Sarawak Campus

Faculty of Engineering, Computing and Science

Higher Education Division

Tutorial 7: Sustainable Built Environment

CVE10006
Sustainable Design
(Semester 2, 2015)
Version date (12 October, 2015)

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SCORE

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1. A house with a single large room is constructed. All four walls have the same dimensions 12.0 m X
3.0 m and face in the cardinal directions. The North facing wall has no windows and no doors. The
South facing wall has one door (1.2 m X 2.0 m) and one window (2.2 m X 2.0 m). The remaining two
walls (East and West) each have one window (2.2 m X 2.0 m). The roof is flat and uninsulated. All
windows are single glazed with aluminium frames. All walls are 105 mm brickwork with 10 mm
plasterboard. Assume the doors U value is the same as the walls. U values are provided in the table
below.

Useful Equations and Coefficients:

qW = AW U W (CLTD ) for each exterior wall in W
q D = ADU D (CLTD ) for each door in W
qG = AGU G (CLTD) for each window in W
q R = ARU R (CLTD ) for roof in W

CLTD (Cooling load temperature difference) values for north: 6.0 K, south: 4.0 K, east: 11.0 K,
west:11.0 K and roof: 23.0 K

a) What is the total heat gain for this building? [2 marks]

Heat gain = Aw*Uw*CLTD for each wall + AD*UD*CLTD for each door + AG*UG*CLTD for
each window + AR*UR*CLTD for the roof
Total heat gain = 9826.5 W = 10,000 W (2 significant figures)

Standard uninsulated house

North wall East wall West wall South wall East window West window South Window South door Roof House % Savings
Area (m2) 36 31.6 31.6 29.2 4.4 4.4 4.4 2.4 144
U Value 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.7 6.4 6.4 6.4 2.7 1.9
CLTD 6.0 11.0 11.0 4.0 11.0 11.0 4.0 4.0 23.0
q (W) 583.2 938.5 938.5 315.4 309.8 309.8 112.6 25.9 6292.8 9826.5

Double glazed windows with 6 mm air space

North wall East wall West wall South wall East window West window South Window South door Roof House % Savings
Area (m2) 36 31.6 31.6 29.2 4.4 4.4 4.4 2.4 144
U Value 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.7 1.9
CLTD 6.0 11.0 11.0 4.0 11.0 11.0 4.0 4.0 23.0
q (W) 583.2 938.5 938.5 315.4 121.0 121.0 44.0 25.9 6292.8 9380.3 4.54

Walls 200 mm lightweight concrete blocks with a 25 mm air gap and 10 mm plasterboard
North wall East wall West wall South wall East window West window South Window South door Roof House % Savings
Area (m2) 36 31.6 31.6 29.2 4.4 4.4 4.4 2.4 144
U Value 0.68 0.68 0.68 0.68 6.4 6.4 6.4 2.7 1.9
CLTD 6.0 11.0 11.0 4.0 11.0 11.0 4.0 4.0 23.0
q (W) 146.9 236.4 236.4 79.4 309.8 309.8 112.6 25.9 6292.8 7749.9 21.13

Insulated roof
North wall East wall West wall South wall East window West window South Window South door Roof House % Savings
Area (m2) 36 31.6 31.6 29.2 4.4 4.4 4.4 2.4 144
U Value 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.7 6.4 6.4 6.4 2.7 0.99
CLTD 6.0 11.0 11.0 4.0 11.0 11.0 4.0 4.0 23.0
q (W) 583.2 938.5 938.5 315.4 309.8 309.8 112.6 25.9 3278.9 6812.6 30.67

All three improvements

North wall East wall West wall South wall East window West window South Window South door Roof House % Savings
Area (m2) 36 31.6 31.6 29.2 4.4 4.4 4.4 2.4 144
U Value 0.68 0.68 0.68 0.68 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.7 0.99
CLTD 6.0 11.0 11.0 4.0 11.0 11.0 4.0 4.0 23.0
q (W) 146.9 236.4 236.4 79.4 121.0 121.0 44.0 25.9 3278.9 4289.8 56.34

b) What is the % saving in heat gain (relative to question 1) if the windows are converted to double
glazing with 6 mm air space? [1 mark]
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 Double glazed windows = 4.54% = 4.5% (2 significant figures)

c) What is the % saving in heat gain (relative to question 1) if the walls are converted to 200 mm
lightweight concrete blocks with a 25 mm air gap and 10 mm plasterboard? [1 mark]
High quality walls = 21.13% = 21% (2 significant figures)

d) What is the % saving in heat gain (relative to question 1) if the roof has 25 mm glass fibre quilt
insulation added (assume the U value will be the same as that for a sloped roof)? [1 mark]
Insulated roof = 30.67% = 31% (2 significant figures)

e) Which single improvement showed the largest % gain in heat savings? [1 mark]
The single largest improvement comes from insulating the roof (about 31%).

