Chapter 3

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CHAPTER NO.3

ECO CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES

& STRATEGIES TO DESIGN AN ECO INDUSTRIAL PARK

3.1. SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE, CONSTRUCTION AND PLANNING

Sustainable architecture is architecture which is designed in an environmentally

friendly way. The goal of sustainable or ―green‖ architecture is to create structures which

are beautiful and functional, but which also contribute to a sustainable lifestyle and

culture. Interest in sustainable architecture grew radically in the early 21st century in

response to growing concerns about the environment, but in fact people have been

building sustainably for thousands of years, because sustainable projects are often

pra1ctical in nature.

A truly sustainable building will have a design which addresses a number of

issues, including heating and cooling, water usage, environmental quality, and energy

usage. Architects can deal with environmental aspects of building construction in a

variety of ways, all of which are designed to increase efficiency without being

cumbersome or detracting from the function of the building.

Much of sustainable architecture focuses on building intelligently. For example, a

building may be oriented towards the south in the northern hemisphere so that the

building will be warmed through the day by the sun, and a building may be insulated with

extra care to minimize heat loss. Plumbing systems may be designed to utilize less water

while still functioning normally, and the building might include smart lighting which

turns off when people are not around to save energy.

Installing green roofs or living walls is another example of sustainable architecture.

These projects increase heating and cooling efficiency, help scrub the air, and look

aesthetically interesting, making them beneficial from many points of view. Other

1 Source:what-is-sustainable-architecture.htm

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sustainable architecture trends include the use of geothermal energy for heating,

reclaimed water for flushing toilets, and other innovative techniques which are designed

to reduce the environmental footprint of a building.

Many architects build sustainably to show people that it is possible, and to illustrate the

fact that being environmentally friendly does not have to make a building ugly. In fact,

many of the measures which increase efficiency can make a building more interesting

and beautiful to look at, and they can also improve quality of life for users of the

building. A courtyard with plants, for example, can be a good sustainability move, and it

also creates a pleasant outdoor space for people to use.

Anything from a private home to a towering office building can be constructed with

sustainable ideals in mind. Sustainable architecture principles can also be applied to the

retrofitting and remodeling of existing structures, because conversion is more

environmentally friendly than demolition and rebuilding in most cases. Many

governments provide incentives for people who address sustainability issues in

construction projects, which have contributed to the rise of sustainable architecture

around the world.

From manufacturing with a smaller emissions footprint, enhancing biodiversity and water

conservation, to designing and delivering more energy efficient products and systems for

energy efficient building, from conserving natural resources through recycling materials

and enhancing deconstruction methods, to how materials are delivered, lafarge wants to

be a key player in sustainable construction.

Sustainable construction is one of the key levers for reducing worldwide energy

consumption, since energy used in the building sector accounts for approximately 38% of

worldwide total energy consumption - more than in transport or industry.

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Almost 85% of the energy used in buildings is consumed during the use of the building

from operation, maintenance and renovation, and only 15% of the total energy is a result

of the materials manufacturing, transportation, construction and demolition.

To address the 85% of energy used in buildings, lafarge is committed to drive the change

from materials to solutions which will bring sustainability, energy savings, and comfort

improvements.

3.2 WATER

Water is a transparent fluid which forms the world's streams, lakes, oceans and rain,

and is the major constituent of the fluids of living things. As a chemical compound,

a water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms that are connected

by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at standard ambient temperature and pressure, but it

often co-exists on earth with its solid state, ice; and gaseous state, steam (water vapor).

Water covers 71% of the earth's surface. It is vital for all known forms of life. On earth,

96.5% of the planet's water is found in seas and oceans, 1.7% in groundwater, 1.7% in

glaciers and the ice caps of Antarctica and Greenland, a small fraction in other large

water bodies, and 0.001% in the air as vapor, clouds (formed of solid and liquid water

particles suspended in air), and precipitation.[2][3]

only 2.5% of the earth's water

is freshwater, and 98.8% of that water is in ice and groundwater. Less than 0.3% of all

freshwater is in rivers, lakes, and the atmosphere, and an even smaller amount of the

earth's freshwater (0.003%) is contained within biological bodies and manufactured

products. Water on earth moves continually through the water

cycle of evaporation and transpiration (evapotranspiration), condensation,precipitation,

and runoff, usually reaching the sea. Evaporation and transpiration contribute to the

precipitation over land. Water used in the production of a good or service is known

as virtual water.

