Technically, a green building which is also recognized as the green construction or sustainable building is one of the current structures that make use of a modern approach which is responsible for the environment, besides being effective and efficient when it comes to the making use of resources in its entire life cycle. Everything starts from site selection, maintaining, operating, constructing and demolishing and even renovating and for this to be realized, the engineer, the client, the architecture and the whole design teams are supposed to cooperate closely in all the stages of development. With the motive to achieve sustainability, practicing of Green Building is expands and complements the conventional building design, durability, areas, economy, and utility (Howe).
Zero Energy building which is also recognized as a net zero building with an energy consumption which Ideally Most zero net energy structure acquire almost half or even more than half of the heat and energy used generated from the grid hence returning the same amount of energy or even half the amount the at other times. Zero Buildings that generate more than enough of energy over the year may be recognized as the energy plus building and structures that are consuming slightly higher, even more, energy than the one they are producing are known as the "near-zero energy structures ultra-low energy building (Burnard).
Technically, when it comes to the development of the zero energy building the completion of the whole structure is possible through progress that is achieved not only in construction technologies and new techniques, but it has been importantly made improvement of it through academic research which can facilitate in the collection precise energy performance indicators for advanced computers models when it comes to the efficacy of engineering design efficacy.
The design of zero energy building is done uniquely by splitting the building system boundary into a physical boundary which will determine the appropriate renewable sources to be used. The design also shows how many buildings will be included in the balance. A balance boundary will be developed which determines the included energy uses such as for cooling, heating, lighting, ventilation or central services (Yuan). A hierarchy of renewable energy supply options should be created because of availability over a long time of the building and importance of transportation and conversion effort.
The weight system will convert the physical units of various energy used into uniform metrics which will make easier to make comparison and compensation among each other. The uniform metrics include site or final, energy cost and equivalent carbon emissions. The comparison such as exported PV electricity will try to compensate imported biomass. The time dependent conversion is allowed to take place which can affect the relative value of energy carriers. This, in the long run, can impact on the desired energy generation capacity.
The balancing of energy in the buildings is done annually because it allows for complete uses of all operation energy. Seasonal balancing periods can also be done to assist in balance over the entire lifecycle. Balancing of energy in the building is done through the balance of imported and exported energy or balance between power generation and energy demand. In balancing both exported and imported energy, there must be the inclusion of monitoring phase to act as self-consumption of energy generated within site. The balance of energy demand and energy generation is necessary for design phase because of temporal consumption patterns of different users (Chen).
To make it cheaper, the passive solar is combined with artificial conditioning which is available at the on-site assets. The building is designed to provide solar heat and sunlight from below the building with less mechanical means. The passive solar which is combined with thermal mass is used to control diurnal temperature variations in the building. The feature achieves significant in energy saving within the building.
The water conservation features, solar water heating, and heat recovery units are used to lower water heating loads in the building. Solar tubes are used to provide daytime illumination without adding any unnecessary heat. Amid of growing concern about the rising cost of energy and the influence of climate changes, studies have shown that the primary energy consumption in the United States is buildings (Hay). As such, relevant bodies have now shifted their attention to buildings as an essential lead to reduce energy consumption in the United States and other regions of the world. The design of the building can play a significant role in reducing energy consumption through an incorporation of energy efficient strategies. Engineers have now developed net zero energy building which is highly energy efficient buildings that are capable of using throughout the year, renewable technology to produce enough energy same as what they consume from the grid. The major key while designing this building is to reduce the demand for energy as much as possible and at the same time, coming up with good sources of energy (Hay).
The zero energy buildings have some features that distinguish them from normal design of the house to enable them to achieve the intended purpose which is energy efficiency. The first feature is the use of laminated glue timber which acts as main structural components that are used instead of concrete and steel with the aim of reducing the overall weight of the building and reduced damage if a natural disaster occurs. The buildings further have green roofs with the local plant which acts as an insulator and at the same time as a cooling system. The water is stored on the roof in the small container to water the plants that produce the green insulation.
The third feature is the use of hollow blocks with concrete that acts as anti-bacterial and has a magnificent insulation property which is provided in the blocks to prevent the loss of energy. The primary functions of a hollow block are to trap moisture and also act as an insulator. Fabrics are used on the roof that provides airspace between the roof and fabric material which have expansion characteristic thus providing a cave-shaped roof. Foam is also utilized in the roofing system since it possesses insulation properties that enable the air below the roof to become cooler during a summer season. There is also a vapor barrier located above the foam, and above it, there is 2.0-inch air space. This creates a path for the air to pass in the roof thus creating a warmer environment, and the apple grilles pass the hot air inside the house thus creating a friendly environment (Council, US Green Building).
Some pipes pass through down the concrete floor which is heated by the installed solar panels thus producing a warm concrete floor. There is a well-designed rainwater system that collects the water that is used for such purposes and thus saving on water usage related cost. Furthermore, there are solar integrated roof panels that act as the source of hot water although sometimes the sun can heat the water directly. To make the water temperature safe for use, a system is installed that mixes the cold water and hot water. The system is also designed in a way that when the sunshine is not enough, there is the scarcity of hot water and it is this period that the stored hot water backup is used which mixes with cold water to make it safer. Lastly, to maintain the required humidity inside the building, the wall is plastered with a unique green material that has the capability of absorbing moisture and thus keeping humidity in the house (Council, US Green Building).
Work cited
Howe, J. Cullen. "Overview of green buildings." National Wetlands Newsletter33.1 (2010): 3-14.
Burnard, Michael D., et al. "Building material naturalness: perceptions from Finland, Norway and Slovenia." Indoor and Built Environment 26.1 (2017): 92-107.
Li, Yuan Yuan, et al. "Exploration of critical resources and capabilities of design firms for delivering green building projects: Empirical studies in Singapore." Habitat International 41 (2014): 229-235.
Chen, Yu-Luen. Influence of implementing design of intelligence green buildings on congregate housing price-an application to Banqiao district, New Taipei City. Diss. Masters thesis, Chinese Culture University, Taipei, Taiwan). Retrieved from http://ir. lib. pccu. edu. tw/handle/987654321/28284, 2014.
Hay, Andrew, and Robert Parlane. "Okanagan College Centre of excellence in sustainable building technologies and renewable energy conservation." Journal of Green Building 6.1 (2011): 14-24.
Council, US Green Building. "Green Building and Climate Resilience." Ann Arbor 1001 (2011): 48109.
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