Environmental Building Systems Assignment 01 Book 2

ENVIRONMENTAL BUILDING SYSTEMS MITCHELL SU ・ 660192 ・ 2014/2・ ABPL20036

I ABPL20036 CONTENTS

CONTENTS Part One - Orientation, Design + Services (Book 1) Site Plan

2

House Plan

3

Services Plan 1 - Electrical, Lighting and Communications

4

Services Plan 2 - Gas and Water Supply

5

Sewer and Stormwater

6

Embodied Energy

7

Part Two - Sustainability + Efficiency Options (Book 2) Siting, Orientation + Design Choices

2

Materials Schedule

3

FirstRate Report

4

Services Choices

6

Part Three - Bibliography

7

PART TWO SUSTAINABILITY + EFFICIENCY OPTIONS

2 ABPL20036 PART TWO

SITING, ORIENTATION + DESIGN CHOICES SITING AND ORIENTATION In the context of the site, the house is to be set back approximately 3 - 4 meters off Callery Crescent and Benjamin Street. The living room is to be placed on the northern and western faces of the house/property to take advantage of the insolation patterns present in Melbourne’s Winter climate. However this poses a problem in Summer wherein there is the potential for uncomfortable conditions internally due to direct exposure to the sun. This will be abated by the use of deciduous trees that will block the majority of the sun’s heat and light but still allow it to keep warm in the winter. For the bedroom areas of the house, most rooms have been placed on the southern end of the property to take advantage of summer breezes from the south in Port Philip Bay to keep the rooms cooler, especially during heavier usage at night.

On the eastern and western side of the property, evergreen trees of smaller scale have been employed to provide shade for the living room and bedroom 2. It is assumed that bedroom 2 would mostly only be used in the morning so by placing it on the eastern side, the room would only mostly receive considerable heat and light from the sun during the morning and midday hours of the day. Clustered around the open space directly around the living room area is a set of existing trees that have had additional evergreen trees added to it. This provides wind braking affect as well as a shade for an area that is proposed to be for outdoor recreation for the house’s inhabitants. In addition to this, the picket fence would have a shrub hedge placed around it to make the fence more substantial and allow more privacy without blocking southerly wind breezes that would be crucial for keeping the house cool in the summer.

DESIGN CHOICES In consideration of Melbourne’s climate as well as for practicality, a reverse brick veneer construction was chosen for the external walls of the house. The reverse brick veneer allows for a multiple layers of both acoustic and thermal insulation to be used while also being a conventional construction method for residential projects. Although the embodied energy for a brick veneer wall is high, many of the other options available such as aero-autoclaved concrete, mud bricks and timber cladding lacked a good balance between sustainability and performance. A way to reduce the embodied energy of the reverse brick veneer wall would be to incorporate recycled bricks rather than newly kilned bricks as this would equate to approximate 10% of the total embodied energy needed. Within the interior stud frame of the house, plasterboard and timber stud frames provide little to no benefit to the performance of the housing’s internal spaces. To alleviate this, insulation with an R-Value of 2.7 has been inserted into the frame. With the addition of insulation within the housing’s walls, it is possible to effectively zone rooms for temperature control as well as provide some level of acoustic insulation between them.

With regards to temperature regulation and passive design within the house, all windows have been standardized into three types to aid with ease of construction and costs. Furthermore, all windows feature the same aluminium with plastic thermal break frame and double glazed glass panes with a low-e hardcoat. This reduces heat transfer from internal spaces to the exterior environment and vice versa. For heating, a hydronic panel system has been incorporated into the house as it provides the highest energy efficiency relative to other options such as portable, gas panel and split system heaters while still allowing for zoning within each room. For cooling, no ceiling fans have been used out of aesthetic and comfort reasons in that they can appear to be unsightly and somewhat noisy compared to other cooling methods. However, the design of the house allows for passive cooling in many areas including the cross ventilation present in the living room and some bedrooms. In addition to this as stated earlier, the bedrooms are positioned in the south to take advantage of cooler summer breezes. Although there is no specific cooling system present, each room has space for the provision of an air conditioning system.

