The main objective of architecture today is "need less"
And this is applicable to any demand that entails a consumption of resources. In the architecture, achieving this objective implies making the most of the characteristics of the place, which must be addressed both from the design and construction of the buildings and the habits of its users.
To design under these criteria you have to know the resources available in each place. These are not only those of nature –sol, wind, geothermia, water or air temperature - but also those residuals of nearby activities -calor, kinetic or potential energy, etc.. The zero architecture-energy is the one that combines these resources with the demands required by the activity of the building to achieve minimum consumption.
Once the resources available and the needs of the activity that will be developed in a building are known, the objective is to connect them through the architectural design. Important part of this process lies in taking into account the demand for construction and its users and increasing the performance of the resources used, the order of these two fundamental factors for a zero energy design.
The demand can be minimized with a rethinking of the habits of the users who will occupy the building - will they admit the increase the range of the acceptable thermal comfort indicator? Can they tolerate shorter, or dry toilets, if water is a limited or non -existent resource? -. It can also be reduced with the implementation of passive architectural strategies that make the most of the environmental conditions of the environment. For example, if it is required to heating it will be convenient for architecture to be oriented in favor of the sun to make the most of the grooming of the place.
Efficiency and reuse
The performance of the resources used can be maximized well with active strategies, which improve the efficiency of the systems, either with recycling strategies. The first involve incorporating more efficient solutions, such as the use of lighting with presence detectors or the incorporation of devices that use less water than usual. The latter lead to use the same resource more than once.
It would be the case, for example, to reuse the same water for the sink, the cistern of the toilet and irrigation thanks to storage, filtering and purification solutions. In conclusion, to design under zero energy criteria, the first step is to reduce demand and then increase the performance of the resource used. This will define the necessary consumption that will be provided in a renewable way and with place resources.
Think about
A recent study in Ghana has demonstrated the influence of passive architecture on the thermal comfort of hospitals. The climate of this African country is tropical with environmental conditions of high heat and humidity, so the solutions that favor natural ventilation and sun protection are essential. After incorporating bioclimatic design strategies, it is achieved that the percentage of time in which the operating temperature of the interior space exceeds 30 ° C passes from 40% to 10%. On the other hand, there is a decrease of more than 90% of the number of users who express lack of thermal comfort.
In the standard solution, 5.5 people of every 10 would consider that the inner environment is too hot, while in the solution designed under bioclimatic criteria less than one person over ten on average is in a situation of lack of comfort. This comparison demonstrates the influence of project design phases on the useful life of the building, reducing the operational costs of hospitals and increasing the thermal comfort of their users.
The architecture that consumes less is one that is located in extreme environments. Analyze the design in habitats such as the desert, Antarctica, the underwater or even Mars allows you to learn about demanding constructive strategies that take advantage of local resources in the most optimal way for the benefit of the use of the building and its occupants. The teachings extracted from these experiences are learning for the locations in which we usually work, betting on a more conscious architecture with the environment and zero energy - or almost.