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Critical Assessment of Sustainable Buildings in Terms of Energy

Consumptions and 𝐂𝐎𝟐 Emissions

Noyan Ulusarac

1134280

Individual Dissertation submitted to the Department of Civil Engineering

School of Engineering and Design, Brunel University

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ABSTRACT

Over the decades, world’s population is reached to its limit. Nowadays, environmental sources are not enough for the requirements of the human kind. Eco-system is changing day by day, earth is getting old. Therefore, precautions have to be taken. For civil engineering, buildings have to be built according to the regulations which require specific details in order to lower the damage of the structures on the environment. This project is about the critical assessment of the sustainable (eco-friendly) buildings in

terms of energy consumptions and CO2 emissions in order to show that they are necessary for the future.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This research was supported by Brunel University, Alarko Holding, Koray Holding, Varlıbas Holding (VARYAP), GAP Holding, Mehmet Ulusarac, Mustafa Ulusarac, Ahmet Serpil, Yüce Demirseren, Nusrettin Isık, Laila Mouakko, Sana El Hachadı, Adem Koray Parlar, Gökhan Girgin, Mohamed Elazzouzi, Youssef El Haoudar and Azzeddin Harache. The author is grateful to the companies and people involved for their support and contribution.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page Number

List of Notation............................................................................................................................. 5

Definitions ................................................................................................................................ 5

Terms ....................................................................................................................................... 5

Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 6

Traditional (non-sustainable) Buildings....................................................................................... 8

Retrofit of Traditional Buildings in Terms of Energy Consumption .............................................. 9

Literature Review.........................................................................................................................17

What is Sustainable Building? ...................................................................................................17

Benefits of Sustainable Buildings ..............................................................................................18

Limitations of Sustainable Buildings .........................................................................................19

Cost in Sustainable Buildings ....................................................................................................20

Relationship Between Sustainable Buildings and CO2 Emission .................................................20

Relationship Between Energy Consumptions of Sustainable Buildings and CO2 Emission ............22

Information About Sustainable Building Regulations..................................................................28

Sustainability in Today’s World ................................................................................................31

Research Methodology .................................................................................................................32

Results and Discussion .................................................................................................................35

Awareness on Key Sustainability Issues in Buildings..................................................................35

Energy Consumptions and CO2 Emissions of Both Sustainable Buildings and Traditional Buildings

...............................................................................................................................................36

CO2 Emissions of The Traditional (Non-sustainable) Buildings...................................................37

CO2 Emissions of The Sustainable Buildings .............................................................................38

Energy Consumption of The Traditional (Non-sustainable) Buildings ..........................................39

Energy Consumption of The Sustainable Buildings ....................................................................41

Energy Consumption of The Sustainable Buildings versus Traditional Buildings ..........................42

Energy Efficiency Materials at The Sustainable Buildings...........................................................42

Future of The Sustainable Buildings ..........................................................................................43

Conclusions .................................................................................................................................44

References ...................................................................................................................................46

Appendices ..................................................................................................................................49

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LIST OF NOTATION

Definitions

BTUs - British thermal units - a traditional unit of energy equal to about 1055 joules.

GWh – Giga Watts hours - a unit of energy representing one billion (1,000,000,000) watt hours and is equivalent to one million kilowatt hours.

KWh – Kilowatt hours.

CO2 – Carbon dioxide gas – chemical formula of the combination of 1 carbon atom and 2 oxygen atoms.

Grey water – waste water from showers, baths and washbasins.

Greenhouse gases (GHGs) - a gas in an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range.

GDP – Gross domestic product.

USD – United States Dollar.

Gt – Giga tonnes - 1 billion tonnes or 1 trillion kilograms.

PV – Photovoltaic.

ST – Solar thermal.

Therm - One British therm is a non-SI unit of heat energy equal to 100,000 British thermal units (BTU).

RES – Renewable energy sources.

Terms

IRENA – International Renewable Energy Agency

HVAC – Heating, ventilation and air conditioning

USGBC - United States Green Building Council

USEPA – United States Environmental Protection Agency

LEED - Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design

BREEAM - Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodology

ASME - American Society of Mechanical Engineers

UNEP SBCI - United Nations Environment Programme Sustainable Buildings and Climate Initiative

IPCC - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

USGBC - U.S Green Building Council

OECD Pacific - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

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INTRODUCTION

In today’s world, technology is far more essential in many aspects than predicted in 1960’s or 1970’s. Thanks to those technologies, we are living our life more efficient, easy and joyful. Almost every technological device uses energy (electricity) which is gained from world’s electricity and that electricity is being produced by electric centrals. According to the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States (2009); in 2008 there were 6,785 million people living and their electric consumption was 20,279,640 Gwh/yr which costs $70,048 billion (USD). Therefore, world’s average productivity per electricity consumption was $3.5 production/kWh. To sum up, energy consumption was high and as a result of that people needed more energy and started building more electric centrals, hydroelectric centrals etc. However, these electric centrals are producing carbon dioxide gases when they are producing electricity and these carbon dioxides gases are harming the nature and the health conditions of the environment. As a result of these effects, global warming (increases in average temperature of the air and sea at earth's surface) occurs. According to the Figure 1 which is shown below and also according to Thomas F.S et al. (2013), since 1971, 90% of the warming has occurred in the oceans. Ices started melting at the poles therefore level of the sea started increasing. According to the National Academies Press (2011) “The average temperature of the Earth’s surface increased by about 0.8 °C (1.4 °F) over the past 100 years, with about 0.6 °C (1.0 °F) of this warming occurring over just the past

three decades.” All CO2consumptions were affecting the atmosphere and therefore our life. According to the Pachauri R.K et al. (2007), scientists were certain that most of the global warming was being caused due to the increase at the level of the concentrations of the greenhouse gases which are produced

by human activities. Main reasons were energy consumptions and CO2 emission.

Figure 1 – Temperature, CO2 and Sunspots change, Stanford Solar Centre website

(http://solar-center.stanford.edu/sun-on-earth/glob-warm.html)

For example industries, they have a major effect on the global warming. According to Pijush K. B. (2010) “Most of the times residue of industries which are generally composed of different poisonous materials in gaseous form causing global warming, are either thrown out or burnt in open air after being exhausted through openings of a long heighten chimney. In manufacturing industry, oil-refineries, petrochemical, chemical industries and heavy industries etc, the last residue is consisting of some sort of oil, acid, bases, hydrocarbon cycles etc which are highly poisonous and furiously affected in contact of human and biological living bodies” According to R. Chandrappa et al. (2011) “With industrial revolution, a series of environmental impacts appeared – air pollution, water pollution, thermal pollution, noise pollution and degradation of forest and other ecosystems. Increase in carbon dioxide led to global warming due to green house effect. Industrialized countries have accumulated ‘historical’

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emissions, in the atmosphere since the beginning of the industrial revolution. Very recently, developing countries are only adding to this carbon pool already created in the atmosphere.” Moreover; each year the UK construction industry uses 6 tonnes of building materials per head of pollution and 151 million tonnes of waste; 35% of UK total waste, comes from materials production and construction (Mizi F.,2011). According to Levine et al. (2007) “Carbon dioxide emissions, including through the use of electricity in buildings, grew from 1971 to 2004 at an annual rate of 2%. The largest regional increases

in CO2 emissions (including through the use of electricity) for commercial buildings were from developing Asia (30%), North America (29%) and OECD Pacific (18%). The largest regional increase

in CO2 emissions for residential buildings was from Developing Asia accounting for 42% and Middle East/North Africa with 19%.” According to Michael Dore (2011) “Humans are producing 29 gigatons

of CO2 in a year and atmospheric CO2 is at its highest level in 15 to 20 million years. Atmospheric concentration of CO2 has increased by 35% since the beginning of the age of industrialization.”

Figure 2 - Carbon dioxide emissions from energy, (IPCC, 2004)

As shown in the Figure 2, according to the website of IPCC “The bar at the left represents emissions of

CO2 from all energy end-uses in buildings. The bar at the right represents only those emissions from direct combustion of fossil fuels.” In both cases, they have an impact on CO2, but emissions from electricity usage and district heating in buildings have more impact than direct combustion in buildings. In order to save energy people could do some stuff like turning off the electricity when it was not necessary, unplugging their electronic devices when they were not using them instead of leaving them on the standby mode or turn of the taps when they were brushing their teeth etc. But these types of precautions were not enough for energy saving or reducing the carbon dioxide emission. As cities can play a major role in climate change, some serious precautions have to be taken about structures. When buildings are located on hazardous sites, they are exposed to high climatic risks. Non-sustainable buildings are mostly located in cities and most of them have impact on environment from their building stage to demolishment stage. According to Osman Balaban (2013); “Buildings are among the major sources of excessive resource and energy consumption, and thereby carbon emissions in cities. Along with one-third of global energy end use, the building sector is responsible for more than a third of global resource consumption, including 12 per cent of all fresh water use, and generates approximately 40 per cent of the total volume of solid wastes in the world.” Therefore, there was a need for structural change which was building sustainable (green) buildings. As Sir Winston Churchill said “We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us.” By changing the construction methods, construction materials,

systems that are used in the constructions etc., people can decrease the amount of CO2 emission and energy consumption. There are two ways of doing that retrofitting traditional buildings or building sustainable buildings.

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Traditional (non-sustainable) buildings

20 years ago, very few people had idea and knowledge about sustainable buildings. Global warming was not a serious issue and almost no one had an idea about the impact of the buildings on the global warming. Today; if you look around, you can easily see traditional buildings. Some people think that buildings are dead steel or concrete bulks and they do not have any impact on the environment. However this is not true. It is obvious that there are many other effects on climate change or air pollution like vehicle gases, people’s garbage, chemical wastes etc. but people do not know that energy consumptions of buildings have more impact on the environment than those factors.

For example; according to the website of State Environmental Resource Centre (2004), traditional buildings consume or are responsible for:

• 45% of the world’s total energy use; • 50% of all materials and resources; • 50% of wood use in North America; • 35% of the world’s CO2 emissions; • 80% of potable water use; • 25% of freshwater withdrawal (including power plants); • 40% of municipal solid waste destined for local landfills; • 50% of ozone-depleting Chlorofluorocarbons still in use.

Effects that are mentioned above can be lowered by using sustainable materials (systems) at traditional buildings as they are buildings which have no technological system to lower the impact of the buildings on the environment. These systems are electric systems, heating systems or water recycling systems and

as mentioned before, they have remarkable effect on energy consumption and CO2 emission values of buildings.

Figure 3- Heat loss values of an uninsulated house

(http://www.sustainability.vic.gov.au/services-and-advice/households/energy-efficiency/heating/retain-heat- in-your-home)

For heating energy of traditional houses, as they do not have any sustainable heating systems, they have to be insulated well. Otherwise; as shown in Figure 3, heat loss will be very high compare to well insulated houses. As a result, energy consumption values will be high as high heat loss means high energy consumption for heating. Sometimes even high insulation may not be enough to lower heating energy consumption. For example, in a very cold place outside temperature can be -15°C and as a

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healthy inside temperature of a building is 23°C for humankind, only isolation may not keep inside temperature around 23°C. In that case, there is a need for powerful heating system and this system will

probably produce high CO2 emission than usual. However, if that building has a geothermal sustainable system then by using water which has a ground temperature (lower than over ground temperature) for

heating, house holders can heat the area more easily and spend less energy with less CO2 emission. So, this shows that long term energy consumption of a building depends on the materials and the systems are used in the construction. Moreover, sustainable systems are good solutions in order to achieve good results for energy consumptions.

Retrofit of traditional buildings in terms of energy consumption

People do not need to build sustainable buildings or demolish traditional ones in order to build sustainable building. They can retrofit traditional buildings in order to convert them into a sustainable building. There are different ways of lowering the energy consumption of traditional buildings.

Walls

As shown in Figure 3, walls cause 15-25% heat loss. In order to lower that value, isolation of the walls has to be retrofitted well. First, heat loss values of the walls have to be checked. If values are acceptable or appropriate for sustainable building regulations then there is no need for doing retrofit and spending extra money. However, if heat loss values are not appropriate then required heat loss values of the walls have to be calculated and according to that calculations walls have to be isolated again and if possible high quality paints have to be used. As shown in Figure 4, thickest part of the wall is cavity insulation part which has the highest effect on reduction of heat loss. Sometimes it may not be enough to examine thermal processes in isolation particularly as the behaviour of moisture content of the traditional buildings are different than modern buildings (Neil M. et al., 2012). Therefore, moisture content of structure has to be known well in order to obtain maximum efficiency.