f) What is the % savings on heat gain (relative to question 1) if all three of these changes are
made? [1 mark]
All three improvements = 56.34% = 56% (2 significant figures)

2. What are the three pillars of sustainable development (Figure 1)? Which of these is the primary focus
of most governments and private enterprises? What is the likely consequence of development that
focusses on only one of these pillars? [3 marks]

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 Society, economy, environment
Economy
Sustainable development will be not be achieved and the two pillars that are not focussed on
will suffer. Evidence of this can be seen throughout the world in the declining state of the
environment and the poor standard of living in the developing world where workers are
exploited for the economic gain of the developed world

3. Figure 2 presents some benefits of Green Buildings. Use this figure to answer the following
questions.

a) If we add up all the productivity gains that can be achieved by systems improvements in green
buildings, what increase in worker productivity can be attained? [1 mark]
= 23% +11% + 3% = 37% saved

b) Consider the two other categories, daylight and outside views considered in Figure 2. Many
potential benefits are listed from these two areas. How important would you rate these in terms of
your own personal wellbeing or productivity in your workplace? [1 mark]
Open ended

4. To truly be considered green a building must adopt green principles throughout its life cycle. The lie
cycle of green buildings is presented in Figure 3. Use this figure to answer the following questions.

a) What are the three primary phases of a buildings life cycle? [1 mark]
Construction, consumption, disposal

b) Do you think that a building that is constructed green but not operated green maintains its value
as a green building? Why or why not? [2 marks]
No.
Because the operation phase is the longest phase of a buildings life and buildings are
important contributors to energy and water use and waste generation

c) Which situation would likely result in better long-term environmental outcomes. Situation A: a
building is constructed green but the operated as a normal building. Situation B: a building is built
normally but then has after-market green additions and is run as a green building throughout its
operational life. Why do you think this is the case? [2 marks]
Situation B.
Because the net impact a building has on the environment is more about how the building is
used then how it is built.

d) Green building rating schemes focus on how buildings are built and assume that all of the green
technologies included will be used during the consumption phase of the buildings operation.
However, many owners get the green certification and then dont use the green technologies in
the building thereby reducing the value of the certification. How do you think this weakness in the
certification system could be resolved? [2 marks]
Maybe requiring building to be re-certified every 3 years to ensure that the technologies are
used.
If not, could downgrade the buildings ratings.

5. The market for green buildings has been rapidly changing. Some data on current market share for
green buildings is presented in Figure 4. Use this figure to answer the following questions.

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 a) For all the countries listed, what is the average green share of building project activity? [1 mark]
43%

b) Which country has the highest proportion of green buildings being built? [1 mark]
Singapore (66%)

c) What is the proportion of buildings being built in Australia that are green buildings? [1 mark]
39%

d) What proportion of Australia building firms report that more than 60% of their work is green in
2015? [1 mark]
47%

6. The thermal properties of a variety of materials are presented in Figure 5. Use this figure to answer
the following questions.

a) What is the difference between solar reflectance and emissivity? [2 marks]

Reflectance is the ability of a material to reflect solar energy away without absorbing it
Emissivity is the ability of a material to shed heat after it has absorbed energy

b) To be a cool material, where on the chart would the material need to fall? Why? [2 marks]
Top right.
These materials reflect most solar radiation away and what they absorb they efficiently shed.

7. The improvement in solar reflectance for cool roofing coatings of different colours is presented in
Figure 6. Use this figure to answer the following questions.

a) Which colour shows the greatest % improvement in reflectance with the coating added? [1 mark]
Black at 37%

b) In your experience, what is the most common roof colour in Australia? Are there significant gains
to be made by applying cool roof coatings to these roofs? What do you think the benefits would
be to the householder of applying such coatings to these (or indeed any) roofs? [3 marks]
Black.
Yes.
Significantly reduced cooling costs.

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 Figure 1. The pillars of sustainable development.

Figure 2. Some benefits of green buildings.

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 Figure 3. Life cycle of green buildings.

Figure 4. Growth in green buildings.

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 Figure 5. Thermal and reflective properties of different materials.

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 Figure 6. Properties of cool roofs.

# End of Document #

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