Sustainable Buildings Consideration Assesment

Running Head: Sustainable Buildings
Title: Sustainable Buildings
Student Name and Id:
Course Name and Id:
University
Date: 9/1/2019
Author Note
The current report is presented as part of the requirements to complete the course work.

Sustainable Buildings
Contents
Preface................................................................................................................................5
Overview of the sustainable Design Proposal (Retrofit)....................................................6
Why Retrofit?.....................................................................................................................6
Scope of Retrofit and selected phases of retrofitting operations........................................7
Constraints and challenges to Retrofitting:.........................................................................7
Detailed design of the retrofit operations:..........................................................................8
A. Glazing........................................................................................................................8
Detailed Design.................................................................................................................11
B) Ventilation..................................................................................................................15
Detailed Design of the retrofit..........................................................................................15
C) Lighting........................................................................................................................17
Detailed Design.................................................................................................................17
Miscellaneous...................................................................................................................19
Sample calculations..........................................................................................................22
Conclusion........................................................................................................................24
References.........................................................................................................................25
Appendix - 1.....................................................................................................................26
Appendix – 2.....................................................................................................................31
APPENDIX - 3.................................................................................................................32
2

Sustainable Buildings
List of Figures
Figure 1 Double panel insulated glass window cut section...................................................................8
Figure 2 Windows requiring automatic retraction to get closed automatically when no need to keep
open....................................................................................................................................................11
Figure 3 Block 1 ground floor...............................................................................................................12
Figure 4 Block 2 of the Linden Primary school.....................................................................................13
Figure 5 Uninsulated bricks needing insulation...................................................................................15
Figure 6 Thermal insulation of the uninsulated walls..........................................................................16
Figure 7 Roof top installations for power generation..........................................................................19
Figure 8 Solar thermal system(cuce et al.,2016)..................................................................................20
Figure 13Linden public school Building block (View 9)........................................................................25
Figure 14 Another block of the school (view – 8)................................................................................25
Figure 15 Another block of the school (view 7)...................................................................................25
Figure 16 Inside corridor (View 6)........................................................................................................26
Figure 17 inside Class room(view 5)....................................................................................................27
Figure 18 Another block of school building (View 4)...........................................................................28
Figure 19 Windows at other side (view 3)...........................................................................................28
Figure 20 School from outside (view 2)...............................................................................................29
Figure 21 School from other side (View 1)...........................................................................................29
Figure 22 Linden Public school building location.................................................................................30
Figure 23Two blocks as shown in the Satellite images........................................................................30
Figure 24 Site plan of buildings with boundaries.................................................................................31
3

Sustainable Buildings
Preface
The changed perception of the people towards ecology and increased concerned towards
better usage of the resources and the application of the processes for better utilization of the
resources for ecological friendly outcomes has resulted in evolution of sustainable or Green
Buildings. Sustainable buildings do employ eco-friendly procedures and processes right from
the planning to demolition of the buildings at the end of the life cycle of operations. In any
case, sustainable buildings do need effective consideration and co-operation of all the
stakeholders like planner, architects, construction engineers, owners and other stakeholders.
All of them do collectively work for the shared vision and so do materialize eco-friendly
green or sustainable buildings. There is no limitation of the application of the sustainable
building principles; they are equally applicable for any scale of construction, any location as
well for any type of purpose. Depending on the target construction, the resources and other
application procedures do vary. Several organizations are at present instrumental in enabling
sustainable building construction operations, design and promotion. For example LEED
(Leadership in Energy and Environment) is working for rating the design, construction,
operation and maintenance of the green buildings to promote better practices in the
sustainable building applications. British BREEAM (Building Research Establishment
Environmental Assessment method) is popular procedure being employed in UK, Excellence
in design for greater Efficiencies (EDGE) is being promoted by World Bank. Green Start is
the technique and evaluation system being used in Australia, Green Building Index is being
employed in Malaysia. Each of these organizations are instrumental in supporting Sustainable
building practices. The key concerns of sustainable building practices include reducing the
overall life cycle emissions right from the planning to the demolition of the building during
the entire life cycle of the operations. Secondly it is related with efficient usage of the energy,
water and other resources. Minimizing the waste from the building and the also working for
reducing the pollution as well as the environmental degradation as well. Finally the Green
buildings are meant for the promotion of healthy impacts on the occupants (human health) as
well as to promote healthy impact over the life of the environment as well. Sustainable
building construction approaches proceeds in two ways. The first is the construction from the
scratch, where in the building construction will be enabled right from the scratch and the
second is the retrofitting the existing construction to fit for sustainable building requirements.
In the first case, there is flexibility to plan and enable proper planning for effective utilization
4