Figure 4 – Isolated wall sample

(http://web.ornl.gov/sci/roofs+walls/insulation/ins_05.html)

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Windows and doors

Windows and doors cause 10-20% of the heat loss of a building. For windows, three different types of

windows can be used single glazed (4.8-5.7𝑊/𝑚2𝐾), double glazed (2.7𝑊/𝑚2𝐾) or triple glazed

(1.6𝑊/𝑚2𝐾) windows (Mizi F., 2011). From single glazed to triple glazed, insulation values increase due to layers of the windows. As shown in Figure 5, gaps between windows act like isolation materials and they reduce the heat loss of the structure. Also, if high quality plastic; like abs, is used then it can decrease the heat loss more.

Figure 5 – Double glazed window sample

(http://britanniawindows.co.uk/triple-glazed-windows-in-somerset/)

Old windows have only frames and glass that is why their heat loss values are high. When outside temperature is; let us say, 5°C and inside temperature is 20°C then as windows transfer the heat, outside temperature will start to lower inside temperature around the windows (Mizi F., 2011). Probably everyone have experienced before that during winter while heating is working and inside temperature is in normal conditions, corners of the window frames and windows are colder than the inside temperature. This is all about heat transfer of the windows. Therefore; in order to retrofit traditional buildings, old windows can be changed. However; sometimes it may not be the most efficient way as Neil M. et al. (2012) mentioned in Responsible Retrofit of Traditional Buildings academic paper. According to Neil M. et al. (2012) “A secondary glazed historic window can reduce heat loss more effectively than a replacement double glazed window. However, the effectiveness of secondary glazing for traditional windows does not seem to have made its way into more mainstream refurbishment literature which frequently only provides the message that replacing windows will save energy.” As shown in Figure 6, secondary glazed windows are two single glazed windows that are built together with two window frames. As they have more windows in total, they have more effect on heat loss. However, most people do not prefer to use them as double glazed windows look better and easier to use. To sum up, old windows can be retrofitted or converted into secondary glazed windows in order to obtain high insulation.

Figure 6 – Secondary glazed window sample

(http://secondaryglazing.ie/images/secondary.gif)

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Floors

Floors have almost same heat loss values with windows and doors but there is not much to do about heat loss throw floors. There are some heating systems which take place underneath the floor and work as radiators. Those systems may be used as a radiator instead of using heaters and in that case energy usage can be lowered. As shown in Figure 7, tubes are passing underneath the flooring and they include hot water inside of them like normal radiator pipes. Also, there is an isolation material in order to reflect the heat to the floor instead of letting it pass throw ground.

Figure 7 – Floor heating systems sample

(http://mcgrathplumbing.com/images/PexRadiant.jpg)

Day light saving and lighting

In order to lower the energy consumption of lighting systems, sustainable materials can be used and if positions of the windows are not appropriate then in order to obtain maximum day light, they have to be repositioned. For sustainable lighting, fluorescent bulb can be used instead of old bulbs or lamps. By using fluorescent bulbs, energy consumption of the lights can be lowered around 40-60% depending on the type of the bulb. Also; they are adjustable, in other words; user can adjust the level of the light and therefore use less energy during day time. Fluorescent bulbs are also recyclable and eco-friendly. For the positions of the windows; in order to obtain maximum day light during the day and to lower the energy consumption, they have to be replaced according to the position of the building and sun. This method is both beneficial for energy consumption and heating. When there is shadow inside the room, room gets cold and dark. According to Mizi F. (2011) “Sunlight incident upon an internal building surface and absorbed will raise the temperature of the surface. If the heat absorbed cannot be conducted into the structure then it will further increase the surface temperature. This will increase the radiant temperature of the room and also promote convection of heat into the room and increase the air temperature.” To sum up; by calculating the position of the sun during day time, windows can be re-positioned and maximum efficiency can be obtained.

There is a research done by Noyan Ulusarac in 2012 about the comparison of Brunel University’s Lecture Centre building (traditional building) and Brunel University’s Eastern Gateway building (sustainable building) with regards to their materials and system:

The two buildings constructed in different times with be examined with regards to discussing their structures in terms of sustainability. Sustainability in both buildings will be addressed with regards to their facade, frames, windows, isolation systems and benefit of daylight.

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Facade system: Looking at the traditional building, one sees a building that is far from a sustainable building with regards to its facade. The building’s facade is not present as finishing is only left with a concrete surface. Hence, crucial damages could be observed as the concrete surface has worn over time causing the reinforcing steel in the concrete to be exposed. This over time will cause the corrosion of the exposed steel as it comes into contact with oxygen, which will then cause further rust and corrosion to other steel elements in the concrete. Corrosion of reinforcing elements means the weakening of the reinforcement which in turn leads to the building’s insufficiency to bear loads, thus decreasing its operational life. In addition, the heat losses will increase in due course (See Fig. 13). Whilst the traditional building is observed to be very inefficient in terms of sustainability, the sustainable building is constructed with cladding as facade system or stucco-works to prevent corrosion. Isolation materials are placed in between the cladding and the concrete surface behind in order to form a system that prevents heat loss (Fig. 15-16-20) Briefly:

The traditional building does not have cladding over the concrete surface. It is vulnerable to weathering action thus causing the building’s operational life to decrease through corrosion.

The internal heat loss of the traditional building is at a maximum level due to the lack of cladding on the concrete surface. The exchange of warm air to flow outside and cold air to flow inside is therefore very easy which in turn means there has to be maximum energy consumption

in order to heat the building.

Frame, windows and isolation systems: When the traditional building is examined with regards to frame, window and isolation systems, it is evident that there is a poor heat isolation system as the walls are thin and the window frames are single glazed (See Fig. 12 and 14). Thus, the lack of internal heat isolation is mainly due to major heat loss through the frames. As the windows are single glazed, it is observed that there is a considerable heat loss through the surface of windows. Whilst poor isolation is observed in the traditional building, the sustainable building is far more sustainable with regards to its frame, window and isolation system (See Fig. 16-17-19-20). The isolation system here involves an aluminium frame with isolation material within. This enables a longer operational life span and the heat loss is almost negligible. A quick observation on the windows shows that the windows are double glazed. Double glazed windows prevent heat losses to a minimum. In addition, the types of windows chosen are reflective which prevents internal heat loss through heat flow from inside the building to outside during the winter months with regards to heat transfer coefficient. This means that extreme radiation is prevented in the summer months which decrease the use of cooling systems. Briefly:

As simple frame system is used in the traditional building, heat losses and heat transfers are at a maximum level.

Heat is lost and transferred easily in the traditional building as the windows are flat and single glazed. This will cause the warm air to easily flow out and the cold air to easy flow in the building during the winter months and the building will require an extensive cooling during the summer months when the sunlight hits the windows directly. Overall, this will increase the energy consumption for heating and cooling systems.

The isolated frames in the sustainable building prevent these flows.

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Reflective double glazed windows in the sustainable building prevent heat loss during winter and the excess sunlight is blocked during the summer thus making the building cost-efficient in

terms of energy-grade.

Benefiting from Day Light Upon observation of the architectural design of shared spaces and corridors of the traditional building (Fig. 8-9-10), these areas are constantly in the lack of daylight and there is a constant need of lighting system. This connotes inefficiency of energy use increasing costs as the users of the building are not able to benefit from daylight. However, it is observed that the shared spaces give a sense of integrity with the floor above and below which enables maximum benefit of daylight (See Fig. 17). Thus, as the benefit from daylight is maximised, the use of lighting systems is minimised which in turn saves the costs incurred for electricity consumption. Briefly:

The traditional building is isolated from benefiting of daylight especially in shared spaces and corridors. These areas are entirely surrounded by walls which prevent the benefit of daylight and thus need constant lighting sources that consume a lot of energy.

The architectural planning of the sustainable building is laid out in a way that the building can benefit from daylight on a maximum level. This enables energy saving and less costs incurred

from electricity consumption.

Electric system: As discussed earlier, the traditional building is inefficient in terms of benefiting from daylight as a result of its architectural design. There is a manual use of electricity (switches) in order to provide lighting to shared spaces and corridors. This means that these lights will remain on as long as someone switches it off and when left on, the electricity consumption increases thus causing high electricity costs (See Fig 8-9-10). This is an uncontrolled method of energy and requires a lot of energy and incurs a lot of costs. However, this is not the case in the sustainable building. The architectural design enables maximum benefit of daylight in shared spaces, as energy is saved. In addition, motion and light sensors within the building enables a controlled use of the electricity i.e. the lights turn on only when the sensors sense activity in the area. This method enables a controlled manner of using energy, thus being cost-efficient and also the light sources used are human friendly which works for human health. Briefly:

Energy saving is not considered in the traditional building as all lighting sources are turned on and off manually.

The light sources selected for the traditional building consume a lot of energy and harm human vision.

Energy saving in the sustainable building is thoroughly considered as sensors are present to detect motion and light-dark changes.

The lighting sources in the new building both consume low levels of energy and provide

maximum amount of light.

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Recommendations for the refurbishment of the traditional building The refurbishment recommendations put forward for the traditional building with reference to the comparison between the traditional and sustainable building with regards to materials, methods and systems to be used are as follows:

Firstly, the old facade, walls inside the building that are not load bearing structures, lights and all mechanical infrastructure should be removed and cleaned until the main structural frame is left with.

An architectural plan should be carried out especially in shared spaces to enable maximum daylight benefit.

The reinforced concrete facade should be coated/covered/cladded with insulation material against heat loss.

Where windows exist, the frames should be of aluminium of that carry insulation properties.

The windows should be double glazed with reflective properties. This will save the costs incurred on cooling systems during summer months.

HVAC system should be used i.e. a central heating and cooling system should be used which also decreases carbon releases.

Use of lighting systems that are sensitive to motion and daylight and time of day which will add a lot to energy saving.

A partial energy support could be acquired by the use of solar panels to benefit from the daylight.

To sum up, there are lots of different ways to refurbish a traditional building. These refurbishment methods are highly efficient in terms of energy consumption and heating. However, sustainable buildings which are built directly as sustainable buildings are more efficient than both traditional buildings and refurbished traditional buildings.

Traditional Building’s Photos: Brunel University’s Lecture Centre building

Figure 8 – Corridor of traditional building Figure 9- Lecture room of traditional building

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Figure 10- Ceiling of corridor Figure 11- Radiator in traditional building

Figure 12- Wall of traditional building Figure 13- Side wall of traditional building

Figure 14- Façade of traditional building

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Sustainable Building’s Photos: Eastern Gateway building

Figure 15- Outside of sustainable building Figure 16- Entrance of sustainable building

Figure 17- Windows of sustainable building Figure 18- Lighting of sustainable building

Figure 19- Windows of sustainable building Figure 20 – Windows of sustainable building

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In parallel to the previous research done by author, this academic research paper is carried out about the critical assessment of the sustainable buildings in terms of energy consumptions and CO2 emissions. The following section includes the previous researches done and information about them. After that; research methodology section includes how necessary data is collected and how it is assessed. Then in the results and discussion section collected data is assessed and their relationship between data in the literature review is evaluated. In the last section which is conclusion all the parts are evaluated and main conclusions are mentioned. Main aim of this academic research paper is critical assessment of sustainable buildings in terms of

energy consumptions and CO2 emissions. Moreover, objectives of the academic research paper are:

Assessment of benefits and limitations of sustainable building;

Assessment of sustainable energy systems with their benefits and limitations;

Assessment of differences between sustainable and traditional (non-sustainable) building;

To prove that sustainable buildings are necessary for future.

LITERATURE REVIEW

What is sustainable building?

