Sustainable Design of Zero Emission/Low Energy Architecture - Essay Example

A Critical Review: Sustainable Design of Zero Emission/Low Energy Architecture Introduction: In the late seventies, there were different ideas regarding the conservation and use of energy in buildings, but limited amount of information was available. 'Green', 'ecological' and 'environmental' are labels that were approximately produced in the early 1970s that and that represented the idea that the design of buildings should basically take account of their relationship with and impact on the natural environment.1 From the same era, labels such as 'low energy', 'solar' and 'passive' came out to signify approaches to design with the conception of reducing reliance on fossil fuels in building functionality.2 Sustainability, in the environmental sense, is an issue that is much at heart of every knowledgeable person living in the 21st century. The alarming rate at which the environment is being degraded by high rates of carbon and other harmful gas emissions combined with the unrealistic rate at which energy, in the form of fossil fuels, is being consumed has led such persons to try and find urgent means by which this deliberate destruction of life on Earth can be stopped and, ultimately, reversed to create a more secure future. It is first remarkable that, as Yeang, p. 413, 2007, puts it concisely - "Nature regards humans as one of its many species. What differentiates humans is their capability to inflict devastating changes on the environment".3 One of the major human activities that hugely and adversely affect the environment is the burning of fossil fuels to produce energy for other down line human activities. It is now notable that fossil fuels, even in the first parts of the 21st century, still remain the major energy source. Thus, it stands to good reason that any project that can run on low energy consumption is a profitable one. This is in two senses - firstly, with low consumption of fossil fuels low emission of harmful gases is possible and, secondly, the low consumption of fossil fuels enables energy planners to buy more time to develop alternate sources for future consumption when it is believed that all fossil fuels on Earth will be completely exhausted. This paper, thus, is concerned entirely with one such human project - human architectural activity - that is being designed to consume low energy and produce low emissions. This is what is currently being defined as sustainable architecture. The first part the paper discusses sustainability, its definition and global perceptions and the second part is a critical review about a sustainable development in London, called BedZED, as a successful example, its analysis and evaluation of its various environmentally friendly features. Ecodesign: Yeang4 defines ecodesign, which may be taken as sustainable design in this case, as a built environment that is fully integrated within its natural environment. It is taken here that the concerned 'built environment' is the sustainable architecture that this paper is in search of. Yeang (2007), furthermore, severely cautions against misconceptions that technology alone can provide sustainable architecture. He states that simply putting a set of technologies commonly acknowledged as green such as solar arrays, photovoltaic, biological recycling systems, building automation systems and double-skin facades into a building can merit the term ecodesign. Also, if a high mark in a green-rating system can hardly be construed as satisfactory reason to call the built environment sustainable architecture(Yeang, 2007). Instead, Yeang (2007) implies that ecodesign, or sustainable architecture, can only be operational when the entire building interacts with its natural environment in such a manner that all its inputs and outputs sustain the ecosystem within which it is built without upsetting its delicate balance of secure survival. In this sense Yeang (2007) believes that not only the building but all its associated activities, such as transportation, for example, must be integrated into its ecosystem where he implies that any ecosystem is composed not only of its biotic, or living, components but also its abiotic or non-living ones. Yeang (2007) does concede that such technologies as those mentioned earlier must be experimented upon so that a clear move towards a biologically integrated architecture can be achieved in the near future. Nevertheless, he believes also that such a complete system has not been achieved yet. In another perspective it is noted that researchers in ecodesign, or sustainable architecture, point out that such design is not only about energy and emissions but also materials that humans are using up fast together with the present major energy source - fossil fuels. It is notable that materials like wood and even certain metals are fast being used up from their natural sources and it is logical that humans associate ecodesign, of which sustainable architecture is a large part, with conservation of these and other more readily available materials so that sustainability in the future for these materials is achieved together with energy conservation and pollutant emission. Lori McElroy, in a news flash heralding a conference of architectural scientists in the University of Adelaide, Australia, demonstrates this need as follows - "Sustainability is not just about the environment, materials or energy, or about costs and jobs or creating places that people will love - it's about balancing all of these things so that when we create these spaces people will love them and cherish them and they will last - and we won't have to waste energy in taking them apart and putting them in landfill sites and starting again in 20 years" (McElroy, 2006). After this somewhat comprehensive treatment of ecodesign in the sense of sustainable architecture the paper shall