Energy Efficient Buildings
With the current rate of urbanization and the posterior increase in Energy demand energy effective structure has a significant part to play in contributing to energy security in developing countries. Energy consumption patterns can be mainly reduced by energy conserving measures, particularly during the phase of structure design.
Space heating cargo can be reduced by about 50. When economically- feasible separating measures are applied to the structure envelopes i.e.To ceiling and walls.
In conventional Indian structures, energy consumption is 200 kWh per sq. This energy consumption can be reduced to 120kwh perqs cadence by operations of energy-effective structure ways. Energy effectiveness measures for structure are approaches through which the energy consumption of a structure can be reduced while maintaining or perfecting the position of comfort in the structure. They can generally be distributed into:
- Reducing heating demand;
- Reducing cooling demand;
- Reducing the energy requirements for ventilation;
- Reducing energy use for lighting;
- Reducing energy used for heating water
- Reducing electricity consumption of office equipment and appliances;
- Reducing energy used for heating water;
- Reducing electricity consumption of office equipment and appliances;
- Mechanical ventilation and air conditioning tend to be electrically driven and operational throughout the building’s occupied life, which makes them both expensive to operate and, depending on the combined efficiency of the national power
generation plant, a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions.
- Removing them from the building design and replacing them with passive designs will have a significant impact on the life of the building. For instance, it is estimated that air-conditioned office buildings consume approximately 250 kWh/m2 per annum, while naturally ventilated office buildings consume 120 kWh/m2 per annum. Similarly, with daylighting reducing the need for artificial lighting, the life-cycle impact will be substantial.
- In passive solar building design, windows, walls, and floors are made to collect, store, and distribute solar energy in the form of heat in the winter and reject solar heat in the summer.
This is called passive solar design or climatic design because, unlike active solar heating systems, it does not involve the use of mechanical and electrical devices.
- The key to designing a passive solar building is to best take advantage of the local climate. The elements to be considered include window placement and glazing type, thermal insulation, thermal mass, and shading. Passive solar design techniques can be applied most easily to new buildings, but existing buildings can also be retrofitted.
Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC)
Building energy codes for new buildings is an important regulatory measure for ushering Energy Efficient Building sector. They are particularly relevant for countries like India where the building stock is rising rapidly.
India has begun the gradual introduction of energy efficiency solutions in the building sector. In 2001, the Indian Government introduced the Energy Conservation Act (Bureau of Energy Efficiency, 2011).
As an outcome of this act, a first-generation building code, the Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC), came into effect in 2007. Currently, ECBC applies to buildings that have a connected load greater than 100 kW or contract demand greater than 120 kVA (Bureau of Energy Efficiency, 2011). In practice, ECBC requirements are generally only applied to buildings with air-conditioned floor areas of over 1000m2. In principle, the ECBC also applies to large residential complexes, when their connected load or contract demand exceeds the thresholds. The Energy Conservation Act, of 2001 empowers the Government of India to prescribe ECBC in India.
Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) an autonomous body under the Ministry of Power, with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under its Energy Conservation and Commercialization Project (ECO- II Project) launched the first version of ECBC for its implementation in commercial and office buildings on a voluntary basis.
As the first stand-alone National Building Energy Efficiency code of India, it sets the minimum energy performance requirements of Commercial Buildings and their components.
ECBC has been developed by extensive data collection and analysis of different building types, materials, services, and usage patterns. Different climatic zones in which buildings would be constructed were also taken into account. Base case simulation models were then developed for buildings using this background data in these climatic zones. The code is applicable to five major areas of energy consumption in buildings