Sustainable Buildings
of the existing resources right from the beginning and the shaping will be done as per the
requirements. However in the second case, the existing structure and the existing facilities of
the construction will be modified to meet the required objectives. In either case, the end
objectives of the human and ecological health promotion remain the key intention. The
following part of the report is focussed on the detailed retrofit design of the building meant to
get converted to the sustainable building construction. The actual design is discussed in the
first part of the assignment and this second part (PART B) focuses on other aspects of
detailed retrofit design of the Green Building.
Overview of the sustainable Design Proposal (Retrofit)
The design selected for the case of retrofit requirements is a school building (Linden Primary
School). Within the context of reducing the carbon foot print from the current building
existence, operation and maintenance perspectives three different options are proposed to
enhance the sustainability proposal of the construction.
 The first is improving the current lighting system in the building construction. The
proposed new lighting system is expected to improve the overall lighting efficiency
and thereby should decrease the overall energy consumption from the lighting energy
usage dynamics. Employing LED bulbs over other forms of lighting can improve the
overall energy savings for the same lumens lighting requirements. There are other
possible controls that can be integrated as well.
 The second part of the report is modification of the current window systems to enable
natural ventilation and lighting as much as possible, which can reduce the energy
dependence for the routine operations of the building. Typical changes in the glazing
of windows for insulation can improve energy saving potential.
 The Existing mechanical Extract Ventilation system is expected to be modified with a
natural ventilation system for the sake of better operational efficiency. This can work
for improving the overall performance of the system in terms of energy saving.
Why Retrofit?
There are two options for increasing the sustainability promotion, rather than going from
scratch, the retrofitting practice will reduce the overall costing of the change and offers
much flexibility to increase the comfort levels offered by the construction. Retrofits will
5

Sustainable Buildings
work for improving the overall sustainability in the building construction while reducing
the cost of the transformation.
Scope of Retrofit and selected phases of retrofitting operations
Existing building features and the scope of retrofit in the first phase:
 Linden primary school buildings located in Leicester is home to about 400 people
along with the students and the teachers as well.
 Original construction of the building is done in 1950s and there were few changes
in the construction to provide it more modern outlook in the recent years.
 The annual energy consumption is 705646KWh for the sake of natural gas and
75,760 Kwh for electricity.
 Three possible areas of focus for retrofitting include lighting, Glazing and
mechanical ventilation as well.
 The next phases of the retrofit can focus on several other aspects of the building
like increasing the dependence on the renewable energy either from solar and/or
with the usage of the wind turbine based energy generation. Also there is
considerable scope for extending the current energy usage by employing means
like improving the efficiency of the operations by using insulated bricks and by
enhancing the efficiency, design and operations of the heating systems in use in
the Linden primary school. Also there is scope to enhance the effectiveness of the
proposals made in the first phase by including with few modifications to the
existing models.
Constraints and challenges to Retrofitting:
 As of now, the foremost challenge lies in letting the staff and concerned
stakeholders accept the need for retrofit and enable the same in the school
premises.
 If the retrofitting is initiated, the process should not actually impact the
school functionality either by noise pollution or by any other modes like
safety issues and any other possible barriers.
6