Green buildings are eco-friendly buildings; in other words, they have low impact on the environment compare to the traditional buildings. They are an environmentally sustainable building, designed, constructed and operated to minimise the total environmental impact. According to J. Cullen Howe (2010), green building involves “The practice of increasing the efficiency with which buildings and their sites use energy, water, and materials, and reducing building impacts on human health and the environment, through better siting, design, construction, operation, maintenance, and removal—the complete building life cycle.” The Governor’s Green Government Council (2005) defines a green building as a building, “Whose construction and lifetime of operation assure the healthiest possible environment while representing the most efficient and least disruptive use of land, water, energy and resources.” John Smiciklas et al. (2012); in “Go Green” document, describes a green building as, “Sustainable building refers to both the structure and a process that is more environmentally responsible during the entire life cycle of a building.” The USEPA definition of a green building is “Green building is the practice of creating structures and using processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building's life-cycle from siting to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation and deconstruction. This practice expands and complements the classical building design concerns of economy, utility, durability, and comfort. Green building is also known as a sustainable or high performance building.” Green or sustainable building is the practice of designing, constructing, operating, maintaining, and removing buildings in ways that conserve natural resources and reduce pollution.

There are four key principles that a green building has to achieve (Mizi F., 2011):

Reducing embodied energy and resource depletion

Reducing energy in use

Minimising external pollution and environmental damage

Minimising internal pollution and damage to health

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Application properties (Governor’s Green Government Council, 2005):

Planning in accordance with green building standards in design stage and optimising costs through basic and innovative solutions;

Design that enables minimum earthworks and the use of waste materials; Energy saving through the development of sound and heat isolation through effective isolation

systems; Development of concepts through architectural methods that enables maximum natural light

into the building; Effective solutions for HVAC (heating, cooling and ventilation) systems; Use of cheap construction materials such as VOC (volatile organic compound) and decoration

products; Use of solar energy through photovoltaic panel systems i.e. producing electricity under the

influence of light or radiation and landscaping with trees; Use of motion detective sensors for ventilation and lighting systems; Development of buildings that can self-generate electricity; Use of Ground Source Heat Pump System – GSHP; Use of trombe wall in south end of building in order to obtain half of the heat energy required

during winter months from the sun.

Benefits of sustainable buildings

Economic: As sustainable buildings conserve resources and reuse or store them efficiently, they save money. This efficiency is enhanced by (State Environmental Resource Centre, 2004):

Using natural daylight and ventilation therefore minimizing energy consumption and maximizing efficiency;

Using sustainable systems for energy such as photovoltaic panels, solar panels, geothermal heating systems;

Using good (preferably natural) materials for insulation;

Using sustainable systems like rain water harvesting systems or grey water recycling systems in order to storage or reuse water and lower the consumption;

Using geothermal systems or water heating system for heating both air and water. Energy: Sustainable buildings have to be designed in order to use less energy than traditional buildings and it is possible by using renewable energy sources and reducing both embodied and operating energy consumption. Some ways of achieving that is (Governor’s Green Government Council, 2005):

Using good isolation materials and high-performance windows in order to lower heat loss and decrease the energy consumption for heating;

Using solar panels, photovoltaic panels etc. in order to use the solar energy;

Using wind turbines in order to convert mechanical energy into a kinetic energy and use or store it;

Placing the windows in the correct positions in order to obtain light from outside and lower the necessity of the light usage.

Environment: As sustainable buildings use/reuse the natural sources efficiently and eco-friendly, they have low impact on the environment. This impact is related with (State Environmental Resource Centre, 2004):

Minimizing the use of the construction materials and reusing them;

Lowering the CO2 emissions Reducing the chemical wastes carefully;

Using recycling systems for wastes and used waters including rain water and grey water.

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Health & Safety: Sustainable buildings aim to reduce the impact of the construction sector on human kind by (Governor’s Green Government Council, 2005):

Eliminating harmful materials;

Using low emission materials for example; for both internal and external walls zero VOC paints, natural plasters (clay or hydraulic lime) and natural paints (lime paint, clay paint or milk paint) etc.;

Lowering CO2 consumption. Value of the structure: Traditional buildings are expensive compare to the sustainable buildings which is due to reduction at the usage of water, gas, energy etc. This is an advantage for both customer and seller because for seller, she/he can earn more money and on the other hand for the customer, she/he may pay too much money but in the end spending money will be earned back due to less spending on water, gas or energy bills. In addition to that; if the sustainable buildings can be designed as a net zero building which creates more energy than it spends, costumer can even earn money with the extra energy.

Limitations of sustainable buildings

Cost: Sustainable materials or systems may cost too much and companies need to invest a lot of money. The aim of the sustainable buildings is to regain the amount of money that is spent on those systems in a certain time period. However, some companies are using Build-Operate-Transfer method for the structures and sometimes they need to transfer the structure to another company before the estimated time of regaining the spending on sustainable buildings. Therefore, they cannot regain their spending back and sustainable systems can be considered as useless (Devin Saylor, 2012). Time: Time is one of the main issues about a sustainable building. If construction is not completed on time then this may cause additional fees and increase on the expenses. However, sometimes it can be too difficult to find the proper material(s) for the sustainable building and this may cause delays and therefore late penalties. Roofs: Some sustainable structures have green roofs which include vegetation, isolation, drainage and waterproofing membrane on them. Therefore; in order to support that heavy loading, roofs have to be designed strong and this may cause extra expenses. Materials: As mentioned before, sometimes it can be too difficult to find the proper material(s) and as a result of this, materials have to be demand from other cities or countries. Transportation of those materials may cause extra spending and extra time. Moreover, as materials are being transported by

trucks, planes or ships, it may cause extra CO2emissions. Environment: Some sustainable buildings use recycled materials and recycle the materials being used. These materials have to be collected and transferred to a recycling area each month and as it requires trucks, it may cause traffic problems and air pollution if the construction area is in a city or a crowded place (Governor’s Green Government Council, 2005). Workers: In order to build a traditional building there is no need for highly qualified workers but on the other hand in order to build a sustainable building there is a need for highly qualified workers who have specific knowledge about sustainable systems, materials, regulation and management rules. To sum up, sustainable buildings have lots of advantages and they are really efficient and eco-friendly. They may have disadvantages besides advantages but disadvantages can be easily solved with a well prepared project management plan (Devin Saylor, 2012).

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Cost in sustainable buildings

In order to count a building as a sustainable building, it should be selective in its design, structural systems and construction materials which increase the cost. However, if the increase in value and prestige of the building on top of the efficiency in energy consumption is considered then the cost loses its substantiality against the benefits the green building provides. Accurate decisions and fundamentals during the architectural design phase have high importance as those decisions and fundamentals will change the building’s value. If possible, best way is to keep the cost at an optimum value. The increase in the importance of green buildings put together with the widespread use will increase the preference of this design. It is estimated that green buildings cumulate a cost increase of about 5-10% during the construction phase. However, it has been observed that green buildings provide a cost-efficiency of up to 25-30% (Gregory K., 2003). As mentioned before; on a long-term basis, green buildings present important benefits as the operational costs are low.

Relationship between sustainable buildings and 𝐂𝐎𝟐 emission

Global warming is a main issue in today’s world. It affects climate, atmosphere, temperature of the

earth and therefore our lives. One of the main reasons for global warming is CO2 emissions. It is being caused by humans (their deodorants, materials etc.), transportation tools and their gasses (vehicles, trains etc.), industries and buildings (materials being used, energy consumptions, demolitions etc.). This

part discusses CO2 emissions of the sustainable buildings and their relations with energy consumption. Before that point brief information, examples and future plans about CO2 emission are going to be given. According to the Building and Climate Change article of the U.S Green Building Council (USGBC)

(2008), “Scientists predict that left unchecked, emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases from human activities will raise global temperatures by 2.5ºF to 10ºF this century. The effects will be profound, and may include rising sea levels, more frequent floods and droughts, and increased spread of infectious diseases. To address the threat of climate change, greenhouse gas emissions must be slowed,

stopped, and reversed.” All these effects of the CO2 emission on climates called global warming as temperature of the climate increases. It is because CO2 emissions are affecting the ozone layer which prevents earth from negative effects of the Sun. If there was no ozone layer, Earth would be like Mars;

in other words, so hot and none of the creatures could survive as its CO2 amount is around 90% of its atmosphere. Therefore, some precautions have to be taken in order to stop the global warming and save our life and Earth. Green buildings are really important about global warming as construction sector plays a huge role about global warming. If effects of it can be changed, global warming can be slowed or even stopped. For example, as it is mentioned by U.S Green Building Council (USGBC) (2008), “The commercial and residential building sector accounts for 39% of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the United States per year, more than any other sector. Most of these emissions come from the combustion of fossil fuels to provide heating, cooling and lighting, and to power appliances and electrical equipment. By transforming the built environment to be more energy-efficient and climate-friendly, the building sector can play a major role in reducing the threat of climate change.” Also; ASME (2009) mentioned that

“Since 1990, CO2 emissions have been increasing at almost 2 percent a year primarily due to sector growth. Because buildings are one of the longest-lived assets, their initial design and construction practices can long impact future energy consumption and efficiency options.” This shows that if buildings are being built environmental friendly then as they stay for a long time they can have a good

effect on the atmosphere and CO2 emission as long as they stay.

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There are some good examples about CO2 emission of the constructions and their amounts. For example, as U.S Green Building Council (USGBC) (2008) mentioned, “In 2004, total emissions from

residential and commercial buildings were 2236 million metric tons of CO2, or 39% of total U.S. CO2 emissions which were more than either the transportation or industrial sectors.” Gases that are being released from constructions are called Carbon Footprint. It is basically the total amount of the greenhouse gases emissions caused by life-cycle of the construction from its material transportation stage to the demolishment stage. There are four different types of greenhouse gases that have to be controlled; carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and sulphur hexafluoride. The carbon

footprint is based on the mass of carbon dioxide (CO2) in kilograms or metric tons as carbon is the most common of the greenhouse gases (GHGs) emitted by humans (Express Towers, 2010). As UNEP SBCI (2009) mentioned that “The environmental footprint of the building sector includes; 40% of energy use, 30% raw materials use, 25% of solid waste, 25% water use, and 12% of land use.” Therefore, most of the precautions have to be taken about energy usage of the buildings. Some strict precautions have started to be taken from companies, governments, householders etc. Lots of companies are founded just to heal the conditions of the building and/or building eco-friendly ones. According to Diana V. et al., “The calculations suggest that, globally, by 2020, approximately 29% of

the business-as-usual CO2 equivalent emissions or about 3.2 billion tons of CO2 equivalents can be avoided annually in a cost-effective way through mitigation measures in the residential and commercial sectors.”

As mentioned before, electricity usage of the constructions are playing a major role at CO2 emission. According to the ASME (2009), “Typically, over 80% of the life cycle energy use is associated with operation of the building rather than construction or renovation (including material manufacturing and transport).” Also; as International Energy Agency (2013) mentioned, “The buildings sector is the largest energy-consuming sector, accounting for over one-third of final energy consumption globally and an

equally important source of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. In certain regions highly dependent on traditional biomass, energy use in buildings represents as much as 80% of total final energy use.” Moreover, according to Diana V. et al. (2007), “Energy use in the buildings sector was responsible for 7.85 Gt carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in 2002, 33% of the global total of energy-related emissions.

Buildings were also responsible for approximately 1.5 Gt CO2 equivalent emissions from fluorinated gases. The commonly used IPCC Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES) scenarios project

growth of these emissions to 11 Gt and 15.6 Gt CO2 by 2030 (Nakic´enovic ́ et al., 2000), with the share of the sector remaining at approximately 34% of the total.” However, sustainable buildings can be a good solution for this problem. For example, according to the U.S Green Building Council (USGBC) (2008), “The average LEED certified building uses 32% less electricity and saves 350 metric tons of

CO2 emissions annually. The building sector consumed 40 quadrillion Btus of energy in 2005 at a cost of over $300 billion. Energy use in the sector is projected to increase to 50 quadrillion Btus at a cost of $430 billion by the year 2025.” This shows that sustainability can save both energy and money. A case study which is shown in Figure 21 is based on a study done in 1999 and mentioned by Express Towers (2010) shows that electricity generation and carbon emissions across 3 countries. According to the graph, coal has the highest carbon emission per kg while hydroelectricity and nuclear energy have the lowest. Therefore, systems which require coal have to be changed into solar PV, wind, nuclear or

hydroelectric systems in order to lower the CO2 emission. However, nuclear power can be dangerous sometimes and not that applicable for sustainable buildings; therefore, other systems have to be used.

