Towards Energy Efficient Design and Sustainable Buildings

Abstract

With the ever increasing energy consumption around the globe, not only fossil fuels are being depleted but environment is also getting worse as a result of pollution. This increase in energy usage and consumption is leading to greenhouse effect and global warming. It is therefore, need of time to minimize usage of energy with all possible means. Energy consumption in buildings and infrastructure has increased many folds suggesting design requirement need for a shift towards energy efficiency and conservation as well as operation of buildings through sustainable means. In buildings, energy efficiency can be achieved using insulation materials, improved architectural technique, and modified construction methodology. To reduce the energy demand to operate buildings, means are to be devised that harvest renewable energy and making a building capable of sustaining itself. Such buildings do not require energy to be supplied by external sources; the energy is produced and used at site which is the best option for environment. To study energy consumption effectiveness, observational and experimental investigations were carried out on four existing buildings and a model based on different contributing parameters such as orientation, construction materials used, type of construction, height, and architectural design. The results show that by using alpolic cladding and double layered windows at outer face of buildings increase thermal efficiency by 8%. The cavity wall construction improves the energy conservation of the building by 6% compared to traditional block construction. The model studies show that, using cavity wall and structural concrete insulated panels (SCIP) as cladding/infill walls in frame structures, can reduce the energy demand of the building up to 3%. Simple techniques such as altering building orientation, architecture, use of latest energy efficient materials, and enhanced construction techniques contribute significantly towards energy efficient and sustainable performance of buildings.