Not only because it’s a major required course, but also because a qualiied contemporary designer must take the responsibility of making the world more sustainable. I am really missing the clear rivers with ishes and crabs living in and really hopping a sustainable society and ecology come from：Zhejiang province, China.
Whenever I do something, I will always consider if this process can be copied or reversible. If it is, that means if I feel the thing is not necessary, I can break it down back into materials. And then I can make other things. So I do not like things that are not reversible. The not reversible ones will because garbage. So I am really hopping a sustainable world come from: Shanghai,China.
Because I am worried about the environmental im-pacts of the high speed urban development, and i am also quite interested about how to live a more sustainable life come from: Anhui province,China.
Lishui is situated in the southwest of Zhejiang province, with its administrative area of 17,298 square kilometres. The downtown area is located in Liandu district, close to the city government. Currently, there are a shopping mall, a starred hotel, a cinema and many restaurants in the downtown.
Lishui has a monsoon-influenced humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa), with short, mild winters (with occasional frost), and long, very hot, humid summers.
In Lishui, autumn and early winter are the driest times of the year, while from March to June rain falls on more than half of the days and the floods occasionally struck the city. From midsummer on to autumn, typhoons occasionally strike the area. Lishui has an extremely hot summer, awlays ranked first among the cities of high temperature in China .
Summer: long, hot, humid
Winter: short, mild
Average rain fall: 1406mm/year
The average high in July is 35.3 °C and the average low is 25.0 °C. The average January high is 11.8 °C and the average low in 3.4 °C . The highest temperature ever recorded is 43.2 °C on July 31, 2003. The coldest temperature ever recorded was −7.7 °C on January 16, 1967 and January 16, 1970. The average annual rainfall is 1406mm, reducing progressively from south to north. 80% of the annual precipitation occurrs in March to September.
J F M A M J J A S O N D
1 3 2 4
Wind of ENE prevails in Lishui. The annual average wind speed is between 1.1m/s to 1.6m/s, decreasing from the southeast to the northwest region .
J F M A M J J A S O N D
1. Average Max and Min temperatures in degree Celsius （1981-2010）
2. Average Precipitation totals in mm （1981-2010）
3. Average wind speed in m/s （1971-2000）
4. Average precipitation days （1971-2000）
1.4 12.6 13.7 18.0 17.8 16.8 17.8 14.0 14.2 12.7 9.4 8.8 7.9
1.5 1.6 1.5 1.3 1.1 1.3 1.4 1.2 1.2 1.1 1.2 J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D
Lishui has a high forest coverage rate above 80%, so the environment there is pretty good. But they still make efforts to enhance the living condition of the city:
A. Project Water Governance (Wushuigongzhi)
B. Project Beautiful Lishui
C. Project River Cleaning (Qingsanhe)
A. Ecological environment status index had been ranking first in Zhejiang Province for 12 years , the ecological environmental quality of public satisfaction had been ranking first in Zhejiang Province for 8 years.
B. Water quality was increased by 20% over last year, and ranked first in Zhejiang Province.
C. Chemical oxygen demand, ammonia nitrogen emission, sulfur dioxide emission and nitrogen oxides emission each was reduced by 6.37%, 5.49%, 1.55%, and 4.02% over last year.
Reference:
1. Lishui. (n.d.). Retrieved September 18, 2016, from https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lishui
2. 丽水城市介绍. (n.d.).Retrieved September 18, 2016, from http://www.weather.com.cn/html/cityintro/101210801. shtml
The plant hardiness zone map, maps zones of minimum temperatures. A hardiness zone in this map is a geographically area defined by plants’ ability to withstand the minimum temperatures of the zone. It indicates that whether the plant will survive through the coldest part of the winter in a specific area.
This map gives no indication of maximum temperature, humidity, light and soil moisture content, all importane factors on a plant’s survival.
Lishui belongs to zone 9b. It indicates that its mean annual minimum temperature for plants arranges from -3.9 to -1.1 °C. The plant here is described as “hardy to zone 9b” which means the plant in Lishui can withstand a minimum temperature of -3.9°C (25 °F).