now contrive to address the manner in which ecodesign in architecture - the built environment, both commercial and residential - is being incorporated into future policies across the globe. A Global Survey: There is a new consciousness that sustainability is the future of survival of life on Earth is evidenced from the 1960s and 1970s with the environmental movements of those decades to the 'green consumer' of the 1980s and the more recent 'greening of industry' of the 1990s (Heiskanen, 2002). In even more recent times it has become evident that organisations, both governmental and private, have begun to include sustainability as an issue in their corporate cultures (Heiskanen, 2002). They have stopped regarding themselves as entities beyond the influence of the ecological environment they operate in. Instead, as the paper has pointed out earlier according to Yeang (2007), these organisations have started considering the fact that the environment is made up of two major components - the biotic and the abiotic one - and even if it seems superficially that their business structure, other than their human resources - is an abiotic one they have began to realise that this is still a part of the ecosystem they operate in and that they have to learn to integrate this with the other major half of such ecosystem - the biotic one as well as other parts of the abiotic parts that may lie out of their own immediate concern (Heiskanen, 2002). Thus, all this simply implies that organisations, no matter how distanced they are intrinsically from parts of the ecosystem they operate in, must learn to integrate with these parts in such a manner that any adverse impact their operations may have on these parts can be eliminated to the fullest extent to ensure sustainable operability (Heiskanen, 2002). It must be noted that acquiring desired sustainability is a multidisciplinary task and Heiskanen (2002) proposes a very unique theory to enable research in this multidisciplinarity, that is, discipline with many branches - the actor-network theory. According to this theory there are no human and nonhuman factors - only actors and networks that enable them to act (Heiskanen, 2002). Society is dissolved into enabling forces that allow the actors to act and restraining forces that have to be eliminated or reduced. While the paper notes that this seems rather out of context in the present situation of sustainable architecture it is notable that sustainability in architecture too is a multidisciplinary task and, to successfully achieve desired efficiency, it is necessary to apply a theory like the actor-network one that allows accountability of all factors present in and around the built environment. That sustainability in a built environment is a multidisciplinary task is proved from case studies by Chen and Pitts, 2006. These researchers show that a sustainable built environment has many aspects that are not directly related to the technicalities that usually involve architecture. The case studies show that built environment may aim at sustainable urbanity where the urban/mobile habits of the residents can be maintained with minimum adverse impact on the environment - presumably both natural and manmade (Chen and Pitts, 2006). It is to be noted in this context that, as Yeang (2007) asserts, a sustainable building must not only lessen its adverse impacts on its environment to a desired minimum but also progressively aim at adding sustenance to it. Thus, Yeang notes - 'Green or ecological design means buildings with minimal environmental impact, and where possible, building to achieve the opposite effects; this means creating buildings with positive, reparative and productive consequences for the natural environment, while at the same time integrating the built structure with all aspects of the ecosystems of the biosphere over its entire life cycle" (Yeang, 2000). A built environment, both residential and commercial, has three aspects - social, economical and environmental - that coalesce to produce its safe interface with all stakeholders - those from its outside environment and those from its inside - the last being its residents (Chen and Pitts, 2006). This last demonstrates that a built environment is certainly a multidisciplinary task where maintaining green features within the architecture is only a part of the whole. Thus, incorporating alternate and non-polluting energy sources, sustaining acknowledged human comfort levels in regard to temperature, air supply, etc. (Chen and Pitts, 2006), having provisions for recycling waste and building with recycled materials and other architectural features may be a part of the whole sustainable built environment but there are other parts such as long- and short-term economic viability and capability of the built environment to sustain social and cultural features like urban-mobile lifestyles, etc. that must also be adequately satisfied to enable desired sustainability. The paper has introduced the actor-network theory that can be applied globally to plan and analyse sustainability in built environments across the globe and now it is ready to study specific international projects that target sustainability globally. The United Nations Agenda 21: Agenda 21 was established at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development at the 'Earth Summit', Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is the global blueprint for sustainability in the 21st century. The Agenda has been agreed to by many nations of Earth. Such nations that have pledged to take part in the Agenda are monitored by the 'International Commission on Sustainable Development'. These nations are encouraged to promote the Agenda at local and regional levels to enable societies and economies to develop while conserving and preserving the environment and natural resources. The Agenda is not exclusive to governmental organisations