Safe drinking water is essential to humans and other life forms even though it provides

no calories or organic nutrients. Access to safe drinking water has improved over the last

decades in almost every part of the world, but approximately one billion people still lack

access to safe water and over 2.5 billion lack accesses to adequate sanitation. There is a

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clear correlation between access to safe water and gross domestic product per

capita. However, some observers have estimated that by 2025 more than half of the world

population will be facing water-based vulnerability. A report, issued in november 2009,

suggests that by 2030, in some developing regions of the world, water demand will

exceed supply by 50%. Water plays an important role in the world economy, as it

functions as a solvent for a wide variety of chemical substances and facilitates industrial

cooling and transportation. Approximately 70% of the fresh water used by humans goes

to agriculture.

3.3 RAIN WATER HARVESTING

Rainwater harvesting is a technology used for collecting and storing rainwater from

rooftops, the land surface or rock catchments using simple techniques such as jars and

pots as well as more complex techniques such as underground check dams. The

techniques usually found in Asia and Africa arise from practices employed by ancient

civilizations within these regions and still serve as a major source of drinking water

supply in rural areas. Commonly used systems are constructed of three principal

components; namely, the catchment area, the collection device, and the conveyance

system.

3.3.1 CATCHMENT AREAS

Rooftop catchments: in the most basic form of this technology, rainwater is collected

in simple vessels at the edge of the roof. Variations on this basic approach include

collection of rainwater in gutters which drain to the collection vessel through down-pipes

constructed for this purpose, and/or the diversion of rainwater from the gutters to

containers for settling particulates before being conveyed to the storage container for the

domestic use. As the rooftop is the main catchment area, the amount and quality of

rainwater collected depends on the area and type of roofing material. Reasonably pure

rainwater can be collected from roofs constructed with galvanized corrugated iron,

aluminium or asbestos cement sheets, tiles and slates, although thatched roofs tied with

bamboo gutters and laid in proper slopes can produce almost the same amount of runoff

less expensively (Gould, 1992). However, the bamboo roofs are least suitable because of

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possible health hazards. Similarly, roofs with metallic paint or other coatings are not

recommended as they may impart tastes or colour to the collected water. Roof catchments

should also be cleaned regularly to remove dust, leaves and bird droppings so as to

maintain the quality of the product water.

LAND SURFACE CATCHMENTS:

Rainwater harvesting using ground or land surface catchment areas is less

complex way of collecting rainwater. It involves improving runoff capacity of the land

surface through various techniques including collection of runoff with drain pipes and

storage of collected water. Compared to rooftop catchment techniques, ground catchment

techniques provide more opportunity for collecting water from a larger surface area. By

retaining the flows (including flood flows) of small creeks and streams in small storage

reservoirs (on surface or underground) created by low cost (e.g., earthen) dams, this

technology can meet water demands during dry periods. There is a possibility of high

rates of water loss due to infiltration into the ground, and, because of the often marginal

quality of the water collected, this technique is mainly suitable for storing water for

agricultural purposes. Various techniques available for increasing the runoff within

ground catchment areas involve: i) clearing or altering vegetation cover, ii) increasing the

land slope with artificial ground cover, and iii) reducing soil permeability by the soil

compaction and application of chemicals .

Clearing or altering vegetation cover: clearing vegetation from the ground can increase

surface runoff but also can induce more soil erosion. Use of dense vegetation cover such

as grass is usually suggested as it helps to both maintain a high rate of runoff and

minimize soil erosion.

Increasing slope: steeper slopes can allow rapid runoff of rainfall to the collector.

However, the rate of runoff has to be controlled to minimise soil erosion from the

catchment field. Use of plastic sheets, asphalt or tiles along with slope can further

increase efficiency by reducing both evaporative losses and soil erosion. The use of flat

sheets of galvanized iron with timber frames to prevent corrosion was recommended and

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constructed in the state of Victoria, Australia, about 65 years ago (Kenyon, 1929; cited in

unep, 1982).

Soil compaction by physical means: this involves smoothing and compacting of soil

surface using equipment such as graders and rollers. To increase the surface runoff and

minimize soil erosion rates, conservation bench terraces are constructed along a slope

perpendicular to runoff flow. The bench terraces are separated by the sloping collectors

and provision is made for distributing the runoff evenly across the field strips as sheet

flow. Excess flows are routed to a lower collector and stored (unep, 1982).

Soil compaction by chemical treatments: in addition to clearing, shaping and compacting

a catchment area, chemical applications with such soil treatments as sodium can

significantly reduce the soil permeability. Use of aqueous solutions of a silicone-water

repellent is another technique for enhancing soil compaction technologies. Though soil

permeability can be reduced through chemical treatments, soil compaction can induce

greater rates of soil erosion and may be expensive. Use of sodium-based chemicals may

increase the salt content in the collected water, which may not be suitable both for

drinking and irrigation purposes2.