Reference:
1. Hardiness zone. (n.d.). Retrieved September 21, 2016, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardiness_zone
2. Gardener, B. P. (n.d.). What Is a Hardiness Zone. Retrieved September 21, 2016, from http://garden.lovetoknow.com/ wiki/What_Is_a_Hardiness_Zone#IYO6RfFbIWiAxVS2.97
Dry bulb temprature: 80°F
Relative Humidity: 57%
Dew Point: 64°F
Wet bulb temprature: 68°F
Because we can not find weather data of Lishui from energyplus.net, so we use the weather data of Wenzhou which is the nearest city to Lishui for instead.
The psychometric chart shows only 4.3% of the time is comfortable.
Site plan(Location of the target building)
Our target building (building 21) is a high-rise buildings， located in a district called Zhongrui·Manhattan in Wenzhou. The distrcit is seprated by Dongming Road. To the south of the building 21, there is a Kindergarten and a bank. Other adjacent buildings here mostly are resiedntial buildings.
Zhongrui·Manhattan District NORTH
Building 11 Zhongrui·Manhattan District
Main Hall Bridge
Building 12-14
Bank
Building 19
MAIN ENTRANCE
Building 8-10 Building 16-18 Building 23-25
UnnamedStreet
Building 15
Car Park Kindergarten Residential District
Building 15 Building 20 Building 22 Unnamed Street Building 21
Park
Residential District Residential District
Figure 1 Location of the target building
Figure 2 and 4 shows informations about annual wind direction. Figure 3 indicates the informations such as wind speed,hours,temperature, relative humidity in the month of August.
Figure 2 Wind wheel of wenzhou for all months
The optimal orientation for the building is SOUTHEAST. N
Figure 3 Wind wheel of Wenzhou in August
Figure 4 Wind rose of Wenzhou Main city area
Generally, orienting the building so that its shorter axis aligns with prevailing winds will provide the most wind ventilation.As for the choosen building , its shorter axis does not align with the prevailing winds of summer ,which means the current oriention is not good and should be improved for more wind ventilation in summer .
Stagnant corner
Good Ventilation
No Ventilation
Good Ventilation
Added window
Added door
Option 1 : windows are well shaded and oriented to prevailing breezes.
Option 2 : door and window openings on the opposite sides of building with larger openings facing
Figure 6 Site plan in improved orientation
For obtaining more natural Ventilation , our building should be re-oriented to maximize benefits from cooling breezes in hot weather(summer), with the shorter axis aligns with the southeast direction.
By exploring the the natural ventilation options in Climate Consultant and considering the features of our building(High rise, Flat roof), a list of opening options were selected and expressed through sketches(Figure 7).
Option 3 : open plan interior, or louvered doors, or instead use jump ducts if privacy is required.
Figure 7 Opening and ventilation options
source:climate consultant, modified by our group.
Sun path refers to the seasonal-and-hourly positional changes of the sun. The relative position of the sun is a major factor in the heat gain of buildings and in the performance of solar energy systems.[1]
In the Northern Hemisphere in summer (June, July, August), the Sun rises in the northeast, peaks out slightly south of overhead point (lower in the south at higher latitude). Wenzhou is located in the Northern Hemisphere, coordinates:27°03’-28°36’N 119°37’-121°18’E.
In figure.2 the orange arrow means heat gain from the sun.
In figure.2 the yellow arrow means delighting strength.
Figure.1 Stereographic Sunpath Diagram(Latitude: 28N)[2]
Figure 2 Heat gain and delighting strength diagram
Figure.3 is diagrammatic elevation indicating natural ventilation, solar gains, and openings.
In figure.3 the orange arrow shows the solar gain.
In figure.3 the blue arrow shows the natural ventilation.
Reference:
[1] Solar Resource Information. (2009). National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Retrieved October 08, 2016.
[2] Jacobs, A. (n.d.). Sunpath_28_north. Retrieved October 08, 2016, from http://www. jaloxa.eu/resources/daylighting/docs/sunpath_28_north.pdf
1. Initial calculation(October,9th)
The initial calculation is due on October, 9th, based on the estimation of the eating and clothing habit and other aspects.
Result: the regenerative capacity of 1.1 planet ; 1.9 global hectares of the earth’s productive area.