Sustainable Buildings
 The other challenges of the retrofitting operations include budgetary
constraints. There is need to restrict the overall cost of the retrofitting
operations for the budget sanctioned and should able to provide the best
possible outcomes to enable the sustainability objectives achieved to the
maximum.
 Timely completion of the project is another important objective of the
sustainable building construction practice. Such timely construction of
work is necessary for not letting it interfere with the other activities of the
school functionality.
Assuming the project manager can focus on other aspects of the
retrofitting like convincing the school management for the adaptation to
the proposals as well will enable getting the right investment as budget for
the retrofitting; the following part of the report is presented with the
detailed design of the retrofitting operations. The overall costing of the
retrofitting operations as is assumed to be estimated more realistically and
granted from the school administration. Further the proposed first phases
of retrofitting operations are considered for detailed design in the first part
of the report.
Detailed design of the retrofit operations:
A. Glazing
Some of the much focussed aspects of the glazing systems in use in
the Linden primary school at present are as follows,
The glazing employed in the school at present is a single glazing.
Single glazing system does have limitations in rendering the
insulation to the house occupants. There is considerable scope for
the loss of thermal energy from the in-house premises through the
single glazed windows.
During the school operational times, it is possible that the noise
generated in the outside of the school premises can pass into the
school building, disrupting the school progress.
7

Sustainable Buildings
Burglars and robbers can easily break open the single glazing
windows in general.
Proposal: Replaced the single glazed windows with double layer
glass panels, which do possess an air gap in between for better
insulation.
Typical glass panel will contain two glazes (Hashim and
Hoshi,2018) and separated by air gap and fitted with a desiccant as
well with a sealant at the bottom. The entire set-up will be fixed in
the windows frame.
Thickness of the glass panel: 1” (one inch is the proposed thickness
due to the fact that it is school building and there is likely
possibilities of impacts)
Too small thickness will reduce the strength of the glass panel and
the too large thickness can result in more costing. The proposed
thickness is moderate and upto the needs of the school building.
The spacing between the two glass panels is filled with air gap.
Figure 1 Double panel insulated glass window cut section
School Building Overview of the Ground floor:
8

Sustainable Buildings
Building overview
o The original building as constructed about seventy years back is a two storey
building with reinforced concrete framed structures and it also has masonry
walls which includes uninsulated solid brick external wall structure as well.
o There is uninsulated reinforced concrete deck flat roof of unknown thickness
with mineral felt applied over the original asphalt covering falling towards the
concealed concrete gutters and cast iron down pipes.
o “Most of the windows in the construction are of single glazing and with
framed units and also possess traditional wooden doors.”
o The original construction is of two blocks the block 1 towards south west and
the Block 2 towards north east. Block 1 is mainly single storey construction
and the Block 2 is mainly two storey construction.
o Recent construction changes include traditional cavity wall structure and
pitched roof with concrete interlocking. New extensions for room 93,94
attached to the block 1 as well as the one attached to the Block 2 for room
9

Sustainable Buildings
12,13,14 and 15 were built recently in 2003, insulated cavities and insulation
under the concrete roofs makes up the construction.
o Most of the front elevation windows do have mixture of single glazing and
double glazing metal frames.
Detailed Design
Inorder to make the building more insulated from the possible heat loos to the
exterior from the interior of the building in the winter, there is need to change the
complete single glazed glass panels employed in the construction of the double
glazing type.
There are few metal frames already present in the double glazing type. Hence for
the cases where there is still single glazing frame, there is immediate change
needed to make it into the double glazing.
About 1-1/2” air gap will be sufficient for the double glazing glass panes which
are to be installed afresh in the building construction. Also at the same time, the
thickness of the glass panes can be restricted to about 1” maximum. For the
instances of the old double glaze panels whatever thickness that the glass panels
are designed for, the same thickness can be allowed. This is due to the fact that the
designed thickness values are fit for the purpose of the school building from the
last 70 years and they have effectively withstood all types of the operational loads
like shock loads, wind loads and other types of impact loads during the service
conditions of the school building.
 For view 1, View 2 and view 3, almost all the windows are fixed type and
it does not look like meant for any air flow, only being used for lighting
sake. Hence there is no much issues with these windows and they can be
employed for double glazing glass panelling straight away.
 The other windows in the View-4, the window panels are meant for air
flow as well, hence there is need to include retractory mechanism for the
windows designed with double glaze. This will allow the automatic
closure of the windows when there is no need for any air flow inside.
Particularly in the winter times, there is no need to keep any of these
10

