Technology behind Green Building towards

Energy Efficiency
M. Saikia, R. Bhowmik, D.C.Baruah
Department of Energy, Tezpur University
madhurjyasaikia3@gmail.com
rajibaec@gmail.com
baruahd@tezu.ernet.in

Abstract- In India, conventional buildings

resources like energy, water, and materials.

consume high amount of resources in

They are not only green from operation but

normal functioning. This study discusses

also from construction point of view. The

various relevant renewable technology used

contour or design of this type of building is

in green building in order to optimize

site specific. Therefore, a simple building

resources usage. Moreover, this study also

cannot be a green building even with it

tries to investigate problems experiencing in

energy saving features. It starts from the

wide popularity of green buildings in actual

very beginning of design. LEED-INDIA is a

ground as

Green Building Rating System which is a

market

penetration

of

the

technology is important for survival.

nationally accepted benchmark for the

design, construction and operation of high

Keywords - Building materials, design,

performance green buildings.

environment
II.

TECHNOLOGY FOR GREEN BUILDING

I. INTRODUCTION

building

interacts

with

the

Energy conservation is the need of

environment through its external facades

time. One of the sectors which seriously

such as walls, windows, projections and

need attention is the household sector.

roofs. Each component contributes to energy

Inefficient building design is the root cause

efficient feature of the building. Of the

of high energy consumption in household

various factors, site plays important role.

sector. From this backdrop, the concept of

The

green building has risen. Green building is

according

actually those buildings which optimally use

design

of
to

building
site

as

may

change

environmental

conditions are influenced by micro climate

commercial buildings in hot climatic zones

and macro climate as well. Site specific

could be Central Atrium which uses the

conditions like water body and vegetation

thermal chimney effect. This effect produces

influences the design. The green building

natural ventilation. During the day, air

design

without

warms up and floats up to the ceiling. This

considering these conditions. This generally

warm air is siphoned off using fans at the

helps to have a suitable indoor environment

top of the exhaust columns and by

throughout the year. Orientation of building

computerized windows at the top of the

is a necessary part of the green building plan

atrium. The hot air is replaced by fresh air,

and design. The best orientation is that the

which is collected at ground level on the

buildings should receive maximum solar

shaded north side of the building. This

radiation in winter and minimum in summer.

system reduces the pressure on HVAC

Therefore, we need to check suns position

system

in daily and seasonal basis by sun path

consumption.

could

not

come

out

and

thereby

reducing

energy

diagram. Determination of orientation of

The heat flow due to radiation and

building helps to control heat and wind

air movement can be controlled by varying

entering the building by

(1) type of

parameters of building geometry such as

glazings, (2) types of walls and roofs, and

surface area to volume ratio, shape of the

(3) shading and (4) aperture

building, buffer spaces, arrangement of

Geometry of building should be

openings and shading. The ratio of the

appropriate to the climate and this helps in

surface area to the volume of the building

greater way by controlling heat flow

(S/V ratio) depicts the magnitude of the heat

magnitude. Suppose for a building in a cold

transfer in and out of the building. By shape

area, one need to minimize heat loss. For

of building the wind pattern can be shaped

that purpose, many techniques could be

according to the need. Buffer spaces give

undertaken as for example infrequently used

shading and catch wind while the shading

spaces could be placed in the direction of

surfaces reduce heat gain. Generally, Walls

house

can be shaded by the use of projections,

which

faces

cold

winds

and

maximizing exposure to habitable spaces.

balconies,

fins,

textured

paints

and

Similarly, building geometry in hot climatic

vegetation. Openings can be shaded with

area would change. The geometry for

appropriately sized chajjas and fins etc.

The building components such as

radiation is prevented from entering living

roof, walls, ground-based floor, fenestrations

space and solar energy absorption and

external

involve

control take place outside it. Trombe wall,

application of lots of different types of

water wall and trans wall are some of the

material and basic

Even by

examples of thermal storage used in this

modification in construction material in

application. Roof collectors like thermo

building components can contribute a lot to

siphon air panels can be installed on south

the energy efficiency. The green concept

facing rooftop (northern hemisphere) which

starts with bricks. Some of these are

uses only the buoyancy of heated air to

stabilized mud block; compressed earth

circulate

block, fine concrete blocks, clay fly ash

eliminating the cost, maintenance, and

brick etc can replace conventional materials.

