Sustainable Construction Issues - Research Paper Example

SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION By Name Course Instructor Institution City/State Date Table of Contents Sustainable Construction 1.0 Introduction Retrofitting the old and the existing buildings could on many occasions be economically feasible as compared to constructing a new facility. It has become more important to commence energy conservation retrofits with the aim of reducing the consumption of energy as well as the cost of lighting, heating and cooling buildings. The objective of retrofitting the existing buildings is not just conserving energy, but also creating a high-performance building through the application of energy efficient and sustainable technologies. Such technologies enable the building will to operate economically and contribute to an improved, more comfortable, and healthier environment for working and living. As mentioned by Paradis (2016), enhancing the quality of indoor environmental, reducing the penetration of moisture, and decreasing mould could lead to improved productivity and health of the occupants. The objective of this piece is to discuss the energy efficient and sustainable technologies that are commercially available, inspect and review technologies utilised at my place of residence and determine how our home’s environmental performance could be improved. 2.0 Energy Efficient and Sustainable Technologies That Are Commercially Available 2.1 Home Automation According to Robles and Kim (2010), home automation is the process through which the residence's different systems are integrated together to facilitate communication through the home controller. In this case, a voice control and a single button of different home systems are enabled simultaneously, in operating modes or pre-programmed scenarios. Smart home technology helps reduce energy use around the home and consequently makes life easier through tasks automation. The smart technology can help homeowners to adjust schedules of heating and cooling and also install appliances that could help reduce wastage of energy. Besides that, home automation can help homeowners control lighting and temperatures according to occupancy or time of day, which consequently help reduce energy costs. Z-Wave and ZigBee are the two most important home automation radio networks, and they allow messages to use more than one way to reach its destination. Figure One: Smart Home System (Robles & Kim, 2010) 2.2 Cool Roofs Technologies Cool roof technologies have a high solar reflectance that allows for the reflection of heat and sunlight away from the building; thus, lessening the roof temperatures. Cool roofs play an important role in areas having sunny and warm climates. According to EPA (2016), cool roofs enable roofs to stay between 28°C and 33°C cooler as compared to the conventional materials, especially during the summer weather. Cool roofs reduced energy use since less heat is transferred to the building; thus, the energy for air conditioning is reduced significantly. Furthermore, cool roofs facilitate the cooling of the building envelope’s temperatures; thus, increasing the occupant's comfort level and reduce electricity consumption for cooling equipment. In their study, Anand et al. (2014) observed that cool roofs could help mitigate summer heat in the residential areas by improving indoor comfort as well as air quality. Figure Two: Cool Roof System (The Constructor, 2015) 2.3 Geoexchange Technologies Geoexchange technologies can considerably reduce energy amounts needed for heating and cooling, whereby heat or cold is drawn from underground or outside and pumped through conditioned environment. According to Vorrath (2015), ‘geoexchange’ system installation on Tumut Shire Council’s old property led to an annual 66% energy savings as well over $215,000 in cost savings. In addition, the comfort levels of the building increased. As mentioned by Arellano and Schriver (2011), geoexchange technologies capitalise on the low-grade solar thermal energy that is in abundance in the ground. The technologies are considered to be efficient and environmentally friendly systems that allow for heating and cooling of residential homes. Figure Three: Geoexchange System: (GeoExchange Australia, 2017) 2.4 Solar Technologies As mentioned by Vorrath (2015), solar PV production at the global level has is booming, and is considered to be one of the technologies that facilitate sustainability and energy efficiency. In Australia, University of New South Wales has for many years developed solar PV that has helped improve energy efficiency in the country. The sun’s energy converted into electricity in 2014 by UNSW scientists through innovative solar technology system led to a conversion record of 40.1% (Vorrath, 2015). Some companies such as Dyesol are also participating in developing integrated solar technologies. According to Devabhaktuni et al. (2013), solar technologies are considered to be the suitable alternative to fossil fuels, since they are sustainable and their output efficiencies are continuously increasing. Furthermore, solar technologies can be utilised in different that access sun’s rays. More importantly, solar technologies are relatively and can help the occupants achieve maximum comfort as well as sustainability. Figure Four: Solar Technology (Vorrath, 2015) 2.5 Storage technologies A recent report by Deutsche Bank pointed out that storage technologies are the missing link for mass renewable energy uptake and that they provide enormous energy productivity potential (Vorrath, 2015). Without a doubt, batteries can take businesses as well as households off the grid by reducing infrastructure costs and adding a more renewable capacity. Redflow, an Australian-based battery developer, developed the first commercially available system for large-scale energy storage which was installed at the company’s Adelaide office complex with the main objective of taking the