Reduction Of Energy Consumption Through Natural Design In Kurdistan/ Iraq

Transcription

1 Available online at ScienceDirect Procedia Environmental Sciences 00 (2016) Reduction Of Energy Consumption Through Natural Design In Kurdistan/ Iraq Rojhat. K. Ibrahim, Hariwan N. Zebari* Architectural Engineering Department, University of Duhok, Duhok, Iraq Abstract Lack of awareness and the absence of building regulations in Kurdistan have led to create unsustainable and unhealthy built environment. Sustainable design offers many solution for the problems at hand. This research will focus to the current problems in the built environment within Kurdistan, especially regarding energy consumption. Secondly, it shall provide possible energy solutions via natural design concepts. The research paper will provide guides to efficiently consume or reduce energy consumption. Finally it will give a proposal for a typical house via hand sketch drawings such an attempt to achieve as much as possible sustainable features within residential building The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. Peer-review under responsibility of IEREK, International experts for Research Enrichment and Knowledge Exchange. Keywords:; energy consumption; orientation; ventilation; heating and cooling; lighting; materials 1. Introduction Attaining sustainability includes appropriately utilizing the earth s resources commonly used by human activities, while absorbing the waste from these activities [1]. Global warming as the most pressing environmental issue occurred as a result of human improper activities toward the environment. According to [2] the global temperatures have risen about 2-3 degrees since last century, warmer and drier summer, beside CO2 emission and others negative aspects. All these issues are the consequence of mismanagement and inappropriate practices of the available resources. Accordingly energy consumption has to be addressed globally more carefully as urgent concern. * Corresponding author. Tel.: address: rojhatbarwary@yahoo.com The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. Peer-review under responsibility of IEREK, International experts for Research Enrichment and Knowledge Exchange.

2 2 Rojhat. K. Ibrahim / Procedia Environmental Sciences 00 (2016) Studying proper use of energy in respect to sustainability, strives to improve the quality of life and maintain energy use, where CO2 emission has its least limits. All architectural issues must be resolved from the beginning to provide more effective strategies and passive systems to control energy consumption. Operation energy as an energy which is used for lighting, ventilation, cooling & heating, heating water and run machines and equipment consume a lot of energy [3]. This research will give instructions for conscious energy consumption in Kurdistan. Buildings in Kurdistan often require a lot of energy and maintenance for operation. Lighting, heating and cooling take up most percentage of building energy in Kurdistan. ). Therefore, following issues will be address in the Kurdistan Region building: - Sitting and orientation - Ventilation & Cooling - Lighting and Heating - Materials - The final stage will give conceptual proposal to resolve all the items via passive strategies and other key point in the sustainable design. 2. Siting and orientation Siting and orientating buildings clearly means to direct and locate building openings towards the solar gain on the southern side, while still positioning the building to obtain wind and breeze from the north orientations. In terms of heat gain or heat prevention into the building, natural lighting and ventilation can benefit greatly by passive strategies to reduce energy consumption. It is worth mentioning that orientation has direct impact on the performance of the building. For example, Kurdistan buildings south-facing openings is ideal orientation during winter season because it gives opportunities for heat gain and natural lighting, while minimize north-facing glazing might be more functional for heat loss. Of course this has to be done in consideration of shading devices, vegetation, materials, etc. Orientation has to be well addressed to take advantage from breeze in term of natural cooling for the summer. This can be more enhanced by moisturizing and purifying the air from dust by water-springs or vegetation. To prevent strong prevailing cold wind to enter into the building, orientation is a front line defense to resolve this issue. Building spaces which need solar heat gain in winter and well ample natural light have to be oriented toward the south side. These spaces include family room, living room, kitchen area, via large windows or openings to let natural sun light penetrate more inside spaces. This can certainly attribute to energy conservation. Placing water tanks targeted by the sun heat in winter has great advantage to attain hot water, while in summer it has to be protected by some strategies such as planting (mostly vine tree) or covered by other shading devices for temporary period.

