Energy Efficient – Glass Comcast Centre

Comcast Centre in Philadelphia recently awarded the tallest LEED-certified building in the United States with an assist from energy-saving and solar control glass. Comcast Centre is located in downtown Philadelphia right above the Suburban rail station, earned the tallest LEED certification after earning a Gold Certification for LEED-CS (Core & Shell). It was designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects.

Comcast Centre is a lively plaza with a fountain, a cafe, and an arbour finned with colour-shifting dichroic glass. Steel frames and glass are the main structural components of the Comcast Centre. The obelisk-like 58 story tower is covered in high-performance glass and sunscreens, and features louvers in the atria to help optimize daylight inside the building. All are sheathed in glass with combines both the solar control and energy saving facility.

The glass is also featured in the crown and corners that cap the 975-foot-tall building. Many other green design features help this mixed-use skyscraper reduce energy consumption, making it a great example of environmentally responsible urban growth.

The building's exterior features a glass curtain wall made of lightly tinted, non-reflective low-emissivity glass. Comcast Centre is a fully glazed structure using glass to filter light around the building. This also protects the building from extreme heat and cold conditions. The ceilings are 13ft high and the windows are clear enough to allow a free flow of light. The summit of Comcast Centre is in the shape of a rectangular glass box.

The Comcast Centre’s high-performance windows and low-emissivity glass curtain wall reduce the air-conditioning and lighting cost by blocking 60% of the heat from the sun and letting in 70% of the site’s available daylight. It also allows better quality of air and air-flow systems. This reduces energy usage from lighting and cooling, which are both huge portions of a skyscraper’s energy demands. Radiant heating, thermal extraction, and displacement ventilation also help the building be more efficient.High-efficiency water fixtures help the building use 40% less water than a typical office building, and shading in the plaza outside reduces the project’s urban heat-island effect by 70%.

The building was designed to use 40 percent less water than a typical office building. Waterless urinals are a part of the building to make the Comcast Centre an environmentally friendly building because they would save an extra 1.6 million gallons of water a year.

One of the tower's signature elements is a 120-foot-high winter garden topped by a series of three atria, three stories in height, overlooking a light-filled interior plaza. External window screens have been installed in the winter garden to check the sunlight. An under-floor water loop is used to cool the winter garden and 6th floor atrium floor during the summer and warm it during the winter, saving energy.

In the winter, thickened steel mullions serving as sunshades deter downdrafts, deflecting cold air into the 45-foot-high double wall of the winter garden so that it doesn’t enter the indoor areas. Internal radiant fin tubes attached to the steel mullions modulate the temperature on the inside of the glass to prevent condensation. The granite floor stores heat and radiates it back at night, while a low-velocity air system under occupied floors supplements heating.

The exterior lighting scheme of the building consists primarily of white LEDs colour-temperature matched to the fluorescent lights used by the interior. Along each floor, the corner spandrel panels feature upward and downward facing 4,100K LEDs to create the appearance that the length of the building has been bottom-lit by spotlights. The only major colour element can be found at the top of the tuned mass damper; a single row of colour-changing LEDs that is programmed to commemorate special events.

Other highlights that helped to earn Comcast Centre its LEED certification are a low-velocity displacement ventilation system, floor-embedded radiant heat, access to an underground commuter rail hub and extensive use of recycled materials.

Recycled materials were used for the carpeting in Comcast Centre. Building systems, like heating and air conditioning, are controlled floor-by-floor to avoid excess consumption. The paints used carry minimal volatile organic compounds.

The stairs of the building are extra wide to accommodate firefighting needs in case of emergency. The contractors have also installed emergency lighting in the stairs. Comcast Centre has 35 high-speed elevators.

In Comcast Centre's lobby is the Comcast Experience, which is a 2,000 square feet (190 m2) high-definition LED screen that has become a tourist attraction. Projecting computer-generated images so realistic, you’ll think they’re jumping out of the wall. With a resolution 500% greater than that of an HD television, the Experience is a remarkable technological and artistic achievement.

