this field. Bibliography Brown, J. (2009). Urban Reclamation: Using Existing Buildings. Retrieved June 3, 2009, from http://www.sustainablebuild.co.uk/UrbanReclamation.html Brown, P. (2003, August 21). How climate change affects all our lives. Retrieved June 3, 2009, from http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2003/aug/27/climatechange.climatechangeenvironment Roberts, S. (2008, October 23). Effects of climate change on the built environmentstar, open. Retrieved June 2009, 3, from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V2W-4TRR902-7&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=72e8a54f0354c7acda894c87a40ebcd3 Sustainable Development Commission [online]. (2005). [Accessed 02 June 2009]. Available from World Wide Web: . Stapledon , T. (2008). Aligning mission, vision and strategy for sustainable commercial buildings [online]. [Accessed 2 June 2009]. Available from World Wide Web: . Sustainable Build [online]. (2009). [Accessed 2 June 2009]. Available from World Wide Web: . Environmentally Friendly Carbon Reflection Techniques [online]. (2005). [Accessed 2 June 2009]. Available from World Wide Web: . McCallum, Mark. H. (n.d.). General Counsel's Corner. Retrieved June 2, 2009, from http://www.nasbp.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Advocacy/IndustryRelations/CurrentIndustryRiskIssues/SustainableBuildingRequirementsIncreasinglyGettingTheGreen.pdf References McCallum, Mark. H. (n.d.). General Counsel's Corner. Retrieved June 2, 2009, from http://www.nasbp.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Advocacy/IndustryRelations/CurrentIndustryRiskIssues/SustainableBuildingRequirementsIncreasinglyGettingTheGreen.pdf Read More