Eco – Friendly Homes and Technology

1. Eco – Friendly Homes and Technology Live a green life today, Leave a greener earth tomorrow! Come , Live your Dream with OxyGreen!!! 1

2. Eco-Housing Houses and buildings are a major contributor to the serious damage being caused to the environment by factors as basic as construction material being used , the methods used for constructions , daily household energy needs, waste disposals, water resources etc.. etc.. From above, it is obvious that adopting to Eco-Housing technology and Eco friendly products will lead to significant reversal and prevention of further damage to the environment , as the technology uses natural and renewable energy which is available in abundance and for free of cost. The only cost involved is for use and installation of products to convert these renewable energy resources into usable energy, consequently reducing the cost of living and with zero or minimal damage to the environment. Eco-Housing or Green home as they are called , from various definitions can be described as ; Environmentally benign and energy efficient homes/buildings, sustainable construction practices and healthy and productive indoor environment with lowered use of depleting perishable natural resources’ As compared to conventionally constructed homes/buildings, a strategically constructed green home/building or a existing conventional home/building, redesigned /retrofitted into a eco - friendly home/building is extremely energy efficient, for they make optimum utilization of natural resources, re-cycles and re-uses waste for maximum benefits, thereby reducing the living costs in long run, apart from providing with a self sufficient and healthy living environment as it also contributes towards protecting the environment at large.

3. Ingredients for Eco – Housing • Eco friendly construction material. • Eco – Friendly architecture and design. • Common Active Solar Panels (photovoltaic) and passive appropriate sustainable solar architecture. • Solar Air – Conditioners. • Solar water Heaters. • Rain water harvesting. • Water as a source of coolant. • Efficient climate control systems. • Modern waste management system for recycle and reuse. • Piped Natural Gas. • Wind turbines. • Electric (Solar Energy charged ) tugs for garbage collection. • Energy Efficient Window glass. • Green cover : Gardens / Trees/ Herbal gardens / Organic gardens. • Eco friendly furniture. • LED lights. • CFL bulbs. Apart from above, various ways of utilizing energy consuming equipments with maximum cost efficiency , use of recyclable products , purchase and use of energy efficient products can be adopted to live a eco – friendly and economically friendly life and in harmony with nature. Drawing inferences from the ‘ ingredients’ of a Green Housing, Eco-friendly concept requires appropriate sustainable architecture, where maximum amount of natural light and fresh air is allowed with cross ventilations thereby reducing the use of air - conditioners and natural lights, cavity walls for prevention of cold air loss in summers and hot air loss in winters, use of solar water heaters, energy efficient window glass, use of renewable energy , rain water harvesting system, re- use and recycling of materials , use of eco – friendly materials and procedures for constructions and adopting environment efficient products.

4. Advantages of Eco – Housing and technology • Substantial energy savings and cost savings for the end user. • Largely self sustainable sources of energy. • Healthy life and a healthy environment at large. • Less dependence on the depleting conventional natural energy sources. • Eco-friendly homes are not just money-saving, but even have an aesthetic beauty. • It has been studied and reported that a eco-friendly home leads to 20 – 30 % in energy savings with 40 % reduction in energy emissions and 30-50 % in water savings. • While the initial cost are comparatively high owing to high costs of eco- friendly products , low operating costs, low maintenance, long life of infrastructure results in recovery of higher costs in 2-3 years of occupancy while the tangible and intangible advantages mentioned above are experienced immediately. Eco – Housing Efficiency Certification in India Leadership in Energy and Environment Design (LEED), India, advocated by Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) and TERI Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (TERI GRIHA). These two systems have been developed for awarding ratings to green buildings based on the evaluation of design and construction and assessment of their impact on the environment. As the level of greenness differs, LEED gives four ratings: certified, silver, gold and platinum. In addition, certification and star ratings by local Municipal Corporation can also be required for a project to be declared as Green Housing.

6. Photovoltaic Solar Panels Solar cells functioning is based on the science of Photovoltaic's (PV) where in, electrical power is generated by converting Solar radiation into usable Direct Current (DC) power and Alternating Current (AC) power through a charge controller, using semiconductors that exhibit the Photovoltaic effect. A number of solar cells electrically connected to each other and mounted in a support structure or frame is called a photovoltaic module. Modules are designed to supply electricity at a certain voltage, such as a common 12 volts system. The current produced is directly dependent on how much light strikes the module. Multiple modules can be wired together to form an array. In general, the larger the area of a module or array, the more electricity that will be produced. Photovoltaic modules and arrays produce direct-current (DC) electricity. They can be connected in both series and parallel electrical arrangements to produce any required voltage and current combination.

7. Building Integrated Photovoltaic solar panels (BIPV) Building-integrated PhotoVoltaics (BIPV) are Photovoltaic panels integrated into the skin of a building and are increasingly incorporated into new domestic and industrial buildings as a principal or ancillary source of electrical power.

8. Advantages of Solar Panel / Solar Energy • Solar energy is completely renewable source of energy for it will be available for free as long as the sun exists. • It prevents exhaustive use and dependence on the depleting sources of conventional energy. • Solar energy causes zero direct and indirect air, noise and water pollution during use and production end-wastes and emissions are manageable using existing pollution controls. • PV solar panels installations can operate for decades after their initial set-up , with little maintenance or intervention as there are no moving parts and hence little scope for operating damage and only requires annual clean up. • PV solar panels are extremely easy to install, and free of power sources, wires and chords, generators, turbines as used in conventional and other renewable sources of energy. • Though the initial capital cost of building and installing any solar power plant is currently high, operating costs are extremely low and is immune to price and political volatility as experienced in the conventional power technologies and sources of energy. • It doesn't need a large scale installation to operate, unlike conventional power generation stations. Rooftop power can be added as more homes or businesses are added to a community, thereby allowing power generation to keep in step with growing needs without having to overbuild generation capacity as is often the case with conventional large scale power systems.