office off-grid (Vorrath, 2015). Given that renewable power sources have turned out to be more important in the energy economy, it has created a need for investing in storage technologies that store energy generated from the wind blows and the sun shines. According to Loveless (2012), the stored energy could be released when required; thus, offering a continuous clean energy flow when the demand for energy increases or at the time solar or wind energy is not available. Figure Five: Energy Storage Technology (Loveless, 2012) 2.6 LED lighting Existing evidence points out that switching to LED lighting is not just economically beneficial but also lead to a large reduction of energy use. Additionally, they are cheap, and the light output has been improved. According to the City of Sydney report, installation of 4,100 LED street lights enabled the city to cut energy use by approximately 34% and saved approximately $370,000 (Vorrath, 2015). Clearly, LEDs promote efficiency, and they exceed the performance of incandescent sources. Furthermore, their low power consumption results in enormous costs and energy savings; therefore, they can be used in homes, industries, commercial buildings, and other structures. Figure Six: LED lighting in an Office (DataVox, 2017) 2.7 Electric vehicles Electric vehicles are not only considered energy efficient but also sustainable. Many countries including Australia are still lagging behind in terms of electric vehicle uptake, in spite of the fact that hybrid electrical vehicles are approximately 65% more fuel efficient as compared to the conventional ones (Vorrath, 2015). Although these vehicles are more expensive as compared to the petrol-fuelled cars, they are considered to be environmentally sustainable and long-term solution. As mentioned by Brown et al. (2010), the increased penetration of electric vehicles would have system-scale interactions and impacts based on the electricity demand, transmission, generation, and distribution. Figure Seven: Electric vehicles’ system-scale interactions and impacts (Brown et al., 2010) 2.8 Rainwater Collector System According to Pat (2012), rain collector systems are completely straightforward mechanical systems connecting a rooftop water collection network such as gutter system as well as use cistern or barrel to store rainwater for later non-potable consumption (such as flushing toilets, irrigation and watering plants). More importantly, the systems are very cheap and help improve water conservation. The majority of these systems are designed with the aim of capturing rainwater from roofs and storing it in the tanks.  Figure Eight: Water Collector System (Pat, 2012) 3.0 Inspection and Review of My Place of Residence At my place of residence, solar technologies have been installed for specific reasons such as to reduce the environmental impact attributed to overreliance on electricity, to reduce energy costs and mainly for energy independence. Solar PV has been installed because they have a positive effect on the environment and to help reduce the major issues associated with climate change and global warming. Using solar energy has been beneficial because it is not just sustainable but also a clean energy for lighting, cooling, and heating. Using solar energy has enabled us to feel as responsible global citizens since we have reduced carbon footprint. More importantly, solar energy has been financially beneficial since the utility payments have been reduced enormously given that we use solar energy not just for lighting, but also heating and cooling, By reducing the operating costs of our homes, we have been able to increase the value of the house. Solar energy has saved us money and offers us a sound future investment. Thanks to solar energy, we have become energy independent since our dependence on utility companies has reduced tremendously. In addition, the solar technology has freed us from utilising conventional energy sources, especially for heating and cooling. As a result, we are free from the ever-increasing utility charges. Besides that, solar energy has offered as a level of security and reliability that cannot be matched by other energy sources. When the neighbours are affected by a power outage, we never get affected because the solar technology offers us the needed power and heat. Aside from the manifold advantages of using solar energy, we have also experienced some shortcomings. The solar system often stops generating power after sunset or when the sun is shaded heavily. Therefore, it has become challenging to completely rely on solar energy since the batteries storing the electricity generated by the solar panels cannot provide power for long at night. Another energy efficient technology we utilise at home is LED lighting, which has a long life as compared to the standard light bulbs that burn out easily and stop working. Without a doubt, the LED Lighting has high energy efficiency as compared to the previous conventional lighting and light bulbs that we were using. The long operational life associated with LED lighting serves as a multiplicator and has enabled us to achieve high energy efficiency. The LED lighting is also being installed in large scale in the town’s infrastructure projects, like road, streets, and airports. This technology is environmentally friendly, durable; the UV emissions are almost zero, its design has powerful flexible features, operate efficiently in all temperatures, and can be turned on/off numerous times. We also use rain harvesting system to collect and store for non-potable uses such as toilet flushing and watering flowers. The rainwater is not only safe but also very sustainable and economical since it has reduced our dependence on mains water. Given that water supplies across Australia are falling, rainwater has helped us maintain our normal consumption and also protects our supplies. While the water boards are increasing the water prices, rainwater is free and reduces costs. 