For energy efficiency, a photovoltaic system has been used on the northern area of the roof to complement general mains grid power supply to reduce costs of electricity consumption and to abate the high embodied energy requirements of the house. The hot water system also uses an independent solar powered array to generate hot water.

However given that solar power is not necessarily consistent at all times, a gas booster has been used over an electrical one due to a lower carbon footprint overall during operation. For lighting, LED lighting fixtures have been used for all lights. In every room with the exception of the kitchen and garage, Philips Hue BR30 LED bulbs have been used due to their flexibility in diffusion and color output that can be changed dynamically (Philips, 2014). Within the kitchen and garage, a conventional 20W LED light tube has been used in lieu of a fluorescent light tube (GoEnergy, 2014). Overall, the switch to all LED lighting fixtures should dramatically cut down the electricity consumption needed for lighting within the house.

ABPL20036 PART TWO 3 .

MATERIALS SCHEDULE FLOOR COMPONENT

TYPE AND PRODUCT

NOTES

Concrete Slab

300mm Thick In-situ Concrete slab

N/A

Carpet

Karastan Woolcheck Classics Wool Carpet

Natural wool fabric carpet that is both stain and wear resistant (Karastan, 2014)

Tiles

Karndean LLT204 Pennsylvania Tiles (610x500)

The tiles have a smooth matte finish with little potential for slippage. There is little or no need for adhesives on the concrete surface, meaning reduced installation cost (Karndean, 2014).

WALLS COMPONENT

TYPE AND PRODUCT

NOTES

Brick Veneer

Austral Brick Ultra Smooth Brick (230x110x76)

Generic brick with smooth cream finish. Good for heat retention due to high thermal mass (Austral Bricks, 2013).

Insulation

Bradford Gold Hi-Performance wall batts 90mm thick (R2.7)

These glass fiber based insulation batts have a relatively high R-value but also are made of 75% recycled content, reducing total embodied energy impacts (Bradford, 2013)

Plasterboard

GYPROCK Standard Plasterboard 10mm thick

General plasterboards that are more aesthetically pleasing than using a concrete finish on top of wall structures (Gyprock, 2013).

CEILING COMPONENT

TYPE AND PRODUCT

NOTES

Insulation

Bradford Gold Hi-Performance ceiling batts 270mm thick (R7.0)

See above.

Plasterboard

GYPROCK Supaceil Plasterboard 10mm thick

See above.

DOORS & WINDOWS COMPONENT

TYPE AND PRODUCT

NOTES

D1

Masterdor Timber Thermal Door (820×2040)

Weather sealed composite filling of door that has reduced heat loss through air gaps (Masterdor, 2014).

D2

HUME Chic Range Door (820×2040)

Generic timber-based door (Hume, 2014).

D3

Rationel ALDUS Sliding Patio Door (3000×2200)

Rationel ALDUS windows frames have a timber frame with aluminium cladding. The glass panes are double glazed and are filled with argon gas and have a low-e hardcoat (Rationel, 2014).

D4

Thermacore Insulated Garage Doors Model 496 (4600×2200)

Weather sealed polyurethane garage door that has reduced heat loss through air gaps (Overhead Door Corp., 2014)

W1

Rationel ALDUS Topguided Window (600×600)

See above.

W2

Rationel ALDUS Sideguided Window (600×1000)

See above.

4 ABPL20036 PART TWO

FirstRate Report

HOUSE ENERGY RATING 6 STARS

YOUR HOUSE ENERGY RATING IS: in Climate: 21

SCORE:

Name: MITCHELL SU

Ref No:

House Title: EBS HOUSE

Date:

63 POINTS

04-08-2010

Address:

Reference:

C:\USERS\MSU1\DOWNLOADS\FIRSTRATE

This rating only applies to the floor plan, construction details, orientation and climate as submitted and included in the attached Rating Summary. Changes to any of these could affect the rating.