3.3.2 COLLECTION DEVICES

Storage tanks: storage tanks for collecting rainwater harvested using guttering may be

either above or below the ground. Precautions required in the use of storage tanks include

provision of an adequate enclosure to minimise contamination from human, animal or

other environmental contaminants, and a tight cover to prevent algal growth and the

breeding of mosquitoes. Open containers are not recommended for collecting water for

drinking purposes. Various types of rainwater storage facilities can be found in practice.

Among them are cylindrical fibrocement tanks and mortar jars. The fibrocement tank

consists of a lightly reinforced concrete base on which is erected a circular vertical

cylinder with a 10 mm steel base. This cylinder is further wrapped in two layers of light

2 http://www.lafarge.com/wps/portal/2_7_2-ambitions-2020-construction-durable-et-villes

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wire mesh to form the frame of the tank. Mortar jars are large jar shaped vessels

constructed from wire reinforced mortar. The storage capacity needed should be

calculated to take into consideration the length of any dry spells, the amount of rainfall,

and the per capita water consumption rate. In most of the Asian countries, the winter

months are dry, sometimes for weeks on end, and the annual average rainfall can occur

within just a few days. In such circumstances, the storage capacity should be large

enough to cover the demands of two to three weeks. For example, a three person

household should have a minimum capacity of 3 (persons) x 90 (l) x 20.

RAINFALL WATER CONTAINERS: as an alternative to storage tanks, battery tanks

(i.e., interconnected tanks) made of pottery, fibrocement, or polyethylene may be

suitable. The polyethylene tanks are compact but have a large storage capacity (ca. 1000

to 2 000 l), are easy to clean and have many openings which can be fitted with fittings for

connecting pipes. In Asia, jars made of earthen materials or fibrocement tanks are

commonly used. During the 1980s, the use of rainwater catchment technologies,

especially roof catchment systems, expanded rapidly in a number of regions, including

Thailand where more than ten million 2 m3 fibrocement rainwater jars were built and

many tens of thousands of larger fibrocement tanks were constructed between 1991 and

1993. Early problems with the jar design were quickly addressed by including a metal

cover using readily available, standard brass fixtures. The immense success of the jar

programme springs from the fact that the technology met a real need, was affordable, and

invited community participation. The programme also captured the imagination and

support of not only the citizens, but also of government at both local and national levels

as well as community based organizations, small-scale enterprises and donor agencies.

The introduction and rapid promotion of bamboo reinforced tanks, however, was less

successful because the bamboo was attacked by termites, bacteria and fungus. More than

50 000 tanks were built between 1986 and 1993 (mainly in Thailand and Indonesia)

before a number started to fail, and, by the late 1980s, the bamboo reinforced tank design,

which had promised to provide an excellent low-cost alternative to fibrocement tanks,

had to be abandoned.

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3.3.3 CONVEYANCE SYSTEMS

Conveyance systems are required to transfer the rainwater collected on the rooftops to

the storage tanks. This is usually accomplished by making connections to one or more

down-pipes connected to the rooftop gutters. When selecting a conveyance system,

consideration should be given to the fact that, when it first starts to rain, dirt and debris

from the rooftop and gutters will be washed into the down-pipe. Thus, the relatively clean

water will only be available some time later in the storm. There are several possible

choices to selectively collect clean water for the storage tanks. The most common is the

down-pipe flap. With this flap it is possible to direct the first flush of water flow through

the down-pipe, while later rainfall is diverted into a storage tank. When it starts to rain,

the flap is left in the closed position, directing water to the down-pipe, and, later, opened

when relatively clean water can be collected. A great disadvantage of using this type of

conveyance control system is the necessity to observe the runoff quality and manually

operate the flap. An alternative approach would be to automate the opening of the flap as

described below.

A funnel-shaped insert is integrated into the down-pipe system. Because the upper edge

of the funnel is not in direct contact with the sides of the down-pipe, and a small gap

exists between the down-pipe walls and the funnel, water is free to flow both around the

funnel and through the funnel. When it first starts to rain, the volume of water passing

down the pipe is small, and the *dirty* water runs down the walls of the pipe, around the

funnel and is discharged to the ground as is normally the case with rainwater guttering.

However, as the rainfall continues, the volume of water increases and *clean* water fills

the down-pipe. At this higher volume, the funnel collects the clean water and redirects it

to a storage tank. The pipes used for the collection of rainwater, wherever possible,

should be made of plastic, pvc or other inert substance, as the ph of rainwater can be low

(acidic) and could cause corrosion, and mobilization of metals, in metal pipes.

In order to safely fill a rainwater storage tank, it is necessary to make sure that excess

water can overflow, and that blockages in the pipes or dirt in the water do not cause

damage or contamination of the water supply. The design of the funnel system, with the

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drain-pipe being larger than the rainwater tank feed-pipe, helps to ensure that the water

supply is protected by allowing excess water to bypass the storage tank. A modification

of this design is shown in figure 5, which illustrates a simple overflow/bypass system. In

this system, it also is possible to fill the tank from a municipal drinking water source, so

that even during a prolonged drought the tank can be kept full. Care should be taken,

however, to ensure that rainwater does not enter the drinking water distribution system.

