Sustainable Energy Performance Indicators of Green Building in Developing Countries

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1 1961 Sustainable Energy Performance Indicators of Green Building in Developing Countries Mahsa QAEMI 1 and Gholamreza HERAVI 2 1 M.Sc. Student, School of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran; PH (+9821) ; mahsa.ghaemi85@yahoo.com 2 Assistant Professor, School of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran; P.O. Box: ; PH (+9821) ; FAX (+9821) ; heravi@ut.ac.ir ABSTRACT The concern of environment and sustainable development has been increased recently. These problems force the countries to adopt a number of policies that enhance efficiency and apply baseline parameters in accordance with international standards. Green building has now become a forefront of sustainable development in this century that takes the responsibility for balancing long-term economic, environmental and social health. It offers an opportunity to create environmentally efficient buildings by using an integrated approach of design. The efficiency as a key performance criteria group for sustainable buildings is investigated in this paper. In this study the most important criteria of efficiency are identified and based on Iran Renewable Energy Organization s expert s opinions, the most common renewable energies are compared, as well as, their feasibility to implementation in urban areas and buildings are studied. As the results of this research, solar (active and passive form) has the highest priority, advantage, and application for using in urban areas and buildings in Iran. However, passive solar has more application, but there are some obstacles for developing this system. Keywords: renewable, green building, performance indicators, developing countries. INTRODUCTION Buildings are one of the heaviest consumers of natural resources and account for an important portion of the greenhouse gas emissions (Yi-Kai Juan et al. 2010). With the growing evidence that the phenomena of global warming and climate change are caused by anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, it has become necessary to take immediate action to avoid dangerous consequences for future generations (Taleb and Sharples 2011). Energy consumption in households is a focus in many countries (Chang et al. 2011). Buildings not only use resources such as and raw materials but they also generate waste and potentially harmful atmospheric emissions (Alnaser et al. 2008b). As economy and population continue to expand, designers and builders face a unique challenge to meet demands for new and renovated facilities that are accessible, secure, healthy, and productive while

2 1962 minimizing their impact on the environment (Alnaser et al. 2008b). In the past decade, emphasis on green building design focused mainly on the development of saving technologies such as solar panels and wind farms (Chang et al. 2011). Modern buildings and their Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning systems (HVAC) are nowadays required not only to be more efficient while adhering to an ever-increasing demand for better performance in terms of comfort, but equally in respect to financial and environmental issues (Mwasha et al. 2011). Such buildings will offer healthier and more efficient solutions to owners, occupants and businesses (Alnaser et al. 2008a). In order to reduce used and its effects on the climate, several strategies are necessary, including demand reduction, adoption of passive system and increased efficiency (Mwasha et al. 2011). Implementing these strategies in a green building would typically increase the initial capital cost of the building when compared with a conventional home. Yet, the added benefit of savings over time is believed to collectively offset part of this increased capital cost (Chang et al. 2011). For these reasons, all building professionals should make efficiency a key part of their professional activities. Building professionals should help clients to develop a brief which sets out both user and client requirements and constraints, balancing these against capital costs, running costs, whole life costs and environmental objectives (Energy efficiency in buildings, CIBSE Guide F 2004). There are a lot of studies related to and efficiency that suggest some optimal strategies for achieving to performance improvement and sustainable buildings. Alnaser et al. in 2008, in the Kingdom of Bahrain, selected two large buildings for make-over to sustainable buildings, and they used the solar, wind and the total solar electricity from the photovoltaic cells. Alnaser et al. in 2008, also, improved a model for calculating the sustainable building index. Their research concentrated on policies on renewable, renewable education, and incentives to Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) and Building Integrated Wind Turbines (BIWT) projects, environmental awareness and promotion to clean and sustainable for building and construction projects. Yi-Kai Juan et al. in 2010, develop an integrated decision support system to assess existing office building conditions and to recommend an optimal set of sustainable renovation actions, considering trade-offs between renovation cost, improved building quality, and environmental impacts. Chang et al. in 2011, develop an optimal design for water conservation and savings that using green roofs in a green building. Taleb and Sharples in 2011, assessed the and water consumption practices of existing housing in Saudi Arabia, with the ultimate aim of establishing guidelines for delivering sustainable residential buildings in the near future. Mwasha et al. in 2011, focused to investigate the principal sustainable performance indicators for modeling the sustainable performance of the residential building envelope and develop an approach for determining the most appropriate sustainable performance indicators. In this paper, by identifying the performance criteria of a sustainable building, these criteria evaluate according to principal aspects of construction in Iran as

