Energy-efficient Design For A Custom Hotel Building In Glasgow, An Essay.

1. Investigate the possible on site usage of solar PV, wind turbines and biomass boilers in order to reduce electricity and heating costs.

2. Discuss your findings and propose how energy saving measures and sustainable design could help offset the running costs. These can include but are not limited to: better insulation, more low energy saving devices, increased use of natural light etc.

Building Specifications and Features

Summary of a custom hotel – Glasgow which is situated in Howard. The building is a 12 story building with 250 rooms. The entire building unit is approximated to cover an area of 8500 square feet. It will be primarily meant for hotel purposes and also as a conference facility. Note; all the dimensions of the size of the building are a rough estimate with reference to information (Azar, 2012)

The building is meant to have lighting fixtures including the fluorescent tubes for the rooms and corridors. For the washrooms, there is the incandescent type of lightning. An upgrade of the lighting technology greatly saves the amount of energy used in the building.

The story building is to be cooled and heated using the rooftop unit and gas forced technique. The windows and the air ducts at the rooftop will; supply the fresh air whereas the same windows and exhaust fans will assist in cooling of the building. The rooftop of the building is controlled by a programmable thermostat 

The building includes four sets of 2 piece washrooms and also electric water heater. The plumbing fixtures are made as low as possible to help in minimizing the electrical usage (Crowley, 2008).

Gravel membrane and Asphalt are used as built up in covering the building with the outsides walls being, masonry. The windows are made of an aluminum frame, wooden and also they are double glazed. The insulating types include polyisocyanurate foam.

The table below shows the annual cost of utility and consumption.

The main objective of this building is upgrading the air conditioning unit, lighting, and the heating unit.  The below table provides some recommendations

The recommended energy saving techniques will help in minimizing the energy usage in the building by approximately 12%.

Electrical energy

The building unit has just one meter.

With reference to the above figure, it can be noted that during the cool season, there is increased consumption of energy. The maximum consumption of electrical energy is during the winter season when the weather conditions are cold. In the summer months, the consumption remains in an unchanging mode in order to maintain a cold working condition. The major contributions of the electrical consumption are the plug loads, equipment and lightning. This is anticipated since, in summer, the number of customers has increased thereby increasing the electrical energy usage (Dimoundi, 2008).

Form the graph provided, there are two load profiles which are distinct. One for the summer and the other one for the winter which ranges n between..... Respectively. There is a high demand for the early fall and the late spring thereby decreasing the peak loads.

Cooling and Heating Techniques

There is the presence of one unit gas meter at the far end of the wall. The maximum amount of usage for the gas unit is 1700m3. The annual consumption is illustrated below (Hirst, 2005)

The consumptions of gas are obtained directly from the utility bills .hence there is no compensation from the adjusted or the estimated readings.

From the graph above, it is clear that during the cooling season, there is no gas consumption. Hence indicating that the only gas consumption is on the heating system (Hirst and Brow, 1990).

From the data collected, an estimate of the combined mechanical and electrical usage is provided. The major usage of the energy in the building's heating as shown in the figure below.

Forms of heat loss,

THE Fabric heat loss entails the U-value, the temperature difference of the month, and the area of the fabric. They emanate from the walls, windows, and doors. Below is the calculation (Krati, 2016)

Ventilation heat loss depends on the volume of the building, the temperature difference, the number of air changes per hour. Below is the calculation (ma, 2012)

The solar gain is from the windows, humans and electrical equipment. Below is the calculation

Heat needed is

Fabric heat loss+ ventilation heat loss- casual heat gains.

Investigate the possible on site usage of

solar PV,

Solar technology or the application of the photovoltaic is a technique which converts the energy which comes directly from the sun and then converts into a direct form of electricity that can be used in homesteads.  This technique is a renewable form of energy and its basic unit is the solar cell. This solar cell is composed of a semiconductor material which has electrons that generate electric current in form of direct current. The amount of solar energy produced has a direct relationship with the solar intensity such that the more the insolation time, the higher amount of electricity that is generated (Masoso, 2014).