3.4 WASTE

Waste and wastes are terms for unwanted materials. Examples include municipal

solid waste (household trash/refuse), hazardous waste, wastewater (such as sewage,

which contains bodily wastes, or surface runoff), radioactive waste, and others. The term

is often subjective (because waste to one person is not necessarily waste to another) and

sometimes objectively inaccurate (for example, to send scrap metals to a landfill is to

inaccurately classify them as waste, because they are recyclable). The terms can have

various connotations, including pejorative tone (for example, "this spoiled food is nothing

but waste now") or a squandering of potential (for example, "growing residential lawns in

the desert is a waste of water").

3.4.1 SEWAGE

Wastewater from your shower, bathtub, washing machine, dishwasher, kitchen sink

and toilet is all considered sewage - it isn't just from the toilet. Interestingly, sewage is

actually 99.8% water.

A typical 4-person household produces around 400–500 litres of sewage every day.

Liquid waste from business and industry – also known as trade waste – is considered

sewage or wastewater as well.

"Sewerage" on the other hand refers to the system of pipes, pumping stations and

treatment facilities that collect and treat sewage.

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3.4.2 SEWAGE TREATMENT

Wastewater from homes and businesses is conveyed to a wastewater treatment

plant through a series of pipes and pump stations.

We then treat the wastewater before it is reused or discharged to rivers in accordance

with the high standards determined by the Environment Protection Authority.

PRE-TREATMENT – This mechanical process is used to remove foreign objects from

the sewage such as rags and grit.

PRIMARY TREATMENT – This process step involves hydraulically slowing down the

sewage to allow the solids to settle out and fats and grease to be skimmed off the top.

SECONDARY TREATMENT – This step involves biologically removing small

contaminants in the sewage through the use of bacteria. Tanks known as clarifiers are

then used to help remove the bacteria from the clear liquid. At some treatment plants,

chemical addition is required to help remove some nutrients.

TERTIARY TREATMENT – This step involves disinfecting the clear liquid to kill off

any harmful organisms. We then use ultra violet light to carry out this process.

Once the sewage has been treated, clear effluent is then reused on land or discharged to

waterways.

3.4.3 RECYCLED WATER

Recycled or reclaimed water is important in securing the reliability of water

resources. It’s wastewater that has undergone treatment. Once treated and tested in

accordance with Environment Protection Authority guidelines it can be returned back

into the environment or used to irrigate parks, sports grounds, industrial facilities and

agricultural crops.

Wastewater is supplied to a local business to grow willow trees that provide the timber

for cricket bat manufacture, and for irrigation on the Dayles ford reclaimed water

irrigation farm.

Recycled water has been used to irrigate the local golf course, parks and gardens and

more recently local farmland.

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At Avoca, Ballan and Clunes recycled water is used to grow a range of crops including

Lucerne and other fodder crops.

3.4.4 BIOGASS

The term 'biogas' is commonly used to refer to a gas which has been produced by the

biological breakdown of organic matter in the absence of oxygen. The gases methane,

hydrogen and carbon monoxide can be combusted or oxidized with oxygen and the

resultant energy release allows biogas to be used as a fuel.

The gases methane, hydrogen, and carbon monoxide (CO) can be combusted or oxidized

with oxygen. This energy release allows biogas to be used as a fuel; it can be used for any

heating purpose, such as cooking. It can also be used in a gas engine to convert the

energy in the gas into electricity and heat.[2]

Biogas can be compressed, the same way natural gas is compressed to CNG, and used to

power motor vehicles. In the UK, for example, biogas is estimated to have the potential to

replace around 17% of vehicle fuel. It qualifies for renewable energy subsidiesin some

parts of the world. Biogas can be cleaned and upgraded to natural gas standards when it

becomes bio methane

3.4.5 What is Biogas made from?

Biogas is a commonly used biofuel around the world and is generated through the

process of anaerobic digestion or the fermentation of biodegradable materials such as

biomass, manure, sewage, municipal waste, rubbish dumps, septic tanks, green waste and

energy crops. This type of biogas comprises primarily methane and carbon dioxide. The

actual composition of biogas will vary depending upon the origin of the anaerobic

digestion process – ie the feedstock.

Anaerobic digesters can be fed with energy crops such as biodegradable wastes including

sewage sludge and food waste. An air-tight tank transforms the biomass waste into

methane producing renewable energy which can then be used for heating, electricity, and

many other operations that use any variation of an internal combustion engine.