Appliance Ratings Heating:

Unknown Heater / Unknown Rating

Cooling:

Unknown Cooling / Unknown Rating

HotWater:

Unknown Hot Water System / Unknown Rating

NOTE: The appliance ratings above are based on information provided by the applicant and are included for information purposes only.

They do not affect the House Energy Rating of the dwelling.

29-08-14 03:26:13 Ver:4.00 C:\USERS\MSU1\DOWNLOADS\FIRSTRATE.1RT

ABPL20036 PART TWO 5 .

HOUSE ENERGY RATING COMPONENT MITCHELL SU ăƒť 660192 ăƒť EBS HOUSE FLOORS +0 POINTS Floor was changed to a suspended concrete slab with R Value of 2.5. Concrete has a high thermal mass resulting in a good level of thermal retention. A single layer of foil has been added into the layer to minimize any major heat loss into the ground.

WALLS +50 POINTS The wall was changed to a reverse brick veneer using bricks with an average R Value of 2.5. Insulation was added within the timber stud frame with an R Value of 2.7. The brick veneer has a high thermal mass resulting in high thermal retention. The insulation facing the interior spaces aids in keeping the internal temperature of the house constant with the physical air gap between the brick veneer wall and the stud frame serving as a thermal gap between the two elements.

CEILINGS +119 POINTS The ceiling is based on a suspended ceiling construction with a thick layer of insulation above the plasterboard layer. The insulation itself is highly insulated at an R Value of 7.0. An additional layer of foil is used above to reflect thermal energy and add an extra layer of insulation in the roof cavity. The thick insulation layer aids to prevent hot roof cavity air from affecting the interior spaces below whilst also prevent heat from interior spaces from escaping upwards during winter months.

WINDOWS +22 POINTS Large windows on the southern face were minimized and placed higher up on walls to negate any negative climactic effects. On the norther face, windows were only placed in the living space area towards the north western area of the house. Both the east and west faces of the house featured larger windows than on the southern face. Heavy drapes were used wherever possible to prevent excessive heat loss from the interior. Aluminium frames with plastic thermal breaks were used for all frames to reduce the effects of thermal conductivity through the windows. All window panes had a double glazing with a hard low-e coating on top to further enhance the thermal retention qualities of the windows.

AIR GAPS AND DESIGN FEATURES +12 POINTS Good cross ventilation is present in key north south areas of the house such as bedrooms and living spaces. All doors to the exterior as well as an openings to the outside were sealed to prevent any significant heat loss. Cross ventilation in key spaces of the house allow for the house to remain cooler in summer without any significant inputs in energy. By sealing any air gaps, warm/cool air cannot easily escape the inside of the house, leading to more consistent internal temperatures.

FINAL SCORE: 63

RATING: 6 STARS

6 ABPL20036 PART TWO

SERVICES CHOICES SOLAR-GAS HOT WATER SYSTEM For the solar-gas hot water system, a Rheem Premier Loline solar hot unit with a gas booster has been selected.

Solar hot water systems produce little to no carbon emissions during their operating life which aids in balancing out the embodied energy requirements of the house’s construction. At the same time, solar is not the most reliable system in terms of producing consistent hot water on a daily basis throughout the year. To alleviate this issue, a storage tank with an integrated thermostat and gas booster heater are included in the Rheem Premier Loline unit to maintain the hot water at a consistent temperature. The gas booster is only to be used when the average temperature of the hot water falls below 58°C, minimizing any excessive energy consumption (Rheem, 2014).

