Sustainable Architecture

In the year 2013 38% of the total annual energy consumption in Germany was due to heating and lighting. Through sustainable architecture, it is possible to minimize the negative environmental impact of buildings through efficiency and moderation in the use of materials, energy, and development space.^[1]

Energy aspect

Integration and usage of renewable energy. Reduction of energy consumption by using optimized insulation, intelligent designs and orientation.

-Alignment of buildings so that they catch a maximum amount of sun for heating and solar electricity production. Windows are placed on walls that face the sun in order to admit light and heat and the houses are normally shaped like a horseshoe so that the amount of natural light obtained, especially during the winter months, is the maximum amount possible. The roof and walls facing the north, east, and west are insulated massively so as to prevent any loss of heat.

-Earthships are designed using thermal mass construction and a cross ventilation that is natural and assisted by thermal draught in order to maintain a certain indoor temperature. These buildings are often off-the-grid houses that minimize usage of fossil fuels and public utilities such as electricity and water supply. The indoor temperature is regulated through the amount of sunlight and shade in the house. The thick and dense earth-rammed tire walls, through varying amounts of sunlight and shade, provide thermal mass that naturally regulates the internal temperature during both cold and hot outside temperatures.

Resource aspect

Sustainable architecture tries to incorporate as much recycled or natural material into the buildings as possible. The reduction in use of new industrially refined materials results in a reduction of the embodied energy (energy used in the production of the materials) Traditional materials such as concrete and steel are, wherever possible, replaced by more sustainable alternatives, such as wood or recycled concrete. Some of the other major materials are adobe, clay, straw, sheep wool and locally obtained stone as well as recycled materials such as reused denim or insulation made from old newspapers.

There also is a strong focus on avoiding any materials that contain VOC (volatile organic compounds) that are in contained in most paints, wood products, adhesives and insulation. These components emit smog forming compounds and formaldehydes that can cause respiratory illnesses. Therefore, the usage of low or no-VOC materials reduces the emission of the smog forming compounds and at the same time improves the indoor air quality.^[2]

Despite the importance of materials to overall building sustainability, quantifying and evaluating the sustainability of building materials is difficult for any architect or other customer. The high number of competing and mostly imprecise eco-labels, has led to an inconsistency among sustainability criteria and certificates. Various proposals regarding standardization have been made but none has prevailed so far.^[3]

Resource collection

The accumulation and deposition of water form sources such as rain, snow and condensation for on-site use is a central part of every sustainable architectural concept. Water harvesting provides an independent water supply and reduces demand on wells which helps to sustain ground water levels. Harvested water can be used to supplement the main water supply to flush toilets, for irrigation, or with the proper treatment replace a main water supply altogether to serve as a source of drinkable water.^[4]

Some sustainable housing designs such as earthships have built in food production facilities. Using sewage water and integrated greenhouses it is possible to produce a variety of fruits and vegetables. Sometimes accommodation and nourishment of livestock such as chicken or fish is being provided by the building.^[5]

Waste management

Waste management in general is the generation, prevention, treatment, reusage and residual disposition of solid and liquid wastes. Sustainable architecture focuses on the on-site use of waste management, incorporating things such as biological grey and sewage water treatment and recycling systems utilizing and nourishing plants and beneficial bacteria. These methods, when combined with on-site food waste composting and off-site recycling, can reduce a house's waste to a small amount of packaging waste.^[6][7]

Climate aspect

The building sector contributes up to 30% of global annual greenhouse gas emissions and consumes up to 40% of all energy. Given the massive growth in new construction in economies in transition, and the inefficiencies of existing building stock worldwide, if nothing is done, greenhouse gas emissions from buildings will more than double in the next 20 years. Traditional buildings themselves are also one of the major players in annual Carbon dioxide emission.

Sustainable architecture aims to mitigate and sometimes even to completely neutralize emissions. This is achieved through highly energy efficient designs, built in energy production and on-site waste management. It also considers how future climate changes might influence buildings and their occupants to adapt to shifts in local and global climate, in order to retain their inhabitability.^[8]

IT aspect

Organisation and management of all the different aspects (smart home...)

Industrial processes and systems in a house that pays particular attention to increasing the quality of life, safety and an effective usage of energy based on a network of automated processes and devices that can be controlled remotely are called smart home. This includes both the networking of devices such as lamps, fridges and washing machines and the cross-linking of electronic elements for instance, central storage and a home wide usage of video and audio. The network of devices is mostly programmed based on the consumer's preferences, and information can also be stored, accessed and controlled via the internet or applications on smartphones, when the equipments are tagged. Smart metering, a similar process, is when the energy consumption is intelligently regulated by measurements.^[9]

Open source aspect

Open source plans should help spread a quick change and development in architecture.

Sustainable urbanism

Two basic concepts: -Decentralisation(meaning every builing takes care of its own energy production, waste management...) [earthship] -Interconnection (Buildings share energy production,...)

Where does it make sense to interconnect? Where to decentralize?

Possible Problems

-initial investments have to be made (might be higher than conventional solutions) -mind set of the people has to change

-impact on social structures

Related projects on the FH-Aachen

Related projects in the area (Aachen)

-http://www.bob-ag.de/

Related international projects

-passive houses and sustainable living https://sweden.se/nature/sustainable-living/

-earthship (http://earthship.com/): an earthship, a unique type of a passive house, uses both natural and recycled materials as building materials. Recycled materials that are used to construct an earthship are tin cans. These cans are mixed with concrete to create non-load bearing walls and are referred to as tin can walls.

References

Information pool

-Sustainable architecture wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_architecture

-building statistics germany: https://www.destatis.de/DE/Publikationen/Thematisch/Bauen/BautaetigkeitWohnungsbau/BaugenehmigungenGebaeudeartPDF_5311102.pdf?__blob=publicationFile