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One particular type of biogas is known as 'landfill gas' (LFG) or 'digestor gas'. LFG is

produced by wet organic waste decomposing under anaerobic conditions in a landfill. In

the same way that a compost heap works, the waste is covered and then compressed by

the weight of the new material that is deposited on top. This material prevents the oxygen

from escaping and encourages the anaerobic microbes to thrive. The gas slowly builds up

and is released into the atmosphere if the landfill site has not been engineered to capture

the gas.

It is important for many reasons to ensure that landfill gas is contained – firstly, LFG

becomes explosive when it escapes from the landfill and mixes with oxygen and

secondly, the methane contained within biogas is 20 times more potent as a greenhouse

gas than carbon dioxide - so uncontained landfill gas may actually significantly

contribute to the effects of global warming3.

3.5 DESIGNS FOR ENVIRONMENT

Architects and engineers seeking to apply sustainable design principles in their

work have a growing range of environmental options, specifications, and data available.

A work like the American Institute of Architects’ Environmental Resource Guide

provides a wealth of possibilities. With so much data, designers need better tools to

support their complex decision-making process.

Design for Environment (DFE) offers one approach to decision support for designers. It

has evolved out of concurrent engineering and product life-cycle analysis as a vital

stream of industrial ecology. Initially, DFE developers have applied this approach to all

potential environmental implications of a product or process being designed—energy and

materials used; manufacture and packaging; transportation; consumer use, reuse or

recycling; and disposal. DFE tools enable consideration of these implications at every

step of the production process from chemical design, process engineering, procurement

practices, and end-product specification to post-use disposal. DFE also enables designers

3 http://www.biofuelsassociation.com.au/what-is-biogas-made-from

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to consider traditional design issues of cost, quality, manufacturing process, and

efficiency as part of the same decision system.

Two industrial ecologists, Braden Allenby and Thomas Graedel, have extended their

application of DFE to industrial facility design. (Allenby and Graedel 1994) As in the

electronics applications, they recommend a largely qualitative rather than quantitative

approach. They believe the design task is generally too complex to lend itself to

quantitative analysis. In complex design situations, they state, "Quantitative models

simply eliminate too much information that could be valuable to the designer in reaching

design decisions." In addition, too many value-judgments are buried in the data; and the

data itself is too incomplete to drive a quantitative system.

Allenby and Graedel offer tools to help designers compare alternative options in a more

systemic way and to graphically demonstrate those aspects of design that would most

improve the environmental performance of a facility. The matrix for design of industrial

facilities has question sets for each cell that designers use to score each activity against

five environmental concerns. Typically DFE uses more detailed matrices to feed

evaluations into each area of a more general analysis like this. The DFE matrices seek to

provide a design team speaking many different professional languages a common

framework for seeing the whole project and the place of each part in the whole. This

industrial facilities matrix and question set is in the Appendix, Supplemental Content.

"Technology is evolving so rapidly, we should design eco-industrial parks for optimal

flexibility, disassembly, and reconstruction. We're moving toward a flexible, modular

infrastructure concept. This is a targetable engineering objective. For instance, chemical

process and equipment design often enables pulling a few switches and generating

different products from the same input stream. This gives resilience to the use of capital

equipment in the face of shifting market demand and business cycles.

This prinicple of design for flexibility may be the easiest way of communicating the idea

of the 'learning system' to engineers and developers. One of the characteristics of a

learning system is that you have ease of making and breaking connections as conditions

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change. This idea can be used both literally and metaphorically in the design of an

industrial park." (Tibbs 1994)4

3.6 BUILDING DESIGN

Buildings, like products, have a life-cycle. Effective design demands attention to

the full span of a facility's life. We begin our discussion of building design with a review

of what this means for the design process.

We then review some major options for the design of energy, materials, and water

systems in buildings that have emerged in the last two decades. (Some are actually re-

discovered traditional practices.) They contribute to the design of more efficient, less

polluting, and more habitable buildings. Industrial facility designers have generally gone

further in incorporating energy efficiency than the materials and water options. Architects

and engineers have advanced practice in all three areas; principally in office, commercial,

and residential building design. The Resources section at the end of this chapter includes

a wide variety of organizations and references to help your team gain access to ideas,

cases, and designers in all of these areas.

3.6.1 LIFE-CYCLE BUILDING DESIGNS.

For designers the long-term challenge is to consider each stage of a building's life-

cycle and to seek an overall plan that balances economic and environmental needs

through all of these stages. Ideally, this design will be backed up by a budget using life-

cycle costing to demonstrate the return on investment and life time savings gained by

paying the possibly higher initial construction costs. The issues range from

constructability to maintainability and finally de-constructability.

Recently many integrated methods and tools have emerged to help designers consider

these qualities of a building. We discussed these in the early part of this chapter under

logistics engineering and other means of achieving integrated design. These methods

include support for weighing the trade-offs among the different aims of building design.