9. Advantages of Solar Panel / Solar Energy Contd… • Solar panels can be installed at remote location with abundant solar radiations where the conventional grids cannot be installed. • Solar grids installed for individual houses or buildings gives a totally independent source of power in sunny locations for most part of the day. • Grid-connected solar electricity can be used locally thus reducing transmission/distribution losses and increased savings on power bills by sharing the excess power generated with the local power supplying company while the power from the grid connected photovoltaic power interconnection can also utilized incase of lower out put from solar panels during cloudy days and during nights . • High efficiency solar cells already have efficiencies of over 40% in case of concentrating photovoltaic cells and efficiencies are rapidly rising while mass-production costs are rapidly falling. These along with subsidies from government is making solar energy a cheaper source of energy. • While there are certain disadvantages of solar panels , such as high cost of production and installation, less efficient in cloudy days, un -usability in nights, non availability of technology for storing solar power, solar panels being bulky, these factors are being constantly researched upon by government and private initiatives and fairly successful results are being achieved. • The overall advantages of solar energy from economical and environmental perspective significantly out weighs the disadvantages of solar energy and which are being successfully addressed by the research community on solar energy across the world thus making solar energy a very feasible and independent source of energy especially for a country like India with large and growing population base and increasing energy demands and which is fortunately blessed with abundant solar radiation to be harnessed to meet the demand without compromising the country’s economy and contributing to the environment and thereby earning more carbon foot prints by resorting to a cleaner source of energy.

10. Solar Water Heater Flat plate Solar Water Heater Evacuated tube solar water heater

11. Working of Solar Water Heater • The Sun Rays falls on the Solar Collector panels inside which are components that absorbs the heat energy from the rays. • The heat energy is transferred to the water flowing through the components thereby heating the water inside it. • The heated water is collected in insulated tanks to prevent heat loss of the heated water. • Circulation of water from the tanks to the collector panel and back continues due to thermo siphon effect. • Advantages of Solar Water Heater • Energy is totally free of cost. • Water is heated up to 60ºC – 90ºC and even to 120ºC in case of evacuated tube heaters. • Water can be used for Bathing, Cooking and drinking too as the heaters can be installed with filters. • Less maintenance and long lasting. • Automated Solar water Heaters operates on dual mode. So in case of Cloudy days or in nights, when the temperatures are below the set mode, electrical motors are activated to heat the water in storage tanks. • Solar water heaters when functioning on solar radiations are absolutely environmental friendly. • Some states offer subsidies for installation of Solar water heaters. • Subsidies from MNRE, Govt. of India for Solar projects. • Advancement in technology has lead to considerable improvement in the performance of Solar water heaters even under low heat / temp. conditions.

12. Rain Water Harvesting Increased Urbanization and ever increasing clustarisation of population, due to lack of infrastructure and consistent source of sustenance in rural areas has lead to over expanding boundaries of cities to accommodate the continuous influx of people. Further, irrational town and project planning , lack of environment friendly polices and lack of education on importance of balance of ecological systems and its impact on our lives, has lead to decreased availability of natural resources, especially water. With the over exploitation and over dependence on existing sources of natural water resources (lakes, rivers, ground water) which has far exceeded its capacity to provide for ever increasing population , further augmented by inconsistent rainfalls, it is not far when the water shortfall crisis will lead to economic crisis in our country. Since usable and potable water is one of the most inseparable part of our lives, it is highly essential that individual houses, and residential / commercial buildings should mandatorily incorporate water harvesting and saving methods to harness and tap this natural resources for use thereby decreasing the pressure on natural resources. Rain water harvesting is one of the most primitive, cost efficient and simple method of water harvesting. Rainwater harvesting maximizes rainwater use, wherein a 5,000 sq ft roof can collect and save at least 7,50,000 liters of water annually. While rain water harvesting is gaining great popularity now, the technique is primitive and as old as 4000 years, tracing back to biblical times where rain water was impounded for daily and agricultural use.

13. Rain water harvesting techniques While rain water harvesting is gaining great popularity now, the technique is primitive and as old as 4000 years, tracing back to biblical times where rain water was impounded for daily and agricultural use. There are two Rain water harvesting techniques • 1. Storage of rain water on surface for daily and future use. • 2. Re- charge to ground water. Steps for storage of rain water on surface for daily and future use. a) Catchment area - Roof top or roof slope. b) Transportation – Good quality UPVC pipes. c) First Flush – First rain water has huge contaminants and is unusable and needs to be flushed out. d) Filter – Regular Sand filter, charcoal filter, PVC pipe filter OR some developed good quality filters available in the market. e) Storage of water – After proper filtration it can be stored for domestic use.

14. Steps for artificial re- charge of ground water source through rain water harvesting. Artificial recharge to ground water is a process by which the ground water reservoir is augmented at a rate exceeding that obtaining under natural conditions or replenishment. Any man-made scheme or facility that adds water to an aquifer (An underground layer of water bearing porous rock or unconsolidated materials like gravel, sand or silt, from which groundwater can be usefully extracted using a water well ) may be considered to be an artificial recharge system. Sources for artificial recharge of ground water. • Water spreading • Recharge through pits, trenches, wells, shaft, bore wells. • Rooftop collection of rainwater. • Road top collection of rainwater. • Induced recharge from surface water bodies. • Diversion of storm water run off into existing surface water bodies. It is evident that harvesting or rain water not only helps to reduce dependence on the existing sources of water, but it also helps to artificially augment the ground water sources thereby increasing the water table. There are several examples of rain water being harvested and ground water being re-charged for irrigation purpose leading to consistent growth of crops even in drought like conditions. