3 - sustainable Flashcards
How to apply predictive climate data to the design process?
Use Life Cycle Assessment
pre-design = whole building, set goals (operational + embodied carbon)
SD = comparison studies - massing, sitting building, structural system, envelope study
DD= Hot spot analysis - identify top material impact and strategy to reduce/ optimize
CD = complete LCA calcs, include reduction strategies in specs
Bidding = ensure reductions are included in bids
Construction = submittals, confirm optimization maintained
final assessment, confirm target was met. Document for future
What are added loads caused by flooding:
- Hydrostatic forces – vertical walls due to standing water & on slabs due to submergence (buoyancy)
- Hydrodynamic forces due to moving water
- Wave forces due to waves impacting building foundation elements (piles, columns, walls)
- Wave run up on steep sloped coastlines
- Debris impact loads for various types of flood debris including ice
How climate change impacts design:
extreme weather events - design foundation systems that can withstand flooding and rising water table (added hydro pressures). and/or low impact foundation systems. Increased winds/ hurricanes and earthquakes will require additional structural connections (ie hurricane ties)
extreme cold – continuous insulation, use thermal bucks at openings to avoid major thermal breaks at opens
climate differentiation (ie Canadian summers exceed 30 degree temps) – wall assemblies need to be adjusted for seasonal temperatures. Ie. smart vapour retarder allows moisture to escape in the summer months (when the warm side of the wall flips to the exterior)
Life cycle assessment (LCA)
evaluate environmental impact of different designs by comparing buildings, materials, or assemblies. Commonly used in the building industry to:
- inform/ evaluate options when selecting materials/ systems
- tracks emissions (of key importance are greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and use of fossil fuels)
- Achieve green building certification (LEED etc)
- Assess environmental benefits of new products and/or policy
- Compare to benchmarks to evaluate a building’s performance
Stages of Life cycle
A: production and construction (embodied) - energy and resources to extract, transport, manufacture materials and site equipment, remove waste
B: the use stage (operational) - impacts of occupying a building over its lifetime
C: the end-of-life stage – demolition and disposal of building and waste processing
D: externalized impacts beyond the system boundary - all of the miscellaneous effects of reusing, recycling, and/or recovering materials, energy, or water from the project.
Steps in LCA
- Define Goal + scope (energy targets + study boundary)
- Collect Inventory (bill of activities and materials)
- Perform Impact Assessment (number crunching)
- Interpret results (breakdown impacts by building components etc and visualize results to determine hotspots - swap materials/ systems where needed and reiterate LCA to compare trade offs) check for errors, understand results, develop conclusions
- Report results
Wood/ Mass Timber (CLT and glulam):
benefits
- low embodied carbon - manufacturing is less energy-intensive
- sustainable foresty provides forest regrowth, which can sequester carbon (can be a net carbon material)
- mass timber should be considered for any building of 12 storeys or less
How to reduce carbon for Concrete
reduce amount/ type of cement in concrete mix by:
1. add supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs)
2. extend curing time (less cement req)
3. replace Portland cement w/ Portland limestone cement (reduces EC by ~10%)
4. use products that store mineralized carbon in concrete, sequestering (keeping it out of atmosphere)
Low carbon steel
source Canadian steel - smaller footprint due to production methods (uses electric Arc furnace), reduces shipping
low carbon insulation
cellulose (blow insulation) - net carbon
fiberglass is on lower end
spray foam high carbon
How can operational carbon be minimized?
- Passive design – reduce demand on system
- equipment/ appliance selection – source electric appliances, avoid gas appliances
- Renewable energy sources – install onsite renewable energy equipment (ie. solar panels) to reduce energy use
- Offset Carbon – purchase renewable credits (offsite source) to compensate for emissions used. Not ideal but possibly encourages/ helps pay for renewable energy sources elsewhere ie wind turbines etc)
- Off peak use – reduces the demand on local grid system
Energy use intensity (EUI)
The sum of all site energy (not source energy) consumed on site (e.g., electricity, natural gas, district heat), including all process loads, divided by the building modelled floor area.
WELL
WELL Building Standard: WELL v2 includes a set of strategies—that aim to advance human health through design interventions and operational protocols and policies and foster a culture of health and well-being.
- Air
- Water
- Nourishment
- Light
- Movement
- Thermal Comfort
- Sound
- Materials
- Mind
- Community
LEED
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design™ (LEED) Rating System
- Sustainable Site
- Water efficiency
- Energy and Atmosphere
- Materials and Resources
- Indoor Environmental Quality
- Innovation + design
- Regional Priority
“closed-loop” systems
output from one process serves as the input to another (ie rainwater to irrigation.)
