The building design stage of a building project presents the best opportunity to evaluate possible sources of renewable energy for the project. The type of renewable energy to be exploited depends mainly on the location of the building site with relation to the location of the source of the renewable energy.
We can consider as a factor, the availability of the renewable energy on the site of the building project. Conversely, we may also look at the proximity of the source(s) of the renewable energy to the site of the building project.
Another key factor to be considered is the cost of installation of the necessary equipment for harnessing the renewable energy. The renewable energy technologies are usually costly and hence might discourage their adoption into the energy production and cycles of buildings. However, if feasibility studies confirm that the long term benefits of installation of the given renewable energy technology outweighs the costs, then the renewable energy can be easily considered for adoption.
In the city of Manchester, a limited number of renewable energy technologies can be applied. This, like in any other place in the world, is attributed to the weather conditions, climatic conditions, topology and natural resources availability. The following renewable technologies can be successfully applied for the building project in the city of Manchester.
Ground Source Heat Pumps can be applied for the heating of the building during the winter months and cooling during the summer months. This renewable energy technology makes use of the invariance of temperatures in underground rock layers.
At given depths below the surface, the temperatures of the rock layers is independent of the surface temperatures. This implies that throughout the year, these rock layers maintain a constant temperature range during all the seasons. In the United Kingdom this temperature range is estimated to be 7-12 degrees Celsius.
This renewable energy source can be exploited by digging a shaft down the level of the rock layers with invariant temperature. At the contact point a heat exchanger system is set up. Air is then pumped from the building down to the heat exchanger where it is heated are rises back to the ground level. If the heated air is to be distributed throughout the building to heat up the entire building, a pump system may be employed.
The pumping system would be more economical if this technology is to be applied for the summer months as well. In the reverse of the above process, in the summer, air is pumped down the shaft to be cooled by the rock layers with invariant temperature range. A pump would then be required to pump the cooled air to the surface and throughout the entire building from the outlet shaft.
This renewable energy technology will be applicable for this building project especially since it is being considered at the building designing stage. This means that the building can have its own shafts dug as the building process commences. This technology will provide an affordable and renewable option for heating the building during winters and cooling it during the summers.
This energy can be exploited by the use of Air Source Heat Pumps. This renewable energy technology works in a similar way to the Ground Source Heat Pump. The difference is in the source, where instead of relying on the underground temperature invariant rock layers, the source in this case would be the air.
This renewable energy source is especially applicable during the summer months in Manchester, when energy would be required to cool the building. Cool air can be sucked into the building, close to the ground level, and pumped to the entire building to provide the cooling effect. The now hot air would then be released at the top of the building and the process repeated to continuously keep the building cool during summer.
The assumption in this renewable energy technology is that the air sucked into the building close to the ground level is cool. This is the expected situation since cool air having a higher density would generally be close to the ground level.
This renewable energy provides a cost effective solution to the high summer temperatures in the city of Manchester. No energy is used for the cooling, instead already cool air is sucked into the building for cooling.
Wind energy can be harnessed through the use of Building Integrated Turbines. This renewable energy technology involves the installation of wind turbines at the top of buildings. The turbines in turn harness the wind energy from the winds blowing at the top of the building.
This approach represents a micro wind energy utilization, hence the idea would not be to replicate windfarms with large turbines. The energy produced by the building integrated turbines will be significantly smaller compared to the windfarms. However, since the aim will be producing off grid energy purely for consumption in the building, this approach becomes applicable.
The building integrated turbines account for the design and structure of the building. Therefore, the turbines would be install in a safe manner that would not put the building or the intended occupants and visitors at any risk, while at the same time producing energy for the building.
The winds speeds in the city of Manchester range between 11.3 miles per hour to 17 miles per hour all year round. These speeds are sufficient for the production of wind energy by the building integrated turbines.
During the spring and summer months the city of Manchester receives ample sunlight. The installation of solar panels can ensure that the building generates energy during these months stretching from March to August.
The solar panels can be installed in two ways. First, the panels can be setup at the roof of the building. The design of the roof would hence be such that it accounts for the installation of the solar panels.