The video wall, a giant HD video screen that is actually the largest four-millimetre LED screen in the world, is located right in the building’s publicly accessible main lobby, so everyone can enjoy it. This building is provided with 30 gearless elevators, seven hydraulic elevators, and two escalators.

Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC)

The Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC), launched on 28 June 2007, is a document that specifies the energy performance requirements for all commercial buildings that are to be constructed in India. The code is mandatory for commercial buildings or building complexes that have a connected load of 500 kW or greater or a contract demand of 600 KVA or greater. The code is also applicable to all buildings with a conditioned floor area of 1,000 m2 (10,000 ft2) or greater.The ECBC has been developed by India’s Bureau of Energy Efficiency, and is mandated by the Energy Conservation Act, 2001, passed by the Indian Parliament in September 2001.

ECBC is a set minimum energy efficiency standards for design and construction. ECBC encourage energy efficient design or retrofit of buildings so that it does not constrain the building function, comfort, health, or the productivity of the occupants and also have appropriate regard for economic considerations (life cycle costs i.e. construction + energy costs are minimized).

BEE would take suitable steps to prescribe guidelines for energy conservation building codes. Central Government can prescribe energy conservation building codes, and direct owners/occupiers to comply with them. State Government can modify the code in response to local climate conditions. ECBC provides a platform for the Broad stakeholders such as Building Industry, manufactures, professionals, Government Agencies etc to participate. ECBC addresses local design conditions and construction practices. It also emphasis on maximizing building envelope benefits – to encourage better designs.

ECBC defines the norms of energy requirement per sq. metre of area and takes into consideration the climatic region of the country, where the building is located. Norms have been developed to cater to 5 different climatic zones in India such as composite, hot and dry, warm and humid, moderate and cold.

The ECBC provides design norms for:

• Building envelope, including thermal performance requirements for walls, roofs, and windows, except for unconditioned storage spaces or warehouses.


• Lighting system (Interior and exterior lighting), including day lighting, and lamps and luminaries performance requirements.


• Mechanical systems and equipment, including ventilating, and air Conditioning.


• HVAC system, including energy performance of chillers and air distribution systems.


• Electrical system and motors.


• Water heating and pumping systems, including requirements for solar hot-water systems.

The code provides three options for compliance:

1. Compliance with the performance requirements for each subsystem and system;


2. Compliance with the performance requirements of each system, but with tradeoffs between subsystems; and


3. Building-level performance compliance.

Simulation exercises indicate that ECBC-compliant buildings use 40 to 60% less energy than similar baseline buildings.

ECBC development Process

1. An extensive data collection was carried out for construction types and materials, glass types, insulation materials, lighting and HVAC equipment


2. Base case simulation models were developed


3. The stringency analysis was done through detailed energy and life cycle cost analysis.


4. A stringency level for each code component was established


5. Code was finalized after consideration of comments on a draft version.

ECBC Scope

1. Mandatory Scope Covers commercial buildings


2. Applies to New Construction only


3. Building components included
   
   
   
   • Lighting (Indoor and Outdoor)
   
   
   • Building Envelope (Walls, Roofs, Windows)
   
   
   • Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) System
   
   
   • Solar Water Heating and Pumping
   
   
   • Electrical Systems (Power Factor, Transformers)

ECBC Compliance Approaches

1. Component-based (prescriptive)

• Requires little energy expertise


• Provides minimum performance requirements


• No flexibility

2. System-based (trade-off)

• Allows some flexibility through the balance of some high efficiency components with other lower efficiency components

3. Whole building design analysis (performance)

• Allows flexibility in meeting or exceeding energy efficiency requirements (as compared to a baseline building)

Building Envelope Design

Impact of Energy Codes

1. Market Development for EE products

• Building Insulation


• Energy Efficient Windows (Glass and Frames)


• High-Efficiency HVAC Equipment

2. Improved Design Practices

• Lighting and Day-lighting


• Natural Ventilation/Free-Cooling Systems

3. Lower Energy Use and Reduced Electricity Bills

4. Reduced connected load and Improved Power Factor

Saint-Gobain’s Transparence 2009: The Grand Finale

To say that Transparence 2009 was a success would be more than an understatement. It would be equivalent to attempting to throw some light on the sun.