4 www.indigodev.com

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(Design for environment and analytical hierarchy process methods also support analysis

of trade-offs.) The following describes a few of the many important environmental

factors to design for in planning a building and its production system.

3.6.2 CONSTRUCTABILITY:

The traditional questions regarding constructability are can we put it up within our

budget and schedule and are our contractors able to do it? In an EIP a design team will

also ask what environmental impacts will each design choice impose in terms of the

construction process and how can we minimize them?

3.6.3 DURABILITY:

The objective of conserving environmental and economic resources suggests

design for durability. How can our structural, energy, and materials choices enable an

optimal life for this building? The quality of structure, materials, and construction must

be optimized in terms of the function the building will play. Questions of durability

interact with the next concern, flexibility.

3.6.4 FLEXIBILITY:

Building owners will be able to extend the life of the building if it is designed

with flexibility, making it easy to redesign, expand, and retrofit as uses and technologies

change over time. For instance, William McDonough designed Walmart's environmental

demonstration store to enable future conversion into apartments. In an eco-park plant,

design should readily enable changes needed to accommodate new materials or energy

by-product exchanges.

Energy systems design should include the capability for using new renewable energy

technologies as they become cost-effective. Use of modular energy system design enables

the expansion of both conventional and renewable sources as demand grows.

Flexible design enables less durable building components to be readily replaced without

impacting more durable structures. Also, some building techniques (such as force-fit, no

nails technique) facilitate moving interior walls and reusing building materials.

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3.6.5 MAINTAINABILITY:

Designers can offer building managers major cost savings through designing to

minimize the need for maintenance and to enhance the ease of maintenance. These

qualities also increase the durability of structures and components and reduce the

possibility of costly production shutdowns.

Issues in building design include concern for materials, equipment, components, wires,

pipes, inner and outer surfaces, access routes, and the effects of maintenance on the

building's inhabitants. Integration of design for maintenance of the building and the

manufacturing system is an especially important area. Prevention of failures in either area

reduces the likelihood of major losses due to production downtime.

3.6.6 LIVABILITY:

Designers are giving increasing attention to manufacturing, service, and office

space as a habitat for Homo sapiens. Important questions include: how do we best

maintain quality of air and light? What materials choices will insure a healthy

environment? Can co-workers interact comfortably with each other? and Do they have

access to a natural environment? These have turned out to be questions whose answers

have bottom-line results. Employees are more productive in a livable work space, as

demonstrated by projects incorporating such features as day lighting, a good supply of

fresh air, and avoidance of materials emitting low levels of toxins. (Romm 1994).

3.6.7 DECONSTRUCTION:

Design for deconstruction seeks a regenerative process at the end of a building's

life-cycle. The fundamental question is, how can we recapture highest value from the

energy and materials invested in this structure when we take it apart? Possibly the

intersection between durability and flexibility offers the most fruitful answers in the

planning stage. For instance, modular design of structures and equipment could enable

recycling of whole construction units into new projects.

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3.7 ENERGY

―Rather than isolated collections of components, buildings are integrated systems

that interact with their environments. Through effective energy use, ―whole‖ buildings

levy the smallest possible environmental impact, while enhancing their users’ comfort

and productivity.‖5—

The costs of operating a building's energy systems over a lifetime may easily surpass its

total initial construction costs. This realization has led designers to seek new (and

sometimes old) methods for operating buildings with a much higher level of energy

efficiency. Utilities with demand-side management programs have offered technical

support and loans repaid by savings in energy bills to encourage these innovations. Tools

for life-cycle costing6

of energy systems are more highly developed here than in other

areas of design. The fields of sustainable architecture and industrial process design have

probably advanced further in this realm than any other.

Energy is also the area where designers have clearly demonstrated the benefits of systems

thinking in planning buildings. Passive solar design for heating, cooling, and daylighting

reduces the required size of heating, cooling, and ventilating systems. Co-generation from

industrial processes can also reduce HVAC requirements. This suggests the value of a

design integrating the building energy systems and its manufacturing processes.

3.7.1 A BUILDING'S TOTAL ENERGY BUDGET

A building consumes energy in two fundamental ways: Through the operation of

its lighting, heating/cooling systems and the equipment needed for the functions

performed in it. This is a building's operating energy. Through the energy embodied in it

by the creation, processing, and transportation of all construction materials and building

equipment, and by all processes of construction and ultimate demolition. This is

embodied (or embedded) energy. A total energy budget is the sum of these two accounts.

5 Passive Solar Industries Council, 1998

6 Life-cycle costing is a method for determining the savings in building operating costs provided by initial investments in construction

for higher efficiency (or other values).