Figure 1 Footpint quiz result dirgam(due on October,9th)
Figure 2 Comparison with world average biocapacity
Figure 3 Components of my footprint
2.Suggestions for reducing the footprint Conclusion: GOODS Spend less on clothing and footwear, entertainment and culture
The average monthly expenditure on clothing and footwear is reduced from “more than 120 yuan“ to”60-120yuan”, and the the one for entertainment and culture is reduced from “more than 200yuan”to”100-200 yuan”.
New result: the regenerative capacity of 1 planet ; 1.7 global hectares of the earth’s productive area.
3. Re-calculation(October,13th)
The finall calculation is due on Ocotober, 13th, based on the five-days documentation of the eating, transportion, clothes and so on. SUN
Result: the regenerative capacity of 0.9 planet; 1.7 global hectares of the earth’s productive area. 10 5 Global
Figure 6 Footpint quiz result dirgam(due on October, 13th)
1. Slavery footprint test
After taking the slavery footprint test,the score is 47 slaves. Compared to the average score of other woman at the same age., the average score of others in China , the score of 47is much higher, and improvement is needed.
Learning from the my core document, personal products is the highest ranking category.
PERSONAL PRPDUCTS of my slavery footprint could use the most improvement. This involves the clothes, jewellery and electronic products.
It is not saying don’t purchase things, but there is always a better option, only if we make efforts to find the solution.
It might be helpful to control my consumption desire from the advertisement, change the consumer spending habits, buy durable goods,and encourage renewable and recycle use.
New Delhi Nanjing,Jiang Su Ha Noi Shang Hai (My location)
Figure 9 Components of my footprint
1. Initial calculation(October,9th) The initial calculation is due on October, 9th, based on the estimation of the eating and clothing habit and other aspects. Result: the regenerative capacity of 1.2 planet ; 2.1 global hectares of the earth’s productive area.
2.Suggestions for reducing the footprint
Conclusion: -Eat less meat and more local food -Spend less on clothing and footwear, furnishings and maintenance, entertainment and culture
New result: the regenerative capacity of 1 planet ; 1.7 global hectares of the earth’s productive area.
Figure 11 Footpint quiz new result dirgam(due on October, 9th)
The finall calculation is due on Ocotober, 13th, based on the five-days documentation of the eating, transportion, clothes and so on.
Table2
Food meat*1 fish*1 meat*1 milk*1 yogurt*1 Goods - - - -Shelter - - - -Mobility - - - - -
Result: the regenerative capacity of 0.9 planet; 1.6 global hectares of the earth’s productive area.
Figure 12 Footpint quiz result dirgam(due on October, 13th)
After taking the slavery footprint test,the score is 26 slaves. Compared to the average score of other woman at the same age., the average score of others in China , the score of 26 is lower, but there is improvement still can be done.
Learning from the my core document, personal products is the highest ranking category.
PERSONAL PRPDUCTS , which contains clothes, cosmetics and make-up, cost most of my money and contribute most to my slavery foot print
Spend less on unnecessary clothes and make-up can do a great help.
I live in the city of Shang Hai, the three garment i chose are made in Bangladesh , Romania and Vietnam.
1. Initial calculation(October,9th)
The initial calculation is due on October, 9th, based on the estimation of the eating and clothing habit and other aspects.
Result: the regenerative capacity of 2 planet ; 3.6 global hectares of the earth’s productive area.
Figure 13 Footpint quiz result dirgam(due on October,9th)
Figure 14 Comparison with world average biocapacity
Figure 15 Components of my footprint
The average weekly distance on travelling by car is reduced from “75-15 km“ to”Less than 10 km”.
New result: the regenerative capacity of 0.9 planet ; 3.6 global hectares of the earth’s productive area.
3. Re-calculation(October,13th)
The finall calculation is due on Ocotober, 13th, based on the five-days documentation of the eating, transportion, clothes and so on.
Table1 Five-days documentation
Result: the regenerative capacity of 0.8 planet; 1.7 global hectares of the earth’s productive area.
Figure 18 Footpint quiz result dirgam(due on October, 13th)
1. Slavery footprint test After taking the slavery footprint test,the score is 30 slaves. It is said “1 is too many“ , so i think ther are some improvements can be done.
2.Improvement Since I have no jewellery, no cosmetics and not many clothes, there can be some improvements in my house.
