CSM80002 - Environmental Sustainability: Building a Net-Zero Home

This report evaluates current energy consumption and carbon emissions in a residential home, proposing a zero-carbon emission home model (YH) and comparing it to an existing home (RH). It reviews low/zero carbon design technologies, including selection of sustainable construction materials, innovative construction processes, and renewable energy systems like solar PV. The report details the YH and RH designs, considering location, building type, floor plan, and surrounding environment. It estimates annual and total energy and carbon emissions over a 40-year service life, including embodied energy, maintenance-related emissions, and operating carbon emissions related to daily usage. The report also addresses the feasibility and challenges of implementing RH, such as data complexity and capacity constraints of renewable energy technologies. The document is available on Desklib, a platform offering a wide range of study tools and solved assignments for students.

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINAILITY: CREATING AND
BUILDING SUSTAINABLE HOMES
DATED:
SUBMISSION:

1. INTRODUCTION
The government of Australia has set ambitious targets of transforming the renewable energy
markets and boosting the country’s power efficiency while substantially lowering the amount of
carbon emissions. This is in line with the global targets of carbon emissions following the
international ratification of the climate change pact in Paris 2016 (Energy.gov, 2018). The fossil
fuels have greatly contributed to the global menace of climate change as levels of carbon
emissions due to these archaic sources have resulted into the damaging of the ozone layer.
Consequently, it has led to unpredictable climatic patterns and further deterioration of the
existing natural forms of life. However, there is need to conduct a thorough evaluation of the
existing energy consumptions and use this data to design an ideal home that guarantees zero
carbon emissions (European Commission, 2018). However, on a larger scale, it would actually
require great innovation from the stakeholders so as to improve the energy use efficiency and
carbon emissions reduction targets in Australia. The report hereinafter entails the evaluation of
the current consumption and carbon emissions performance in selected residential home. There
are two home models created, that is: YH and RH where YH is the acceptable ideal home where
carbon emissions are zero while RH is the existing home where performance of carbon emission
is to be evaluated. Notably, this will require strategies that are sustainable in order to create ideal
YH. The aim is to design and create a workable model for a zero carbon emission home by
utilizing the sustainable construction practices.

Year
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
-10000
-5000
0
5000
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15000
20000
25000
30000
35000
40000
Consumption (Mwe)
Year on change
Figure 1: Energy consumption for the Victoria state for a 10 year period.
2. REVIEWING THE LOW/ZERO CARBON DESIGN TECHNOLOGY
2.1 Selection of low carbon construction materials
In this section, we select some of the materials that if used could substantially (in a collective
manner) reduce the amount of carbon being released to the atmosphere. Typically, in the walling
element, the type and mode of thermal insulation and the structural adequacy of the walling
materials elements are some of the requirements necessary hence for instance in our proposed
YH we could use the triple glazing instead of double glazing. However, this would add onto the
construction materials costs. Hence tradeoffs are often necessary when selecting the construction
materials such that an optimum selection is attained between cost and performance.
The concrete material often provides better thermal insulation against the external environment.
Therefore, for the walling elements, concrete and brick wall are selected. The walling system
selected is that of the double brick wall cavity with window glass as the main glazing material.

2.2 Innovative construction process
Besides, the construction process has great impacts on the amount of carbon emission. The latest
technology on construction shall be selected. For instance, custom-made roofing is being
preferred to the traditional roofing construction. It reduces the amount of lifting equipment
required in the construction. Additionally, effective material procurement strategies are to be
adopted such that the material inventory on-site is lean.
2.3 Management of operative energy: Consumption and consumption behavior
Check figure 1 for the consumption pattern in Victoria state
2.4 Choice of Renewable Energy System
Selected Solar PV as the most efficient sources
2.5 Recycle and Reuse
Most materials used for construction were 40% recycled such as carpets and floor concrete
3. YH DETAILS
3.1 Developed YH
Location Building type Floor plan Surrounding
environment
In Victoria state,
along Victoria avenue
(Hamilton):
Latitude: 43.23oN
Longitude: 79.95oW
Elevation: 208m
Low rise residential
building for a medium
sized family
As per drawing
attached: Total floor
plan area: 204m2
Bordering a road to
the North, Trees and
shrubs in the South
and other nearby
buildings to the east
and west
3.2 Construction Process
Construction
Material
Elements Construction
process
Heating
/cooling
Hot water Other
appliances

4. RH DETAILS
Location Building type Floor plan Surrounding
environment
In Victoria state,
along Victoria avenue
(Hamilton):
Latitude: 43.23oN
Longitude: 79.95oW
Elevation: 208m
Low rise residential
building for a medium
sized family
As per drawing
attached: Total floor
plan area: 204m2
Bordering a road to
the North, Trees and
shrubs in the South
and other nearby
buildings to the east
and west
Construction
Materials
Elements Construction
process
Heating
/cooling
Hot water Other
appliances
4.1 Reuse and Recycle approach in Construction Materials for RH
4.2 Selection of construction with less carbon emissions for RH
4.3 Energy management design to reduce consumption for heating and cooling
4.4 Energy management design to reduce energy for EC for hot water and appliance
4.5 Selection of on-site renewable energy
5. ANNUAL AND TOTAL ENERGY AND CARBON EMISSION OVER
THE 40 YEAR SERIVE LIFE
5.1 Estimate of embodied energy and Emission of YH and RH
The results in this section are available in the excel sheet attached
5.1.1 EE and EC related to the construction of YH and RH
5.1.2 Energy and carbon emission related to maintenance
5.1.3 Estimate of energy and carbon emission from wastes of YH and RH
5.2 Estimate of operating carbon emission in relation to daily usage for hot water and all
appliances of YH and RH
5.3 Estimate of operating carbon emission in relation to the daily usage for heating and cooling
of YH and RH

5.3.1 Energy plus results
Check the screenshots attached
5.5 HOMER
5.5.1 Designing the on-site renewable energy supply to achieve net zero energy over service life
5.5.2 Output on HOMER model
Check in the screenshots attached

6. FEASIBILITY AND CHALLENGES OF IMPLEMENTING RH
6.1 Implementation challenges
The major challenge was the complexity of data. It was not possible to accommodate the entire
data system and therefore a portion of it was taken for sample representation of the entire work.
Other notable challenges include: capacity constraints on the existing renewable energy
technologies. For example, the government is calling for investments in solar technologies
however currently compared to other technologies it is among the most unreliable sources citing
weather and climatic conditions (Widen, 2018).

6.2 Ways to overcome challenges
Proper planning for energy efficient systems is critical in boosting the performance of the
renewable systems. Besides, the challenge of overreliance on fossil fuels as sources of energy
generation also can be addressed as a long term issue from various industry stakeholders and
government agencies concerned with energy (Energy.gov, 2018). More research work need to be
encouraged among the players and the academicians so that more refined techniques of
harnessing and maintaining clean energy in the industrial and residential homes can be promoted.
Besides, the current power tariffs should be lowered so that more investments can be directed
towards boosting the capacity of renewable energy systems.
References
Energy.gov. (2018). Energy-Efficient Home Design | Department of Energy. [online] Available
at: https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/design/energy-efficient-home-design [Accessed 29
Oct. 2018].
European Commission. (2018). Paris Agreement - Climate Action - European Commission.
[online] Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/international/negotiations/paris_en
[Accessed 29 Oct. 2018].
Widen, K. (2018). Innovation in the Construction Process: Theoretical Framework.[online]
Available at:
http://www.lth.se/fileadmin/byggnadsekonomi/research/licentiate/Widen_Kristian.pdf
[Accessed 29 Oct. 2018].