Sustainable Buildings

By
Rohit C. Pundlik
BTech Mechanical
Roll No. 407095

A Report on Sustainable Buildings, their Important

Components and a Mechanical Engineer’s 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
Change panels for
to a grey
Selfelectricity
Sufficient and
and
hot water
water system
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 &
HEAT EXCHANGER

Incoming cold
air is heated
by outgoing Stale hot
Fresh cold
hot air air
air

Stale cold Fresh hot

air 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.
• Have low energy requirements. Details
 Indoor Air Quality
Outside Air Factors Contributing to Air
Quality

Construction Material Ventilation System

Particulates
Building Envelope Maintenance

Biological
Furnishing Contaminants
Occupants
Volatile
Organic
Equipment Electric & Magnetic Field
Compounds

Site
 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 LITRES/PERSON/DAY • Per capita water

Toilet 22 supplies worldwide have
GRAYWATER LITRES/PERSON/DAY decreased by one-third
Shower 56 since 1970, as the
Hand Basin 6 world’s population has
Kitchen tap 12 grown by 1.8 billion.
Dishwasher 5 • Since 1980, global
Laundry tap 7 water use has more
Washing Machine 27 than tripled & is
Total - Graywater 113 currently estimated at
Total – Overall 135 4,340 km3 per year.
Council Hall 2 (CH2)
Australia’s 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

CH
2
 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 = 15ºC.

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
CH
2
Ventilation in CH2
Ventilation in CH2
Ventilation in CH2
Ventilation Components:
• Air Intake
• Wind Driven Ventilators & Turbines
• Air Filters
• Ducting

Automated Timber Windows

Back
Wind turbines used for artificial CH
ventilation 2
 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 Speech Privacy Description of Privacy
Privacy Rating Potential
Total privacy (SPP)
85 Shouting is only barely audible.
Highly 80 Normal voice levels are not audible.
confidential Raised voices are barely audible but not
Excellent 75 intelligible
Normal voice levels are barely audible.
Raised voices are audible but mostly
Good 70 unintelligible.
Normal voices are audible but
unintelligible most of the time. Raised
Fair 65 voices
Normalare partially
voices intelligible.
are audible and
intelligible some of the time. Raised
Poor 60 voices
Normalare intelligible.
voices are audible and
intelligible most of the time.
None Less than 60 No speech privacy.

SPP factor is the sum of the background noise level in a given space (its NC level) to the
level of separation required between adjacent spaces (the STC rating). 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,
 Water Management in CH2
Wastewater Usage:
CH2 will extract 100
kL/day from the
main sewer, which
contains 95% water.

CH
2
 Sustainable Energy in India
Renewable energy resources (As published by MNES, in 2005)

Sl. Source Capital Estimated Cost Total Installed

No. Cost of Generation Capacity (MW)
(Crores of per Unit (Rs. (up to
1. Small Hydro-Power Rs/MW)
5.00-6.00 /kWh)
2.50-3.50 31.12.2005) 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 3.00-3.50 2.00-3.00 491

Cogeneration
5. Biomass Gasifier 2.50-3.00 3.00-4.00 71

6. Solar Photovoltaic 25-30 15.00-20.00 3

7. Energy from Waste 5.00-10.00 4.00-7.50 46