Sustainable Buildings

By

Rohit C. Pundlik
BTech Mechanical
Roll No. 407095
A Report on Sustainable Buildings, their Important
Components and a Mechanical Engineers Role in developing
them.
Also, a special mention of Council Hall 2, Melbourne
The Greenest Building in the world currently.

Not Self Sufficient or

Sustainable

Fit solar cells for

Fit
solar
panels
for
Change
to a grey
Selfelectricity
Sufficient
and
and
hot system
water
water
Sustainable
insulate better

Sustainable Development
"Sustainable development is development that meets
the needs of the present without compromising the
ability of future generations to meet their own needs."
(WCED,1987, Brundtland Report)

The Essentiality

Sustainable Building Design

Main Strategies:
Passive Solar Design
Heating, Ventilation and Air
Conditioning
Lighting
Indoor Air Quality
Acoustics
Water Management

Solar
cells

Photovoltaic (PV) modules

convert sunlight into electricity.
PV panels can be expected to
last 20 years or more.
1 kW monocrystalline array will
produce about 1,500 kWh of
electrical energy/year & will
require 9 m2 of space.

Wind turbine

Domestic wind
generators turbines
are usually used in
stand alone power
systems and are
designed to charge a
battery bank.
A typical 1 kW turbine
will cost
approximately
Rs.65,000 and the
tower
around
Coils of
wire cut
Rs.35,000
through a magnetic
Rs.40,000.
field making
electricity

Solar
panels

A solar water heater can

provide between 50 percent
and 90 percent of total hot
water requirements.
A tank of water can be
heated for showers, washing,
heating, etc.

HVAC Systems
On average, 39 percent of energy consumed
in homes is space heating and cooling.
Some most important strategies to minimize
or even eliminate this energy demand is by:
o Passive solar heating & cooling
o Use of phase change material & thermal
mass
o Using cooling towers & chilled ceilings
o Night purging.

HEAT EXCHANGER

Fresh cold
air

Stale cold
air

Incoming cold
air is heated
by outgoing
hot air

Stale hot
air

Fresh hot
air

Thermal Mass

During the day the

house gets hotter

A house with a large thermal mass keeps warm longer

During the night it

releases heat

Lighting
An efficient and effective lighting
system will:
Provide a high level of visual
comfort.
Make use of natural light.
Provide the best light for the task.
Provide controls for flexibility.
Details
Have low energy requirements.

Indoor Air Quality

Outside Air

Ventilation System

Construction Material
Particulates
Building Envelope

Furnishing

Equipment

Factors Contributing to Air

Quality

Biological
Contaminants
Volatile
Organic
Compounds

Site

Maintenance

Occupants

Electric & Magnetic Field

Indoor Air Quality

Volatile Organic Compounds Emission &
Building-Related Illnesses (BRI)

Details

Acoustics

Important Concepts:
Background Noise
White Noise
Active Noise Control
Surface Finishes
Noise Criteria (NC)
Speech privacy potential (SPP)

Water Management
Important Methods For
Effective Water Management:
Rainwater Harvesting
Water Harvesting
Landscaping
Gray and Blackwater Reutilization
Systems.

Water Management
Reusing wastewater for toilet flushing will save
approximately 65 litres of potable water in an average
household every day.
Reusing wastewater in the clothes washer will save
approximately 90 litres of potable water in an average
household every day.
BLACKWATER
Toilet
GRAYWATER
Shower
Hand Basin
Kitchen tap
Dishwasher
Laundry tap
Washing Machine
Total - Graywater
Total Overall

LITRES/PERSON/DAY
22
LITRES/PERSON/DAY
56
6
12
5
7
27
113
135

Per capita water

supplies worldwide have
decreased by one-third
since 1970, as the
worlds population has
grown by 1.8 billion.
Since 1980, global
water use has more
than tripled & is
currently estimated at
4,340 km3 per year.

