ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN ANALYSIS AND GREEN VALUE ENGINEERING
ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN ANALYSIS
Understanding the principles by which a building interacts with the external environment through its fabric is crucial in efficient performance.
In order to equip the developers and architects to successfully achieve environmental goals, we perform 7 types of analysis for any building project across the globe:
Solar Shading and Day-lighting
Wind Analysis
Thermal Comfort Analysis
Energy Performance Analysis
Energy Conservation Building Code Compliance
Urban Heat Island Effect Analysis
Carbon Footprint Analysis
SOLAR SHADING AND DAY-LIGHTING
Solar Heat Gain and Shadow Analysis
Solar Heat Gain Analysis
Solar heat gain changes for each orientation at different times of the day and the year, impacts heating and cooling loads and impacts energy consumption
Solar Heat Gain Analysis —
Forms the basis for climate responsive planning and energy efficient design
Lowers the energy consumption
Lowers carbon emissions
Lowers annual operation and maintenance costs
Assists design architects in planning building orientation, form, openings
Shadow Analysis
Shadow of Adjacent Structures can lead to reduced solar heat gain lowering cooling loads and may hamper access to natural daylight in some cases
Shadow Analysis —
Computes availability of adequate sunlight and its distribution
Computes possibility of visual discomfort and glare
Illustrates the contribution of sun as a heat source
Assists design architects to harvest highest possible natural daylight
Day-lighting Analysis
Day-lighting Analysis
Assists in harvesting maximum natural daylight in most spaces
Results in reducing the artificial lighting load
Results in reducing energy consumption
Results in reducing annual operation and maintenance costs
Results in increasing user comfort
Leads to luminous efficacy
Leads to thermal comfort
Climate responsive Façade Design
Reduces cooling loads of HVAC
Reduces annual energy consumption throughout the life of the building
Reduces annual operation and maintenance costs
WIND ANALYSIS USING COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS
Vertical wind profile depends on the varying building heights, gradient height and gradient wind speed.
Wind speed changes due to adjacent buildings which cause obstructions, especially in urban areas with closely spaced high rise buildings. Wind speed varies upwind and downwind. Wind shelters zones, displacement zones and wake zones affect the effectiveness of a proposed building to rely on natural ventilation.
Windows that are located considering wind direction and speed, channelize fresh air into the building resulting in good indoor air quality.
Wind Analysis
Assesses feasibility of natural ventilation
Assesses feasibility of mixed mode ventilation
Determines inefficiencies, cold and hot pockets
Checks natural / mixed mode ventilation strategies
Verifies the amount of fresh air brought into the building (ACPH)
Lowers dependency of the building on mechanical ventilation systems
Lowers energy consumption of the building
THERMAL COMFORT ANALYSIS
Thermal comfort zone is predicted by analyzing following parameters using a bio climatic chart and computer simulation.
Dry and wet bulb temperature
Relative humidity
Wind speed and pressure
Solar heat gain
Thermal Comfort Analysis
Determines if site is in comfort zone in some/all/no parts of the year
Suggests strategies to mitigate the discomfort and achieve indoor environmental comfort
Verifies the effect of mitigation strategies through simulation
Assists design architects in increasing thermal comfort throughout the year
ENERGY PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS
In order to reduce energy consumption, it is critical to first understand the performance of the entire building including all the inter dependencies.
Whole building energy performance is analyzed by carrying out a virtual energy simulation.
Energy Performance Analysis
Uses inputs relevant to the whole building
Computes energy performance of the whole building
Computes energy consumption and costs monthly, annually and throughout the life
Predicts annual CO2 emissions and life cycle payback
Tests various strategies to improve energy performance and compares results through iterative simulations
Improves energy efficiency by selecting effective strategies
Summarizes Baseline case and Proposed Case results
ENERGY CONSERVATION BUILDING CODE COMPLIANCE
Formulated by Ministry of Power and Bureau of Energy Efficiency , Government of India
Applicable to commercial buildings and residential buildings above 500 sq.mtr area
Sets minimum standards for energy efficiency required in design of commercial and residential buildings
The code offers guidelines in selection of building envelope materials according to respective climatic zones for achieving energy efficiency. It also provides guidelines for efficient electrical and mechanical systems.
Two additional compliance options are available to exceed the minimum requirements.
ECBC Compliance Report consists of environmental design analysis and calculations to confirm if the building complies with code.
URBAN HEAT ISLAND EFFECT ANALYSIS
Urban areas have higher temperatures as compared to their rural surroundings. Heat island effect is the most evident in the urban canopy layer forming a warm dome over the city.
Results in higher absorption of shortwave radiation, reduced loss of long wave radiation back to the sky, lower evaporative cooling due to loss of vegetation, lower dispersion of heat due to reduction in wind speed.
Results in higher HVAC cooling loads
Results in higher energy consumption
Creates health risks to the urban population.
Urban Heat Island Analysis
Predicts the impact of the proposed building on urban heat island
Suggests mitigation strategies to minimize the increase in temperature and reduce the urban heat island effect
Verifies the effect of mitigation strategies through simulation/calculations
CARBON FOOTPRINT ANALYSIS
Carbon footprint of the building can be defined as the impact it causes on the environment by way of carbon emissions.
Total carbon footprint is the combined effect of the embodied and operational carbon footprint - Embodied carbon footprint is the amount of carbon emissions emitted during the construction phase. Operational carbon footprint is the emissions done throughout the operational life.
Carbon Footprint Analysis
Calculates the carbon footprint of proposed development
Suggests measures in lowering the carbon footprint
Verifies the effect of mitigation strategies through simulation/calculations
GREEN VALUE ENGINEERING
Grass root level awareness of the Environmental Protection Act, Energy Conservation Building Code and Environmental Design of Buildings is fairly recent, and there are a number of misconceptions like, green buildings increase the capital cost, attached to it.
Due to these misconceptions, for projects of millions of sq.ft area which are already under construction, obtaining environmental design analysis, green building certification or environmental clearance has become a mere formality to obtain statutory permissions and avail benefits such as incentive FSI.
However today, it is our professional and personal responsibility to build climate responsive, low carbon, zero energy buildings which make a meaningful contribution towards buildings sustainable communities.
A green value engineering analysis shows that:
An integrated design approach leads to optimally sized highly efficient services optimizing the construction cost.
Green buildings reduce annual operations and maintenance cost throughout their life
BENEFITS OF ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN ANALYSIS AND GREEN VALUE ENGINEERING
Results of each analysis are used to develop a integrated design and integrated services approach
Optimizes construction cost
Lowers annual operation and maintenance cost
Required to be included in the environmental clearance presentation
Required to be submitted for green building certification credits to achieve higher rating
Required to be included in Energy conservation building code submission/audit
Used to compare on site building performance with predicted performance during yearly audits to avail incentives continually
Assist the renewable energy consultant for maximizing energy generation (sun and wind) on site