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Figure 21 – Carbon Emissions for Electricity Generation per Vattenfall 1999 (Express Towers, 2010)

If precautions were taken before, results could be different. For example; according to the U.S Green Building Council (USGBC) (2008), “Buildings have a lifespan of 50-100 years during which they

continually consume energy and produce CO2emissions. If half of new commercial buildings were built to use 50% less energy, it would save over 6 million metric tons of CO2

annually for the life of the buildings, the equivalent of taking more than 1 million cars off the road every year.” Today, there are different types of low-energy houses are being built which are passive houses, zero energy homes, self-sufficient houses etc. Main aim of these types of houses is to minimize the final energy use (Leif Gustavsson et al., 2009).

There are future plans about CO2 emissions. According to ASME (2009), “The U.S. Department of Energy has estimated that by 2050, with advances in building envelopes, equipment, and systems integration, it may be possible to achieve up to a 70 percent reduction in a building’s energy use, compared with the average energy use in an equivalent building today.” So, it is not too late to lower

the energy consumption and CO2 emission and save the climate and planet Earth.

Relationship between energy consumptions of sustainable buildings and 𝐂𝐎𝟐 emission

Nowadays people are using energy for almost everything but it is not easy to obtain energy from natural or artificial sources. Most of this energy is being used in the structures for lights, elevators, radiators, electric plugs, machines etc. However, sustainable buildings aim to reduce this usage. There are some applications of renewable energy sources such as solar systems and geothermal systems. 1-Solar Systems: By using solar systems; such as photovoltaic devices or thermal collectors, solar energy can be obtained and converted into electricity in order to heat water, to power lights, to use electronic devices and to build a sustainable future. Moreover; electricity and heat can offset utility costs and reduce, or even eliminate, the need for water heaters. Photovoltaic (PV) energy The word “photovoltaic” is a combination of two words “photo” and “voltaic” (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory & Oak Ridge National Laboratory, 2007). Photo means light and voltaic means voltage. Photovoltaic systems are using photovoltaic cells which convert sunlight into electricity directly. These energy systems can be used on the ground or in the design of the structure. There are some good examples for ground type photovoltaic energy systems in hot places like Las Vegas. There are lots of buildings in Las Vegas and all the machines (hotel elevators, gamble machines etc.) are working almost 24/7 and using lots of energy. Therefore; one of the world’s largest photovoltaic systems are being built near Las Vegas. This project is called ‘Nevada Power 3.1MW Solar Project’.

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According to the power-technology’s website (2005); “Over their 30-year operating life, the systems will generate clean electricity and save the equivalent of 5.8 million barrels of oil. The project uses no water, and is emission free. A key solar benefit is that maximum power is developed during summer, when electricity use is at its highest and state transmission lines are the most constrained. By avoiding hundreds of tons of carbon dioxide emissions, it is equivalent to planting 1,320 acres of trees or saving on 350 million miles worth of car journeys.” As Las Vegas project requires lots of panels, they have to be placed on the ground rather than top of the buildings. However, they were requiring an additional space (land) and those systems are harming the birds which are flying around that area as panels increase the temperature of the area by reflecting the light of the sun and sometimes that temperature may reach more than 100 centigrade degrees. If there is not an extra space for systems then photovoltaic systems which take place in the design of the structure can be used. They can be located at the terrace, roof and facade or even at the parts of the structure. For example, as Tjerk H. Reijenga (2003) mentioned, “In countries such as Denmark, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, where public housing is very common, serial production is strongly emphasized in housing projects. Professionals such as project developers and architects implement the housing construction process, in which the main opportunities are for PV roof integration in single-family terraced houses and for facade and roof integration in apartment buildings.” Sometimes it is more efficient to integrate a PV system rather than mounting it afterwards. It is because, when system is integrated while construction it has the advantage of good calibration and good combination with the design of the structure. According to Tjerk H. Reijenga (2003), “The aim of integrating PV systems into buildings is to reduce the requirement for land and the costs. This could be the cost of the support construction and the cost of building elements, such as tiles. It is more efficient to integrate a PV system when constructing the building, rather than mounting it afterwards.” Moreover, according to IRENA (2012), photovoltaic panels have an efficiency of 4-19% depending on the materials used at solar panels. PV systems can also be used as heating material for space or water while being used for creating energy. According to Tjerk H. Reijenga (2003), “At the project “Haus der Zukunft” in Linz (AT), an air cavity has been created underneath the PV modules, through which warm air (heated by PV modules) is exhausted. The hybrid collector provides warm air to the heating system in the home, which in this case, makes it a cost-effective use of the collector.” As shown in the Figure 22, PV systems can also be used as a shade systems if they can change position (tilt) or replaced correctly according to the changes of the angles of the sun lights during the year. Otherwise, it is not efficient during winter.

Figure 22: Shading system with high angle (summer) and low angle (winter), Tjerk H. Reijenga (2003)

Advantages of the grid-connected PV systems (Tjerk H. Reijenga (2003)): • There is no additional requirement for land; • The cost of the PV wall or roof can be offset against the cost of the building element it replaces; • Power is generated on site and replaces electricity that would otherwise be purchased at commercial rates; • Connecting to the grid means that the high cost of storage is avoided and security of supply is ensured.

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Solar thermal energy According to European Solar Thermal Technology Platform (2009); “During the coming years and decades, fossil fuels and nuclear power will become increasingly scarce and expensive as a result of the exhaustion of natural resources and the climate change mitigation policies. This process has obviously already started. Therefore, using fossil fuels or electricity as the main resource to achieve the low temperatures required for heating and cooling buildings will become too expensive for most people and will be seen as an unacceptable squandering of resources. Certainly, the use of biomass and heat pumps will rise significantly. However, scarce biomass resources are needed to fulfil the demand from other energy and non-energy fields, while a wide deployment of heat pumps as a main source of heating would imply a massive increase in electricity consumption, with strong economic and environmental external costs. Therefore, solar thermal (ST) will become an indispensable and crucial pillar of the future energy mix for heating and cooling.” As William T. Guiney (2012) mentioned, “In the past 15 years, product research and development and improved manufacturing have created a new generation of simple, reliable, efficient solar water heating systems. Modelling tools are available to predict system performance, costs, energy savings and return on investment based on local sun and weather conditions. In fact, solar water heating has the potential to be the largest contributor in the next growth era of renewable energy and emission reductions.” Solar thermal energy sources have high efficiency on the energy saving. In today’s world lots of sustainable buildings are using solar thermal energy sources rather than using any other energy sources for sustainability. Market of solar thermal energy sources growing day by day parallel to the usage of the systems. According to William T. Guiney (2012) “Solar heating helps users diversify their energy supplies and reduce dependence on imported fuels with volatile pricing. Solar systems can meet 50 percent of a typical facility’s hot-water heating load and may meet up to 80 percent. Even in northern climates during winter, systems can provide 20 percent or more of water heating requirements.” Moreover; according to European Solar Thermal Technology Platform (2009), “ST is becoming more and more popular in a growing number of countries worldwide. The worldwide market for ST systems has been growing continuously since the beginning of the 1990s. In Europe, the market size nearly tripled between 2002 and 2006. Even in the leading European ST markets Austria, Greece and Germany, only a minor part of the residential homes are using ST. In Germany, about 5% of one and two family homes are using ST energy.” In order to understand; why solar thermal energy sources are that much effective, than key reasons have to be inspected. According to Gerhard F. (2010), “The products are reliable and have a high technical standard. Key reasons for the utilisation of solar heat are: The energy need for heating and cooling, for crop drying and for process heating is large and growing; the solar resource is large and inexhaustible; the environmental benefits and the economic benefits are substantial.” Therefore; compare to the other energy sources like photovoltaic panels, wind turbines etc., solar thermal energy sources are useful in many activities. For example, difference between the solar thermal technology and solar photovoltaic panels is that they are mainly producing heat energy whereas photovoltaic panels are producing electricity. According to Solar Thermal Fact Sheet of Harvard Green Campus Initiative (2008), “Solar thermal applications can provide energy for domestic hot water, space conditioning (heating or cooling), or even electricity.” But they are mainly being used for heating water. As Gerhard Stryi-Hipp et al. (2013) mentioned, “The primary solar thermal application is domestic hot water heating (DHW) for residential homes, since the temperature level needed is moderate (45°C to 60°C) and DHW is needed during throughout the year. Solar assisted space heating systems and process heat applications for low temperature up to 95°C, as well as for medium temperatures up to 250°C or high temperature up to 400°C, are later developments.”

For sustainable structures and systems CO2 emission has importance as much as being cost efficient or even more. Therefore, materials are being used in the sustainable constructions have to effect on carbon reduction. Solar thermal panels are really good at this point. As European Solar Thermal Technology Platform (2009) mentioned in the “Solar Heating and Cooling for a Sustainable Energy Future in Europe” document, “The independent Global Climate Decision Makers Survey (GCDMS, 2007)

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presented in December, 2007 at the UN Climate Change conference in Bali showed that, among approximately 20 carbon reduction technology options, solar thermal and passive solar are considered over the next 25 years to be technologies with the highest carbon reduction potential without unacceptable side effects.” There is a good example for that in William T. Guiney’s White Paper Solar Thermal Energy (2012) document “A commercial solar water heating system with 500 square feet of collector will displace the hot water generated by a small natural-gas-fired boiler, generating 2,281

therms per year and offsetting more than 26,825 pounds of CO2.” Heating water, a place or a space cost lots of money. Almost every structure which includes people inside needs heating. Therefore, there is a huge demand on the world’s total energy and money for heating. As mentioned at European Solar Thermal Technology Platform (2009), “Heating accounts for a significant proportion of the world’s total energy demand. The building sector alone consumes 35.3%, of which 75% is for space heating and domestic water heating (IEA, 2006). Besides buildings, there is substantial heat consumption for industrial processes and heat-intensive services. In Europe, the final energy demand for heating and cooling (49%) is higher than for electricity (20%) or transport (31%) (EREC, 2006).”

Figure 23 – In Europe Final Energy Demand, European Solar Thermal Technology Platform (2009)

Within the RES portfolio, ST has unique and specific benefits (European Solar Thermal Technology Platform, 2009): • ST always leads to a direct reduction of primary energy consumption; • ST can be combined with nearly all kinds of back-up heat sources; • ST has the highest potential under the RES-H/C-technologies and does not rely on finite resources, needed also for other energy and non-energy purposes; • ST does not lead to a significant increase in electricity demand, which could imply substantial investments to increase power generation and transmission capacities; • ST prices are highly predictable, since the largest part of them occur at the moment of investment, and therefore does not depend on future oil, gas, biomass, or electricity prices; • The life-cycle environmental impact of ST systems is extremely low.

Geothermal systems

Geothermal systems use the natural warmth of the ground to heat and cool the building. Nearly half of the solar energy that reaches the earth remains stored in the ground at a constant about 13°C to 27°C depending on the location of the structure. These systems provide heat in the winter and cooling in the summer. According to J. Lund et al. (2004), “Geothermal heat pumps use the relatively constant temperature of the earth to provide heating, cooling and domestic hot water for homes, schools, government buildings and commercial buildings. A small amount of electricity input is required to run a compressor; however, the energy output is of the order of four times this input.” Earth has an important role on geothermal systems. For example, during summer when upper part of the earth’s surface is hot, underneath of the surface is cold. As U.S Department of Energy (2011) mentioned, “While many parts of the country experience seasonal temperature extremes – from scorching heat in the summer to sub-

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zero cold in the winter – a few feet below the earth’s surface the ground remains a relatively constant temperature. The natural ground temperature is cooler than the natural air temperature in summer and warmer than the natural air temperature in winter.” When it gets hot outside, thermal heat pumps collect heat from building and pumps it to the cool earth then turns that into the building in order to cool the building. Geothermal pump is twice as efficient as air conditioner or air to air heat pumps. As geothermal heat pumps pump the heat to or from the earth and it does not contain any chemicals, it has no impact on the environment. Moreover, it is easy to transport and operate.

Geothermal systems consists three main parts heat exchanger (loop of pipes which is located at the outside), heat pipe (mostly located in the building) and forced air system or radiant flow hydraulic heating system. As shown in the Figure 24, loops take place under the ground and they can be replaced in three different ways according to the ground conditions and location of the structure vertical to the ground, horizontal to the ground or it can be replaced in a pond.