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What do these distinctions mean for designers? The most significant energy savings in

recent decades have come from innovations in operational energy, i.e., application of

passive solar heating and lighting, or energy efficient equipment and lighting. Designers

need to apply these approaches more broadly, but the next real breakthroughs will be in

reducing the energy embodied in buildings.

Life-cycle analysis indicates how much embodied energy is necessary to maintain,

replace and repair materials over the lifetime of a building, including final demolition and

disposition of materials. The more qualitative tools of design for environment may be

very useful to support designers wanting to consider embodied energy in their choices.

Computer Aided Design programs now often include access to data bases for measuring

embodied energy (and other life-cycle data). These enable the designer to determine how

materials or process choices impact the embodied energy investment. For instance, how

do the energy demands of high-rise complexes differ from those of low-rise structures?

What is the difference in embodied energy invested for pouring concrete, using pre-cast

concrete, or for putting steel structural forms in place?

3.7.2 ENERGY EFFICIENCY

Designers can draw upon a variety of building automation technologies to

conserve energy.These include: Scheduled switching-lights are programmed to turn on or

off at prescribed times. Occupancy sensors detect when space is occupied and only then

activate lighting. When space is vacant, lights are turned off. Systems employing this

technology can save 30-50 percent over conventional lighting.Occupancy sensors can

also detect when a space is too crowded, which leads to oxygen depletion and carbon

dioxide build-up. The sensor signals the ventilation system to provide more fresh air.

Dedicated controllers in HVAC systems enable local adjustment of temperature and air

flow to suit the needs of individuals or zones within a building. Users can customize heat,

cooling and ventilation, saving energy and increasing employee comfort and productivity.

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Integrated HVAC systems can be designed to optimize total system performance.

Chiller/heaters can provide simultaneous heating and cooling by recovering waste heat.

Load tracking should respond to real space conditioning needs. Additional means of

gaining higher efficiency include the selection of:Heating/cooling systems that embody

heat exchangers, dedicated controllers, and closed-loop cooling towers.Double-glazed

windows with high "R" (insulative) qualities are most efficient. Windows that open aid in

ventilation and personal comfort. For passive lighting and heating, install windows with

low-E glazing, which permits the sun's visible energy to enter while preventing indoor

heat from escaping.

Select insulation with appropriate R values for the climate. Motors used in industrial

processes and building systems offer another major opportunity for energy efficiency. Joe

Romm says, ―Motors use a vast amount of energy--in the United States, about half of all

electricity and almost 70 percent of industrial electricity. Yet motors are unusually

inefficient and oversized. A typical inefficient motor uses ten to twenty times its capital

cost in electricity each year. Thus high-efficiency motors, new control systems, and

systematic process redesign afford tremendous opportunities for energy savings‖ (Romm

1994)Because of the relatively high energy costs in many Asian countries there are many

cases of efficient design and retrofitting of facilities. The Centre for the Analysis and

Dissemination of Demonstrated Energy Technologies7 includes cases and tools for

analysis and design. Super symmetry is a Singapore-based engineering company whose

web site describes projects throughout Asia. For Olympia Thai the case included design

and oversight of construction for mechanical systems in Thailand's first green office

building. Components include super efficient pumping and air handling, triple filtration

of outside air, water recycling of condensate, efficient fan coil units, and variable speed

drives. A Becton Dickinson Medical Products plant in Singapore underwent monitoring

and upgrading of central chiller plant pumps, gaining an energy savings of over 60%.

Malaysia Telekom worked with Super symmetry through a "shared-savings" contract to

reduce the operating-costs of a central chiller plant by more than 50% ―at no first-costs to

the client.‖

7 http://www.caddet-ee.org/ee_tools.htm

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The Alliance to Save Energy has initiated programs in several Asian countries, including

India and China.8 The Energy Conservation Center in Japan is cooperating in energy-

saving and anti-global warming measures on a global scale. It promotes and supports

energy-saving activities in developing countries, mainly focusing on policy proposals and

technical cooperation9.

3.7.3 ENERGY SOURCES

Industrial facilities typically use fossil fuels as the primary source of energy

including coal, natural gas, and oil. The efficiency of this use can be increased through

co-generation, as discussed above in energy infrastructure. The cost of operating HVAC

systems can be cut by using excess heat from the generation of energy or manufacturing

processes.

3.7.4 PASSIVE SOLAR

Passive solar energy is the renewable energy option for building design most

frequently employed so far. Designers are applying this ancient energy technology in

state-of-the-art manufacturing, service, and office buildings for lighting and heating.

Successful options include: Sunspaces collect solar heat for the building when it is

needed but can be closed off from the building at night or during the summer. Thermal

storage walls absorb heat from sunlight, then slowly release the heat during the evening

and night. Natural air flows cool building spaces on hot days using cross ventilation.