energy consumption of fans, sensors, and

They have low energy consumption in

controllers commonly used in other collector

production. Now a day, lime is used in

designs. Similarly, in hotter regions there is

foundation rather than cement while white

a great demand of cooling. Passive cooling

roof coating is used reflects 70 to 80 % of

techniques like solar chimney and wind

the incident sun's energy.

tower which wind pressure for cooling are

colour

and

texture
science.

air

through

the

collector,

material,

useful. Like indoor air conditioning, lighting

sometimes additional structures are required

is also important and consumes a good

for heating, cooling and lighting needs.

portion of the energy usage. Though,

Passive heating in cold climate can be

windows and doors serve the normal

practiced in order to lessen dependency on

purpose of lighting, some extra systems like

electricity or other means. In this approach,

light pipe, light well, sun tracking unit and

bare massive walls or floors are provided to

Himawari system can enhance lighting and

absorb and store heat. This is the direct

thereby offsetting energy cost. Moreover,

heating method in which main components

lights with sensor and CFL have already

are (1) glazing, (2) thermal mass (3)

gained popularity in household application.

Apart

from

building

insulation to reduce heat losses at night (4)

ventilation (5) shading. For more heat gain,

III. VIABILITY OF GREEN BUILDINGS

clerestories and skylight can be used. On the

In response to growing concern

other hand, in indirect gain approach solar

regarding climate change, people have

started thinking in energy conservation in

responsiveness of planning and building

every sphere. The positive outcome is green

control authorities, which will introduce

buildings instead of conventional homes

market

developed by corporate houses. These

development costs. Adoption of green

houses look alike and do not have slightest

houses is also dependent on fluctuation of

percent of energy efficiency feature as they

oil prices. In some short time period, if oil

are developed in bulks. Though, the green

prices dip then this would surely inhibit the

buildings are environment friendly and

adoption of green buildings by reducing the

stakeholder in sustainable development, still

absolute scale of cost saving achievable.

specific

variation

in

total

they are lacking in practical application even

though

repetitive

trials

by

various

IV. CONCLUSION

governments. The reason is simple. It

The green building concept demands lower

consumes quite large sum of investment to

energy

develop such a project. According to CB

whether construction or materials those are

Richard Ellis, development of a greener

being prepared for construction. In todays

building designed to achieve one of the

world modern buildings are designed by the

higher standards of accreditation is likely to

engineers and architectures so that it look

add between 5% and 7.5% to construction

nice. But energy consumed on those

costs. In USA, the trend of development has

buildings are much higher as they use

showed that an increase of 0-3% in capital

conventional energy during construction.

cost for the lower ratings, and up to 6.5%

Use of locally available materials for

cent for the highest ratings. The same

production will cut down transportation cost

situation is applicable in Indian markets. The

of building materials and also will save

extra cost burden has to be shouldered by

energy.

the buyers in order to have one green

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

building i.e. higher environmental standards

cost more. The best way to cut expenses in
building green houses is- sourcing the right
materials, using the right professionals and
securing

suitable

addition,

wide

design

features.

variations

in

In
the

consumption

in

every

respect

The authors sincerely acknowledge the

helpful

inspiration

from

Professor

D.C.Baruah and also we are grateful to all

faculty members of the Department of
Energy, Tezpur University for their valuable
support.

References

[3] Manoj Kumar Singh. Sadhan Mahapatra.

[1] Manoj Kumar Singh, Sadhan Mahapatra,

S. K. Atreya and B Givoni.,
monitoring

and

indoor

Thermal

temperature

modeling in vernacular buildings of NorthEast India, Energy and Buildings, vol

42(10), pp. 1610-1618, 2010.

monitoring

and

indoor

Thermal
temperature

modeling in vernacular buildings of NorthEast India, Energy and Buildings vol

42(10), pp. 1610-1618, 2010

and evaluation of comfort temperatures in

vernacular buildings of North-East India.,
Building & Environment, vol 45(2), pp 320329, 2010
[4]

[2] Manoj Kumar Singh. Sadhan Mahapatra.

S. K. Atreya. B Givoni.,

S. K. Atreya., Thermal performance study

Jianlei

Niu,

"Some

significant

environmental issues in high-rise residential

building design in urban areas" Energy and
Buildings Vol 36, pp 12591263, 2004