Figure 24 – Geothermal System, Website of the Popular Mechanics

(http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/hydropower-geothermal/4331401) Therefore, geothermal systems are durable and highly reliable as they are highly isolated from the outside effects like dirt, particles and any effect that can damage the system. As Office of Geothermal Technologies (1999) mentioned, “The underground piping used in the system often has 25- to 50- year warranties, and the GHPs themselves typically last 20 years or more.” Therefore, they require low maintenance which means less extra expense. Usage of geothermal systems for structures is increasing day by day as systems easily retrieve the amount that is being paid for system and they need less extra expenses because of less maintenance requirements. According to J. Lund et al. (2004), “Geothermal (ground-source) heat pumps (GHPs) are one of the fastest growing applications of renewable energy in the world, with annual increases of 10% in about 30 countries over the past 10 years. Its main advantage is that it uses normal ground or groundwater temperatures (between about 5 and 30 Celsius), which are available in all countries of the world. Most of this growth has occurred in the United States and Europe, though interest is developing in other countries such as Japan and Turkey. The present worldwide installed capacity is estimated at almost 12,000 MWt (thermal) and the annual energy use is about 72,000 TJ (20,000 GWh). The actual number of installed units is around 1,100,000, but the data are incomplete.” According to Office of Geothermal Technologies (1999), “Ground-source (geothermal) heat pumps provide many benefits to the homeowner in both new and retrofit situations. Surveys by utilities illustrate a high level of satisfaction with GHPs compared to conventional systems. In fact, more than 95% of all GHP users would recommend a similar system to their friends and family.” Today many buildings are using these systems and it is worldwide. For example, according to J. Lund et al. (2004), “In the United States, GHP installations have steadily increased over the past 10 years with an annual growth rate of about 12%, mostly in the mid-western and eastern states from North Dakota to Florida. Today, approximately 80,000 units are installed annually, of which 46% are vertical

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closed loop systems, 38% horizontal closed loops systems and 15% open loop systems. Over 600 schools have installed these units for heating and cooling, especially in Texas. It should be noted at this point, that in the United States, heat pumps are rated on tonnage and is equal to 12,000 Btu/hr or 3.51 kW (Kavanaugh and Rafferty, 1997). A unit for a typical residential requirement would be around three tons or 10.5 kW installed capacity. One of the largest GHP installations in the United States is at the Galt House East Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky. Heat and air conditioning is provided by GHPs for 600 hotel rooms, 100 apartments, and 89,000 square meters of office space for a total area of 161,650 square meters. The GHPs use 177 L/s from four wells at 14EC, providing 15.8 MW of cooling and 19.6 MW of heating capacity. The energy consumed is approximately 53% of an adjacent similar non-GHP building, saving $25,000 per month.” Some case studies being done about geothermal heating systems in U.S. of America (Office of Geothermal Technologies, 1999): Case Study—Minnesota “Located in the middle of Minnesota—where temperatures can range from 90°F (32.2°C) with 95% humidity in the summer to -18°F (-27.8°C) in the winter—Dennis Eichinger’s 3,400-square-foot home averages a little over $44 per month in electricity bills. The owner has been very satisfied with the unit’s quietness, high quality, reliability, and low maintenance. House guests also marvel at the comfort level of the house—they don’t feel any drafts, just an even temperature throughout the house. The five-ton ground source heat exchanger connects to five horizontal Slinky™ loops, totalling 3,000 feet of pipe, buried next to the home at a depth of eight feet (2.4 meters). GHP technology heats and cools as well as, or better than, conventional systems, even in Minnesota’s extreme temperatures.” Case Study—Florida “Panama City, Florida, homeowner Keith Swilley partnered with his builder and local electric utility to create a 2,000- square-foot home that’s a model of efficiency. It saves so much energy that the home won the 1997 Energy Value Housing Award for the custom home category for hot/humid climates at the National Association of Home Builders Conference in Houston. Mr. Swilley used energy-efficient features from ceiling to floor, with cellulose insulation in the walls and attics, sealed ductwork, and efficient doors, windows, and lighting. However, the feature that saves the most energy is the GeoExchange system. The geothermal heat pump heats and cools the house and provides hot water for the residents with a desuperheater, which takes waste heat from the air-conditioning process and uses it in the water heater. The desuperheater actually helps the GeoExchange unit reach heightened levels of efficiency. The system was metered separately and has proven to be a valuable investment, as the home’s total energy bill for 1996 was $906. Amazingly, only $253 of the total annual energy bill was used for heating and cooling the 2,000 square feet of conditioned space. “The energy bills are even lower than I anticipated,” said Mr. Swilley, “and the comfort level in the winter and summer is much greater than expected. I never dreamed I could heat and cool my home for 69 cents a day”. Wind turbines Wind turbines basically turn wind energy (kinetic energy) into an electrical energy (static energy). They do not emit any CO2 as they are not using fossil fuels. Also, they recover their total energy use to build, operate and dismantle within the first few months of operation (World Steel Association, 2012). Most of the wind turbines are being used in windy places to obtain high efficiency. There are two ways of using wind turbines. One method is on an actual design of a building as shown in Figure 25. Other method is placing wind turbines on the ground of the site area if building’s architecture (design) is not suitable to place wind turbines. Some wind turbines may be big and heavy; therefore, they have to be placed to the ground. On the other hand, it is possible to build them by using carbon fibre or alloys in order to decrease their weight and increase their strength for strong winds (World Steel Association, 2012). However; in that case they may be more expensive than normal; therefore, they may not as preferable as other energy systems.

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Figure 25 – Mechanism of a wind turbine, Alternative Energy Tutorials website

(http://www.alternative-energy-tutorials.com/images/stories/wind/alt53.gif) Figure 25 shown above represents the mechanism of a wind turbine. As mentioned before it turns wind energy (kinetic energy) into a static energy. Wind turns the rotor blades and this rotation drives the shaft which is connected to the main gearbox. This gearbox is like gear box of a car. It includes gears inside with various sizes. When rotor blades turn, they turn gears. Therefore, it charges the generator. Today’s largest wind turbines can supply enough electricity to power 5,000 household (Alstom, 2014) and have an average life span around 20 years (URS Group, 2010). However; wind turbines are not working with a wind which is lower than 10 km/h. In order to obtain the maximum efficiency, wind turbines rotate to the wind’s direction. Modern wind turbines operate with efficiency in the range of 20 to 50% (Alstom, 2014).

Figure 26 – The Bahrain World Trade Centre, My Modern Met website

(http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/what-big-wind-turbines-you) A good examples of sustainable wind turbines is the one used at Bahrain World Trade Centre; shown in the Figure 26, has three massive wind-turbines between twin towers. According to the Alternative Energy News website “The buildings are the tallest in Manama and the turbines officially make it the world’s first wind-powered mega structure. The three wind turbines are horizontally supported between the towers by three bridges weighing substantial 65-tonnes each, and will provide 11-15% of the electricity needs of both towers. ” Compare to Alstom’s (2014) claim, this wind turbines are not efficient enough.

Information about sustainable building regulations

There are some regulations about green (sustainable) buildings like BREEAM, LEED etc. Each country has its own regulation about buildings. These regulations stipulate different rules about materials, equipment, systems and other issues. Around the world there are more than 35 countries using these regulations for green buildings, which shows that global awareness is arising.

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Some examples of sustainability regulations:

LEED

According to the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC); LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) is “a green building tool that addresses the entire building lifecycle recognizing best-in-class building strategies.” LEED has some criterions about structures and if those structures fulfil the requirements of the LEED criterions they can be called as sustainable buildings and they can have the LEED certificate. There are four certification levels: Certified, Silver, Gold, and Platinum.

Table 1: LEED certificate levels and points

Certification Levels LEED for Non-home

Structures

LEED for Homes

(*These point thresholds may change based on home size.)

Certified: 40-49 points earned 45+ points earned

Silver: 50-59 points earned 60+ points earned

Gold: 60-79 points earned 75+ points earned

Platinum: 80+ points earned 90+ points earned

The LEED possible rating is as follows:

Water Efficiency (10 possible points) Energy and Atmosphere (35 possible points)

Materials and Resources (14 possible points)

Innovation and Design Process (6 possible points)

Indoor Environmental Quality (15 possible points) Sustainable sites (26 possible points)

According to Alireza et al. (2013), in order to obtain the LEED certificate “At first, to commence the process of certification review, the required documents shall be submitted to the relevant regional Green Building Council. Thereafter, six or eight credits will be selected to perform the audit. The council then asks for submission of a report with special information on the selected credits. The final decision will be made by the council to award the LEED certification.”

BREEAM

According to the BREEAM New Construction technical manual book (2011), “BREEAM (Building Research Establishment’s Environmental Assessment Method) is the world’s leading and most widely used environmental assessment method for buildings. BREEAM has certified over 200,000 buildings since it was first launched in 1990.”

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Aims of BREEAM according to the BREEAM New Construction Non-Domestic Buildings Technical Manual (2011);

1. To mitigate the life cycle impacts of buildings on the environment; 2. To enable buildings to be recognised according to their environmental benefits; 3. To provide a credible, environmental label for buildings; 4. To stimulate demand for sustainable buildings.

Objectives of BREEAM according to the BREEAM New Construction Non-Domestic Buildings Technical Manual (2011);

1. To provide market recognition of buildings with a low environmental impact; 2. To ensure best environmental practice is incorporated in building planning, des ign,

construction and operation; 3. To define a robust, cost-effective performance standard surpassing that required by

regulations; 4. To challenge the market to provide innovative, cost effective solutions that minimise the

environmental impact of buildings; 5. To raise the awareness amongst owners, occupants, designers and operators of the

benefits of buildings with a reduced life cycle impact on the environment; 6. To allow organisations to demonstrate progress towards corporate environmental

objectives.

Table 2: BREEAM certification levels

BREEAM benchmarks for new constructions

( According to the 2011 version of BREEAM)

% score

OUTSTANDING ≥85

EXCELLENT ≥70 VERY GOOD ≥55

GOOD ≥45 PASS ≥30

UNCLASSIFIED <30

The BREEAM possible rating is as follows:

Management (12%)

Health & Wellbeing (15%) Energy (19%)

Transport (8%)

Water (6%) Materials (12.5%)

Waste (7.5%)

Land Use & Ecology (10%) Pollution (10%)

In total it is 100% and also there is an additional weighting which is innovation (10%). The credit of the building is being designated according to specifications of the building regarding to the rating given above.

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Sustainability in today’s world

Today, sustainability is more than being a must. It is kind of competition as a business for some firms. They are trying to improve it as much as they can and find new sustainable ways, materials and systems for buildings. Levels of green building activity by firms around the world between 2009 and 2015 and also percentage of firms with more than 60% of work green between 2012 and 2015 bar graphs are shown below.

Figure 27- Levels of Green Building Activity Figure 28- Percentage of More Than 60 of Work Green

Source: Harvey M. Bernstein (2013), ‘McGraw-Hill Construction Smart Market Report’ Moreover, according to Diana V. et al. (2007), “Implementing carbon mitigation options in buildings is associated with a wide range of ancillary benefits. These include the creation of jobs and business opportunities, increased economic competitiveness and energy security, social welfare benefits for low income households, increased access to energy services, improved indoor and outdoor air quality, as well as increased comfort, health and quality of life.” To sum up, sustainable buildings are changing our life and our world. Day by day parallel to the technology and demands, sustainable materials are improving. Global awareness about global warming and energy consumption is increasing. Even if there is a long way to go about sustainability, today’s and previous achievements are pretty good and useful. In the next chapter, interviews and questionnaire results will be assessed.

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

There are some research methods:

Self-completion questionnaire (multiple choice, comments etc.)

