Envirnoment Friendly Buildings?

Question

I am working on an assignment for my MSc.
I have a 10 storey Office Building, made of Steel Structure.
Possibily Glass Shell. The question is :
What measures can be taken to make the building Envirnomentally Friendly and consuming minimum power for lighting, heating, cooling?

Answer 1

1. Design windows and floor plans to minimize need for electric lighting.

2.Use LEDs instead of fluorescent lights

3. All windows to be gas-filled, triple-glazed insulating glass with Type E coating.

4. Design HVAC so that when weather permits cooling can be accomplished by simply drawing in cool fresh air from roof top instead of using refrigeration.

5. Where appropriate, use motion detectors to control lights so that they are not left on indefinitely when no one is around.

Answer 2

There's a long list of things to make a building more sustainable. Here's a short list:

Site the building for optimum solar heating. If heating isn't a priority, or if it's a liability, then design it with that in mind. A lot of cooling can be provided by well placed landscaping for shade trees, etc., and to use breezes to remove heat from a structure.

Either way, make sure the building is well sealed.

Include water conservation and if possible, graywater recycling to cut down on water usage.

Including a living roof on the top of the building will help both keep in heat and keep it out, depending on the time of year. You can also use a 'living wall' or 'green wall' to help cool and purify the air inside the building. It's a bonus that plants will make the structure more enjoyable for the occupants.

A living roof, living wall, and well thought-out landscaping can reduce the run-off water that is fed into stormwater and sewer drains.

Design the building to use as much natural light as possible.

Use construction materials which do not give off harmful chemicals, such as carpeting, wall paneling, etc.. Especially in an airtight structure. Use natural materials wherever possible.

Find ways to encourage people to use the stairs instead of taking the elevator. :-) Encourage people to walk or ride bicycles to and from work, if possible.

You could even have an in-house recycling and composting facility, depending on what type of building it is. Turn the non-meat food waste into compost by using vermicomposting. (worm bins.) The fertilizer from that can be used on the plants.

Use LED lighting wherever possible.

Try to obtain your building materials from a source near you instead of, say, importing marble from overseas or the other side of the country.

Used reclaimed and recycled wood and other materials wherever possible, but avoid those which have lead-based paint and toxic preservatives in them.

Have your construction crews trained to re-use or recycle stuff like trim-ends from lumber, and so-on. Encourage on-site recycling or arrange for waste materials to find a use somewhere else.

Study the native building styles of your project location. You might be able to include some of the features from local methods into your new building. It's worth the effort because local builders will probably have had thousands of years to refine methods and find the best materials.

Some books to read:
Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things
by William McDonough and Michael Braungart

Evolutionary Architecture: Nature as a basis for design, by Eugene Tsui. This is a bit 'out there' but he does have some intriguing ideas.

Also download and study some of the Greenbuilding and Sustainable guidelines to be found at this link:
Guidelines Using a Whole Building Approach:
http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/GreenBuilding/Design/Guidelines.htm

Make sure you get the LEEDs Green Building guidelines.

I can't think of any more titles to recommend at the moment.

There's no one-size-fits-all method of building the best possible building for any given site. Each site has its' own characteristics and circumstances, and the local climate, geography, environment, and even cultural factors all a big role. As does the intended uses of the building.

Be cautious of claims made by some manufacturers about the "greenness" or environmentally friendly aspects of their products. There is getting to be a lot of 'greenwashing' going on.
For example: The vinyl manufacturers are trying to persuade people vinyl is 'green.' Don't believe a word of it.

I found a building material the other day, a metal-surfaced sheet material for use on the exterior of the building. The core of the laminate is plastic. I'm not sure this is the best choice since I don't know how this might be recycled when the building is at the end of its' life cycle. Another of the same company's product has a mineral core, which may just be Portland cement. That might be half-ways okay.

Anyhow, sorry for the long reply, but it's a complex question and better suited to another forum.

If you have time, take a look at the work done by this studio in Denmark:

http://www.big.dk/

Cheers,

Chris g.