Bentong Cultural Village, Malaysia designed as Net Zero Carbon Emission in a Cultural Village with a 680 bed room Hotels, chalets &Indian Villages
Terminologies for Net Zero Carbon Emission in Net zero Energy buildings design
A Seminar on Net Zero Energy and Net Zero Carbon Emission , is being held and in the Seminar, we will elucidate the terms clearly, please visit our website page for booking a seat for the seminar.
The common words and terms and terminologies often used in Carbon Emission are :
Biofuel– A biofuel is a fuel that is produced through contemporary biological processes, such as agriculture and anaerobic digestion, rather than a fuel produced by geological processes such as those involved in the formation of fossil fuels, such as coal and petroleum, from prehistoric biological matter.
Primary energy – Primary energy consumption is strictly speaking not an environmental impact category, but part of the inventory analysis. The primary energy is usually expressed as MJ per functional unit and includes feed stock energy, process energy, and production and delivery energy.
Global warming – Increasing amounts of greenhouse gases- GHG, which is CO2 or methane, increases the natural greenhouse effect and lead to an increase in global temperature. In the 20th century, global temperature increased by 0.6°C as a result of GHG
Acidification – Acidification refers to acid being deposited in the atmosphere, land or the sea , by the excessive emissions of SO2 and NO2.This can result in strong and damaging acid rains in the air and land which destroys the agricultural yields. The acidification of the sea, affect the weld being of sea life.
Eutrophication – Eutrophication happens when an increase of nutrients in water bodies or ground as a result of human activity. Either in the synthetic fertilizers from agricultural land, or discharges from sewage or animal waste. It causes a reduction in species bio- diversity. It is often accompanied by massive growth of dominant species and an the increase production of dead biomass. This lead to depletion of oxygen in the water or soil since its degradation consumes oxygen. This contributes to changes in species composition and death of organisms.
Carbon foot print–It is the amount of CO2 produced in tones for human activity. The time frame of foot print may have to be defined, either the time frame of the construction, annually or the lifetime carbon emission of the building. The accounting principles should be established, such as emissions activates and the sequestering activity for offsetting. The boundary of the site may be used but in reality it extends beyond the site boundaries .for instance the carbon emission of material brought into the site during the construction.
Ecological footprint– the amount of land needed to produce what human, the world’s population what they consume. This concept was developed by Rees and Wackernagel (1994). The human activity is agricultural land for food and pasture, forestation for wood and for travel and comfort.
The land needed to transform the carbon dioxide into organic matter. It has been said that the total ecological footprint of inhabitants goes beyond the availability of space, which is considered ‘unsustainable’. Humanity has moved from using, in net terms, about half the planet’s bio capacity in 1961 to 1.25 times the bio capacity of the Earth in 2003 (Hails et al., 2006). The global ecological deficit of 0.25 Earths is equal to the globe’s ecological overshoot.
Accounting Principles are in 3 stages (as per the Greenhouse Gas Protocol):
stage 1- Required as a result of direct emission of gas.
Stage 2-Required as a result of indirect emission of gas.
Stage 3-Optional, the boundary of the base line for emission of gas can be self defined.
Carbon credit– is also referred to as Carbon offset in Carbon Emission
A carbon credit is a tradable certificate or permit to emit one ton of carbon dioxide or the mass of greenhouse gas of equivalent to one ton of carbon dioxide.
Transportation Carbon is the amount of CO2 used by the occupants to get to work .It is measured as lbs .Co2/per occupant/ year. If the Transportation Carbon is included in the Net Zero Emission, the site location is important and to offset the Carbon, a fleet of cars could be used to transport them to work.
Operational Carbon-is the amount of carbon emitted by the building’s operation and including the transportation Carbon of the occupants .
Embodied Carbon emissions can be achieved in many ways such as:
a) purchasing REC (Renewable Energy Certificates) from reliable sources. The reliable sources are characterized by Additionality, which is funding another energy reduction project.
b) Generation of surplus of renewable energy
Carbon neutrality
carbon consideration includes the carbon emission from the production, embodied Carbon neutrality is easily achieved by considering stage 1 and 2 and this is as per the definition of Net Zero Carbon Emission. Total Carbon neutrality is far more difficult to achieve when considering embodied, transport emissions and operational emission.
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is an objective method to evaluate the environmental burdens associated with a product, process or activity by identifying and quantifying energy and material uses and releases to the environment, and to evaluate and implement opportunities to influence environmental improvements. The method assesses the entire life cycle of the product, process or activities, encompassing extracting and processing material; manufacturing, transporting and distribution; use, reuse and maintenance; recycling and final disposal (The Society of Environmental, Toxicology and Chemistry, 1993). It is a method for analyzing and assessing the environmental impact of a material, product or service throughout its entire life cycle, usually from the acquisition of raw materials to final disposal.
Life Cycle Cost (LCC)
Like any other investments, attempts to minimize environmental impact of building developments should take into account the associated costs. Life cycle cost (LCC) yields the present value of the current and future expenditures for the procurement of the building and the operation and maintenance throughout its useful life. This allows the financial implications of future savings due to additional investments made at present for enhancing performance (e.g. energy efficiency or durability of materials) which should be assessed for decision making
Water foot print
The water footprint is an indicator of water use that looks at both direct and indirect water use. The water footprint of a product (good or service) is the volume of fresh water used to produce the product, summed over the various steps of the production chain. The water footprint of a consumer is the sum of its direct water use, i.e. the water used at home or in the garden, and its indirect water use, i.e. the water used in the production and supply chains of the goods and services consumed. The water footprint of a business consists of its direct water use, for producing, manufacturing and supporting activities, plus its indirect water use, i.e. the water used in the business’s supply chain. ‘Water use’ is measured in terms of water volumes consumed (evaporated) and/or polluted. The ‘water footprint’ includes three components: consumptive use of rainwater (green water), consumptive use of water withdrawn from groundwater or surface water (blue water) and pollution of water (grey water). A water footprint can be calculated for any product or activity as well as for any well-defined group of consumers (e.g. an individual or family, or the inhabitants of a village, city, province, state or nation) or producers (e.g. a public organization, private enterprise or a whole economic sector). A water footprint is more than a figure for the total water volume used; it refers specifically to the type of water use and where and when the water was used.
Water neutrality
‘Water neutral’ means that one reduces the water footprint of an activity as much as reasonably possible and offsets the negative externalities of the remaining water footprint. In some particular cases, when interference with the water cycle can be completely avoided – e.g. by full water recycling and zero waste – ‘water neutral’ means that the water footprint is nullified; in many other cases, like in the case of crop growth, water use cannot be nullified. Therefore ‘water neutral’ generally does not mean that water use is brought down to zero, but that the negative economic, social and environmental externalities are reduced as much as possible and that the remaining impacts are fully compensated. Compensation can be done by contributing to (investing in) a more sustainable and equitable use of water in the hydrological units in which the impacts of the remaining water footprint are located.
Blue water– water withdrawn from groundwater or surface water
Green water-rain water
Grey water– pollution of water
Energy audit-It assesses the efficiency of the building, an audit of the energy consumption in a building. It will break down the consumption as per the lighting fittings. Air-conditioning, the plug load, equipment load etc. The energy audit will help to evaluate the ways to reduce the electric bill.
Fossil fuel-Fuel that are derived from petroleum or diesel. Coal or natural gas. It is derived from organic matter buried in the ground which has been converted to fuel by anaerobic process naturally.
Green energy– energy that are derived from renewable sources.
Green architect
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Prepared by Architect Perumal Nagapushnam