Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | Friday Review | Cinema Plus | Young World | Property Plus | Quest | Folio |

To conserve energy: It is important to select materials that measure low in embodied energy, as part of the overall strategy to reduce the environmental impact of buildings.

In an interview with Mr. Shyam S.Damodaran, Vice-President, Design and Construction, TSI Ventures, K.S.Subramanian

finds out.

BMS is used to control and monitor all equipment serving building services such as air conditioning, lighting and common area equipment like lifts, water treatment plants & ventilation systems.

Energy efficiency is achieved using BMS in the form of optimal usage of the above equipment by adopting sensors and load-based operations. Yes, it not only includes saving in power consumption but also increases the longevity of equipment.

BMS does not directly influence the reuse of waste water; it only manages the efficient operation of treatment plants. The reuse of waste water is affected in the overall design of waste handling systems.

In our present projects in commercial office space, there is no requirement for use of waste heat; hence we have not yet gone in this direction. However, we are using heat wheels to enable pre-treated cool air systems for fresh air requirement, thereby considerably reducing the energy required to air condition the building.

These materials use low amounts of energy in its manufacture and/or extraction as well as in the requirement to handle and transport it to the building site. Both these aspects are considered in estimating the embodied energy of any material and it reflects in the energy used up to have the material placed on the building. For example if we choose marble from Italy that is mined from very low depths, the energy needed for extraction may be low. However, the energy needed to transport the material over long distances would increase the embodied energy. Similarly, if we use aluminium from a plant near the site, the transportation energy will be minimal but the energy needed to extract the Aluminium, convert it into a usable form and roll it into sections would increase the embodied energy.

Hence it is important to select materials that measure low in embodied energy, after considering all aspects of its implementation as a part of the overall strategy to reduce the environmental impact of buildings.

Contribution of construction activity to global warming arises from at least three sources: From the emission of green house gases due to the burning of fossil fuels required to feed the embodied energy required for materials used and in the construction process itself, secondly the combustion of fossil fuels required to maintain the energy requirements during the life of the building and thirdly from the emanation of greenhouse gases being used in the building services like certain refrigerants. Some of the replacements for certain refrigerants found to be ozone depleting were seen to cause more problems as green house gases. While conscientiously designing and constructing sustainable buildings of low environmental impact, we restrict the use of energy during construction as well as the energy used during the life of the building. While for the direct emission of greenhouse gases, India has banned refrigerants which are ozone depleting in tune with the Kyoto protocol, as well as taken great strides towards reducing the use of greenhouse gases in these areas in keeping with the Montreal protocol.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail