Green building : Zero energy building, Low energy house

Green building

Green Buildings are also known as high performance or sustainable building. 

It is the practice of creating structures and using processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building's life-cycle: from sitting to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation, and deconstruction.

A Zero Energy Building (ZEB) is one that generates as much power as it consumes over a year. When it comes to energy generation the main sources today are solar, wind and geothermal. 

(Only energy demand for space heating, domestic hot water and cooling were accounted in the ‘zero’.)

A low-energy house is any type of house that from design, technologies and building products uses less energy, from any source, than a traditional or average contemporary house.

Passive solar homes are designed to take advantage of local climates by maximizing the energy from the sun to heat and cool the home.

This concept is still generic and there is no fixed definition framework about what is really a Net Zero Energy Building? Many countries are facing alarming challenges in meeting its energy needs. India is currently facing electricity shortage of 14%. Around the world there are many initiatives to improve energy performance of building with names such as “net zero energy building”, “low energy building”, “green building” etc. As explained above that these term have different meaning.
Over the decades, in many articles and research projects number of ZEB’s were described and evaluated, however almost for each case the ZEB was defined different or sometimes even no exact definition was used. Recently, the lack of common understanding and common definition for ZEB became noticeable and the world wide discussion has begun.

Very little work is available about the design of net ZEBs in hot/tropical countries, as well.

The Design Process:

Energy generation system- To achieve zero energy, balance of energy consumption by the use of renewable energy on the site and on an annual basis must be done. We can do this by having knowledge of local climate, orientation of Sun, roof insulation, wall insulation and others method. 

One can try to minimize the heating and electricity consumption of the house - the cheapest energy option.

You may reduce that to zero with broad methods below:

Solar photovoltaic (PV) panels.Sun delivers 9000 Kw-hours per square meter per day on Earth. Solar panels convert this into electricity, Since our energy consumption is varies from 200 kWh to 1000 kWh per month depending upon people,  we can use 2 kW to 10 kW PV plate to generate electricity to fulfill this much need.


Building and its envelope design.

Placement of large windows on north side of facade to enhance day lighting in the building. These types of shape and construction methods used will eliminate the need for any heating. This normally accounts for around 30% of a standard home's energy use (and bill). Gas filled windows and others insulation method will be adopted in envelope design.

Geothermal Energy. 

Geothermal energy is defined as energy which is generates from ground sources or heat of ground. It is substitute of air condition machine or heat pump. There are two type of loop of heat pump installation:
1. Horizontal loop 
2. Vertical loop
                                                    
Process includes Location and site characteristics, Description of the climate, Goals and initial design, Basic design parameters, Fine-tuning: Parametric modeling study, Floor plans, Construction details, Infiltration and ventilation
The Space Heating and Cooling System, Modeling and performance evaluation, The Domestic Hot Water System

Renewable sources and their potential for supplying electricity

Today, many countries like India is following an active policy for developing the use of renewable energy sources for providing energy in the form of heat and electricity. Solar thermal power and PV power Solar energy is utilized directly via the thermal and PV routes. Solar thermal applications include water heating, space heating, drying, cooking, etc. Geothermal power can use through heat pump instead of air condition machine.



Green building : Zero energy building, Low energy house Green building : Zero energy building, Low energy house Reviewed by AwarenessBOX on 11:46 Rating: 5

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