3 1963 developing country. So this paper focuses on the sustainable performance criteria, their effects to improve the sustainability of building and implementation possibility. METHODOLOGY Figure 1, shows the research delimitations. The designed methodology is consisting of the following main steps: Key performance criteria for sustainable buildings... Energy efficiency (Sustainable criteria) Minimum performance Renewable Measurement and verification Wind Passive solar Geothermal Fuel cell Active solar Energy systems Fig 1. The research delimitations The key performance criteria for sustainable buildings will be identified. The writers conducted a pilot study to get a good understanding about the all important aspects of sustainable buildings in Iran. All of the factors for sustainable buildings are related to: environmental benefits, long economic benefits, simple implementation and better performance in terms of comfort. The best way for identifying the sustainable buildings assessment criteria is studying, surveying and comparing the various researches and finally achieve a set of criteria that can assess truly the performance of such buildings. The authors identified those criteria based on comparison between LEED and some other researches. This paper focuses on efficiency (sustainable criteria) through the eight identified groups in previous step. Energy issues and its optimized consumption that tend to reduce the destructive environmental effects as a result

4 1964 of the fossil fuel consumption are the most important issues which should be attended, so subsequent to the pilot study mentioned above, a detailed study was performed to identify the criteria and to localize them. In the group the sustainable criteria will be merged to some main criteria based on Iran s current status, geographic situation and authors opinions for more attention. Therefore, the efficiency criteria are categorized into two main subgroups: renewable and systems. In order to evaluate sustainable criteria (renewable and systems criteria), the individual interview technique is used to benefit the experts advices, opinions and observations from Iran Renewable Energy Organization. Through the several renewable energies, this paper focuses on solar, wind, geothermal and fuel cell. Also, minimum performance and measurement and verification are the most important issues through systems that are considered here. SUSTAINABLE PERFORMANCE CRITERIA IDENTIFICATION The key building sustainable performance criteria are extracted of pilot study among researches that can be a base for future studies in order to localize the criteria. These criteria contain 53 key elements grouped into 8 major areas as shown in Table 1. Table 1. Key performance criteria for sustainable buildings Criteria Criteria Site selection (1,2,3,4) Water use reduction (1,2,5) Reduce pollution generation (2,4,5,6) Water efficient landscaping (1,2,5) Transport and accessibility (1,2,5) Wastewater technology (1,5) Construction activity pollution prevention (1,5) Water conservation (2,3) Reduce heat island effect (1,5) Water treatment (4,5) Development density and community connectivity (1) Pollution effect on water quality (4) Brownfield redevelopment (1) Reduce waste generation (2,3,5,6,7) Site development (1) Renewable material use (1,2,3,6) Surface water runoff control (1) Material reuse (1,2,7) Light pollution reduction (1) Local material use (1,2,4) Renewable (1,3,6,7) Storage and collection of recyclables(1) Minimum performance (1,6,7) Material durability (3,6,7) Reduce green house gas emission (2,3,4,6) Recycled material use (1) Fundamental commissioning of the building systems (1,2,6) Building reuse (1) Sustainable site Energy efficiency Building envelope performance control (2,6) Energy efficient heating, cooling and air conditioning systems (2,5) Water efficiency Material and resources Indoor environmental quality Indoor air quality management (1) Outdoor air delivery monitoring & increased ventilation (1,2,3,6) Energy savings (4,6) Daylighting and views (1,2) Green power (1) Indoor chemical & pollution sources control (1) Fundamental refrigerant management (1) Tobacco smoke control (1,5)