Structured interviews with questions (face to face)

Structured observations

In-depth interviews (recording the interviews)

Focus groups (several participants in once by using moderator)

Participant observations

This research aims to critically assess sustainable buildings in terms of energy efficiency and CO2 emissions. Research is descriptive including some numerical data. Data were being collected by structured interviews and self-completion questionnaires; as they are good for collecting data on topics and for gaining a general overview of issues, in order to obtain the needed information. Moreover, 7

traditional (non-sustainable) and 5 sustainable buildings were assessed in terms of CO2 emission values, energy consumptions and energy efficiency materials which are being used. Collected data were both qualitative and quantitative. Other methods were not useful or not appropriate for this research. More than 20 questions were asked to the participants (see appendix for sample). Questions are prepared according to the topics of the literature review. They were mostly related with sustainable building materials, management issues, effects of the sustainable buildings, regulations and certifications. Participants were informed about the topic of the research to focus on energy

consumption and CO2 emission parts. Extra questions were asked in order to understand the awareness of the sustainable buildings and future of the sustainable buildings. 3 weeks were given to the participants to complete the questionnaires as there were more than 20 questions. Of the 15 people asked to fill the questionnaires, 12 of them completed fully, 2 of them did not attempt to fill at all and 1 of them couldn’t finish filling the questionnaire. 6 of the participants were project managers, 3 of them were technicians and 3 of them were construction site controllers. For sustainable buildings, energy consumption data, sustainable energy systems which are used in the

buildings and CO2 emissions of the buildings are directly obtained from the companies which constructed the buildings and the data is used with the permission by informing the companies about this paper. For traditional (non-sustainable) buildings data were obtained from the certifications of the buildings. Those certifications were given by Department for Communities and Local Government

(DCLG) and they include both energy consumption values and CO2 emissions of the buildings. The collected data was organised according to the questions. Topic related questions were separated and rest of them which were about sustainability materials, regulations and certification were organised in order to understand the awareness of the participants about sustainable buildings and their ideas about future of the sustainable buildings. Results were presented according to the responses from participants on 5 major topics; awareness of the sustainable buildings, energy consumption results of the sustainable buildings, energy efficiency

materials at the sustainable buildings, CO2 emissions of the sustainable buildings and future of the sustainable buildings. Assessments of these are shown in tables in the next chapter and explanations of the values were given before each table. In order to improve the results, more participants could take part and more people from other nations could answer the questionnaire in order to make results more global. Moreover, more than 12 buildings could be assessed. However; as there were a limit on time and page amount, those mentioned improvements could not be achieved.

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Critical assessment of research methods Questionnaires: Advantages (John M., 1998)

The responses are gathered in a standardized way, so questionnaires are more objective, certainly more so than interviews.

Generally it is relatively quick to collect information using a questionnaire. However in some situations they can take a long time not only to design but also to apply and analyze (see disadvantages for more information).

Potentially information can be collected from a large portion of a group. This potential is not often realized, as returns from questionnaires are usually low. However return rates can be dramatically improved if the questionnaire is delivered and responded to in class time.

Disadvantages (John M., 1998)

Questionnaires, like many evaluation methods occur after the event, so participants may forget important issues.

Questionnaires are standardized so it is not possible to explain any points in the questions that participants might misinterpret. This could be partially solved by piloting the questions on a small group of students or at least friends and colleagues. It is advisable to do this anyway.

Open-ended questions can generate large amounts of data that can take a long time to process and analyze. One way of limiting this would be to limit the space available to students so their responses are concise or to sample the students and survey only a portion of them.

Respondents may answer superficially especially if the questionnaire takes a long time to complete. The common mistake of asking too many questions should be avoided.

Students may not be willing to answer the questions. They might not wish to reveal the information or they might think that they will not benefit from responding perhaps even be penalized by giving their real opinion. Students should be told why the information is being collected and how the results will be beneficial. They should be asked to reply honestly and told that if their response is negative this is just as useful as a more positive opinion. If possible the questionnaire should be anonymous.

In addition to the above information, for this academic paper as time was limited to collect the data, questionnaires are prepared before the writing stage; however, at the end author decided to change the topic of the thesis little bit but this happened after questionnaires are sent to the participants. Therefore, participants have answered all the questions are given to them and author had to ignore unrelated questions with the new topic. As at the beginning there were lots of questions about sustainable buildings, some of the participants decided to give up as they had no time to answer the questions. To sum up, as it is not possible to change the questions after sending the questionnaires to the participants and this is one of the biggest difference between interview and questionnaires. That is why in addition to the questionnaires some interviews are arranged with the participants who had time and questions of the questionnaires are asked at the interviews. Interviews: Advantages (WBI Evaluation Group, 2007)

Interviews typically allow for more focused discussions and follow‐up questions; Individuals may offer information in interviews that they wouldn’t offer in a group context;

Interviews can be an excellent source for stories and context;

The interviewer can observe the non‐verbal behaviors of an interviewee.

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Disadvantages (WBI Evaluation Group, 2007)

Time requirements for interviewers and interviewees can be significant;

Interviews have the potential to reduce the scope and sample for data collection;

The results of multiple interviews may contradict each other or be difficult to analyze;

Interviewees may be biased or represent only a limited perspective on performance

issues/themes;

In addition to the advantages mentioned above, interviews are more precise and accurate compare to questionnaires. If interviewer does not understand the given answer then s/he can ask it again or refer to a different point to discuss that answer. However, in the questionnaires participants only answer the questions on the questionnaire and person who has written that question has no option to ask to her/him again if answer is not clear. Moreover, at the interview more questions can be added to the question list or questions may be changed simultaneously related to the given answers. Towards those given reasons, in addition to the questionnaires, interviews had arranged in order to obtain more accurate results. However, as mentioned above, little amount of extra time (1 day) spent on interview and that caused time consumption. Moreover, as some of the interviewees did not want the interviews to be recorded, author had to memorise and write down their answers as fast as possible but at the end some of the answers were missing and that was not an accurate solution for results.

Case Studies: Advantages (Palena N. et al., 2006 & Dr. Don. C, 2011)

Provides much more detailed information than other methods,

Allow one to present data collected from multiple methods (i.e., surveys, interviews, document

review and observation) to provide the complete story;

Good source of ideas about behaviour;

Good opportunity for innovation;

Good method to study rare phenomena;

Good method to challenge theoretical assumptions.

Disadvantages (Palena N. et al., 2006 & Dr. Don. C, 2011)

It can be long

Not generalizable

Hard to draw definite cause-effect conclusions

Possible biases in data collection and interpretation

For this academic research case studies are not carried out but previous studies are used for both sustainable and traditional buildings. For the benefits of using case studies, they were very detailed and accurate. It was easy to conclude outcomes from the data. However, some of the required data, like brands any specific types of the sustainable systems that are used in the buildings, were not mentioned in the case studies. Therefore, all the necessary required data could not obtained.

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RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

1-Awareness on key sustainability issues in buildings Table 3 shown below represents the results of the interviews and questionnaires in terms of awareness of sustainability in buildings. Results were interpreted from the given answers and combined with the table 3. Explanation of the scaling values; 1= no idea about topic, 2= few knowledge about topic, 3= enough knowledge about topic, 4= clear knowledge about topic, 5= highly sophisticated knowledge about topic. Table 3: Awareness on sustainability issues in buildings

Question Topic

Response (%)

1 2 3 4 5 Mean Score

Aim of the sustainable buildings 0 33.3 41.7 25 0 2.91

Importance and necessity of the sustainable buildings

0 41.7 50 8.3 0 2.65

Sustainability issues and regulations 0 16.6 58.4 16.6 8.4 3.17

Difference between sustainable buildings and traditional buildings

0 8.3 41.7 41.7 8.3 3.50

Energy consumptions of the sustainable buildings and effects on the global warming

8.4 25 50 16.6 0 2.74

Energy consumption materials at sustainable buildings

0 25 33.3 33.3 8.4 3.25

CO2 emissions of the sustainable buildings and effects on the global warming

0 41.7 50 8.3 0 2.67

Average 2.98

Average value indicates that respondents have enough knowledge on sustainability in buildings. However, it also indicates that they have to improve their knowledge about sustainability. The majority of the respondents have enough knowledge about the aim of the sustainable buildings whereas, there is 0% highly sophisticated knowledge about topic. The majority of the respondents also indicate that they have enough knowledge about:

Importance and necessity of the sustainable buildings (50%);

Sustainability issues and regulations (58.4%);

Energy consumptions of the sustainable buildings and effects on the global warming (50%);

CO2 emissions of the sustainable buildings and effects on the global warming (50%);

Moreover, results shows that there is a good understanding and clear knowledge about the difference between sustainable buildings and traditional buildings (41.7%) and the energy consumption materials at sustainable buildings (33.3%). The above results clearly indicate that most of the respondents have enough knowledge about sustainability in buildings. However; they have to be more aware about sustainability. This shows that some people are working at a sustainable building project by knowing the importance of the sustainability and having a good knowledge about what is sustainability, what are the effects of it and why it is necessary; whereas, some people are working at a sustainable building project just as it is popular these days, interesting and sophisticated. Also, building a sustainable building without knowing

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enough knowledge about sustainability may cause some economic problems or usage of wrong materials.

2-Energy consumptions and CO2 emissions of both sustainable buildings and traditional buildings Traditional buildings in this thesis were assessed with the conditions of the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG). Certification criteria have started to be applied to the buildings by Department for Communities and Local Government in order to lower the energy consumption of the buildings in the UK and as DCLG has the responsibility to fulfil the requirements of the EU’s Energy Performance of Buildings Directive about buildings.

According to the website of the UK Government, the Directive requires that:

All properties (homes, commercial and public buildings) must have an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) when sold, built or rented

Larger public buildings over 500m² must display a Display Energy Certificate (DEC) All air-conditioning systems over 12kW must be regularly inspected by an Energy Assessor Energy consumptions are estimated by assumptions for buildings and those estimations can be used in order to compare same types of buildings to understand the approximate energy consumption of the

building(s). Moreover, this certification requires and includes CO2 emission of the buildings. In this thesis, certificates of the buildings are being used in order to obtain data about energy

consumptions and CO2 emissions of the traditional buildings.

Figure 29 – Certificate of Tower D

For sustainable buildings, energy consumption data, sustainable energy systems which are used in the

buildings and CO2 emissions of the buildings are directly obtained from the companies which constructed the buildings and the data is used with the permission by informing the companies about thesis.

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2.1- CO2 emissions of the traditional (non-sustainable) buildings

Table 4 shown below represents the results of the assessments of the seven traditional buildings in

terms of CO2 emissions related with electricity and heating. Table 4: 𝐂𝐎𝟐 emissions tonnes per year of the traditional buildings between 2012 and 2014

Buildings Types of energy systems January 2012 January 2013 January 2014

Tower A* Electricity 575 550 620

Heating 220 215 205 Tower B Electricity 408 407 409

Heating 195 190 185 Tower C Electricity 313 310 313

Heating 154 150 145 Tower D Electricity 573 570 532

Heating 115 113 111 Lecture Centre Electricity 910 921 900

Heating 520 530 525 Howell Building Electricity 550 530 510

Heating 232 232 245 Halsbury Building Electricity 918 900 790

Heating 306 304 298

*indicates the building which has an increase at the 𝐶𝑂2 emission between 2012-2014

According to the results; total CO2 emission of Tower A has been increased 3.77% since 2012. This is due to increase in the level of the electricity usage and decrease in the level of heating from 220 tonnes

per year to 205 tonnes per year. This shows that CO2 emission of the heating can easily be lowered than electricity.

For Lecture Centre and Howell Building, there is a decrease in the total CO2 emission levels since 2012 and this is related with the CO2 emissions of the electricity usage because CO2 emissions for heating usage have been increased since 2012 and it is related with the climate and the “outside temperature.

For Tower B, there is a 1.51% decrease at the total CO2 emission level since 2012 and this is related with the CO2 emission of the electricity systems. It has increased 0.25% since 2012. However, results of the last three years are kind of same. Therefore, this 0.25% increase can be ignored.

For Tower C, Tower D and Halsbury Building, total CO2 emission levels have been decreased; 196% for Tower C, 7% for Tower D and 12.5% for Halsbury Building, since 2012.

