Portfolio – Low Energy Design

SpaceShapers – experts in green architecture projects

Globally, buildings are responsible for approximately 40% of the total world annual energy consumption. Most of this energy is for the provision of lighting, heating, cooling, and air conditioning. Increasing awareness of the environmental impact of CO2 and NOx emissions and CFCs have triggered a renewed interest in environmentally friendly lighting, cooling, and heating technologies. We are seeing rising fuel bills increasing operational costs for clients. Coupled with the introduction of more and more energy saving targeted legislation in governments from the UK and Middle East to further afield. Evidently, the requirement for clients to design buildings that are low in energy consumption or/and carbon free/neutral, is clear.

One way of reducing building energy consumption is to design buildings which are more economical in their use of energy for heating, lighting, cooling, ventilation and hot water supply. Passive measures, particularly natural or hybrid ventilation rather than air-conditioning, can dramatically reduce primary energy consumption. The added specialist engineering design of low COP (energy efficient) heating, cooling and lighting systems on top, can further reduce a building’s secondary energy consumption. The additional exploitation of renewable energy in buildings can further significantly contribute towards reducing dependency on fossil fuels, whereby correct design can potentially create a carbon free and net zero energy building. This is the approach that SpaceShapers Environmental Design Specialists use to work towards this goal for our projects.

 

Find the balance to create a high performance energy efficient building

The provision of good indoor environmental quality while achieving energy and cost efficient operation of the heating, ventilating and air-conditioning plants in buildings represents a multi-variant problem. The comfort of building occupants is dependent on many environmental parameters including air speed, temperature, relative humidity and quality in addition to lighting and noise. The overall objective is to provide a high level of building performance, which we define as indoor environmental quality, energy efficiency and cost efficiency:

• Indoor environmental quality is the perceived condition of comfort that building occupants experience due to the exposure of the physical and psychological conditions of their surroundings. The main physical parameters affecting IEQ are air speed, temperature, relative humidity and quality.
• Energy efficiency is related to the provision of the desired environmental conditions while consuming the minimal quantity of energy.
• Cost efficiency is the financial expenditure on energy relative to the level of environmental comfort and productivity that the building occupants attained. Improvements to indoor environmental quality and the energy efficiency of a building can benefit overall cost efficiency.

SpaceShapers low energy design specialists will guide the client through the process to enable these KPIs to be met.

Meet new legislative targets on carbon reduction

The target is to promote reduction of carbon in all new green architecture projects. In terms of transportation, new government legislation is already aiming at limiting reliance on fossil fuels. Thereby shifting the financial incentives towards electrical vehicles and subsequent charging requirements. Furthermore, replacing individual vehicle reliance with cycling and public transport, all to aid centralisation of the fossil fuel problem. In order to assist this redirection to renewables, and to meet International legislative commitments, clients must implement sustainable building design.

Water usage reduction, recycling potential, materials selection for carbon reduction, cradle to grave and construction waste reuse. These are all further areas where clients need assistance. Not only to reduce capital and operational costs but also to meet increasingly stringent government regulation. Site use, site protection and low energy construction requirements are further aspects being driven by central governments.

Our specialists at SpaceShapers are well versed in advising the client on all these aspects of sustainable design and construction. We help companies meet current and forthcoming legislative requirements for energy reduction in buildings, predicted within the building life span. We know how to not only reduce and eliminate your building’s carbon footprint. But also, enormously reduce your operational costs with minimal capital cost implications.

 

RIBA Chartered Architects
Environmental Design (low energy) specialists
‘Prince’ qualified Project Managers