5 1965 Economical Social Enhanced commissioning (1) Controllability of systems (1) Measurement and verification (1) Minimum indoor air quality (1) Optimize performance (1) Thermal comfort (1) Life-cycle cost (3,4,6,7) Low-emitting material (1) Life-cycle profit (2,3,4,6,7) Acoustic & noise control (2) Project budget (4,7) Aesthetic options (3,6,7) Innovation in design (1,2,3,5) Effect on local development (4,7) Protection to culture heritage (3,4) (1) LEED 2009; (2) Ali and Al Nsairat 2009; (3) ALwaer and Clements-Croome 2010; (4) Shen et al. 2011; (5) Kai Juan et al. 2010; (6) Mwasha et al. 2011; (7) Ying Chen et al As mentioned previously, the identified criteria are considered for more emphasizing on relevant issues to sustainable buildings. Among the sustainability of building and even environment, more attention is paid to issues and its consumption than other issues, so the next section concentrate on efficiency. Sustainable Energy Criteria (Energy Efficiency) The criteria as subgroups of Energy Efficiency (see Table 1), can merge and decrease to six main criteria for assessing sustainability of as a matter of (see Table 2): Table 2. Sustainable criteria (Energy efficiency criteria) No. Criteria Explanation Encourage and recognize increasing levels of on-site C1 Renewable renewable self-supply in order to reduce environmental and economic impacts associated with fossil fuel use. Minimum Establish the minimum level of efficiency for the C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 performance Fundamental commissioning of the building systems Enhanced commissioning Measurement and verification Optimize performance innovation proposed building and systems. Verify that the building s related systems are installed, calibrated and perform according to the owner s project requirement, basis of design, and construction documents. Begin the commissioning process early during the design process and execute additional activities after system performance verification is completed. Provide for the ongoing accountability of building consumption over time. Achieve increasing levels of performance above the baseline in the prerequisite standard to reduce environmental and economic impacts associated with excessive use. Reduce green house gas emission and savings (see Table 1), are as the result of implementation other criteria.

6 1966 Building envelope performance control, efficient heating, cooling and air conditioning systems and fundamental refrigerant management (see Table 1), can be considered in optimize performance criteria. Green power (see Table 1), is a part of renewable criteria. SUSTAINABLE ENERGY CRITERIA EVALUATION This study purposes to survey current status of Iran as developing country about issues, renewable utilization enhancement, and their effects on improving the performance. Accordingly, the individual interview technique is used to benefit the experts advices, opinions and observations from Iran Renewable Energy Organization. The interviewees are sixteen experts that their divisions and experiences are depicted in Table 3. Table 3. Number of experts and their experience Renewable Solar Wind Geothermal Specs Fuel cell Biomass Number of experts experience 2 yrs (12.5)yrs (10)yrs (7.5)yrs (7.5)yrs As mentioned before, the mentioned six criteria are categorized into two main parts: renewable, and systems that they are the pivots of this research. Accordingly, the interview framework consists of two main sections: renewable, and systems. The expert s answers to the questions are categorized into five levels: Very low (1), Low (2), Medium (3), High (4), Very High (5). Hence, the answers and the conclusions are comparative. The sustainable criteria evaluation based on the conducted survey are introduced in following subsections. Renewable Energy Nowadays, several types of renewable energies are used for different applications, for example in power plants or in buildings, include: solar, geothermal, wind, tidal and wave power, photovoltaic cells, urban and agricultural trash, and biomass. In this paper the renewable energies that are more common, accessible everywhere, and are useful for buildings are surveyed, include: solar (active and passive forms), geothermal, and wind. Whereas hydrogen can be used as a fuel for storing and fuel cell is a system that gets hydrogen and converts it to efficient electricity and thermal, Iran Renewable Energy Organization has a separate department for evaluating fuel cell and its operations. Accordingly, authors have selected fuel cell as one of the understudy renewable energies too. Table 4, illustrates this research understudied renewable energies and their characteristics.

7 1967 Table 4. Renewable energies description and benefits Renewable Description and Benefits Active solar Passive solar Wind Geothermal Fuel cell Convert solar into another more useful form of. This would normally be a conversion to heat or electrical. Inside a building this would be used for heating, cooling, or off-setting other use or costs. The basic benefit is that controls can be used to maximize its effectiveness. Photovoltaic solar panels are in this group. In passive solar building design, windows, walls, and floors are made to collect, store, and distribute solar in the form of heat in the winter and reject solar heat in the summer. The key to designing a passive solar building is to best take advantage of the local climate. Elements to be considered include window placement and glazing type, thermal insulation, thermal mass, and shading. Wind power is the conversion of wind into a useful form of, such as using wind turbines to make electricity, windmills for mechanical power, wind pumps for water pumping or drainage. Geothermal is thermal generated and stored in the Earth. A fuel cell is a device that converts the chemical from a fuel into electricity through a chemical reaction with oxygen or another oxidizing agent. Hydrogen is the most common fuel. This section solicits information about current amount of renewable systems usage, their implementation possibility in urban areas and buildings, their influence on initial construction, maintenance and operation costs, as well as, their effect on fossil fuel consumption reduction. Also, it s argued about the obstacles preventing the development of such systems. As shown in Table 5, there is a ranking for renewable to compare them based on their usage in urban areas and buildings, and economical justification. Table 5. Average score for some advantages related to renewable energies Ranking Average score Renewable Feasible use The amount in urban of fossil fuel AS* N** areas and consumption buildings reduction The amount of initial construction costs enhancement The amount of maintenance and operation costs reduction Active solar (2) 4.40 (1) 3.50 (3) 3.38 (1) Passive solar (1) 4.36 (3) 2.83 (1) 3.31 (2) Wind (4) 4.38 (2) 3.60 (4) 3.00 (3) Geothermal (5) 3.97 (5) 3.27 (2) 3.00 (3) Fuel cell (3) 4.06 (4) 3.50 (3) 2.82 (4) * AS = average score. ** N = normalized: (x i x min ) / (x max x min ) Based on Table 5, some indices have more influence on renewable energies ranking. In each column there are an individual ranking among average scores for the issues, as shown in bracket. The main advantages can be specified based on the highest priority, in each row for renewable energies (see Table 6).