3 Rojhat. K. Ibrahim / Procedia Environmental Sciences 00 (2016) Ventilation and cooling Ventilation is a great source of providing fresh air into the buildings and may it prevent any molds and fungus indoors. Instead of using mechanical systems, ventilation can provide cooling and heating in respective reason. Having proper air flow can result in the solution to humidity and potential heat loss. Cross-ventilation, such as opening doors and windows "opposite to one another to draw air through the interior" which is critical to the climate condition of Kurdistan [4]. Kurdistan regions air is burden by the dust from the southern climate of desert, and often times must be filtered by vegetation and mesh used in most vernacular architecture buildings. Regarding cooling the building, deep overhand and canopies placed above windows can keep the sun off exterior walls and windows and prevent heat gain during warm season. Other strategies is placing or creating a courtyard or mini-body of water such as pools near the house can naturally cool the air before the air enters into the building. According to Peter F. Smith in his book, Architecture in Climate of Change, "Clusters of trees within the heat island can produce a localized drop in temperature of 2-3 degree C" [5]. 4. Lighting and heating Building oriented toward the south is more functional to get natural lighting in order to make the use of electrical light minimized to its lower level in the day. Therefore Installing lighting fixtures where it essential can conserve electrical energy, as well as enhance the distance between light sources [3]. In the process of design, large spaces requiring more artificial lighting, using suitable and separate control zones is preferable to get benefit from natural day light. Zoning and proximity to natural light has to be considered well during installing artificial source lights, Install controls for individual fixtures or small source of lights is more preferred than one switch for groups of fixtures. Automatic control light source in the presence of human activity is an efficient strategy for energy consumption. Passive design strategies for reducing heat request could be highly achieved by form and orientation of building, interior fabric, building envelope, structural and insulation materials etc. Other areas that can contribute to the passive design might also consider integrated design, selection of materials, ventilation and heating system. Using super-insulation is crucial feature to minimize heat loss and attain thermal comfort inside the building. Even through its challenging to attain thermal comfort through passive design strategies, while needing natural ventilation at the same time in attempt to deliver healthy indoor environment [3]. 5. Materials The building envelope has to be well insulated and sealed by using high U-value materials to prevent heat gain and cool loss through wall section. Reflective finishes can contribute to minimize unwanted heat gain. The most excessively materials used in Kurdistan is Concrete and building concrete blocks, both of which produce high of CO2 emission and high level of thermal capacity and often produce a lot of waste. In terms of heating, concrete easily accepts heat gain, and therefore in the summer season, shading and vegetation must be available around the wall. In the winter season, it's better to have the concrete wall to be exposed to the solar rays have heat gain. Deciduae's trees are of the most effective to allow winter sun exposed to the wall, while blocking the hot summer Light painting reflect sun, and often times better to use in the warm climate of Kurdistan. Other factors that can affect the building is the types of surface and finished provided around the building and inside the buildings. For example, reflective surfaces placed outside the building can reflect the energy away from the building. Rough surface absorbs energy and acts as a layer of insulation placed on the wall finish. Using environmentally friendly materials can substantially offer longer building life and offer positive effect on human health.

4 4 Rojhat. K. Ibrahim / Procedia Environmental Sciences 00 (2016) Conceptual proposal ( typical house in Kurdistan ) Achieving much sustainable features have been highlighted in the following proposal for typical house in Kurdistan. In this proposal apart from what it is clarified in the sketches below, the precast concrete frame structure has been suggested in term of its stability and durability. Additionally it gives chance to reuse or resize spaces as well. This supported by cavity wall brick and CMU block available locally, double glazing windows to improve the thermal performance. - In a ground floor plan (figure 1), naturally lighting and ventilation is provided to all the areas. Vegetation and deciduous trees are implanted to give opportunity for shade for summer and in winter sun can penetrate to have energy gain inside. 1. Bed Room, 2. Reception, 3. Kitchen, 4. Eywan, 5. Bath, 6. WC. 7. Storage, 8. Wind catcher 9. Open yard, 10. Fountains 11. Vegetable Area, 12. Garden, 13. Ramp, 14. Garage Figure 1 Typical House Design, Ground Floor Plan.

5 Rojhat. K. Ibrahim / Procedia Environmental Sciences 00 (2016) The basement conceptual plan (figure 2) provides fresh and moist area. It s an excellent space to be used during the hot summer months, as the ground automatically provides cooling. 1. Sleeping area, 2. Living Space, 3. Storage, 4. Water body Figure 2 Typical House Design, Basement Floor Plan.

6 6 Rojhat. K. Ibrahim / Procedia Environmental Sciences 00 (2016) First Floor Plan (figure 3) courtyard is introduced to bring in more natural light, ventilation, and green roof. 1. Bed Room, 2. Living Room, 3. Eywan, 4. Bath, 5. WC, 6. Storage, 7. Wind catcher, 8. Open yard, 9. Garden, 10. Mash Figure 3 Typical House Design, First Floor Plan.

7 Rojhat. K. Ibrahim / Procedia Environmental Sciences 00 (2016) Transverse section, provides fresh air outside via wind catcher and basement to the courtyard. The warmer and bad odor is raised and released via open yard. Figure 4 Sections.

8 8 Rojhat. K. Ibrahim / Procedia Environmental Sciences 00 (2016) The following sketch (figure 5) shows the high thermal capacity by attaching walls with surrounding houses. Flat roofs can be utilized to place water tank storages. Courtyard placed in the center of the house, and it s the main source of natural lighting and vent. Figure 5 Top-View Plan 7. Conclusion Architecture can provide solutions to most of the environmental issues, like controlling energy consumption by employing effective strategies and passive systems in the building's design. Negligence of building regulation, unaware of how much energy is being consumed via unsustainable systems have only added to the growing program of improper use of earth s resources. This paper shed light on few problems and provided some solutions via natural design concepts and offering sustainable features in any residential buildings in Kurdistan region. Particular areas that were investigated included sitting & orientation of the building, ventilation & cooling, lighting &heating, and materials. All of these application were successfully applied to the conceptual proposal. References [1] Halliday, S., (2008). Sustainable Construction. Amsterdam: Butterworth-Heinemann. [2] Harris, C. and Borer, P., (2005). The Whole House Book: Ecological Building Design and Materials, 2nd edition. Powys: Centre for Alternative Technology. [3] Sassi, P., (2006). Strategies for sustainable architecture. Oxon: Taylor and Francis. [4] Wildhide, Elizabeth. (2002). ECO. The esstial sourcebook for environmentally friendly design and decoration. London,WC2H OLS. [5] Smith, F. Peter. (2006). Architecture in a Climate of Change. A guide to sustainable design. Burlington, Ma