The second way would be the use of window panels fitted with photovoltaic cells. This presents a more applicable approach since it will have minimum interference with the design of the building.
The sustainability challenges for this building project can be observed from three points of view; environmental, economic and cultural.
From an environmental perspective, we have to consider how the building project will affect the environment in and around the location. The main challenge will be in the handling of the sound pollution and the impacts of the vibrations produced from the building sites.
The sound pollution from the building is going to be major issue of concern for the 24 months project duration. Restricting the building to night hours, when we have less interference with neighboring business, might extend the project well beyond the estimated 24 month project duration.
The vibration produced by the construction at the site may affect the animal life in parks near the site. Apart from trauma, the vibrations may also cause migration of animals. Therefore care should be taken to minimize the vibrations at the construction site.
In order to ensure that the project is sustainable, the building project will have to move from the conventional approaches to building and construction. The equipment used at the site must be less pollutant, this would ensure that the level of carbon emission by the project are significantly minimized. The raw materials used for the project must also meet the threshold in terms of environment conservation.
This measures to ensure sustainability will result in an increase in budget of the project, thus producing a financial stretch on the project.
Sustainability in the cultural sense will include finding a way of making the design of the building (both interior and exterior) relatable to the culture and heritage of the city of Manchester. However with the rapidly rate of globalization, there could be interest in having a design that represent the aspects of globalization and diversity.
The cultural challenge would therefore be in finding that balance in having a design that represent both the aspects of heritage and modernization of the city of Manchester.
The first stage of the procurement of materials for this building project will be material identification and specification. All the materials required for this building project need to be noted and the estimation for the quantities made. The type of the materials required also need to be noted. This information can be obtained from the contract specification documents provided by either the engineer or architect.
The second stage of procurement of materials involves getting price estimates for all type of items required, that is; large quantity items, high value items and long lead items. These estimates will provide a picture of the expected cost for the whole building project.
The third stage is procurement of materials the materials ordering stage. Here two main approaches may be applied; direct ordering from a preferred supplier or tendering. Whereas tendering offers competition thereby giving the project a chance of having the best prices and products supplied, choosing a preferred supplier may provide reliability and security especially if the supplier has worked on related projects.
The purchase of the materials is then made depending on the procurement approach selected (preferred supplier or tendering). This is usually subject to the supplier being able to supply products that meet the requirements of the building project.
The supply chain as illustrated in Figure 1: Supply Chain chart below shows the two channels of supply. These are direct and indirect supply channels. In the direct supply channels, we have products that can be obtained direct from the first tier suppliers without need for any modifications and used in the site for the building construction. It also includes products that can be modified on the building site to fit specifications. These products include concrete slabs and concrete.
In the indirect supply channel, we have products that require modification to fit specifications. The building project in this case may apply two approaches; subcontractor and main contractor approaches. In the subcontractor approach, a supplier is identified for the raw material and contracted to supply the raw material. A product designer is then also contracted and supplied with the raw material to produce the final product.
The main contractor approach leaves the identification and contracting of the supplier of the raw material to the product designer. The product designer is then tasked with delivering the final product.
This building project can apply a combination of the two approaches of the indirect supply channel as well as the direct supply channel to ensure that the project gets all the required materials and completes within the project duration.
The risks associated with the building project can be classified into two broad categories: health associated risks and safety associated risks.
There are three main health concerns that can be associated with this building project. The first health concern is the respiratory health conditions. This may result from exposure to dust during the initial stage of the building. Dust generally has an irritating effect on the respiratory tract that varies in different people, with severe effects among asthmatic individuals. Digging up dust that has been undisturbed for a long period of time releases into the atmosphere new pathogens which then pose an extreme health risk to both asthmatic and non-asthmatic individuals. Contained/Controlled digging and drilling can be done to minimize the amount of dust that is released into the atmosphere.
The second health condition is associated to noise pollution. The noise produced during the construction process apart from interfering with other businesses around the site, may also expose the people living and working nearby to varied degrees of hearing impairment.