Sustainable Buildings
windows open for letting the cold air flow into the building. This will
result in increasing the heat load on the ventilation systems and heaters.
Figure 2 Windows requiring automatic retraction to get closed automatically when no need to keep open.
Either mechanical or centralized controlled instrumentation can be employed for
closing such windows when they are not needed to kept open.
Mainly during the times of heating in winter cold conditions.
View 6 like corridors in the entire building block need to be insulated at the top of
the ceiling. Since the top ceiling is allowed for natural ventilation it is required to
keep it transparent for the light and at the same time it can be used to insulate the
enclosed space for preventing the heat from getting lost to the atmosphere. In this
connection, it is required to keep either double or triple glazing glass panels with
enclosed air gaps. In this case the thicknesses of the glass panels can be
maintained about ½”. However the bottom metal mesh can be replaced in the
locations where it approached service life with frame type of construction, which
can have more lighting transmission area which can contribute better lighting of
the region. Also the color of the glass needs to be transparent and white and not
like the light green color or any other color that prevents the light transmission.
There are few windows shown in the view-8 of the Block-1 in the upper stairs and
even they need to be arranged with the retractory mechanism to control the air loss
from the space. View-9 of the building is another profile of the block where in the
top glazing glass panels are shown and they need to be replaced with either triple
or double glazing glass panels for better insulation requirements.
11

Sustainable Buildings
Figure 3 Block 1 ground floor
12

Sustainable Buildings
Figure 4 Block 2 of the Linden Primary school
Each and every window of the complete façade views 1a to 1f for the Block 1 and
2a to 2e to the Block 2 need to be subjected to retrofitting operations using the
double glazing windows.
13

Sustainable Buildings
B) Ventilation
 As of now mechanical extract ventilation(Baborska-Narozny&Stevenson,2016) is
being provided to the building at several locations
 The condition of the existing mechanical extract ventilation in most of the
locations is approaching the end of life serviceable conditions and will need
replacement.
 Several new locations in the building can be subjected to new mechanical extract
ventilation facility as well.
Detailed Design of the retrofit
 As it is observed from the school blocks most of the mechanical extract ventilation
units are at the end of the service life, hence renovation of the same is essential to
reduce unwanted electrical load on the fans employed for the ventilation
requirements.
 At the outset, there is need for the making the ducts replaced for both the
decentralized (any if there) as well as for the centralized ducts of the mechanical
extract vent units.
 This will reduce the load of pumping by the fans of the ventilation systems. Further
there is also need for replacing the fans/motors of the fans employed for the
ventilation units of the extract systems. This will make them better operational and
energy efficient too.
 Further it is possible to employ VSD (variable speed drives) to control the motors of
these fans to meet different load requirements which can reduce the overall energy
consumption by the motors of the fan.
 Wherever possible it is necessary to redesign the system to keep the fans nearer to the
extract points. This can be possible by employing decentralized units, which on long
run can save energy in the operation of the vent units.
14

Sustainable Buildings
 There is also need to do insulation to the uninsulated bricks of the walls of the school
building for the sake of retaining the heat in the room and thereby reducing the heat
load on the ventilation systems.
Figure 5 Uninsulated bricks needing insulation
Complete insulation of the building outer walls where-ever there is no insulation
with suitable insulation material will keep the thermal losses from the building at
minimum.
Following is the typical construction necessary in this regard,
The inner walls will be the existing walls and the cavity between the inner walls
and new walls (bricks) can be filled with sufficient thermal insulation material
and sufficient thickness will keep the insulation perfect.
15

Sustainable Buildings
Figure 6 Thermal insulation of the uninsulated walls
Alternatively it is always possible to do coating over the external walls of the
building with the thermal shield materials that can reduce the overall heat loss
from the walls.
The selection of the right option whether to move for the thermal insulation
coating or to use the insulation over the bricks do depend on the prevalent
budgetary sanctions for the project and the time available for the construction
work as well.
C) Lighting
 Most of the lighting devices in the building are T8
Fluorescent luminaries with
Prismatic diffusers, 2D bulk head fitments, LV down lights and several T8 vapour
proof fluorescents. All these are operational, but at the end of their serviceable
life. Both the luminaries (bulbs as well as the fixtures can be replaced at several
locations of the building).
Detailed Design
There is need for replacing all the fluorescent lamps in the construction with the
LED lamps. This is mainly due to the fact that the LED bulbs will offer more
efficiency than the prevailing fluorescent lamps. For the same amount of the
electrical energy inputs the output lumens from the light will be very high than
16