To sum up, there is an increase at the total CO2 emissions of the two buildings out of seven and as Tower B’s CO2 emission level has been increased slightly, it can be ignored. However, increase at the level of the CO2 emission of Tower A is not negligible and this increase can be related with the electricity usage. As mentioned before in the literature review, electricity is one of the major reasons for

CO2 emission and this is a good example for that. During the winter there is a need for heating but during the summer there is no need for heating therefore heating level can be count as zero. On the other hand, there is a need for electricity both during the summer and winter. That is why electricity has

a major role on CO2 emission and it causes too much CO2 emission compare to the heating as shown in Table 5. Therefore, more importance has to be given to the electric consumptions in the buildings in order to lower the electricity usage. As assessed building are traditional buildings in other words as they have 0% renewable energy source, they have to be converted into a sustainable building by using

sustainable systems and materials in order to lower the energy usage and CO2 emission.

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2.2- CO2 emissions of the sustainable buildings Table 5 is shown below represents the 2013 results of the assessments of the sustainable buildings in terms of CO2 emissions. Table 5: 𝐂𝐎𝟐 emissions tonnes per year of the sustainable buildings

Project Names of the Buildings

Types of energy systems

CO2 emissions Conditioned Area

(𝑚2) Polat Marriott Hotel Electricity 2474

24504.92 Heating 1930

Sabancı Uni. Nanodam Electricity 917 7096.55

Heating 410 TeknoPark Electricity 1978 33441.07

Heating 1014 Bahcesehir Living Lab Electricity 466 2638.38

Heating 352 Migros Maya Electricity 375 446.25

Heating 178

According to Table 5, Polat Marriott Hotel has the highest CO2 emission values. As it is a hotel and it

requires heating and electricity every time, it uses lots of electricity and heating energy. It’s CO2 emission of electricity to conditioned area ratio is 0.100 which shows that electricity usage of 1 𝑚2 area for a 1 year period causes 0.100 ton of CO2 emission. Moreover; it’s CO2 emission of heating to

conditioned area ratio is 0.079 which shows that heating of 1 𝑚2 area for a 1 year period causes 0.079 ton of CO2 emission. Also; it’s CO2 emission of electricity to CO2 emission of heating ratio is 1.28.

For, TeknoPark has high CO2emission values and larger area. As it is being used for experiments and improvements about defence industry, it requires lots of electricity. Moreover; as workers spend lots of

time for experiments during winter, it requires lots of heating energy. It’s CO2 emission of electricity to conditioned area ratio is 0.059 which shows that electricity usage of 1 𝑚2 area for a 1 year period

causes 0.059 ton of CO2 emission. Moreover; it’s CO2 emission of heating to conditioned area ratio is 0.030 which shows that heating of 1 𝑚2 area for a 1 year period causes 0.030 ton of CO2 emission.

Also; it’s CO2 emission of electricity to CO2 emission of heating ratio is 1.95.

For Sabancı Uni. Nanodam, it has low CO2 emission values compare to TeknoPark and Polat Marriott Hotel as it has smaller area. It is part of Sabancı University where researches about Nano technologies are carried out. As it is a research area and lots of experiments are carried out there like TeknoPark, it requires heating and electricity every time; therefore, it uses lots of electricity and heating energy. It’s CO2 emission of electricity to conditioned area ratio is 0.129 which shows that electricity usage of 1 𝑚2

area for a 1 year period causes 0.129 ton of CO2 emission. Moreover; it’s CO2 emission of heating to conditioned area ratio is 0.057 which shows that heating of 1 𝑚2 area for a 1 year period causes 0.057

ton of CO2 emission. Also; it’s CO2 emission of electricity to CO2 emission of heating ratio is 2.24. For Migros Maya, it is a shopping centre. Area of it is small compare to other buildings. However; it

requires lots of electricity to keep stuff cold etc.; therefore, it has higher CO2 emission value related with electricity compare to Bahcesehir Living Lab if CO2 emission related with electricity to area ratio is taken into account. It has the lowest CO2 emission value related with heating as it does not require too much heating. It’s CO2 emission of electricity to conditioned area ratio is 0.840 which shows that electricity usage of 1 𝑚2 area for a 1 year period causes 0.840 ton of CO2 emission. Moreover; it’s CO2

emission of heating to conditioned area ratio is 0.399 which shows that heating of 1 𝑚2 area for a 1 year period causes 0.399 ton of CO2 emission. Also; it’s CO2 emission of electricity to CO2 emission of heating ratio is 2.10.

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For Bahcesehir Living Lab, it is a lab where new technologies are tested in real life situations in order to understand how people interact and adapt to those technologies. Therefore it does not require as much electricity as other buildings. However, it requires heating energy as there are always people. It’s

CO2 emission of electricity to conditioned area ratio is 0.177 which shows that electricity usage of 1 𝑚2

area for a 1 year period causes 0.177 ton of CO2 emission. Moreover; it’s CO2 emission of heating to conditioned area ratio is 0.134 which shows that heating of 1 𝑚2 area for a 1 year period causes 0.134 ton of CO2 emission. Also; it’s CO2 emission of electricity to CO2 emission of heating ratio is 1.32. To sum up, CO2 emissions of the buildings are mostly related with electricity usage rather than heating.

Therefore, electricity consumptions have to be taking into account to lower CO2 emissions. Results also show that sustainable systems are beneficial for CO2 emission. Moreover, CO2 emissions of the buildings may be related with the size (areas) of them but it is mainly related with the purpose of their

usage. Compare to traditional buildings, sustainable buildings are producing less CO2 if the ratios of the CO2 emissions to area of the structures are compared. This shows that, as mentioned before in the literature review part, sustainable systems are decreasing CO2 emissions even if there is high energy usage. 2.3- Energy consumption of the traditional (non-sustainable) buildings Figure 30 is shown below represents the results of the assessments of the traditional buildings in terms of their energy consumptions. Rating is related with the certification of the Department for Communities and Local Government. Energy performance operational rating in terms of energy efficiency: Table 6: Rating intervals

Rating Rating Intervals

A 0 – 25 B 26 – 50

C 51 – 75 D 76 – 100

E 101 – 125 F 126 – 150

G Over 150 For the rating system, 100 is the expected (typical) value for these types of buildings for energy efficiency and values lower than 100 indicate more energy efficiency; whereas, values higher than 100 indicate less energy efficiency.

Figure 30 - Energy Performance Operational Rating of the Department for Communities and Local

Government

0

50

100

150

200

250

Tower A Tower B Tower C Tower D Howell

Building

Lecture

Centre

Halsbury

Building

Ene

rgy

Pe

rfo

rman

ce

Op

era

tio

nal

Rat

ing

Buildings

Energy values in 2014

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Figure 30 indicates that, Lecture Centre and Halsbury Building have energy performance operational rating value lower than 100 whereas rest of the buildings have values higher than 100. If total useful floor areas of the buildings have consider, Lecture Centre (9010 m2) and Halsbury Building (7940 m2) have more total useful floor area than other buildings. This shows that total useful areas are not related with the energy consumptions of the buildings. Tower D has the lowest total useful floor area which is 2380 m2 but it has the highest energy rating value. It is due to electricity consumption of the building. As shown in the Figure 31, Tower D has the highest electricity consumption value. To sum up, as total useful areas are not related with the energy consumptions of a building, it is hard to say that buildings which have a big total useful are have an energy consumption directly related with electricity or heating because it is related with the utilization purpose of the buildings. Figure 31 is shown below represents the annual energy use of the buildings. Consumption data is based on actual meter readings.

Figure 31 – Annual energy use of the buildings

Figure 31 indicates that Tower D has the highest value and Halsbury Building has the lowest value. As mentioned before total useful areas are not related with the energy consumptions of the buildings and Figure 31 shows that. Moreover, only for Tower D electricity consumption value is higher than heating consumption value. This can be related with the utilization purpose of the building. Tower A, Tower B and Tower C are mostly being used for computers and experimental lab works which do not requires electricity; Howell Building, Lecture Centre and Halsbury Building are mostly being used for lectures which require only heating and lighting electricity; whereas, Tower D is mostly being used for experimental lab works such as concrete making, fluid mechanics lab etc. which require electricity usage. Sometimes these experimental labs may take more than a day which means non-stop electricity consumption more than a day. If the result of the Tower D is ignored than it is easy to say that heating has more effect on annual energy use compare to electricity for these buildings. Therefore, more attention has to be paid to the heating systems in order to lower the total energy use of the buildings. More sustainable heating systems have to be used.

235 234 234 234 263 303

199

13589 100

274

10074

108

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

Tower A Tower B Tower C Tower D Howell

Building

Lecture

Centre

Halsbury

Building

Tota

l En

erg

y U

se

Buildings

Annual Energy Use (kWh/m2/year)

Heating

Electricity

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Table 7: Previous Operational Ratings of the buildings

Buildings January 2012 January 2013 January 2014 Tower A 141 127 135

Tower B 115 109 109 Tower C 122 111 110

Tower D 301 279 224 Lecture Centre 105 99 95

Howell Building 145 134 124 Halsbury Building 128 118 100

According to Table 7, operational rating values of the buildings have decreased since 2012. This decrease shows that energy use of the buildings have decreased without using any sustainable systems as these buildings are traditional buildings and they don’t have any renewable energy systems. Sometimes energy usage can be decreased without using any sustainable systems but it may not be enough as seen at Tower A, Tower B, Tower C, Tower D and Howell Building. They have values more than 100 in other words they are still not energy efficient enough. To sum up; sustainable buildings are better solutions to decrease the energy consumption; otherwise, methods that are being applied or sustainable systems may not be efficient in order to lower the energy consumption. Also, at the end of the construction period and retrofit stage of the traditional buildings may cost more than sustainable buildings. 2.4- Energy consumption of the sustainable buildings Table 8 is shown below represents the results of the assessments of the sustainable buildings in terms of energy consumption. Table 8: Energy consumption results of the sustainable buildings

Project Names of the Buildings

Total Energy Consumptions

(kWh/m2/year )

Total Building Area

(m2) Conditioned Area (m2)

Polat Marriott Hotel 513.71 34371.57 24504.92

Sabancı Uni. Nanodam 123.40 7331.73 7096.55 TeknoPark 221.48 48159.68 33441.07

Bahcesehir Living Lab 138.25 3306.13 2638.38 Migros Maya 299.92 835.82 446.25

According to Table 8, Polat Marriott Hotel has the highest total energy consumption value even if it has not the biggest area. This shows that energy consumption is related with the purpose of usage of the building. As building is hotel, it requires electricity and heating usage almost 24/7 as mentioned before. For the rest of the buildings; Migros Maya has the second highest total energy consumption as it is a market. TeknoPark is the third, Bahcesehir Living Lab is the fourth and Sabancı Uni. Nanodom is the fifth in the total energy consumption list. These energy consumptions can be related with the sustainable energy systems that used in the buildings. Some of them have different systems which are photovoltaic panels, wind turbines or solar thermal systems. Efficiencies of these systems are going to be assessed in chapter 2.6. But before that, energy consumption of the sustainable buildings versus traditional building will be assessed in the next chapter (2.5).

