15ARPG0 - SUSTAINABLE

ARCHITECTURE

UNIT 1 : INTRODUCTION TO SUSTAINABILITY

 CONCEPTS OF SUSTAINABILITY

Sustainability is the capacity to endure.

In ecology the word describes how biological systems

remain diverse and productive over time.

For humans it is the potential for long-term maintenance

of well being, which in turn depends on the well being of
the natural world and the responsible use of natural
resources.
 CONCEPTS OF SUSTAINABILITY

Principles and concepts

Scale and context

Sustainability is studied and managed over many scales

(levels or frames of reference) of time and space and in
many contexts of environmental, social and economic
organization.

The focus ranges from the total carrying capacity

(sustainability) of planet Earth to the sustainability of
economic sectors, ecosystems, countries, municipalities,
neighbourhoods, home gardens, individual lives, individual
goods and services, occupations, lifestyles, behavior
patterns and so on.
 CONCEPTS OF SUSTAINABILITY
Consumption population, technology, resources

The overall driver of human impact on Earth systems is the

destruction of biophysical resources, and especially, the Earth's
ecosystems.

The total environmental impact of a community or of humankind as

a whole depends both on population and impact per person, which
in turn depends in complex ways on what resources are being used,
whether or not those resources are renewable, and the scale of the
human activity relative to the carrying capacity of the ecosystems
involved.

Historically, humanity has responded to a demand for more

resources by trying to increase supply. As supplies inevitably
become depleted sustainable practices are encouraged [ through
demand management for all goods and services by promoting
reduced consumption, using renewable resources where possible,
and encouraging practices that minimise resource intensity while
maximising resource productivity.
CONCEPT OF SUSTAINABILITY ..
-
WHAT AND WHY???
Sustainability could be defined as an ability or capacity of
something to be maintained or to sustain itself. Its about
taking what we need to live now, without jeopardizing the
potential for people in the future to meet their needs.

- Sustainable architectureisarchitecturethat seeks to

minimize the negative environmental impact of buildings by
efficiency and moderation in the use of materials, energy, and
development space.
CONCEPT OF SUSTAINABILITY ..
WHAT AND WHY???
Architecture presents a unique challenge in the field of
sustainability.
Construction projectstypically consume large amounts of
materials, produce tons of waste, and often involve weighing the
preservation of buildings that have historical significance against
the desire for the development of newer, more modern designs.

Sustainable construction is defined as the creation and

responsible management of a healthy built environment based on
resource efficient and ecological principles. Sustainably designed
buildings aim to lessen their impact on our environment through
energy and resource efficiency.
CONCEPT OF SUSTAINABILITY ..
WHAT AND WHY???
WEAKER SUSTAINABILITY
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
 Brundtland has a resume!

She was born 20 April 1939.

She is a medical doctor with a public health
degree. She is former director of the World Health
Organization.
A feminist, she was Prime Minister of Norway
(1981, 198689, 199096), the first woman and
youngest ever.
She was chosen to direct the U.N. World
Commission on Environment and Development.
Since 2007, she is a special U.N. envoy on climate
change.
Brundtlands classic definition of
sustainable development:

"Humanity has the ability to make

development sustainable to ensure
that it meets the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own
needs.
(Cited from original report. This is an important but
brief section.)
SOURCES AND FORMS OF ENERGY
 TYPES OF ENERGY

Mechanical, Electrical,
Chemical, Thermal and Electromagnetic
 TYPES OF ENERGY SYSTEMS

What is Mechanical Energy?

o Energy due to a objects motion

(kinetic) or position (potential).

The bowling ball has mechanical

energy.

When the ball strikes the pins,

mechanical energy is transferred to
the pins!
TYPES OF ENERGY SYSTEMS
1.2 TYPES OF ENERGY SYSTEMS

What is Electromagnetic
Energy?

o Light energy
oRadio waves

o Includes energy from gamma rays,

xrays, ultraviolet rays, visible light,
infrared rays, microwave and radio
bands
 1.2 TYPES OF ENERGY SYSTEMS

What is Electrical Energy?

o Energy caused by the

movement of electrons

o Easily transported through

power lines and converted into
other forms of energy
1.2 TYPES OF ENERGY SYSTEMS

What is Chemical Energy?

o Energy that is available for release

from chemical reactions.

The chemical bonds in a matchstick

store energy that is transformed into
thermal energy when the match is
struck.
1.2 TYPES OF ENERGY SYSTEMS
What is Thermal Energy?

o Heat energy

o The heat energy of an object determines

how active its atoms are.

A hot object is one whose atoms and

molecules are excited and show rapid
movement.

