STRUCTURAL INSULATED PANELSFast becoming staples of the green building industry are pre-assembled structural insulated panels, or SIPs, which replace conventional framing and offer greater energy efficiency, reduced lumber usage, and quicker construction.SIPs are polystyrene foam sandwiched between oriented strand boards that provide structural framing, insulation, and exterior sheathing in one piece. 

• The oriented strand boards are made from wood of fast growing trees and emit very low levels of urea-formaldehyde. 

• The polystyrene foam can also consist of recycled content.

• They can be used as floors, walls, and roofs and provide much greater energy efficiency than insulation in stud walls with an R-value improvement of 15% to 40%. 

BUILDING ENVELOPEA good one will maintain temperatures inside that are different (either hotter or cooler) from the outside, while shielding the occupants and even the building from moisture, air, and heat loss/gain.A building envelope is the invisible seal between the inside and the outside of a home or structure, or the barrier between conditioned and unconditioned space. A solid, energy efficient building envelope will save substantial money on the cost of both heating and cooling your home

There are a large number of ways a home can lose energy, but the good news is there are an equal number of places for you to shore up your building envelope.

Caulking, sealing, and foaming up any kinds of gaps or cracks between the inside and outside is the first place to start

Windows and doors are susceptible to drafts, letting cooler air in during the winter and letting the same air escape during the summer months

GREEN ROOFS

A green roof or living roof is a roof of a building that is partially or completely covered with vegetation and a growing medium, planted over a waterproofing membrane. Green roofs serve several

purposes for a building, such as absorbing rainwater, providing insulation, creating a habitat for wildlife, and helping to lower urban air temperatures and mitigate the heat island effect.

It may also include additional layers such as a root barrier and drainage and irrigation systems.

There are two types of green roofs: intensive roofs, which are thicker and can support a wider variety of plants but are heavier and require more maintenance. extensive roofs, which are covered in a light layer of vegetation and are lighter than an intensive green roof.

ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS OF GREEN ROOF• Reduce heating (by

adding mass and thermal resistance value)

• Reduce cooling (by evaporative cooling) loads on a building by fifty to ninety percent, especially if it is glassed in so as to act as a terrarium and passive solar heat reservoir – a concentration of green roofs in an urban area can even reduce the city's average temperatures during the summer• Reduce storm water run off

ENVIRONMENTAL BENIFITS

• Natural Habitat Creation 

• Filter pollutants and carbon dioxide out of the air which helps lower disease rates such as asthma

• Filter pollutants and heavy metals out of rainwater

• Help to insulate a building for sound; the soil helps to block lower frequencies and the plants block higher frequencies

HEATING

A.DIRECTGAIN B.INDIRECT GAIN C.ISOLATED GAIN

A.DIRECT GAIN

B.INDIRECT GAIN

C.ISOLATED GAIN

ACTIVE SOLAR THERMAL ENERGY SYSTEMS

• Active solar thermal energy systems differ from passive systems in  that they use solar energy, primarily for space and water heating.

• This allows for enhanced collection, storage and use of solar power

• A successful, well-designed active solar system needs:

• An appropriate thermal load such as potable (drinking) water, space heating, or pool heating;

• Collectors such as flate plate solar panels;

• Thermal storage to use heat at a later time; and

• Control to optimise energy collection and storage as well as freeze and overheat protection

GROUND SOURCE HEAT PUMPS

• Ground heat pump is a central heating and/or cooling system that pumps heat to or from the ground.

• It uses the earth as a heat source (in the winter) or a heat sink (in the summer).

• This design takes advantage of the moderate temperatures in the ground to boost efficiency and reduce the operational costs of heating and cooling systems, and may be combined with solar heating to form a geo solar system with even greater efficiency.

GROUND SOURCE HEAT PUMP

• Ground source heat pumps are also known as "geothermal heat pumps" although, strictly, the heat does not come from the centre of the Earth, but from the Sun

A. CROSS VENTILATIONB. STACK VENTILATION C. EVAPORATION COOL TOWERS

COOLING

CROSS VENTILATION

• Cross ventilation is obtained by having windows in both sides of the room, causing airflow across the space.

• This is done with minimal energy consumption and at low cost

• The cross ventilation principle is, like all Natural Ventilation principles, based on the requirement of ensuring a fresh and comfortable indoor climate.

• Positive pressure on the windward and/or a vacuum on the lee side of the building causes air movement across the room(s) from the windward to the lee side, provided the windows on both sides of the room are open.

• Designing for cross ventilation in buildings allows for passive cooling and reduces the reliance on air-conditioning.

