MMK224757 Construction Technology

Question:

The largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions is the construction industry, which has a significant impact on climate change.

As a result, buildings’ traditional function as shelter is being challenged and more emphasis is placed on reducing energy consumption.

A progressive client asked you to conduct an energy audit of a 12 story, 250-bed hotel at the Glasgow city center [ refer to page 3].

A full energy audit should be done on the building. It is assumed that the building follows all current building regulations, but not very closely (U-values are considered the highest permitted).

The building will be connected with the electricity grid as well as the gas mains. The manager has negotiated a rate at 16p/day, plus 9.8p/kWh of electricity, and 16p/day for gas.

Calculate running costs for the building during high seasons (June-September, December-January, and February-May), and low seasons (October-November, and February-May), taking into account the different usage patterns (low occupancy for low season and high occupancy for high-season).

Consider the possibility of using solar PV, wind generators, or biomass boilers at your site to cut electricity and heating expenses.

Talk about your findings and make suggestions for energy saving measures or sustainable design that could offset running costs.

These include improved insulation, less energy-consuming devices and increased use of natural lighting.

Answer to Question: MMK224757 Construction Technology

The sector of building is rapidly changing. Buildings are designed and constructed with great care to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

There are many kinds of buildings that can be used for various purposes.

Al-Homoud (2005, 2005): The design engineers should make sure that the design does nothing to alter the usage, while also maintaining the efficiency.

The following design focuses on energy input and output of a building serving both a hotel and a conference.

The building has 12 floors, and 250 beds can be accommodated.

Design

Electricity usage for one room (assuming that all rooms are the same)

Our design will focus on lighting the rooms as the main energy consumption for the building.

There is both natural light and artificial lamps so the lighting hours might be between 1800 and 1800 hrs.

800 hours = 14 hour per day, 7/7 and 48 weeks in a year

Time that lights are used = =4704hrs/year

The illuminated floor area is 37.162 square meters

The electricity used for a single lamp will depend on the lighting data.

A 100w GLS incandescent GLS light bulb of approximately 150lx with an efficacy 18l/W.

Heat loss from the building

Standard hotel rooms are approximately 400 square feet (37.16122 square meters).

Radiation from the walls to adjoining rooms and the environment is the main source of heat loss in this standard room (Per kvols. 2000).

It is also possible for heat to escape through windows. A good estimation of the energy required to warm this space can be made (de Souza 2013).

Imagine a square space with a length =width=6.1 meters.

The room height can be estimated to be approximately 3 meters.

To ensure proper ventilation, every room must have at least two windows.

A floor is also important in the design of buildings with different floor types. These include sheltered floors (limit of 3 per building in city center), normal surface resistance (buildings located in suburban or rural areas) and severe surface resistence (floors above 9 in city centers).

Heat Loss through The Four Walls

In order to design the best possible product, it is important to remember that exposure is normal. The thermal transmittance of basic components should be shown as follows.

The heat loss to a building is measured by the heat losses of its individual members. This formula calculates the heat loss.

Where: The area of the element is A

U is the thermal transmittance

The air temperature at the interior and exterior.

Element

The AreaUAU

Walls18.31.9034.77Roof16002.64160

Floor1600Suspended=12Solid=0.222304352Windows

2.5 by 2.5 metres

5.7 (aluminum frames with thermal breaks)35.625 =33321

The floor’s total area is approximately 1600, with the exception of the balconies or hallways that provide additional comfort.

It has been calculated that the roof area is approximately equal to the floor’s.

Another important assumption is the room’s temperature. This can be taken as

Daily Insolation

Wind Speed at ground level (m/sec).

