A one day symposium on zero/low carbon sustainable homes took place at The University of Nottingham on the 24th October, 2012. The event offered professionals within the construction industry a unique opportunity to gain added and significant insight into the innovations, policies and legislation which are driving the construction of zero/low carbon energy efficient homes both here in the UK and elsewhere in Europe. It explored solutions to sustainability issues “beyond” the zero carbon agenda. BZCH followed on from the successful ‘Towards Zero Carbon Housing’ symposium the University hosted in 2007. This event is part of the Europe Wide Ten Act10n project which is supported by the European Commission Intelligent Energy Europe.
Beyond Zero Carbon Housing - Ben Hopkins Rachael Hibbert Chris Dalton
Beyond Zero Carbon Housing exploring sustainability solutions
1. Beyond Zero
Carbon Housing
exploring solutions to sustainability issues
beyond the zero carbon agenda
2 4 th O c t o b e r 2 0 1 2 a t T h e U n i v e r s i t y o f N o t t i n g h a m
Department of Architecture and Built Environment
8. From 2006 onwards MCA
buildings and office
activity have saved about
8225 ton CO2-eq
This data is referred only to the actual constructed buildings analyzed in this survey
10. Each building has the potential to redesign, not
only the internal spaces, but also the surrounding
natural, cultural and socio-economic systems.
Building can recreate the intimate relationship (the
“creative empathy”) linking places, their
inhabitants and the right use of technologies, thus
enabling the achievement of enriching and enabling
environments for life and work.
11. creative empathy
the distinctive features
Low tech / high performance buildings
empathy with the environment
Beauty and vernacular innovation
empathy with culture and history
Buildings as catalysts for social change
empathy with society
12. Low tech / high performance buildings
New Headquarter for ARPA
Agency for the protection of the environment
Ferrara Italy
(under costruction)
26. innovative vernacular architecture
ancient techniques + new technologies
One of the traditional houses in Palestine was made from
stone or excavated in rock, but the majority of them were of
sun-dried brick covered with tree branches.
28. Overhanging roof: steel beams
on earth bricks wall
Vaulted slabs:
compressed earth block floor
made of jack arches
Concrete slab
as foundation
Pillars: concrete-earth
blocks precasted on site
32. winter
272 sqm of
photovoltaic cells
6 rainwater
columns
100 sqm of thermal
solar panels
2 water treatment
lands
air pipes located
beneath the slab
33. summer
potted trees to
shade the roof
20 solar chimneys
to improve air
extraction overhanging
roof
thermal
mass
geothermal
ventilation
34. thermal comfort
- 4°C
Outside T.
34° C
Inside T.
30° C
In summer the project enables to
reduce the operative temperature
up to 4 degrees for the ground
floor classrooms each one
occupied by 35 children.
During the day the natural
ventilation provides an increased
comfort level for building
occupants and during night it cools
the thermal mass in order to
prevent over-heating of the
structure.
35. visual comfort
The design of all transparent surfaces
was based on daylighting simulations
to study the dimension and position
of:
1)windows
2)transparent panels
3)skylights
in order to reach a balance between
daylighting, shading effects in
summer, solar gains in winter.
36. a better learning space
-60% water demand
-4°C in summer
0 oil and 0 CO2
+ energy surplus
37. Buildings as catalysts for
social change/1
For a new social housing plan
( under costruction)
44. environmental strategies
summer
0 CO2 emission
optimum orientation
solar shading
thermal mass
wind and solar energy
geothermal heat pump
biomass heater
rainwater harvesting
vegetable gardens