Council Hall 2 (CH2)

Australias greenest and healthiest
purpose built office building, Council House 2
(CH2), opened in Melbourne in August
2006, setting the benchmark for all future
high-rise buildings.
This United Nations award-winning
building will set a new world standard for
sustainable design and construction.
Main Features of CH2:
Fresh Air
Cooling and Heating
Energy
Light
Water

Role Of Mechanical
Engineers
Mechanical Engineer & Integrated Design Process:
In an integrated design approach, the mechanical engineer
will calculate energy use and cost very early in the design,
informing designers of the energy-use implications of the
building orientation, configuration, fenestration, mechanical
systems and lighting options.

Thank You

Solar Photovoltaic Cells

Solar Power Capacity in

India

Back

Wind Power Generation

Back

Solar Data : Mumbai

Back

Chilled Beams

Back

Shower Tower

Back

Purge Windows

Back

Cooling & Heating Unit in

CH2

CH2

Thermal Masses
Material

THERMAL MASS
(volumetric heat
capacity, kJ/m3/k)

WATER

4186

CONCRETE

2060

SANDSTONE

1800

COMPRESSED EARTH BLOCKS

1740

RAMMED EARTH

1673

FC SHEET (COMPRESSED)

1530

BRICK

1360

EARTH WALL (ADOBE)

1300

AAC

550

Comparison of PCM

Comparison of various thermal

storage media:
Stored energy = 1,000 MJ or
278kWhr,
Change in temperature = 15C.
Back

Natural Lighting

Natural Lighting

Natural lighting can be most effectively used by using the following:

Clerestory
Sawtooth Roof Form
Roof Monitors
Light Shelves

Natural Lighting

Lighting in CH2

Back
CH2

Ventilation in CH2

Ventilation in CH2

Ventilation in CH2
Ventilation Components:
Air Intake
Wind Driven Ventilators & Turbines
Air Filters
Ducting

Automated Timber Windows

Wind turbines used for artificial
ventilation

Back
CH2

Acoustics
Noise Criteria (NC) numbers represent a series of curves of octave-band
sound pressure levels

Noise levels from

mechanical system for
various office spaces

Back

Acoustics
Speech
Privacy

Speech Privacy
Rating Potential
(SPP)

Description of Privacy

Total privacy

85

Shouting is only barely audible.

Highly
confidential

80

Normal voice levels are not audible.

Raised voices are barely audible but not
intelligible

Excellent

75

Normal voice levels are barely audible.

Raised voices are audible but mostly
unintelligible.

Good

70

Normal voices are audible but

unintelligible most of the time. Raised
voices are partially intelligible.

Fair

65

Normal voices are audible and

intelligible some of the time. Raised
voices are intelligible.
SPP factor is the sum of the background noise level in a given space (its NC level) to the
Poor
60
Normal
voices
are rating).
audible and
level of separation required
between adjacent
spaces
(the STC
Back

Back

Water Management in CH2

Water Requirement of CH2 = 100kL/day
Provided by : 1. Rainwater
2. Sewer Mining

Rainwater Usage:
Roof Area of CH2 = 1500 m2
Assuming rainfall of 55mm/month & 70 % capture,
Estimated Water collection = 57kL/ month (0.7
ML/yr)

Water Management in CH2

Wastewater Usage:
CH2 will extract 100
kL/day from the main
sewer, which contains
95% water.

CH2

Sustainable Energy in India

Renewable energy resources (As published by MNES, in 2005)
Sl.
No.

Source

Capital
Cost
(Crores of
Rs/MW)

Estimated Cost
of Generation
per Unit (Rs.
/kWh)

Total Installed
Capacity (MW)
(up to
31.12.2005)

1.

Small Hydro-Power

5.00-6.00

2.50-3.50

1748

2.

Wind Power

4.00-5.00

3.00-4.00

4434

3.

Biomass Power

4.00

3.00-4.00

377

4.

Bagasse
Cogeneration

3.00-3.50

2.00-3.00

491

5.

Biomass Gasifier

2.50-3.00

3.00-4.00

71

6.

Solar Photovoltaic

25-30

15.00-20.00

7.

Energy from Waste

5.00-10.00

4.00-7.50

46