Wind Speed at 50 M (m/sec).Ambient temperature (degC)

January1.842.33.44.515.5516475.5

February1.911.72.5515499815

March1.992.13.16.413.6453165.6

April2.031.52.29.210.8359866.8

May2.422.23.39.910.1336542.1

June3.661.72.513.76.3209922.3

July3.411.52.217.43.4113291.4

August3.391.72.514.45.6186597.6

September2.6611.513.16.9229914.9

October2.061.21.8119299889

November1.891.82.78.211.8393187.8

December1.822.63.97.812.2406516.2

Average2.421.782.6510.05 4005184.2wattsThe heat lost the whole year due to varying temperatures=4005.18kW

Heat Gains

The heat that a building receives can come in two forms: sensible heat and latent heat. (Schlueter&thesseling, 2009).

The former refers only to heat gained to a building by ventilation, heat conduction from external sources, electrical devices, industrial processes, among other things. While the latter refers only to heat gained from basic human processes, such as breathing and exhalation.

(Attia. et. al., 2012). The specific heat gains are calculated as the following: Specific heat gain=specific Heat

Where SH stands for the heat gain

Q is the air mass rate

Recirculation and supply of air, respectively

Source

Quantity

Specific heatWindows

2.5 by 2.5 insolation

Take a look at this table

Daily Insolation

Certain heat gain

January1.8411.5

February1.9111.9375

March1.9912.4375

April2.0312.6875

May2.4215.125

June3.6622.875

July3.4121.3125

August3.3921.1875

September2.6616.625

October2.0612.875

November1.8911.8125

December1.8211.375

Average2.42

181.75 for a single Window

Thus, the sensible heat loss for a single space is =363.5 watts

The entire building thus =90875watts

Running Costs for the Building

Annual electricity consumption of the occupants =154.8452012.8kW

The total cost of energy depends on hotel occupancy. This means that the costs for low season will be higher than those for high season.

Low season: 50% Accommodation = 125 BedsPower consumed =0.619 =15165kw

Total cost of electricity = 121324euros

Total cost for gas = 121324euros

Standing Charge of Electricity = =5840

Standing charge of gas =365 =784.75

Thus, the annual cost during low season =249272.75

During The High Season

Taken at 100%, total power used = 0.196 =21665kW

Total cost of electricity = 173320euros

Total cost for gas = 173320euros

Standing Charge of Electricity = =5840

Standing charge for gas =365 =353264 euro

Solar Panels Wind Turbines, and Biomass Energy Production

An alternative to traditional energy sources such as electricity from the grid, solar panels can be used (Leadership for Energy and Environment Design, 2007).

This will help reduce the carbon emissions that result from large-scale electricity production. It will also encourage green technology use.

Solar panels convert solar power to electricity, which is a very efficient method of generating green energy.

A solar panel is essential to save energy and reduce the building’s energy bills.

The heating of water for use is another possible application of solar panels.

The main advantages of solar energy production are their cost-free nature, non-exhaustibility, and pollution (yildiz&gungor, 2009).

The main purpose of introducing solar energy to buildings is to lower energy costs. This will also have a major impact on the conservation of the environment.

Many sources are available to produce electricity.

But, non-renewables are the biggest contributors to the greenhouse gasses (Woloszyn2000).

However, renewable sources include wind turbines and hydroelectric production.

Hydroelectric power stations convert the energy from the water to electricity. Wind turbines convert wind to electricity and provide an excellent base for electricity and other energy production.

Wind energy can be used to produce electricity at a fraction of the cost of solar energy.

However, it may be limited by the site conditions. Designers need to ensure that energy production conforms with these conditions.Biomass is an important source of cooking heat, crop drying, comfort heat and providing the necessary steam for electricity production.basically,the biomass is burnt which initiates chemical and biological processes that basically produce other biofuels such as methane, propane etc.

India’s potential for bioenergy is 17000 MW. India’s potential for agricultural and industrial waste is approximately 6000 MW.

It indicates that there is a better way to produce energy in buildings and a more efficient program that can satisfy the growing demand.

Sustainable Design and Energy Saving Measures

Fossilfuels are the primary source of energy.

However, fossil fuels contribute a great deal to global warming as well as the production of greenhouse gasses.

Engineers responsible for designing buildings should instead focus on those systems that use fossil fuels on a smaller scale.

The system essentially revolves around heating and ventilation.

