Technologies for Green Buildings

Buildings are responsible for up to 40% of energy use in most countries, and the demand for energy is soaring as construction booms, especially in developing countries. This means buildings can make a major contribution to tackling climate change and energy use by applying the knowledge and technology to reduce the energy and carbon emission of buildings. This is the concept of green buildings. 

The most significant, long-term gains will come from using less energy, and to achieve this it is important to:

• Make energy more valued by those involved in the development, operation and use of buildings.
• Transform behaviour by educating and motivating building professionals and users.

Principles and Concepts of Green Buildings

The term “energy efficiency” refers to reduced energy consumption for acceptable levels of comfort, air quality and other occupancy requirements. This includes the embodied energy in the building materials and construction, and technology spread over the whole life of the building.

The basic goal of designing green buildings is: attractive, comfortable, affordable shelter that does no harm to the Earth by:

• Reducing impacts on the Earth from constructing buildings and their materials.
• Reducing impacts which arise during occupancy.
• Reducing the impact of the structure at the end of its life.
• Creating a more desirable human experience.

To achieve the above goals, green buildings aim to incorporate some of the following principles and concepts:

• Sustainable/durable/low maintenance building design and operation:
• Design and build for long service life;
• The building must be “future proof” – access channels all around the structure  to easily upgrade and add future technology;
• Energy efficiency and conservation; Work towards eliminating dependence on external sources of energy;
• Site/land management, reclamation and conservation;
• Water efficiency, management and conservation;
• Improved indoor and outdoor air quality;
• Minimum use of non-renewable, energy intensive building materials like steel, brick, vinyl, aluminium;
• Locally source materials and components in order to minimise transportation impacts and create local jobs;
• Re-use of building materials and products.

Achieving energy efficiency in buildings will depend on the building type. In offices you need to address lighting and heating, ventilation, air-conditioning, security and IT.

How are Green Buildings Energy Efficient?

The most obvious way to work towards energy efficiency and hence carbon neutrality is to employ techniques for:

• Temperature control: Comfortable indoor temperatures can be achieved by the use of effective passive heating and cooling systems which harness natural ventilation and shading.
• Lighting Control: use of glass roofs and panels to control natural lighting in a building.
• Water conservation: use of “Dirty water” for irrigation, cooling and flushing toilets.
• Carbon Emission Reduction”Green or Living roofs”: installation of roof gardens to help control building heating and cooling and producing oxygen.
• Biomimicry: the concept of copying designs and innovations found in nature. (E.g. The Eastgate Centre in Harare, Zimbabwe is using a ventilation system based on a termite mound)

Technology will always have an influence on the way we build and operate buildings, the vast majority of energy consumption occurs during a building’s occupation. Thanks in part to Internet Protocol-based (IP) networks, new digital technologies are ready to make dramatic contributions in how buildings function, particularly in reducing their energy consumption, carbon emission and improving security. These systems may include building automation, life safety, telecommunications, user systems and facility management systems.

The green building must have a smart backbone that will support not only today’s technology but tomorrow’s as well. Structured cabling to support data and telephony systems as well as security, access control and lighting need to be an integral part of the building plan and construction.

A converged infrastructure based on the principles of Green IT will help you make the most of your building management requirement by reducing complexity, cost, energy consumption and carbon emissions.

Contact KSS and get your green building initiative started today!