28th December 2009, SRM University Campus, G.P Ganesan Auditorium. That’s where it all happened. Transparence blended in with the annual NASA Convention – organized at the same venue on the same day.

In this fourth edition, Transparence proved that it was much more than just an architecture design competition. What started off as a humble attempt to provide students of architecture a platform to showcase their talent, ended up as a lesson in architecture, hard work, innovation, creativity, perseverance and much more for everyone present. At Transparence this year, the students taught more than they learnt. It is well and truly said – Child is the Father of Man.

After a warm welcome and review of the regional rounds through an enjoyable audio-visual, the mentor of the event, Ar. Vidur Bharadwaj delivered an interesting speech. Without much ado, the jury was introduced and the presentations plunged into. Ar. SR Sikka, Ar. I. Zachariah and Ar. Christopher Beninger kindly consented to be the judges.

Eight teams – Two from each of the North, South, West and East regions – competed in the war that was Transparence. The sky was the limit; for a seemingly limitedly-scoped theme (“Ecotel” – an eco-friendly, green hotel building), the students sure came up with some outstanding ideas. Right from forms of nature to fairy tale-like la la lands, they had it all.

The winning concept was “Evolve with nature; nature’s impression in design; a design inspired by elements of nature”. The award was bagged by a team of three enthusiastic youngsters from Sir JJ College of Architecture, Mumbai. The runners up were the IIT Kharagpur team, which used water as the primary element of design conceptualization, mostly in terms of rainwater harvesting and optimum utilization of this life-giving substance. The first runner-up prize was bagged jointly by teams from IIT Roorkee and SAP Chennai, who worked on the concepts of “Bubbles” and “Eco-Village” respectively.

Renowned Architect Karan Grover stood out in the event through his brilliant presentation on Green Architecture, which comprised not just drab powerpoint slides but several videos, images and relevant examples that drove home every point he made.

Saint-Gobain Glass also took this opportunity to launch SGG Envision, its latest offering in architectural glass. Ar. CN Raghavendran did the launch honours.

The end of Transparence 2009 marked the beginning of Transparence 2010, the theme for which was duly unveiled and revealed to be “An International Convention Centre”, and Ar. Niteen Parulekar was proclaimed the mentor.

All in all, the Grand Finale of Transparence 2009 was a truly memorable affair.

Press Coverage of Transparence 2009

GRIHA: Necessity, Not Luxury

For those in the know, an introduction would be redundant. But for those who aren’t, an introduction is a must – An introduction to GRIHA, or Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment. It is, essentially,

• A point based voluntary scoring system to evaluate commercial, residential and institutional buildings on "green scale"


• Is based on Indian codes, standards and best practices


• Comprises an evaluation panel of eminent professionals
  

All right, so what’s the news? The news is that the Union Government of India has, in a landmark decision, made it mandatory for all new buildings of the Public Sector Undertakings and the government to seek new green rating norms in an effort to ensure energy efficiency and tackle climate change threats. Every government building, the law says, must get at least 3-star rating (on a scale of 1-5 stars) under the GRIHA scheme. And why not? The idea is to minimise demand for non-renewable resources and maximise utilization.

Take, for example, the Earth System & Environment Science Engineering Building, a research facility located in the Indian Institute of Technology Campus, Kanpur. The facility, as the name suggests, houses laboratories and other facilities for various disciplines of the environment sciences. The facility is nestled into the existing landscape. In siting the building, the natural course was left undisturbed. The architecture of the building has been designed around the existing vegetation, so as to not disturb the natural surroundings and fully grown.