3.Conclusion House of my slavery footprint could use the most improvement.
If I don’t have a car, the slavery footprint will decrease by 25%. For the need of work, i think a car is a must. So the conclusion is not to sell my car but in most cases, I can ride a bike or take public transportation instead.
Using less car can do a great help.
New Delhi Nantong,Jiang Su Shang Hai (My location) Shenzhen,Guang Dong
A Wok is used for cooking, one of the most common cooking utensils in China. A gas-oven or a Induction cooker are always used with a wok, as well as a long handle called chahn (spatula) or hoak (ladle).
The wok can be used by a cooker in a large number of cooking methods, such as stir frying, steaming, pan frying boiling and so on.
To sum up all the impacts of a wok’s life cycle, an inventory of everything within the chosen boundaries that causes an environmental impact is listed below:
1. Okala Impact of use was the biggest among the life cycle of a wok. Becuase a wok is made to consume a lot of heat，while the heat is easy to lose.
2. Material and Manufacturing also have high levle of Okala Impact .
3. Transport and Disposal of wok do little harm to the enviroment, becuase a wok is not weighed too much, and most parts of it can be recycled.
In this system, the biggest environmental impacts comes from Energy and other resource use during life.
Redesign priorites:
1)Reduce total energy use
2) Reduce environmental pollution
3) User convenience
1.choose an induction cooker than gas burner to reduce the lost of hear, and compared to the gas, electricity is more green.
2.combine the burner with the wok, such as electric frying pan， to creat a integrated cooking system which will reduce the energy loss and save time.
3.use special material to make a wok oil-free. No oil means less use of water and detergent.
wok with oil VS without oil
Induction cooker Electric frying pan
In the Whole Systems / Life-Cycle Thinking method, this principle can be used to find more solution possibilities.
It gives us new idea when we consider how to make a wok more sustainable. why not forget the traditonal wok, the traditonal cooking method and create a new type. an integrated wok-burner or a wok which can heats food without oil come into our mind.
Principle 1. Define shared and aggressive goals
Principle 2. Collaborate across disciplines
Principle 3. Design nonlinearly
Principle 4. Reward desired outcomes
Principle 5. Define the end-use
Principle 6: Seek systemic causes and ultimate purposes
Principle 7. Optimize over time and space
Principle 8. Establish baseline parametric valuess
Principle 9. Establish the minimum energy or resource theoretically required, then identify and minimize constraints to achieving that minimum in practice
Principle 10. Start with a clean sheet
Principle 11. Use measured data and explicit analysis, not assumptions and rules
Principle 12. Start downstream Principle 13. Seek radical simplicity
Principle 14. Tunnel through the cost barrier
Principle 15. Wring multiple benefits from single expenditures
Principle 16. Meet minimized peak demand; optimize over integrated demand
Principle 17. Include feedback in the design
Figure 4. 10XE Principles
source: sustainability workshop autodesk
AIR PLANT is an interesting plant , because it is very easy to grow. All the air plants need is air. There are more than 650 types of air plants (Tillandsia spp.) that can grow and thrive without soil. One of our group members have one as houseplant.
“All I need is the air that I breathe,” could have been referring to air plants. Air plants,bromeliad, are easy to grow due to the special structure of their leaves.They get the water and nutrients through their specialized leaves. Their roots are used only for attaching themselves to rocks, trees, shrubs, and the ground. Native to the forests, mountains and deserts of the southern United States, Mexico, Central America, and South America, they have naturally been established in diverse environments, showing strong adaptability. Even though they are easy to care for, air plants are warm-weather lovers and constant air circulation is paramount.
1. Absorption of water and nutrients from the air though the leaves
2. Absorption of formaldehyde, purification of air
3. Absorption of heavy metals, used for monitoring atmospheric heavy metals
Figure 1. Air plant in group member’s house
Figure 2. Rosy air plant
Figure 3. Tillandsia
Jiang Tianhua: air plants are very amazing that they can survive without water and soil. I want to know how they do.
Liu Quan: air plants are efficient and good for atmosphere. I am curious about the mechanism.
Tu Bingqing: air plants can absorb heavy metals and beneficial to the living environment . I am just curious about how it works.