This efficient design is limited by financial resources.

In order to design an energy efficient system, the design engineer must take into account the funding available to the project.

There may be both automatic and manual energy saving measures in the design of a building. This can mean that the costs will vary.

The foundation for energy savings is made up of three components: the primary design, energy maintenance, and retrofitting efficiency measures.

If the energy facilities are a major challenge for conserving the energy, then the owner may choose to invest in upgrading the system.

The aspect of energy saving is still important. It is important that you note that the buildings in the future will be smart and have a different architectural layout.

These buildings will also have the ability to manage themselves (Perkvols, 2000).

Information communication will allow all of these things to be achieved.

(Lucent Technologies. 2000). Intelligent buildings will have lower startup and maintenance costs, more comfort, better adaptability to changing demands, and higher energy efficiency.

The environment and energy savings are the two main reasons intelligent buildings are needed.

It may sound impossible to imagine a building being able to search the Internet and compare electricity prices. However, it is possible with intelligent buildings.

Furthermore, buildings will be able to select from a number of options regarding electricity (Clarke & Randal 91).

You may also be able to see the extent of your emissions and the green factor.

This all is for the future and has the primary goal of reducing the energy cost as well as reducing the amount of buildings that emit.

This could be seen first in certain industries or other sectors, with the possibility of an intelligent residential property at a distance.

Energy efficiency can be achieved by using a hybrid system of ventilation (Emmerick & Dolls, 2001).

This will allow for natural air circulation to reduce heat gain from buildings.

You will see a dramatic reduction in energy costs and emissions by doing this.

Many strides have been made toward optimizing natural ventilation. The liberty tower is one such example.

The energy costs of a windfloor that distributes natural air evenly throughout the floors can be reduced dramatically (Wilkins & Hosni (2000).

This system ensures there is constant wind power throughout the year by providing four exits.

Smart winmdows is another important aspect.

Smart windows provide a variety of ways to make buildings more energy-efficient, including daylight saving and mechanical circulation of the air (Tallinn et al., 2001).

This design part, like the smart-building, is a tool in the future. It will provide both comfort and energy saving measures.References:Al-Homoud, M. S., 2005.

Performance characteristics and practical applications of common building thermal insulation materials.

Building and environmentAttia, S., Gratia, E., de Herde, A. & Hensen, J., 2012.

Simulation-based decision support tool used in the initial stages of zero energy building design. s.l. :s.n.Chadderton, d. V., 2007. Building Services Engineering.

New York: Taylor and Francis group.Clarke, J. A. & Randal, D. M., 1991.

A front end that is intelligent enough to be used in computer-aided construction design.

Artificial intelligence in engineering.

C. B. de Souza. 2013.

Research into building thermal physics for decision making.

Automation in construction.Emmerick, S. J. & Dolls, W. S., 2001.

Natural Ventilation Review and Plan for Design and Analysis Tools. : s.n.Kothari, D. P. & Nagrath, I. J., 2009.

Modern power system analysis.

New Delhi: Tata McGraw Hill Education limited.Kreith, f., 2001. handbook of heating,ventilationand air conditioning. s.l.

:CRC Press LLC.

Lucent Technologies. 2000. SYSTIMAX intelligent buildings. s.l. :s.n.Per kvols, h., 2000.

Design Principles For Natural and Hybrid Ventilation. Indoor Environmental Engineering, R0036(113).Schlueter, A. & thesseling, F., 2009.

Building information model-based energy/energy performance assessment during the early design phase.

Construction automation.

Tallinn. 2001. energy audit for buildings. : s.n.

2007 was a year of leadership in Energy and Environment Design. Green building rating system. s.l. :s.n.Wilkins , C. & Hosni, M. H., 2000.

Heat Gain from Office Equipment.

ASHRAE Journal.Woloszyn, 2000.

Combined Moisture Transport Modeling Methods for Building Simulation Codes. s.l., s.n.yildiz, A. & gungor, A., 2009.

Energy and energy analyses of space heating within buildings.

Applied Energy.