8 1968 Table 6. The main advantages for renewable Ranking Feasible use The amount Renewable in urban of fossil fuel AS N areas and consumption buildings reduction The amount of initial construction costs enhancement The amount of maintenance and operation costs reduction Active solar Passive solar Wind Geothermal Fuel cell In conclusion, Iran is one of the countries with the great geographic potential for developing the renewable systems and solar systems specially which have important effects on sustainable, economical and environmental status. Some of the obstacles are summarized in Table 7. Likewise, a ranking for renewable energies based on the current status of the renewable energies utilization in Iran is shown in this Table. Moreover the obstacles priorities for developing renewable systems are shown in Table 7. Table 7. Obstacles priorities for developing renewable systems Ranking High lack of Lack of Lack of Renewable initial government public technical AS N costs support awareness technology Lack of proper and required equipment Poor planning approach Passive solar Wind Active solar Geothermal Fuel cell Other obstacles have been mentioned are: vague information, incorrect advertisement, inexpensive energies, providing low quality products that leads to distrustfulness among consumers and lack of required standards. Energy Systems The high productivity of systems, the systems appropriate installation, and the continuous monitoring of systems performance, as well as, the optimized performance of systems are the most important criteria in systems and optimized usage of them. Existing inappropriate systems and the lack of optimized productivity are the main problems in systems in present local status and conditions, so minimum performance and measurement and verification are our pivots to concentrate on systems. As mentioned, this section is aimed at evaluating systems performance and continuous monitoring effect of buildings systems on optimizing consumption. According to the Table 8 the influence of the measurement and verification on consumption optimization is more than minimum performance, while the current success of it, is less than other. So, it s better to plan

9 1969 and attend to continuous monitoring in order to optimize consumption. This can identify systems weaknesses for suggesting some measures in order to optimize the systems performance or more optimizing in performance. Table 8. Evaluating performance and continuous monitoring of buildings systems Energy systems minimum performance measurement and verification Average score Their influence on consumption optimization 3.97 Medium- High 4.04 High- Very High Current status 2.56 Low- Medium 2.25 Low- Medium Prioritizing based on the importance DISCUSSION In brief, based on above survey, following results could be extracted: Among the renewable energies, solar (active and passive forms) has the highest priority, advantage, and application for using in urban areas and buildings. The most important advantages for active solar are the fossil fuel consumption reduction and the maintenance and operation costs reduction. The most advantages for passive solar are feasible to use in urban areas and buildings and the low initial construction costs. Now, passive solar has more application in Iran, and the most important obstacles for developing this system are: poor planning approach and lack of government support. Social issues such as the government s incentive measures and improvement of public culture and awareness of building sustainable have great effect on optimized consumption. CONCLUSION The efficiency as a key performance criteria group for sustainable buildings was investigated in this paper. Also the most important criteria of efficiency were identified and based on Iran Renewable Energy Organization s expert s opinions, the most common renewable energies were compared, as well as, their feasibility to implementation in urban areas and buildings were studied. Also, social and cultural issues about renewable energies, public awareness, optimized consumption and improving the relevant issues were studied. As the results of this research, solar (active and passive forms) has the highest priority, advantage, and application for using in urban areas and buildings in Iran. However, passive solar has more application, but there are some obstacles for developing this system, such as: poor planning approach and lack of government support. Moreover, the government s incentive measures and improvement of public culture and awareness of building sustainable can be effective for developing the applications of renewable systems. 2 1

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