B. STACK VENTILATION

o High level louvres provide stack ventilation where there is low wind conditions.o Dedicated natural ventilation openings.o Excellent cross flow ventilationo Landscaped roof provides evaporative cooling in the summer and insulation in the wintero Timber floor from a sustainable source such as bamboo flooringo Natural paints containing no VOC'sHigh performance glazing

C.EVAPORATION COOL TOWERS

The principle of night ventilation: The mass of the building is cooled at night to provide a heat sink for internal gains during the day.

NIGHT VENTILATION OF THERMAL MASS

• Night ventilation is the use of the cold night air to cool down the structure of a building so that it can absorb heat gains in the daytime ,this reduces the daytime temperature rise.

It is usually applied to buildings that are not

occupied at night, although an occupied

building would probably be ventilated

anyway

Why use it?

• Night ventilation is an overheating prevention strategy which uses little or no fossil energy, and together with other passive strategies such as natural ventilation and shading , can avoid the use of air-conditioning.

• This saves energy (and CO2 emissions), and once set-up would require lower maintenance than mechanical systems.

• It may not, however, be without initial costs, since the requirement for ducts and controls may represent an additional cost.

The average diurnal temperature swing must be at least 5oK, and preferably greater than 7oK.

The building must have thermal mass that can be coupled to external air.

• The same thermal mass must be able to be coupled to the occupied space.

How to use it?

• A ventilation flow path of low resistance (i.e. large openings and large cross-section ducts) can be incorporated into the building so that it can be driven by stack effect and/or wind pressure. Or fans must be installed to enhance flow when needed.

EARTH COOLING TUBES

Indoor Air QualityIn a warm, humid region, it is possible for humidity to condense in the tube creating a good environment for mild growth.

• Cooler earth temperature is transferred to air brought into a house through a tube(s) buried in the ground.

• Outside air is brought through the tube(s) either by fans or natural convection.

Earth Tube Guidelines

• Small diameter tubes are more effective than large diameter tubes per unit surface area.

• Multiple small tubes optimize performance. Parallel 12 inch tubes typically offer the highest energy and cost efficiencies. (Two 300-foot 12″ tubes in parallel or a single 500- foot 18″ tube perform similarly.)

• Long tubes are not needed. The air temperature in the tube reaches the ground temperature quickly.

• Tubes should be placed as deep as possible.

• Using a closed loop by circulating the house air through the earth tube results in the best efficiency and reduces problems with humidity condensing inside the tubes.

• The tube material is not a factor in the system’s cooling effectiveness. Plastic or metal materials will perform equally.

• Moist soil conditions enhance the system’s performance.

• An earth tube system is typically not competitive with mechanical air conditioning on solely an economic basis.

• Circulating water through underground pipes eliminates the threat of contamination from molds. The water can be used to cool thermal mass in the house or as the cooling source for an air handler system.

Earth Tube Guidelines

WINTER

SUMMER

EARTH SHELTERINGA building can be described as earth-sheltered if its external envelope is in contact with a thermally significant volume of soil or substrate .

• There may be said to be three forms of earth-sheltered building: -

• Earth-covered• Earth-bunded• Subterranean

EARTH SHELTERING

• A subterranean building is one where the thermally significant element insulates all elevations of the building, leaving only the roof exposed;

An earth-sheltered building may be designed to combine some or all of these forms.

• An earth-bunded building is one where the thermally significant element insulates one or more of the sheltered elevations of the building. The bunding can be partial or total.

• An earth-covered building is one where the thermally effective element is placed solely on the roof, but is more usually a continuation of the earth-bunding at the unexposed elevations of the building.

ABSORPTION CHILLERS

New, Adsorption Chiller uses a very Green Refrigerant (WATER) to provide a source of safe efficient energy conservation by utilizing waste heat to drive an Adsorption chiller to replace toxic and very maintenance intensive LiBr absorption chiller.Using solar heat and the waste heat from various processes including: food (poultry, dairy products, juice, and breweries), chemical, plastic, rubber, paper and cement can enhance the heat balance of the process.

• Waste heat from cogeneration systems (diesel engine, gas engine, gas turbine, or fuel cell) achieves tri-generation.

• Additionally, steam boilers, used year round, in hospitals and hotels can utilize their excess heat to cool their facilities.

The Adsorption Chiller contains only water as a refrigerant and a proprietary, permanent silica gel (lasts 30 years) as an adsorbent. The evaporator section cools the chilled water by the refrigerant (water) being evaporated by adsorption of the silica gel in one of two adsorbent chambers. It can produce chilled water temperatures of less than 38F with hot water temperatures ranging from 194 to as low as 122F.

The hot water regenerates the silica gel in the second of the two adsorbent chambers.

The water vapor released from the silica gel by the hot water will be condensed in the condenser section, which is cooled by cooling water, such as, from a cooling tower.