Archive for Intelligent and energy efficient buildings
Energy efficiency (practical projects)- BIOCLIMATISM
Posted by: | CommentsKalamata is a city of 45,000 inhabitants with a long history. It is situated in the south of the Peloponnese, in Greece. The Municipality of Kalamata in Greece applied the concept of bioclimatism when rebuilding one of its district. Speaking of bioclimatism, we refer to the passive use of the sun’s energy, i.e. its direct utilisation without transforming it into another form of energy, either electric, thermal or mechanical energy.
After the 1986 earthquake, the Municipality of Kalamata was faced with the task of rebuilding destroyed districts. The district concerned by the project is situated to the south-east of the old part of the town which is characterised by a high building density. Destroyed buildings were of different local styles combining modern elements taken from the modern part of the town with more traditional ones from the oldest part. The surface area covered by these buildings is 13,3 square meters and the ground has a 7% north-south gradient. The dry climate and low wind speeds prompted the idea of building low energy houses with direct or indirect solar heating. This project was innovative in the sense that it integrated already tested techniques into a widescale commercial project. Assessments and measures therefore mainly focussed on cost efficiency aspects. After the rebuilding, the Municipality of Kalamata sold the houses and flats once they were finished.
The urban revitalisation project Klosterenga – Oslo, Norway. [Urban Requalification]
Posted by: | CommentsKlosterenga is an urban revitalisation project close to the city centre of Oslo. Klosterenga is a SHINE project (Solar Housing through Innovation for the Natural Environment) is a European Commission Thermie project to reduce energy and improve comfort and environment.
The site is situated close to the city-centre of Oslo. During the last 20-30 years the area has had lots of well known urban problems, like heavy traffic, increasing railway traffic close to living area’s, increasing number of immigrants, etc. Therefore a renewal program was launched 15 years ago, aiming to renovate old buildings and to reduce traffic and pollution. The quarter is now called “Environmental old Oslo quarter” The ecological project Klosterenga is an important part of this project.
The 35 apartments were built with a focus on energy saving. The most advanced element in the Klosterenga project is actually the integrated ecological design process. As a result of this process most of the energy-saving measures are building-or architecture- integrated elements. The project is monitored for heat, electricity and hot water consumption.
The general ecological approach includes, among others, water-saving and local purification devices, reduced amounts of both garbage and building waste, focus on building materials from an ecological point of view, indoor climate and of course, energy saving design and installations and use of both passive and active solar energy.
Iguana Project – Stavoren, Netherlands. [Urban project]
Posted by: | CommentsPresent-day house building has too great an impact on the environment. This impact makes itself felt throughout the whole lifetime of the building materials. The main problems lie in the area of environmentally-unfriendly materials, excessive energy consumption during construction and occupation of the house, large amounts of building sources of supply that are being used up.
Consumers, building contractors, project developers and authorities are insufficiently convinced of the feasibility and the advantages of bio-ecological houses. The aim of the Iguana project is to publicise the advantages of bio-ecological construction.
The project was funded in part by the European project and is encrypted LIFE: LIFE96 ENV/Dk/344.
Ölz Bündt – Vorarlberg, Austria.
Posted by: | CommentsÖlz Bündt is a three-storey multiple dwelling building in Vorarlberg which is a prototype of a timber construction system for multi-storey residential buildings. The building is a wood structured building with standardised and prefabricated wooden elements. Also wet cells were prefabricated and mounted to the deck elements.
The building has been set up as a passive house. In order to save energy, the building concept is based on a compact cube without setbacks or bulges.
Two-thirds of the required energy for tap water is supplied by a solar collector on the roof. The single-depth compound is north-south oriented and is situated among the 2- to 3-storey residential buildings. The multifamily house comprises of 13 dwellings and a two-storey office.
The building is accessed from the north, the individual dwellings from the pergola on the east. Balconies on the west are unconnected bearing structures outside the main construction.
Irish Energy Centre – Dublin, Ireland.
Posted by: | CommentsThe Irish Energy Centre is located on the Forbairt research campus about 3.5 km north of
Dublin city centre. This suburban campus on a gently sloping south-facing site comprises about twenty buildings of various ages, sizes and shapes.
The Irish Energy Centre, a building completed in October 1996, is located on an existing research campus of Enterprise Ireland in Dublin.
This modest building provides flexible and energy-efficient office accommodation for about
thirty people, with exhibition space and ancillary spaces. The two-storey building has a floor area of about 410 m2.
The predicted consumption in the Irish Energy Centre office building is 57% of that of a conventional office building of the same date.
Energy Saving Bonus system for households with low cadastral income in Antwerp
Posted by: | CommentsIn 2005 an action was started to improve energy savings and reduce heat loss in homes of owners with a low cadastral income. An awareness campaign was started to promote the premiums for roof insulation and window panes insulations given to households with low cadastral income in order to improve the E-level of their homes. After evaluating the results of the first year, some improvements were made to the bonus system. An overview of the 3 years that the bonus system has been running shows a 3-fold increase in applications for the premiums. By applying quality management, and with the support from the energy network distribution, energy saving continuously increases.
Climate neutral: The new approach to building in Amsterdam
Posted by: | CommentsVery recently Amsterdam City Council has set a target of four out of ten newly built houses to be climate neutral by 2010. A climate-neutral house does not use any fossil fuels for heating, uses several installed facilities to generate green electricity and to limit electricity consumption. In 2015 this will apply to all new houses built within the municipality borders. The cumulative effects of this new approach to building are significant. With the accelerated savings proposed by Amsterdam, the increase in gas consumption (estimated on almost 4,5%) will be cut in half and the electricity consumption will decline by 30%. The new standard for climate neutral construction will also apply to new offices and businesses. This new standard has an effect on the entire process of land allocation, selection (or preselection) of parties and awarding projects.
The new district of Hammarby Sjöstad (Hammarby Waterfront), Stockholm (Sweden)
Posted by: | CommentsHammarby Sjöstad, meaning “city surrounding Hammarby lake”, is a 200ha former brownfield site now transformed into a modern, sustainable neighbourhood. This project is based on strict environmental standards which were already taken into account during the detailed design discussions between the plot developers, architects and the city planning team.
The project has already delivered homes for almost 10,000 people and will deliver 9,000 homes and 10,000 jobs by 2015. The area is generously provided with means of public transport, carpools, light rail trains and commuter boats. The area has it’s own local ecosystem known as “Hammarby Model” which shows how the relationship between sewage processing, energy provision and waste handling can be structured to deliver wider social and environmental benefits.
The house was built by Lunds Kommunala Fastighets AB (LKF) year 1998 in Lund, Skåne. LKF:s ambition was to build a house with half the requirement of bought energy when compared to other buildings of similar nature. Jöns Ols is 2 877 m2 and contains 34 apartments. To assist LKF with the project, the Faculty of Engineering at Lunds University was hired to consult with the project.
Selwyn Street Development
Posted by: | CommentsEighteen environmentally friendly homes were constructed in Coppice; one of the more economically deprived areas of Oldham. Eco-features included high levels of insulation, solar thermal technology and rainwater collection. Residents’ energy bills are on average £700 lower than the neighbouring houses. Residents are very satisfied with these properties, and stated that they have improved their quality of life. Selwyn Street was one of only two housing schemes in the country to achieve the ‘Building for Life’ gold standard.