Sustainable Buildings
other bulbs and hence the total electrical energy consumption will come down by
about 10-20% at minimum.
The fixtures at present being employed are at the end of the service life and hence
there is need to replace the same with using energy efficient ballasts for LED
lamp systems. They are also energy efficient and will contribute to the better
energy utility as well. The energy utility of the ballast will be reduced and also
the existing fixtures are at the end of service life and hence performance will be
poor and so can be eliminated. The fixtures when replaced with new, they can
improve the life of the LED lamps as well and hence the life of the same can be
prolonged as well.
Secondly there is need to include certain controls in the lighting systems for
improving the effectiveness of the same. In the corridors and other locations
where there is sufficient scope for the natural lighting, there can be internal
reflective coatings employed to use the reflection of light and hence to reduce the
overall lighting load. This can be done my observing the possible internal light
lumens availability, the lighting requirements and there by restricting the usage of
the lighting systems in these regions wherever there is possibility of the natural
light available.
The internal ballast control for LED light with dimmer controls can be employed
to reduce the lighting loads when they are not actually required as well. In the
occasions where there is no need for the full intense lighting, dimmer controls can
be employed to reduce the overall lighting loads.
In the class rooms, wherever possible focussed lighting arrangement can be used
to reduce the overall lighting loads. Focussed lighting on the black boards,
focussed lighting on the student benches etc can work on reduce the overall load
on the lighting systems and hence less number of lighting units can be employed,
which ultimately will reduce the overall electricity loads.
Corridors, open spaces and other not frequently used locations of the building,
like terrace, the penthouses etc can be employed with optical sensors where the
light systems can be automatically switched off either if there is sufficient sun
17

Sustainable Buildings
light available or alternatively if there is no any occupants around in the region.
In either case the lights will turn off reducing the overall energy loads on the
systems. All other types of the lighting designs like incandescent lamps,
Fluorescent lamps, mercury vapour lamps need to be removed off and to be
replaced with LED lamps. Infact LED lamps are available with monochromatic
lighting as well as with different colours and they are versatile for diverse needs
in the school building, they can employ both for the sake of energy savings as
well as for aesthetics. Replacing the same with LED will reduce the maintenance
needs in the immediate future as well. Manpower costing will reduce also.
Miscellaneous
 Heating: Heating consumes considerable portion of the energy consumption of
the building, however it looks like there is water leakage into the building 4,
which can negatively impact the performance of the burner operations. It is
required to be looked into to seal the leakages in the room (evidence is from
the visibility of the water on the floor of the room).
 Heat distribution in the room is in the form of mixture of fan/natural convector
as well. There are old cast iron radiators as well as electric heaters in the room
and there is need for replacement of the same for better operational efficiency
at least the convective coefficients of heat transfer need to be monitored,
typical inspections for scaling and sludges in the heat transmissions paths etc
to be verified for improving the performance of the same.
(Burner employed here is MHS Alpha Atmospheric Gas fired boiler
(Riello RS 3 Burner)
Annual consumption of energy:
Natural gas 705.646MWh
Electricity: 75.760MWh
 Using decentralized heating systems are preferable to reduce the loss of
energy in transmission, if the existing hot air distribution systems are
damaged, it is better to replace the same with decentralized units wherever
possible.
18