4.0 How Our Home’s Environmental Performance Could Be Improved 4.1 Solar Power Clearly, all energy generation, as well as transmission techniques, have an effect on the environment. As mentioned by Tsoutsos et al. (2005), conventional options for power generation normally damage wildlife, water, air, climate and also land. Therefore, the environmental performance in our hometown can be improved through renewable solar technologies since they are significantly safer and offer a solution to various social and environmental problems related to nuclear and fossil fuels. The solar energy technologies would offer noticeable environmental advantages as compared to other energy sources; therefore, thus leading to human activities’ sustainable development. These technologies would offer additional benefits like reduced greenhouse gases emissions (particularly carbon dioxide and nitric oxide) and also would prevent emissions of toxic gas emissions (such as sulphur dioxide particulates). Solar power would increase the number of electricity grids’ transmission lines and would improve the water resources quality. Undoubtedly, the solar technologies would bring forth tremendous environmental benefits and can be utilised in stand-alone applications and also multi-purpose applications. Utilising the solar technologies has noteworthy socioeconomic benefits, like energy supply security and diversification, reduces fuel imports dependency and accelerates electrification process. In addition, the solar powered lighting using would offer a lasting solution since it would reduce power consumption and loss of load power. Powering the roadways with LED-solar power have enormously reduced the cost of installing the transmission line. As mentioned by Wu et al. (2009), lighting energy saved by using solar powered LEDs is approximately 75 percent. 4.2 Water Conservation Environment performance can also be improved through water conservation. There is a water crisis in Australia, and this could be addressed by improving the behaviours associated with water conservation in order to reduce demand. According to Dolnicar and Hurlimann (2010), the extended drought that has recently affected various parts of Australia has created the need for increasing the seawater desalination and wastewater recycling plants. Although this is a suitable emergency water supply measure, Dolnicar and Hurlimann (2010) posits that water conservation plays a crucial role in reducing water demand. It is motivating that the attitudes of the majority of Australians towards water efficient appliances and water conservation are very favourable. But these attitudes have not been demonstrated in actions; since most Australians are not taking part in water conservation. Water conservation would help us save water and also protect the environment. When Australians stop wasting water, they will not just protect water supplies but also save animals such as fish that depend on water. More importantly, saving water help reduce energy used by wastewater treatment plants to treat water and transport the water. Water conservation involves utilising the grey water to wash vehicles and in flower gardens as well as lawns. This can also be achieved by installing low-flush toilets as well as low-flow shower heads. 4.3 Passive Energy Systems Another way to improve environmental performance in the neighbourhood is through passive energy systems considering that there is a severe energy crisis, particularly during the summer season. This is attributed to the fact that buildings’ cooling load requirements increase tremendously. As mentioned by Kamal (2012), the buildings’ energy consumption has recently increased across the globe due to improved living standards as well as the growing population. The utilisation of air conditioning has increased across Australia and has led to increased absolute energy consumption. The increased utilisation of advanced technology such as refrigerators, washing machines, music systems, electric cookers, and so forth have led to high energy consumption and subsequent exhaustion of non-renewable energy sources. Use of passive energy systems has become very important since they provide a sustainable cooling solution to the buildings and reduce dependence on air conditioners and other cooling systems. More importantly, energy flow in the passive system is natural and does not need any electrical device. The systems prevent heat from going into the building; this, help reduce the buildings’ peak cooling load. 5.0 Conclusion In conclusion, this paper has discussed the energy efficient and sustainable technologies that are commercially available, inspected and reviewed technologies utilised at my place of residence and have determined how our home’s environmental performance could be improved. This piece has demonstrated that using renewable energy sources such as solar is a sustainable solution homeowner since they increase energy efficiency and improve environmental performance. Societal and population growth together with progress in technology, have collectively resulted in a swift increase in energy consumption as well as subsequent exhaustion of fossil fuel reserves. As long as the demand for energy keeps increasing unabated, sustainable solution is turning to alternative energy sources. 6.0 References Anand, Y. et al., 2014. Comparative Thermal Analysis of Different Cool Roof Materials for Minimizing Building Energy Consumption. [Online] Available at: HYPERLINK "https://www.hindawi.com/journals/je/2014/685640/" https://www.hindawi.com/journals/je/2014/685640/ [Accessed 1 April 2017]. Arellano, R. & Schriver, M., 2011. Understanding Geoexchange - Heat Pump Technology. [Online] Available at: HYPERLINK "http://www.xcg.com/understanding-geoexchange-heat-pump-technology/" http://www.xcg.com/understanding-geoexchange-heat-pump-technology/ [Accessed 1 April 2017]. Brown, S., Pyke, D. & Steenhof, P., 2010. 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