To prevent this, a lot of the noise intense activities should be carried out at night. The individuals living and working around the site can be provided with ear plugs, so that they can use them when they feel like the noise is too loud. The project can also set up caution signs, warning of loud noise around the site. By doing this the people living and working around the site will be afforded the same cautionary measures against noise that the employees at the site are accorded.
The third health concern category is the weather related health concerns. This is mainly in relation to the employees working at the site. During the winter months in the city of Manchester, temperatures are normally expected to drop to very low temperatures. Exposure to extremely low temperatures may result to frost bites among other cold-related conditions. In order to avoid such cases, construction will need to be halted in times during the winter months when the weather conditions are deemed to be too hazardous for any work to be done.
The safety associated risks in this building project can be viewed as either being onsite or offsite. The onsite safety associated risks are basically the construction safety risks that include falling materials and machinery. To address this risk, proper construction site measures are going to be taken, such as; providing the required clothing (overalls, boots and helmets) and providing sufficient training on construction site safety measures.
The offsite safety associated risks include the safety risks that people living and working around the site are exposed to due to the construction activities at the site. One major offsite safety risk is the collapsing of buildings in the vicinity of the construction site. This may be caused by the vibrations generated by the building processes. The vibrations may result in development of cracks on walls and in worst case scenarios, the collapse of old, fragile buildings.
The concerns over the likelihood of collapsing of buildings can be addressed by using of less intense building processes that produce less vibrations. Regular checks on surrounding buildings is also necessary, so that the development of cracks and hence likelihood of collapsing of a building can be detected early enough. This will allow the relevant measures to be taken to prevent the loss of life and property.
Two main passive systems will be applicable for this building project. These are ventilations and natural (solar) lightings. These two systems will be fundamental in moderating the temperatures in the shopping center once it is complete.
Numerous ventilations should be strategically located throughout the building to ensure that every part of the building is well aired. Ventilations help in the natural circulation of air inside and outside of a building. The ventilations will be especially useful during the summer months in the city of Manchester by providing a natural cooling system for the building.
Since the building project is of a shopping center, the design should cater for central space that will allow for natural light to illuminate the building. Having such a design will provide a path for sunlight to enter the building. Solar radiations are significant for increasing the temperature of the inside of the building. Thus adopting such a design will be significant in heating up the building naturally.
This building project will apply four active systems to help in the exploitation of renewable energy for the consumption in the building. The four active systems technologies that will be applied are: Ground Source Energy Pumps, Air Source Energy Pumps, Building Integrated Turbines and Solar Panels.
Ground Source Energy Pumps can be applied for the heating of the building during the winter months and cooling during the summer months. This renewable energy technology makes use of the invariance of temperatures in underground rock layers.
Air Source Energy Pumps system is a renewable energy technology that works in a similar way to the Ground Source Heat Pump. The difference is in the source, where instead of relying on the underground temperature invariant rock layers, the source in this case would be the air.
Wind energy can be harnessed through the use of Building Integrated Turbines. This renewable energy technology involves the installation of wind turbines at the top of buildings. The turbines in turn harness the wind energy from the winds blowing at the top of the building.
During the spring and summer months the city of Manchester receives ample sunlight. The installation of solar panels can ensure that the building generates energy during these months stretching from March to August.
The passive systems in general have no significant impact on the environment around the building. The ventilation only provide for a route air circulation while the central space design allows for light to enter the building.
The ground source heat pump and solar panels also have no impact on the immediate environment of the building. However if we consider the production processes for the ground source heat pump and solar panels, then the carbon emissions from such processes may represent a source of environment pollution.
The air source heat pump and the building integrated turbines, however do have impacts on the immediate environment of the building. These two active systems produce a significant amount of noise, which could be a source of noise pollution.
Conclusion
We can conclude that noise/sound pollution poses the greatest challenge for this building project. The impacts of the noise pollution touches on all aspects of the project. Two of the four renewable energy technologies and active systems (The air source heat pump and the building integrated turbines) are sources of noise pollution. The digging and drilling in the initial stages of the project are also sources of noise pollution. Therefore a lot resources should be channeled into containing the noise pollution during and after the completion of the project.
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