The facility houses wet labs which are non-air-conditioned spaces on the ground floor and dry labs that are air-conditioned spaces on the first floor. Building design and envelope has been optimised through selection of appropriate wall and roof construction and through adoption of passive design measures after studying the sun path analysis to provide shading devices for windows and roof which would reduce energy demand to condition the spaces. This is probably the only existing building in India with a GRIHA rating of 5 stars, though there are several similar proposed projects, such as the Triburg Headquarters at Udyog Vihar in Gurgaon, Integrated Township in Kanyapur, Asansol, West Bengal, and the Office of Public Works Department, Nashik

Today, glass has an almost indispensable role to play in green architecture. Energy efficient glass is the need of the hour, given its unmatched features of optimum transparency that helps in day lighting of interiors, solar control & thermal insulation which cuts down the relative heat gain, and so on. To elaborate, glass can do the following wonders:

Day Lighting - The use of glass allows the penetration of adequate daylight and facilitates a reduction in power consumption.

Energy Efficiency - High performance glass helps control solar and thermal heat gain, thereby cutting down on air-conditioning expenses.

Recyclability – All architectural glass products are recyclable and qualify as “green” building material.

Recycled Content – The production of glass requires a minimum level of ‘cullet’ or broken glass in the Float Glass manufacturing process thereby by qualifying it as a material with high recycled content.

Acoustic Control – Certain types of architectural glass provide a high degree of acoustic comfort by obstructing the entry of sound from the exteriors of a building.

Blending Interiors with Exteriors – Facades made with reflective glass do not obstruct visibility from the inside.

Self Cleaning – The future belongs to environment friendly self-cleaning glass, a type of architectural glass that keeps itself clean and imparts a brilliant aesthetic effect to buildings.

Green architecture – GRIHA becoming law – Glass. Not just alliteration. A symphony, a necessity, a calling.

Burj Khalifa - World’s Tallest Glass Fantasy

Burj Khalifa nee Dubai has been bestowed the title of the tallest skyscraper in the world on 4th January 2010 amongst a blaze of fireworks. After being called “Burj Dubai” while under construction, this half-mile-high tower got rechristened as “Burj Khalifa”.

Burj now stands out prominently against the horizon. It is visible across dozens of miles of rolling sand dunes outside Dubai. From the air, the spire appears as an almost solitary, slender needle.

Renamed In Honour

The unexpected announcement of renaming this tapering metal-and-glass spire as Burj Khalifa was to honor the Abu Dhabi leader who is also president of the UAE. He rescued Dubai from last year’s financial crisis, during which Dubai collapsed by nearly half - the result of easy credit and overbuilding during a real estate bubble that has since burst. Riding to the rescue was Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the ruler of oil-rich neighbor Abu Dhabi, which pumped tens of billions of dollars into Dubai last year as it struggled to pay enormous debts.

Highlights

This opening ceremony revealed the height of the skyscraper as 2,717 feet (828 meters) from the desert. But the number of floors in this building is still a well-guarded secret. Mohammed Alabbar, chairman of the tower's developer Emaar Properties, initially said it had "more than 200" stories, but he later backtracked to more than 165 inhabitable floors, given its tapered top. Promotional materials sent before the tower's opening claimed it had 160 stories.

The Burj is the centerpiece of a 500-acre development that officials hope will become a new central residential and commercial district in this sprawling and often disconnected city.

The $1.5 billion "vertical city" consists of luxury apartments and offices and a hotel designed by Giorgio Armani also plans to have the world's highest mosque (158th floor) and swimming pool (76th floor). An observation deck on the 124th floor opens to the public Tuesday, with adult tickets starting at 100 Dirham, or just over $27 apiece.

Safety Measures

The groundbreaking tower was designed by Chicago-based Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, which has a long track record in engineering some of the world's tallest buildings, including the Willis Tower.

Developers say they are confident about the safety of the tower, which is nearly twice the height of New York's Empire State Building.

Greg Sang, Emaar's director of projects, said the Burj Khalifa has "refuge floors" at 25 to 30-storey intervals that are more fire resistant and have separate air supplies in case of emergency. Its reinforced concrete structure, he said, makes it stronger than steel-frame skyscrapers. A plane won't be able to slice through the Burj like it did through the steel columns of the World Trade Center.

At their peak, some apartments in the Burj were selling for more than $1,900 per square foot, although they now can go for less than half that, said Heather Wipperman Amiji, chief executive of Dubai real estate consultancy Investment Boutique.