The plants from family Bromeliaceae can be divided into three types: the geobiontic type (which grows in the ground), the aerial type (which can survive all around the air) and the epiphytic type (which grows by attaching to other plant). Besides, their living preferences differ greatly. The geobiontic ones prefer the sun light and drought while the epiphytic ones prefer hot and damp. The aerial ones prefer fog and moist atmosphere instead. What’s more, the structure of different types of Bromeliaceae differs greatly, too. The growth of the geobiontic ones mainly relies on the root absorption of water and nutrients. The epiphytic ones have a special organ, which is called tank. Just like the pitcher cup of the Nepenthes, the tank store much digestive juice to break down the fallen leaves or the excreta of animals, which unfortunately fall into it, into nutrients. But the most peculiar thing is that the aerial ones (only the plants in genus tillandsia, which is known as air plants) can survive all around the air. Then how can them get the water and nutrients?
The answer is in their leaves. The things called foliar trichomes attach to the leaf surface, which can be considered as special epidermis hair. The foliar trichomes are only be found in the plants from family Bromeliaceae. The center of the foliar trichomes is connected to the leaf surface while the edges upturn. The main function of the foliar trichomes is to absorb the water and nutrients in the air. Besides, the foliar trichomes can also protect the plant from the cold, reduce transpiration and resist pest. The foliar trichomes is composed of three types of cells: the wing ones, the ring ones and the disk ones, which is classified based on shapes. The wing cells are in the edges of the foliar trichomes. Their main task is to capture the water and nutrients in the air which can be considered as hands. The ring cells are like a pipe. They transmit the water and nutrients to the disk cells which employs the siphon theory. The disk cells are in the center of the foliar trichomes where connected to the leaf surface. They absorb the water and nutrient and transmit them to the mesophyll cells through the stalk cells to complete the task of getting the water and nutrients. After this process, the air plants can grow through a series of chemical reactions inside the body[1].
The removal of formaldehyde can be categorized into two stages: the absorption by the stem and foliage, and the metabolism and transformation by the plant. After formaldehyde is absorbed by foliar trichomes upon the leaves into the body, in order to avoid the toxic effects of formaldehyde, the plant itself will conduct a series of metabolism. In the metabolic process, the formaldehyde will finally be converted in Carbon dioxide, used as carbon source in the photosynthesis of plants. Air plants had selective absorbtionability with different atmospheric pollutant. They prefered to absorbing formaldehyde. There were some positive responses of air plant to the formaldehyde stress in external morphology and internal physiology,and air plant species had a certain degree of resistance to formaldehyde pollution[2].
Ring Cells Disk Cells N W Mesophyll Cells
Figure 4 Absorbing The Water and Nutrients
Figure 5 Decomposition of Formaldehyde
Figure 6 Plants of T.brachycaulos treated with different Pb(N03)2 solutions after 15 days.
A.0 mg/L Pb(N03)2; B.1 mg/L Pb(N03)2; C.10 mg/L Pb(N03)2;D.50 mg/L Pb(N03)2; E.100 mg/L Pb(N03)2
A research of Zhang Guiling, Wangsiwei and Li Peng suggestes that the plants of Tiltandsia brachycaulos (one common species of air plants) are able to survive under relatively high Pb stress, and accumulated Pb quickly and effectivel . Therefore, they had high potential for monitoring in Pb polluted environment. Foliar trichomes of Tiltandsia brachycaulos are probably the main structure in enriching heavy metals, while the mechanism of adsorbing heavy metals inTillandsia have an active component.
1. Tiltandsia species receive water and nutrients directly from the air through foliar trichomes. Because their foliar trichomes have a great absorbing capacity. Experimental study of the research shows that after exposing Tiltandsia brachycaulos to high concentration of Hg solution, most of the Hg particles were abosorbed by the foliar trichomes and little amount was abosorbed by epidermic cells. So it indicates that the foliar trichomes can be the concentrating structure of Tiltandsia brachycaulos.
2. Hg particles was be found in the body of Tiltandsia brachycaulos without treatment and no Hg particles could be found in their foliar trichomes. It suggests that mesophyll cell may also be a structure in enriching heavy metals.