Wind turbine system consists of a wind turbine electrical cables and an inverter.  The inverter is used for the conversion of the direct current form into an alternating current while the cables are used for the connection to the main supply system and also the connection of the inverter and the wind turbine. The wind turbine blades are designed in such a way that as they propel they capture energy in form of wind energy and then convert it into direct form, which is then converted into the alternating current form by the cables. This technique is the best from among the renewable methods of electricity generation due to the following

• Savings – through the electrical energy generation, there is money earned from the feed-in tariffs and also energy is saved, approximately 5.6 tonne of carbon yearly
• Maintenance – minimal maintenance of the turbines a is required as they have the possibility of operating in even harsh conditions
• Wind turbine output – approximately, a wind turbine has the capacity of generating 13186kwh annually which can be sold and also utilized for heating purposes.

Lighting Features

A biomass boiler produces electrical energy from the burning of biomass inside a steam or hot water boiler. The produces which are burnt may include residues and wood chips the water present in the boiler is hated under high temperatures and pressure. a generator is attached to the boiler which and upon the turbine being powered by the steam, it gets to generate energy in form of direct current which is then converted un alternating current form (Saadatian, 2012).

This technique greatly helps in reducing carbon emission into the atmosphere since a large percentage of the wastes are used during the process thereby carbon emission is eliminated. Besides, it results in a clean energy which is renewable.

Advantages of the above renewable sources

• Ensures that the local resources which are renewable are utilized
• Helps in creating employment opportunities in the sites
• Reduces the emission of v carbon into the atmosphere
• Minimizes the non-renewable energy dependence
• Helps in saving bills and also generate income when the energy generated is fed to the grid and sold as a tax-free business.

Limitations of the renewable sources of energy

The main problem with these renewable sources of energy, when applied in the on-site, is about some factors such as location, output power continuity, scale and the cost. Nonetheless, the on-site installation of the photovoltaic is not that much expensive as compared to the wind and biomass (Toriti, 2012).

However, there is a recommendation for all these challenges which will help in ensuring that the energy captured and stored is maximum and very reliable. For instance,

• Integration of various technologies which helps in ensuring that the reliance on energy on only wind, sunlight etc. is reduced and another renewable option provided.
• Collating the various techniques renewable energy generation while ensuring that the storage of the primary energy captured is maximum.

Discuss your findings and propose how energy-saving measures and sustainable design could help offset the running costs. These can include but are not limited to:

• Better insulation -better insulation in the houses do not quickly lose the heat, the walls of the houses can be installed with insulating substances such that heating of the rooms would not be required. For instance, the won out and torn weather-stripping on the doors and windows. These let in the air during the day and contribute to approximately 10 % of the total heat loss and may prompt the user to put on the furnace. The door thresholds should also be adjusted and covered with plastic films
• Increased use of natural light –the buildings should be designed in such a way that more natural light is allowed in and avoid the use of electric light during the day. Besides, keeping the curtains opened during the day ensures that maximum amount of sunlight gets in, and then at night they should be closed to ensure that heat is retained within the room
• Using an efficient thermostat – thermostats are programmable devices which will help in regulating the temperature of the houses automatically without the use of furnaces. The thermostats consume little amount of energy as compared to other room heating devices.
• Use of efficient energy saving devices - These includes devices such as the day controllers, efficient bulbs, an infrared sensor which switch off the light when they are not in use i.e. in toilets (welding, 2003).
• Switching of devices when not in uses – this helps in cooling the load and also ensuring that the electrical energy is not wasted, besides, rearranging the house such that the devices which consume electricity are strategically placed also helps in ensuring that they are monitored
• Do not overheat water as it uses more energy
• Air conditioning – the cooling and the heating systems should not be turned on at the same time since it's like a parallel operation. Instead, building management systems can be put in place to monitor the vent illation.
• Refrigeration – regularly defrost the fridges while keeping the evaporators and the condensers clean always (Krati, 2003).
• Elimination of the draft – the drafts present in the electrical boxes usually let in some air into the system making them use an increased amount of energy. These can be avoided by filling the gaps using acrylic latex or foam sealant.
• Preventing warm from escaping the chimneys – usually, there is some amount of energy that is produced from the kitchen chimneys. This energy in form of heat should not be allowed to escape and an inflatable chimney balloon can be the best device to use in order to help in preventing the escape of this energy  

References

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