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2.5- Energy consumption of the sustainable buildings versus traditional buildings Table 9: 2013 energy consumption results of the sustainable buildings versus traditional buildings

Sustainable Buildings Total Energy Consumptions

(kWh/m2/year )

Traditional Buildings Total Energy Consumptions

(kWh/m2/year ) Polat Marriott Hotel 513.71 Tower A 805

Sabancı Uni. Nanodam 123.40 Tower B 594

TeknoPark 221.48 Tower C 458 Bahcesehir Living Lab 138.25 Tower D 643

Migros Maya 299.92 Howell Building 755 Lecture Centre 1425

Halsbury Building 1068 According to Table 9, it is obvious that traditional buildings are consuming more energy than sustainable building even if they have smaller total useful floor areas. Higher energy consumption value

is 513.71 kWh/m2/year for sustainable buildings, whereas; higher energy consumption value is 1425 kWh/m2/year for traditional buildings. Total useful floor area of Lecture Centre is 9010 m2, whereas;

total useful floor area of Polat Marriott Hotel is 24505 m2 which is 2.7 times larger than Lecture Centre’s total useful floor area. Therefore; as mentioned before, total area of the structure is not important for energy consumption. It does not matter how big the total useful area, if efficient and appropriate sustainable systems are used then energy consumption can be lowered in a highly efficient way. 2.6- Energy efficiency materials at the sustainable buildings Table 10 shown below represents the results of the interviews and questionnaires in terms of awareness of the sustainability at buildings. Results were predicted from the given answers and combined with Table 10. Table 10: Energy efficiency materials at the sustainable buildings

Project Names of the Buildings

Sustainable Energy Systems

Total Energy Consumptions

(kWh/𝑚2/year )

Efficiency of Sustainable Systems

(kWh/𝑚2/year ) Polat Marriott Hotel Solar Thermal 513.71 139.21

Sabancı Uni. Nanodam Solar Thermal 123.40 36.32 TeknoPark Photovoltaic (PV) 221.48 13.80

Bahcesehir Living Lab Wind Turbines + PV 138.25 21.78 Migros Maya Photovoltaic (PV) 299.92 28.18

Polat Marriott Hotel

Sabancı Uni. Nanodam

TeknoPark Bahcesehir Living Lab

Migros Maya

Total Building

Area (𝑚2) 34371.57 7331.73 48159.68 3306.13 835.82

Conditioned

Area (𝑚2) 24504.92 7096.55 33441.07 2638.38 446.25

According to Table 10, Polat Marriott Hotel has the highest total energy consumption and highest energy efficiency. However, Migros Maya has the second highest total energy but it has not the second highest energy efficiency value. Second highest energy efficiency value is at Sabancı Uni. Nanodam. This shows that solar thermal sustainable energy systems are highly efficient compare to photovoltaic systems and wind turbines. Solar thermal systems are not expensive compare to other systems; in other words, size is of the systems are not important for the budget. That is why most of the sustainable

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buildings (big ones) are using them. Moreover, solar thermal systems can be used without spending any energy as mentioned before. For photovoltaic sustainable energy systems, Migros Maya has the highest value even if it has the smallest area. Therefore, it is easy to conclude that the amount (or size) of the systems are important for efficiency. It is hard to predict whether this difference is related with the brands of the systems as they are not known for these buildings. In addition to that Tekno Park has the largest area but it has low energy efficiency value whereas; Bahcesehir Living Lab has smaller area but higher energy efficiency value. It is due to wind turbines and the amount of the systems as mentioned before. Also, as mentioned before in the literature review part, wind turbines may be expensive but they have high efficiency on sustainability and Table 10 confirms that. It is easy to conclude that they have high efficiency on efficiency of energy. To sum up, solar thermal systems are more useful than photovoltaic systems and wind turbines. They are 27-29% efficient according to Table 10 and this proves the claim of William T. Guiney (2012) which is “Solar thermal systems are 20-50% efficient”. If the scale of a building is big and it needs heating a lot then best way is to use solar thermal systems for high efficiency. According to Table 10 wind turbines have an efficiency of 15,8% with photovoltaic panels. Compare to the values (20-50%) given in the literature review about wind turbines, these wind turbines are not efficient enough. However, compare to the Bahrain World Trade Centre’s wind turbine efficiency values (11-15%); these wind turbines have almost same efficiency. Therefore, it can be assumed that most of the wind turbines have efficiency around 15% and if the scale of the building is not big and does not require that much heating then best way is to use photovoltaic systems and wind turbines. For photovoltaic systems; according to Table 10, photovoltaic panels have efficiency of 6,3% and according to IRENA (2012), photovoltaic panels have an efficiency of 4-19% depending on the materials used at solar panels. This shows that photovoltaic panels used in the sustainable buildings are efficient. However, they could be more efficient. 3-Future of the sustainable buildings Table 11 shown below represents the results of the interviews and questionnaires in terms of future of the sustainability at buildings. Percentages of the answers were shown in Table 11 for each question. Table 11: Future of the sustainability at buildings

Questions Responses No Neutral Yes

% Amount % Amount

% Amou

nt

Are you planning to build be a part of any sustainable building projects in the future?

8.3 1

41.7 5 50 6

Should more sustainable buildings be constructed in the future?

0 0 25 3 75 9

Should traditional buildings be renovated into sustainable buildings?

25 3 16.7 2 58.3 7

Are sustainable buildings more costly than traditional buildings?

0 0 25 3 75 9

If the above question is answered yes, should the purchasing price be cheaper?

0 0 16.7 2 83.3 10

Average (%) 6.66 25.02 68.32

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Average values indicate that most of the respondents (68.32%) think positive about the future of the sustainable buildings which can be related with the sustainability in today’s world and the future plans that are mentioned in the literature review part. For example; as mentioned in the nowadays of sustainable buildings part, according to the Smart Market Report of the McGraw-Hill Construction (2013) there was a massive increase about the green building activities by firms around the world between 2009 and 2015. In 2009, there were 33% no green projects and 13% more than 60% green projects; however, in 2012 there were 6% no green projects and 28% more than 60% green projects which shows that traditional buildings were converted into sustainable building or firms started building sustainable building projects and understood the importance of the sustainability. Moreover, in 2015 it is expected that no green projects will lower to 2% and more than 60% green projects will be 51%. In addition, more than half of the respondents agree that:

More sustainable buildings should be built in the future (75%);

Traditional buildings should be renovated into sustainable buildings (58.3%);

Sustainable buildings are more costly than traditional buildings (75%);

Price of the sustainable buildings should be cheaper (83.3%);

Above results indicate that half of the respondents are planning to be a part of any sustainable building projects in the future which shows that there will be more sustainable projects in the future as mentioned previously. However, as sustainable buildings are more expensive to build compare to traditional buildings, respondents are complaining about their costs. There are lots of companies are doing researches bout sustainable building materials and systems in order to improve them make them cheaper. As a result maybe one day sustainable materials or systems can be so cheaper that everybody can buy and use them.

CONCLUSION

Based on the literature review, a sustainable building is a building which has sustainable systems and materials in order to lower the impact of the structure on the environment and people. Some of these

systems are related with electric consumption, heating and CO2 emission. Heating and electricity are related with energy consumption and energy consumption is related with CO2 emission of the building

as buildings emit CO2 gas when they are using heating and electricity. That is why sustainable buildings are necessary in order to lower the CO2 emissions and to cure the climate change. Sustainable buildings may have both limitations and advantages but there are some regulations about sustainable buildings in order to improve the limitations and to control the impacts of the buildings. These regulations are worldwide and each country has its own regulation which is good because as regulations have specific criterions about building materials, their transportations, sustainable systems etc., each country may not fulfil another countries regulation criterions. For example, isolation materials are good for cold weathers in order to lower the heat losses but in a warm climate houses do not need good isolation materials to be considered as sustainable buildings. They need to have good air circulations in order to cool the warm air temperature or they need to have specific windows and shades in order to do that. As a result, regulations are mostly related with countries and their conditions.

This thesis intended to assess sustainable buildings in terms of energy consumptions and CO2 emissions. Accordingly, 12 building (7 traditional building and 5 sustainable building) were assessed in

terms of their energy consumption values and CO2 emission results. In addition to that, more than 20 questions were asked to the 12 participants (6 project manager, 3 technician and 3 construction site controllers). The limitations of the research were limited time, amount of participants and amount of buildings that are assessed. If these limitations were passed over than obtained results could be more precise and accurate.

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The research part of this thesis started with the assessment of the awareness on sustainability issues in buildings. According to the obtained results, more than 7 of the respondents have enough knowledge about the sustainability in buildings. However, it also indicates that they have to improve their knowledge about sustainability.

After that part energy consumptions and CO2 emissions of both sustainable buildings and traditional buildings were assessed. For CO2 emission values of the buildings, some of the sustainable buildings had more CO2 emission than traditional building but they were related with the purpose of the usage of the buildings. In general; if CO2 emission to total useful area ratios are assessed, it is obvious that

sustainable buildings have less CO2 emission values than traditional building and this supports the information given in the literature review part. For energy consumption values of the buildings, sustainable buildings have greater benefits in terms of energy efficiency than traditional buildings according to the results. Therefore, it is essential to use sustainable systems in order to lower the energy consumption values. In addition to that, in order to understand the efficiencies of the sustainable systems which are used in the sustainable buildings, critical assessment of the systems have done. According to the results of that assessment, most energy efficient system was solar thermal systems. They are 27-29% efficient and this proves the claim of William T. Guiney (2012) which is “Solar thermal systems are 20-50% efficient”. If the scale of a building is big and it needs heating a lot then best way is to use solar thermal systems for high efficiency. Second efficient system was wind turbines. They have an efficiency of 15,8% with photovoltaic panels. Compare to the values (20-50%) given in the literature review about wind turbines, these wind turbines are not efficient enough. However, compare to the Bahrain World Trade Centre’s wind turbine efficiency values (11-15%); these wind turbines have almost same efficiency. Therefore, it can be assumed that most of the wind turbines have efficiency around 15% and if the scale of the building is not big and does not require that much heating then best way is to use photovoltaic systems and wind turbines. Third efficient system was photovoltaic panels. They have an efficiency of 6,3% and according to IRENA (2012), photovoltaic panels have an efficiency of 4-19% depending on the materials used at solar panels. This shows that photovoltaic panels used in the sustainable buildings are efficient. However, they could be more efficient. After assessing the buildings, future of the sustainable buildings were assessed by using questionnaires. According to the respondent’s answers, most of the respondents (68.32%) think positive about the future of the sustainable buildings which can be good example about sustainability in today’s world and the future plans that are mentioned in the literature review part. Moreover, half of the respondents are planning to be a part of any sustainable building projects in the future which shows that there will be more sustainable projects in the future as mentioned previously. However, as sustainable buildings are more expensive to build compare to traditional buildings, respondents are complaining about their costs. Therefore, costs of the sustainable building materials and systems have to be decreased.

Many things have done for sustainability but there are much more remains to be done. Sustainability is a major issue and people have to be encouraged about that. Otherwise; maybe not in a short period but in a long time period, atmosphere will change a lot and earth will not be a liveable place anymore.

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APPENDICES

Questionnaire Topic 1: Critical Assessment of Sustainable Buildings

1. Name of the project?

2. Where is the project?

3. Type of the project? (Living area, Hospital, Airport, Industry etc.)

4. Duration of the project including start date and finish date?

5. What is the aim of the project? (For example, LEED-Silver etc.)

6. Why are sustainable buildings necessary?

7. Briefly, what are the benefits of sustainable buildings for companies, environment and

construction?

In terms of;

1. Management

2. Health & Wellbeing

High standard life conditions and comfort

Minimum impact to the environment during the construction period and life cycle

What precautions being taken to prevent noise pollution?

Is the optimum health conditions being planned for the inside air circulation?

Has water which will be consumed been planned and processed in order to obtain

healthy recycled water?

3. Energy

What methods been taken in order to be energy efficient?

Has low carbon emission and low energy consumption been planned?

In the architectural design stage, was using daylight factor considered to reduce

energy costs?

What kind of precautions being taken at the facade design in order to

sustainability?

In order to maintain the sustainability of the building and produce electricity has

any wind turbines or photovoltaic panels being designed to produce electric?

4. Transportation

5. Water

How is the water consumption being planned?

How will the water cuts be prevented?

How will water consumption be monitored?

What type of equipment will be used for water saving?

Are there any water recycling systems both for grey water and rain water?

6. Materials

Are materials being used eco-friendly?

Are isolation materials and heating systems being chosen appropriately according

to the type of project?

7. Waste

Is there any recycling in this project in terms of wastes?

If so, how will it be done?

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8. Land use

Did the area of the construction being investigated before being chosen?

Is the construction area being used before? How?

If the answer of the question above is no, can the field be used as an agricultural

area?

9. Pollution

10. Cost

11. Durability of the structure

What is the change in durability due to sustainable materials etc.?

8. What are the main differences between sustainable buildings and traditional buildings?

9. What type of field is required?

10. What kinds of technologies are based on sustainability in this project? Why?

11. Which one is more applicable LEED or BREEAM? Why?

12. How to apply for sustainability certificates and how long does it take?

13. Who is checking the sustainability of the buildings during the construction period?

Topic 2: Future of the Sustainable Buildings

1. Are you planning to build be a part of any sustainable building projects in the future?

(No/Neutral/Yes)

2. Should more sustainable buildings be constructed in the future? (No/Neutral/Yes)

3. Should traditional buildings be renovated into sustainable buildings? (No/Neutral/Yes)

4. Are sustainable buildings more costly than traditional buildings? (No/Neutral/Yes)

5. If the above question is answered yes, should the purchasing price be cheaper?

(No/Neutral/Yes)