Install windows on the windward side that are smaller than those on the leeward side to

create a positive air flow. Deciduous trees (existing or introduced) shade buildings during

the summer and open them to sun exposure in the winter. (Forested areas in the

landscaping can reduce temperatures across the whole site.)

Passive solar energy for lighting is known as "day lighting". Test locations and

orientation to determine where day lighting can provide a significant portion of a

building's lighting needs without heat or glare. Day lighting interiors is practical even on

8 http://www.ase.org/programs/international/

9 www.eccj.or.jp/index_e.html

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overcast days. ―Light shelves" on the outside of a building can bounce light into a room

through windows along the ceiling. Reflectors and light tubes are other means of

conveying sunlight to work spaces.

3.7.5 ACTIVE SOLAR

See energy infrastructure above for discussion of applications of active solar

energy which may be suitable in facility design at current cost levels. You may also find

that active or passive solar water heating is useful at your location. Solar photovoltaics

are also a potential source of a backup power supply.

Beyond considering such short-term possibilities, the important guideline is to design for

flexibility. Plant energy managers should be able to readily incorporate active solar

energy sources as the technologies become fully competitive with fossil fuel sources.

3.7.6 FUEL CELLS

Hydrogen fuel cell technology is likely to evolve fairly rapidly in the next decade,

thanks to the major investments in both transportation and energy generation and the

competition between suppliers like Daimler and United Technologies. Energy utilities are

installing demonstration fuel cell systems in order to start their learning process. While

wide-spread application may take the next 20 to 30 years, the technology is now suitable

for a backup power supply, a resource critical to many industries like electronics

manufacturing and food processing.

3.7.7 EMBODIED ENERGY

Embodied energy is the total energy required to produce a product, from initial

extraction of raw materials to final delivery. Studies of the embodied energy impact of

different building materials reveal wide disparities. Production of aluminum requires 70-

times more energy than an equal weight of lumber. Steel requires 17-times more energy

than wood; brick 3.1-times more; and concrete block 3-times more than wood. (AIA

Environmental Resource Guide, Topic. III.A.6.) Aluminum and steel, however, are

considerably stronger by weight than an equal weight of wood.

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The designer should also consider other issues when choosing sustainable construction

materials (e.g., durability and recyclability or, is the wood from a certified sustainable

forestry source.

To minimize embodied energy, materials should be recycled whenever possible and

recycled material should be used. Recycling bypasses the most energy-intensive steps of

manufacturing such as the conversion of ores and feedstocks into basic materials,

particularly in metals.

3.8 MATERIALS

Sustainable designers are considering several environmental factors in their

choice of materials: embodied energy content and other life-cycle impacts of the material;

the source; the recyclability of the material; and toxic content. These factors complement

traditional criteria of durability, strength, and appearance.

The American Institute of Architects has collaborated with the U.S. EPA in life-cycle

analysis of building materials. Results of this analysis are published regularly as

installments of the Environmental Resource Guide, organized by the Construction

Specifications Institute (CSI) materials categories. The Environmental Resource Guide

team is currently working to restructure this data to make it more accessible to designers

3.8.1 SOURCES OF MATERIALS

Sustainable building practice favors the use of material that has recycled content,

and/or material that comes from renewable resources. At times the high performance

standards of industrial facility design may outweigh these criterion. A wide range of

materials have recycled or by-product content such as engineered wood systems, a

garboard panels, tiles with recycled tire or glass content, roofing shingles made from

recycled plastics and many others. Designers need to use virgin wood products with

attention to the renewability of the source. Tropical hardwoods such as mahogany are

generally non-renewable. Harvest of such tropical woods leads to rainforest deforestation.

Whole logs from old growth forests are still being exported from NW United States and

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NE Canada. Lumber from these sources should also be avoided. However, some virgin

wood products may be ecologically superior to products containing energy intensive

recycled material, as in this example from a Native American tribe.

3.8.2 RECYCLABILITY

Another environmental factor in material specification is the ability to recycle

materials in the construction process and at the end of the building (or component) life-

cycle should be Non-Toxic Materials. Designers also need to minimize use of materials

with toxic content that affect building inhabitants or the surrounding environment. Over

1,000 indoor air pollutants have been measured in buildings. These toxics are in such

products as floor coverings, insulation, composite wood products, and floor and wall

coverings, paints, ceiling tiles, caulks and resins. For example, some carpets and carpet

glues contain formaldehyde and paints often contain VOCs (volatile organic

compounds).Many suppliers are emphasizing non-toxic alternatives. Benign non-toxic

material such as hardwood can be used for floors and walls, ceramic tiling in floors, and

steel in some internal structure. Adequate supply of fresh air through HVAC and open

able windows mitigates the effects of materials for which there are no functional

alternatives.