HYDRONIC PANEL HEATING SYSTEM The hydronic panel heating system has been selected over other methods for heating because it is a closed loop system that wastes little to no fuel, materials nor water apart from gas consumption for hot water generation. Although the initial capital investment for installation is high, the overall running costs are far lower than other system, representing a long term saving. Furthermore, the system allows for zoning by room due to the number of possible temperature zones only limited by the number of panels present in the system. An additional advantage to hydronic panels is that although the temperate can vary between 35°C-85°C, there is no active circulation to the system, preventing any stray particles and dust from being introduced into the internal spaces of the house which can be beneficial for individuals with respiratory issues (Hunt Heating, 2014).

PHILIPS HUE LED LIGHTING SYSTEM The Philips Hue LED Lighting System integrated lighting system controlled by a central hub that communicates with each individual LED bulb via a peer-to-peer (P2P) Wi-Fi protocol. Each LED bulb contains a controller chip that can adjust and program each light’s brightness, diffusion and color on an individual basis through a smartphone app. This allows for a uniform lighting scheme whilst allowing for visual variations without having to use a multitude of different light fixtures (Philips 2014).

RAINWATER SYSTEM The rainwater system used in the house is effectively separate from the mains water system to avoid any contamination issues or any potential need for water treatment. A single outlet on the tank can be used to access the tank which has a capacity of 5000L (Tankworld, 2014). In terms of rainwater collection, there is only a gutter and down pipe set on the northern areas of the roof since the roof is a single incline skillion roof from south to north. This eliminates any complex piping needed to collect rainwater and also means the majority of all rainwater on the roof can be captured.

PART THREE BIBLIOGRAPHY

8 ABPL20036 PART THREE

AustralBricks. (2014). ‘Bricks Victoria - Ultra Smooth from AustralBricks’. Retrieved from http://australbricks.com.au/ vic/bricks/ultra-smooth/ Bradford. (2014). ‘Bradford High Performance Wall Batts’. Retrieved from http://www.bradfordinsulation.com.au/ Products/Residential/Thermal-insulation/Gold-high-performance-wall.aspx GoEnergy. (2014). ‘Energy Efficient Lighting’. Retrieved from http://goenergy-px.rtrk.com.au/energy-efficient-products/ lighting/ Gyprock. (2014). ‘Gyprock Standard Plasterboard’. Retrieved from http://www.gyprock.com.au/Pages/Products/ Plasterboard/Gyprock-Standard-Plasterboard.aspx Gyprock. (2014). ‘Gyprock Superceil’. Retrieved from http://www.gyprock.com.au/Pages/Products/Plasterboard/ Supaceil.aspx Hunt Heating. (2014). ‘Immergas - He System External’. Retrieved from http://www.huntheat.com.au/admin/upload/IMG %20HE%2035%20Flyer.pdf Karastan. (2014). ‘Woolcheck Classics’. Retrieved from http://www.karastan.com/carpet-search/Woolcheck %20Classics/?return=carpet-result.aspx||keyword=woolcheck Karndean. (2014). ‘Pennsylvania LooseLay Tile’. Retrieved from http://www.karndean.com/en-au/floors/products/llt204pennsylvania?fromProdList=true Overhead Door. (2014). ‘Thermacore Insulated Garage Doors’. Retrieved from http://www.overheaddoor.com/garagedoors/Pages/thermacore-collection.aspx Philips. (2014). ‘Meet Hue | Hue Lights’. Retrieved from http://www2.meethue.com/en-us/the-range/hue-lights/ Philips. (2014). ‘Meet Hue | The System’. Retrieved from http://www2.meethue.com/en-us/the-range/the-system/ Rationel Windows. (2014). ‘Modern Homes: Rationel Aldus & Domus’. Retrieved from http://www.rationel.co.uk/windowsdoors/product-series/domusaldus/ Rheem. (2014). ‘Ground Mounted Solar Hot Water — Rheem Premier Loline’. Retrieved from http://www.rheem.com.au// Assets/1840/1/RheemMKRheemSolarPremierLolineSpec2ppA4_1smallestsizeweb.pdf Tankworld. (2014). ‘Slimline Tank Range’. Retrieved from http://tankworld.com.au/product-category/tank-range/ slimline-tank-range/