only but non-governmental ones including private commercial ones and the general public are also encouraged to take part in its fulfilment. Some of its aims and objectives are tackling major global issues like air pollution, biodiversity loss, deforestation, health problems, population growth, poverty, energy consumption, waste production and transport issues. It is good to note that the paper has posited how the built environment is not only about good architecture but also about architecture that blends with its environment in such a manner that its impact on its ecosystem is positive. This implies that a sustainable built environment can quite successfully assist in fulfilling much of the aims and objectives of Agenda 21. The Brundtland Report: The Brundtland Report precedes the Agenda 21. In 1983, Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, a three time Norwegian Prime Minister and former director of the World Health Organisation (WHO) as well as a medical doctor and children's health researcher, conceded to an invitation to head the 'World Commission on Environment and Development' (WCED) with the following words in conditionality - "I could have at least half the members from the developing world, and if I could focus both on the environment and development" (May, 2004). She got the job on her conditions and, in 1987, WCED published a report 'Our Common Future' or the 'Brundtland Report'. The gist of the report is that the common operating criterion for sustainable development is that it provide for economic and environmental equity in the present, while leaving options for future generations unimpaired (May, 2004). Brundtland's ethical standpoint was that the industrialised nations should bear the burden of development elsewhere in the world in such a responsible manner that the developing countries would not experience any negative effects of their less developed status and would, thus, be assured of an even playing field (may, 2004). In Brundtland's own words, sourced from may (2004) - "There is no true alternative to multilateralism in facing up to our responsibility for future generations and the planet itself. The future is one of including all countries in our global solutions, but before that can happen, the rich countries must rise to the occasion, show leadership and take responsibility". In a retrospective assay the paper finds that Dr. Brundtland did kick off a scheme of equitable distribution of sustainable assets that the present generation can use without compromising the future generations of them where it is to be construed that 'generation' in this context, both Brundtland's and ours at present, implies all life on Earth. The eminent doctor's scheme of equitable distribution of assets implicitly places restrictions on heedless consumption wherever that is possible. Thus, the doctor's early attempt at sustainable development clearly dovetails with that being advocated today when it is observed that sustainability in the present sense, with its multidisciplinary techniques, implies continence without compromise on quality of life. Conclusion: At the very end of the paper it is noted that while countries around the world, both on the organisational and individual levels, are seriously striving towards sustainability there is still much to do. It is observed that while regulations form governmental agencies as well as international organisations like the United Nations and World Health Organisation provide able guidelines and standards for private and public parties to work by there is still no substitute for good design (Williamson et al, 2006). In a case study on thermal comfort offered by a number of residential buildings in a particular locale in Australia Williamson et al, 2006, found that these houses, built according to government guidelines and standards, were consuming less energy than a number of nearby houses. Nevertheless, the thermal comfort available as per standards would require more energy than was deemed sustainable. This implied that the only means by which the government standards for thermal comfort could be met would not be by installing new heating and cooling systems that would require large amounts of energy but by improving the design of these houses in manners such that the required standard of thermal comfort could be met with least expenditure of energy (Willaimson et al, 2006). This is the same as Yeang, 2007, has stated where he has mentioned mere appliances cannot wholly sustain good ecodesign, in this case, of sustainable architecture. It has multidisciplinary facets that require integrated planning, implementation and sustenance. References: Yeang, Ken, and Powell, Robert, Designing the Ecoskyscraper: Premises for Tall Building Design, The Structural Design of Tall and Special Buildings, 16; 411-427; (2007). Chen, Bing, and Pitts, Adrian, A Socio-Technical Perspective to Enact Zero Emissions/Energy Development in China, The 23rd Conference on Passive and Low Energy Architecture, Geneva, Switzerland, 6-8 September 2006. McElroy, Lori, University News and Events, University of Adelaide, November 2006. Accessed on 24th March, 2008, at: https://www.adelaide.edu.au/news/news16061.html#top Heiskanen, Eva, The Environmental Agenda in Organization and Management Research, The Journal of Transdisciplinary Environmental Studies, Vol. 1, No. 2, 2002. Agenda 21, Action Sub-topics, Encyclopaedia of Sustainable Development, 2008. Accessed on 24th March, 2008, at: http://www.ace.mmu.ac.uk/esd/menu.html May, Cathleen, Brundtland spells out requirements for sustainable development, The University of Michigan, 2004. Accessed on 25th March, 2008, at: http://www.ur.umich.edu/0405/Nov15_04/12.shtml Williamson, Terry, et al, The performance of award-winning houses, The 23rd Conference on Passive and Low Energy Architecture, Geneva, Switzerland, 6-8 September, 2006. Read More