A cooler object's molecules and atoms will

show less movement.
1.2 TYPES OF RENEWABLE ENERGY
SYSTEMS
Sustainable energyis energy obtained from non-exhaustible
resources.
Technologies that promotesustainableenergy
includerenewable energysources, such ashydroelectricity,
geothermal energy ,solar energy,wind energy,wave
power,,bioenergy,tidal powerand also technologies designed
to improveenergy efficiency.
TYPES OF RENEWABLE ENERGY SYSTEMS
BIOMASS ENERGY
 PRINCIPLES OF CONSERVATION

Conservation is an ethic of resource use, allocation, and protection. Its

primary focus is upon maintaining the health of the natural world: its,
fisheries, habitats, and biological diversity.
Secondary focus is on materials conservation and energy
conservation, which are seen as important to protect the natural
world.

To conserve habitat in terrestrial ecoregions and stop deforestation is

a goal widely shared by many groups with a wide variety of
motivations.

the term refers to the activity of systematically protecting natural

resources such as forests, including biological diversity.

Carl F. Jordan defines the term as:

biological conservation as being a philosophy of managing the
environment in a manner that does not despoil, exhaust or extinguish.
 PRINCIPLES OF CONSERVATION

To protect sea life from extinction due to overfishing is another commonly

stated goal of conservation ensuring that "some will be available for our
children" to continue a way of life.

The consumer conservation ethic is sometimes expressed by the four R's: "
Rethink, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle," This social ethic primarily relates to local
purchasing, moral purchasing, the sustained, and efficient use of
renewable resources, the moderation of destructive use of finite resources,
and the prevention of harm to common resources such as air and water
quality, the natural functions of a living earth, and cultural values in a built
environment.
The principal value underlying most expressions of the conservation ethic
is that the natural world has intrinsic and intangible worth along with
utilitarian value

a proper valuation of local and global impacts of human activity upon

nature in their effect upon human well being, now and to our posterity.
How such values are assessed and exchanged among people determines
the social, political, and personal restraints and imperatives by which
conservation is practiced. This is a view common in the modern
environmental movement.
1.4 SYNERGY WITH NATURE AND BIOREGIONALISM

A bioregion is an area that shares similar topography, plant and

animal life, and human culture. A bioregion can be determined
initially by use of climatology, physiography, animal and plant
geography, natural history and other descriptive natural sciences.
Ideally, bioregions are places that could be largely self-sufficient in
terms of food, products and services, and would have a sustainable
impact on the environment.

Bioregional boundaries are usually not rigid, and often differ from
political borders around counties, states, provinces and nations.

"Bioregions are geographic areas having common characteristics of

soil, watershed, climate, native plants and animals that exist within
the whole planetary biosphere as unique and intrinsic contributive
parts.

A bioregion refers both to geographical terrain and a terrain of

consciousness -- to a place and the ideas that have developed about
how to live in that place.
1.4 SYNERGY WITH NATURE AND BIOREGIONALISM

The final boundaries of a bioregion, however, are best

described by the people who have lived within it,
through human recognition of the realities of living-in-
place.

There is a distinctive resonance among living things and

the factors that influence them which occurs specifically
within each separate place on the planet. Discovering
and describing that resonance is a way to describe a
bioregion."
1.4 SYNERGY WITH NATURE AND BIOREGIONALISM
Bioregionalism is a movement suggesting the organization of
societies by commonality of place, the immediate and specific
places in which people live.

We all live in areas that have their own unique physical and
cultural geography. This base provides us with a common heritage
and framework for building economically and socially sustainable
systems of living.
Bioregionalism is a political, cultural, and environmental system
or set of views based on naturally-defined areas called bioregions,
or ecoregions.

Bioregions are defined through physical and environmental

features, including watershed boundaries and soil and terrain
characteristics.

Bioregionalism stresses that the determination of a bioregion is

also a cultural phenomenon, and emphasizes local populations,
knowledge, and solutions.
1.4 SYNERGY WITH NATURE AND BIOREGIONALISM
The bioregionalist perspective opposes a homogeneous
economy and consumer culture with its lack of stewardship
towards the environment. This perspective seeks to:

Ensure that political boundaries match ecological

boundaries.
Highlight the unique ecology of the bioregion.
Encourage consumption of local foods where possible.
Encourage the use of local materials where possible.
Encourage the cultivation of native plants of the region.
Encourage sustainability in harmony with the bioregion
We are not organized by bioregions at present. Political
divisions of nations, states, counties, water districts, sewer
districts, voting districts and so on have nothing to do with
inherent geographical physical, cultural and economic
patterns. Many of our political subdivisions actually make
management of our resources and our opportunities for
social involvement more difficult.
1.4 SYNERGY WITH NATURE AND BIOREGIONALISM

Bioregionalism is a call to become knowledgeable

guardians of the places where we live. Although we are
seldom aware of it, we live in naturally unique physical,
ecological, historical and cultural areas whose boundaries
are more often ridge tops than county lines and state
borders.