3. Three kinds of cells of the foliar trichomes played different roles in the process of absorbing heavy metals. The internal disc cells absorbed the largest amount, the external wing cells absorbed less, and the intermediate ring cell absorbs the least. It indicates that the process of Hg transferring from external cells to internal cells is an active transport process[3].
The surface of air plant leaves is densely covered with foliar trichomes. This organization has a strong adsorption and absorption ability. The deep biological strategy concluded from the air plant is water and nutrients absorption structure . Refering to the life’s principles, this strategy exemplifies some of the life’s principles.
[1]Wang Siwei. The Research of The Biological Characteristics of Air Plants[D]. Mian Yang: Southwest University Of Science And Technology Botany, 2011.
[2] Junlin Li.Purification of air poIIutant—formaldehyde with EpiphytiC TiIIandsia species [D].Mian Yang: Southwest UniverSity Of Science and TechnoIogy,2013.
[3]Zheng Gullin,Wang Siweil, Li Pen. Accumulation of Pb in Epiphytic Plant Tillandsia brachycaulos[D] Mian Yang: Southwest University Of Science And Technology Botany, 2012.
The deep biological strategy concluded from the air plant is water and nutrients absorption structure . Refering to the life’s principles, this strategy exemplifies some of the life’s principles. A water and nutrients absorb structure which self-organize,self-cycle; have selective absorbtion ability with different atmospheric pollutant, be effectively applied to the purification of formaldehyd ; the storage of heavy mental makes it possible to survive under relatively high heavy mental stress and be selected to monitor the air pollution.
Maintain integrity through self-renewal
Embody resilience through variation, redundancy and decentralization
Air plant can live in various livingconditions. Different species have different growth patterns.
Leverage cyclic processes use readily available materials and energy use feedback loops cultivate cooperative relationship
use life-friendly chemistry
Break Down Products Into Benign Constituents
Build Selectively with a Small Subset of Elements Do Chemistry in Water
adapt to changing conditions be locally attuned and responsive integrate development into growth evolve to survive
Air plant get the water an nutrients from the foliar trichomes on the leaf surface. This process does harm the plants themselves. be resource efficient
Use Mutifuction Design
Recycle All Materials Fit Form to Fuction
The foliar trichomes on the leaf surface not only help to absorb the water and nutrients for it self but also absorb some harmful gas. The form of foliar trichomes also reduce the respiratory action to get water and nutrient more efficiently.
Air plant can transfer the air pollunt into the carbon source, it do not suffer from the air pollution since there are some positive responses of the plant
Built from the Bottom-Up Combine Modular and Nested Components
Air plants grow from a seed. The cells of it increase their number to form into new organs that have different functions. They absorb some harmful gas so that animals around it can survive. Animals watse will feed air plants again. Air plants survive do not only depend on one leaf. If some of the leaves are weak, air plants can also grow.
Replicate Strategies that Work Integrated the Unexpected Reshuffle Information
Air plantare are able to survive under relatively high heavy mental stress. Foliar trichomes are probably the main structure in enriching heavy metals, while their main bodies absorb very little. That might be the reason why they are immune to heavy mentals.
The stratgy is mainly about the water storage, air purification, and environmental monitoring. The possible users or people who care about the strategy might be the environmental engineering, interior decoration designer, architects and house owners.
Some industries related to architecture are gradually accommodate the ideas of sustainable design. For example, the use of water differs between lower layers and higher layers. The water renewing and cleaning of the water tank will cost a lot. Referring to the ways of getting water of air plants, the designer can consider to collect the raining in the surface of buildings and purify to tap water, to solve the problem caused by water tank.
In recent years, more and more newly renovated house owners encounter to indoor pollutants such as excessive, which caused the problems are endless. the strategy can be effectively applied to the purification of air pollutant formaldehyde.
Air pollution caused by PM2.5 which contains heavy mentals is serious in China. The strategy can be selected to carry out monitoring environmental pollution.
1.http://www.supdri.com/2040/
6.http://www.cityup.org/chinasus/eco_city_center/index.shtml
2.http://www.planning.org.cn/ 3.http://www.china-up.com/ 4.http://www.craes.cn/cn/index.html
5.http://www.rcees.ac.cn/
7.http://www.cec.zstu.edu.cn/ 8.http://www.fgylc.org 9.http://www.see.org.cn/Conservation 10.http://www.green-river.org/