Sustainable Buildings
 Further in the locations subjected to mechanical vent extraction, it is
preferable not to use gas heating systems as the products of the combustion
will be sucked into the low pressure areas created by mechanical extractors,
which can cause detrimental impacts on the health of the occupants.
 Using high efficient electrical heaters in such locations is one solution.
Alternatively using restricting centralized heating units for such locations
there by separating the actual combustion space from the ventilated region is
another possible safe provision.
 Employing Renewable energy enabled heating systems as well as renewable
energy enable electricity generation for energy needs of the building are
another important measure to save the energy in the building. Solar air heaters,
Solar PV panels for energy generation is a good option to make the building
more sustainable. It is possible to keep the solar PV panels on the roof top of
the building as well in the outer space of the building where there is sufficient
scope for the collection of reasonable amount of electricity for the day to day
operations of the building.
 There is considerable space available on the terrace of the buildings (both
block 1 and block 2) as well there is lot of open space available around the
building as well, hence self tracking solar PV panels can be employed in the
region for energy extraction in all the sunny areas which can reduce electricity
consumption considerably.
 Part of the space available on the terrace can be covered with cylindrical solar
thermal air heaters which can reduce the heating load in the building in the
winter times.
19

Sustainable Buildings
Figure 7 Roof top installations for power generation
Figure 8 Solar thermal system(cuce et al.,2016)
Both room air heating and the water heating(Wang et al.,2017) can be done with this model,
however still air extracted from the mechanical extract vents need not pass through this
system as it contain moisture and cool air(Ju et al.,2016).
The exact amount of surface area of the solar thermal units (Korkas et al.,2016) will depend
on the actual prevailing heat flux in the region as well will also depend on the heating load of
the room, its requirements of the comfort as well as budgetary approvals.
20

Sustainable Buildings
Sample calculations
21

Sustainable Buildings
22

Sustainable Buildings
Conclusion
The current report is a follow report on detailed retrofit design proposal for Linden Primary
school. The key focus areas of the design retrofit included design of glazing (double glazing),
Retrofitting of the mechanical extract ventilation and the lighting system renovation in the
school building. Other proposals included adding insulation to the school walls, heating
system based on solar and electrical energy from PV units. It is expected that approximately
40% of the total energy will be saved through these retrofitting. However exact energy
savings as well as the pay back periods of these retrofitting need to be computed based on the
actual date of the block and the energy consumption as well. Detailed design of the
parameters, costing and payback computation can be done in the next phase of detailing with
more detailed information for calculations.
23

Sustainable Buildings
References
Baborska-Narozny, M., & Stevenson, F. (2016, August). Mechanical ventilation in housing:
understanding in-use issues. In Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers-Engineering
Sustainability (Vol. 170, No. 1, pp. 33-46). Thomas Telford Ltd.
Cuce, E., Harjunowibowo, D., & Cuce, P. M. (2016). Renewable and sustainable energy
saving strategies for greenhouse systems: A comprehensive review. Renewable and
Sustainable Energy Reviews, 64, 34-59.
Ju, C., Ning, Y., & Pan, W. (2016). A review of interdependence of sustainable
building. Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 56, 120-127.
Hashim, W. M., & Hoshi, H. A. (2018). Energy Saving in Power Consumption by Using
Double Glazing Windows in Iraq. Engineering and Technology Journal, 36(9 Part (A)
Engineering), 1002-1007.
Korkas, C. D., Baldi, S., Michailidis, I., & Kosmatopoulos, E. B. (2016). Occupancy-based
demand response and thermal comfort optimization in microgrids with renewable energy
sources and energy storage. Applied Energy, 163, 93-104.
Wang, C. H., Zhao, D., Tsutsumi, A., & You, S. (2017). Sustainable energy technologies for
energy saving and carbon emission reduction. Applied Energy, 194, 223-224.
24

Sustainable Buildings
Appendix - 1
Figure 9Linden public school Building block (View 9)
Figure 10 Another block of the school (view – 8)
Figure 11 Another block of the school (view 7)
25

Sustainable Buildings
Figure 12 Inside corridor (View 6)
26

Sustainable Buildings
Figure 13 inside Class room(view 5)
27

Sustainable Buildings
Figure 14 Another block of school building (View 4)
Figure 15 Windows at other side (view 3)
28

Sustainable Buildings
Figure 16 School from outside (view 2)
Figure 17 School from other side (View 1)
29

Sustainable Buildings
Appendix – 2
Linden Public school as shown in the Google Map
Figure 18 Linden Public school building location
Figure 19Two blocks as shown in the Satellite images
30

Sustainable Buildings
APPENDIX - 3
Figure 20 Site plan of buildings with boundaries
31