Bioregionalism is a call to get to know our local land and

water; our local weather and sky; our local plants and
animals; our local neighbors and communities. It is a call
to join our hearts, hands and minds with what has been,
what is, and what could be, in this place.
1.4 SYNERGY WITH NATURE AND BIOREGIONALISM

A statement of principles formulated by

the first North American Bioregional
Congress in 1984 suggests that

"People can join with neighbors to

discuss ways we can work together to:
1) learn what our special local resources
are,
2) plan how to best protect and use those
natural and cultural resources,
3) exchange our time and energy to best
meet our daily and long-term needs,
and
4) enrich our children's local and global
knowledge. Security begins by acting
responsibly at home.
 1.4 SYNERGY WITH NATURE AND BIOREGIONALISM
The rationale for bioregional organization in terms of scale, economy, polity and
society in Dwellers in the Land, :

Scale: People can understand issues and their connections to them at a scale "where
the forces of government and society are still recognizable and comprehensible,
where relations with others are still intimate, and where the effects of individual
actions are visible; where abstractions and intangibles give way to the here and
now, the seen and felt, and the real and known."

Economy: "... a bioregional economy would seek first to maintain rather than use up
the natural world, to adapt to the environment rather than try to exploit or
manipulate it, to conserve not only the resources but also the relationships and
systems of the natural world; and second to establish a stable means of production
and exchange rather than one always in flux and dependent upon continual growth
and constant consumption..."

Polity: "... a bioregional polity would seek the diffusion of power, the
decentralization of institutions, with nothing done at a higher level than necessary,
and all authority flowing upward incrementally from the smallest political unit to the
largest."

Society: "... symbiosis is as apt a model as any for a successful human society, which
we may envision as a place where families operate within neighborhoods,
neighborhoods within communities, communities within cities, cities within regions,
all on the basis of collaboration and exchange, cooperation and mutual benefit, and
where the fittest is the one that helps the most -- and of course is thereby the most
helped. The most important instance of such an interaction on a bioregional scale
would be the social symbiosis between the city and the country .
1.4 SYNERGY WITH NATURE AND BIOREGIONALISM

BIOREGIONAL PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT

an internationally recognized planning concept aimed at
achieving sustainable development.

Bioregional planning refers to land-use planning and

management that promotes sustainable development by
recognizing the relationship between, and giving practical
effect to, environmental integrity, human-well-being and
economic efficiency within a defined geographical space,
the boundaries of which were determined in accordance
with environmental and social criteria.

In practical terms, bioregional planning refers to the

matching of human settlement and land-use patterns
with the parameters of ecological systems, and the
planning, design and development of the human-made
environment within these parameters in a manner that
ensures environmental sustainability.
1.4 SYNERGY WITH NATURE AND BIOREGIONALISM

It is an organized process that enables people to work

together, think carefully about the potential and problems
of their region, set goals and objectives, define activities,
implement projects, take actions agreed upon by the
communities, evaluate progress and refine their approach
(Miller, 1996).

Bioregional planning requires a value shift away from

the sectoral nature of institutions (i.e. where
environmental issues are dealt with by
environmentalists, economic issues by economists, and
social issues by social scientists), to an all-embracing
approach where the sustainable development challenge is
addressed in an integrated and holistic manner.
1.4 BIOREGIONAL PATTERNS COMMUNITY BASIS
SHELTERS

Eco-communalism
Eco-communalism is an environmental philosophy based
on ideals of simple living, self-sufficiency, sustainability,
and local economies. Eco-communalists envision a future in
which the economic system of capitalism is replaced with a
global web of economically interdependent and
interconnected small local communities. Decentralized
government, a focus on agriculture, biodiversity, ethnic
diversity and green economics are all tenets of eco-
Eco-communalism is often associated with eco-
communalism.
socialism, which emphasizes a movement away from
capitalism and toward a less materialistic society. The
word communalism itself is a term that describes social
movements and theories which emphasize the
centrality of the community, and eco-communalism
ultimately sees the community as the catalyst to help
propel the move away from greed and corporate
irresponsibility.
 1.4 BIOREGIONAL PATTERNS COMMUNITY BASIS
SHELTERS
Low Carbon Communities

LCC works with interested

communities to find sustainable
energy solutions for their community.

This involves working with

households, businesses, schools and
community groups to raise awareness
about climate change and help
implement sustainable energy
measures.

