Sustainable Design Strategies

Here are some preliminary opportunities for sustainable design in my building:I want to address many ideas of sustainable design through out my building:
Envelope-recycled brick, green roof
Heating-direct gain, thermal mass
Cooling-ventilation strategies, shading devices
Water & Waste-water reclamation, living machine
Energy-photovoltaics

Winter-Solar Heating

In researching winter weather, we found that Boston, Milwaukee and Columbus had some similar weather patterns. Solar heating depends largely on site, building and climate. Our three cities and work environments were not the ideal settings for solar heating.
Direct gain is the simplest and most effective form of solar heating. It requires direct solar access. My work never receives any direct sunlight.

Indirect gain allows an element to absorb and store the energy in the building. A trombe wall made of masonry is the most common example. A water wall is actually the most effecient. Since the building I work in is owned by other occupants, I still have no access to any solar energy.

In isolated gain, the space that gets direct sunlight is separated from the rest of the spaces. That air is then circulated throughout the rest of the spaces. Technically, in my office, there is a dead end hallway that potentially could be turned into a small sunspace. I don't think it would be as beneficial as it would be costly.

Combinations of all of these strategies can result in a very effecient heating plan. However, once again, none of these strategies would work in my work conditions.

The last strategy is active solar thermal energy systems. This type generally heats water for domestic use. Traditionally it is in the form of roof ponds. This is the only possibility that could possibly work for my building. Since it is a historic building, there would be a lot of working with the historic commission. The south and west sides of the building would be excellent candidates for all of these strategies. They do need to look into some sunshading though!

Ipswich Winter

I work in a three story commercial building in downtown Ipswich. It was built in the late 1800's so what it lacks in amenities it makes up in charm. My office is located on the North-East side of the building on the second floor. Our location makes it difficult for us to be able to control the solar heating of the building. We do not have any direct sunlight that enters our office. Using Sketchup, I was able to double check the fact that we don't have any direct gain. In order to put a winter heating plan in effect, we would need to work with the other owners of the building to put something together that could work for the entire building. We have plenty of space on the roof for solar collectors. The large windows on the south side allow plenty of heat gain in the winter but also allow too much in the summer. Boston is mostly overcast in the winter months so even the solar collectors would not be as useful as in some other parts of the world.
Using the climate consultant, it can be useful to look at the various weather patterns to see what the priorities should be.



I am going to continue this analysis and will have more posted on Wednesday, including notations on the models.

Climate Consultant-Boston, MA

I live about 30 miles north of Boston in Ipswich. For this analysis, I used the Boston weather data. I focused some of the analysis on the winter months which are highlighted in red for the next part of this assignment.