Let's Go Net Zero !
It's time to raise the bar!
Green buildings are not new to us now. In Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India we have now example such as the head office of Gujarat Housing Board which is a four star GRIHA rated green building. We could achieve our goals of saving energy, water, natural resources etc. upto 50-60% compared to a regular building.
And yes there is additional cost of around 1.5 % involved, but considering payback within 2-3 years, this is most logical thing to do. We could achieve such a thermal comfort in the hot and dry climate of Ahmedabad, that in any area of the building, one can spend a couple of hours without fan or air conditioner and still do the work he or she is supposed to do. Generally in a the regular contemporary building, due to the 'green house' effect you feel such a heat that its not possible to sit without a fan or AC.
We did offset the energy cost upto a certain limit with installing solar panels. With solar passive architecture, thermally efficient envelope, energy efficient air conditioning system we reduce the energy consumption and the solar panels offsetted the operating cost. But there is still room to go.
Now we want to raise the bar and aim for spending zero penny on the operating of a building. We want to make the building thermally, visually and acoustically so comfortable and yet make it self dependent for its energy use. We will make the building envelope so efficient and architecture so much effective. in terms of solar passive elements, that the energy demand for space conditioning gets reduced drastically. And then use air conditioning with adaptive technology that can use only air movement when out side temperature is not high, use water when out side air is dry and air temperature is not extremely high and use refrigerant gas compression with solar energy to minimize the air conditioning load. With a goal of air conditioning energy demand reduced to 10-15 % than a conventional building, the roof top solar panel, again made with highly efficient single wafer silicone, it is not impossible to reduce the net energy consumption to zero. It's a goal achievable and surely, we will achieve it very soon.
A corporate house at Nehrunagar, Ahmedabad is being designed and built just on these principles. Let's at least try! And with more and more efforts we will be able to build efficiently and of course of great finesse and aesthetics!
Architecture is indeed a profession with a vision! And we at Vivart Design Studio see the 'visions of change!!' Let's rock!
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