This includes energy efficiency

measures- both technical and
behavioral- and renewable energy
installations. Ultimately, LCC aims to
help communities obtain the skills
and knowledge required to achieve
community ownership and enable
informed decision-making on energy
saving opportunities.
 ENERGY AND GLOBAL
ENVIRONMENT
Earth gets all its energy from the
Sun and loses energy into space If
more energy is lost into space than
is received from the Sun, the
planet gets cooler. If it loses less
energy than it receives, the planet
will warm up.
Some types of clouds act like giant
sun umbrellas, shading the Earth
and reflecting the sunlight that
hits them. Other types of clouds
act like a jacket, holding the heat
in and preventing it from leaving
the atmosphere. Today, most
clouds act more like a sun umbrella
and help keep our climate cool.
However, this could change if
global warming affects the type of
clouds, their thickness, and how
much water or ice they contain
 ENERGY AND GLOBAL
ENVIRONMENT
The environmental impact of theenergy industryis diverse.
Energyhas been harnessed by human beings for millennia.
Initially it was with the use offirefor light, heat, cooking and
for safety, and its use can be traced back at least 1.9 million
years.
In recent years there has been a trend towards the
increasedcommercialization of various Visiblerenewable
evidence of energy
sources. environmental damage
cause rising of fuel prices ,
impossibility to meet the
demands for water and
energy faced by urban
municipalities.
Issues of energy
consumption are as follows:
- Climate change
-Biofuel use
-Fossil fuel use
-Electricity generation
-Reservoirs
 CLIMATE
Climateis the average weather in a place over many years. While
the weather can change in just a few hours, climate takes
hundreds, thousands, even millions of years to change.
Factors that can shape climate are calledclimate forcingsor
forcing mechanisms.
Forcing mechanisms can be either "internal" or "external".
Internal forcing mechanisms are natural processes within the
climate system itself (e.g., thethermohaline circulation).
External forcing mechanisms can be either natural (e.g., changes
in solar output) or anthropogenic (e.g., increased emissions of
greenhouse gases).
 CLIMATIC CHANGE
IMPACTS OF ENERGY USE ON CLIMATIC
CHANGE
Before humans, changes
in climate resulted
entirely from natural
causes such as changes in
Earths orbit, changes in
solar activity, or volcanic
eruptions.
Since the Industrial Era
began, humans have had
an increasing effect on
climate, particularly by
adding billions of tons of
heat-trapping greenhouse
gases to the atmosphere.
Most of the observed
warming since the mid-
20th century is due to
human-caused greenhouse
gas emissions.
 CLIMATIC CHANGE

On the broadest scale, the rate at INDICATORS

which energy is received from the Air temperatures over
Sun and the rate at which it is lost land are increasing (land
to space determine the equilibrium surface)
temperature and climate of Earth. Air temperatures over
This energy is distributed around oceans are increasing.
(Marine)
the globe by winds, ocean
Arctic sea ice is
currents, and other mechanisms to
decreasing
affect the climates of different
Glaciers are melting
regions.
Sea levels are rising.
Many factors, both natural and
Humidity (everyones
human, can cause changes in
favorite) is increasing
Earthsenergy balance, including:
Ocean heat content is
- Variations inthe sun's increasing.
energyreaching Earth Earths lower
- Changes in thereflectivityof atmosphere temperature
Earths atmosphere and surface is increasing.
- Changes in thegreenhouse
effect, which affects the amount of
heat retained by Earths
atmosphere
CLIMATIC CHANGE
CLIMATIC CHANGE
CLIMATIC CHANGE
CLIMATIC CHANGE
CLIMATIC CHANGE
 CLIMATIC CHANGE
AGGREVATED EFFECTS OF FUTURE CHANGES
Greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere will continue
to increase unless the billions of tons of our annual emissions
decrease substantially. Increased concentrations are expected
to:
Increase Earth's averagetemperature
Influence the patterns and amounts ofprecipitation
Reduceiceand snow cover, as well as permafrost
Raisesea level
Increase theacidity of the oceans
Increase the frequency, intensity, and/or duration of extreme
events
Shiftecosystem characteristics
Increase threats tohuman health
These changes willimpactour food supply, water resources,
infrastructure, ecosystems, and even our own health.
 CLIMATIC CHANGE
FUTURE CHANGES WILL DEPEND ON MANY FACTORS
The magnitude and rate of future climate change will
primarily depend on the following factors:
- The rate at which levels of greenhouse gas concentrations
in our atmosphere continue to increase
- How strongly features of the climate (e.g., temperature,
precipitation, and sea level) respond to the expected
increase in greenhouse gas concentrations
- Natural influences on climate (e.g., from volcanic activity
and changes in the sun's intensity) and natural processes
within the climate system (e.g., changes in ocean circulation
patterns)