Comments on: Windpower and sustainable landscape planning

By: Tom Turner

Tom Turner — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 17:54:41 +0000

I am so convinced of the benefits of green roofs, to their owners and to society at large, that I believe the most urgent research projects should focus on why they are not part of almost every building in almost every country – as they surely will be by the end of the twenty-first century.

By: Lara Hurley

Lara Hurley — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 13:32:23 +0000

I had a student a few years ago who was from the Maldives. She did her dissertation on the use of green roofs and had some excellent research. She was trying to convince the government in the Maldives that it made sound economic sense to reduce the use of air conditioning by using green roofs and that simple, low-tech options were available.

By: Christine

Christine — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 06:02:46 +0000

Waste heat has been dealt with in a variety of ways in commercial settings:

1. Thomas More Square [http://www.tms-london.com/]uses a number of sustainability strategies which are technology driven. The waste heat from the office space is reclaimed using thermal wheels and used to pre-heat and pre-cool the air supply. [http://www.tms-london.com/#/2sustainability]. As does The Walbrook. [http://www.engineerlive.com/Energy-Solutions/Heat_Recovery/Air_conditioning_features_thermal_wheels/21810/]

2. While the Donnelly Centre in Toronto uses atria and a double skin to ventilate heat and allow independent heating and cooling control to different zones of the building. [http://www.isdesignet.com/ArticleDetails/tabid/3339/ArticleID/3529/Default.aspx]As they say in the sustaining towers website [http://www.sustainingtowers.org/SOA-present.htm]:

“Of course, the most interesting systems are those designed in such a way that in addition to permitting natural air circulation, they also use solar energy, converting it into electrical energy.”

A each of these schemes raise a number of landscape questions…For example…So just what does the communal skygarden of Yeang and Dunster look and feel like?
[http://www.sustainingtowers.org/SOA-present.htm]

These principles can be adapted to the residential sector from bulk power generation [http://www.heat2power.net/en__markets_powergeneration.php]and with poetry [http://www.zeitgeistberkeley.com/powerplant.html] or with some simplification in the design of individual homes [http://www.zeitgeistberkeley.com/terrill.html].

So the future?

The greenbird concept is very evocative….but not yet the way we will travel to work!
[http://www.engineerlive.com/Energy-Solutions/Renewable_Energy/Record-breaking_wind-powered_car_gives_a_glimpse_of_the_future/21861/]

By: Tom Turner

Tom Turner — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 07:07:27 +0000

David, thank you for the clarifications. My thoughts are (1) there must be SOME USE for the waste heat thrown out by domestic air conditioning systems, just as there are for the massive quantities of ‘waste’ heat thrown out by server farms in cold countries (2) I would like to know more about the thermal consequences (ie cooling) of dripping water onto vegetated roofs in hot countries – and suspect that well before the end of the 21st century this will be the NORMAL way of managing a roof in hot countries.

By: Christine

Christine — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 05:25:59 +0000

Item(5)and its derivatives are incredibly interesting from an architectural viewpoint. But I think it needs much more conceptual imagining before settling on the hard science! Or the hard science needs to be used in an iterative way.

For example…the idea of atria needs some radical re-thinking in terms of the sort of space it might be and the uses it would be put to…. [http://architecture.myninjaplease.com/?p=559] See in particular The Helix Hotel [http://plusmood.com/2009/04/helix-hotel-leeser-architecture/]

By: David MacKay

David MacKay — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 23:33:04 +0000

Air conditioning by evaporation is indeed a standard technology in many countries. When I lived in Los Angeles I bought a “swamp cooler” which is a box containing a bucket of water and a fan. So your suggestion (1) is fine. Suggestion (4) [heat pumps] also works fine: a heat pump is a standard air-conditioner; but beware wishful thinking: – these heat pumps do NOT generate electricity from waste heat. Heat pumps that are doing air-conditioning use up electricity. They typically use about 1 kWh of electricity for every 4 kWh of “cold” delivered.
All the best!
David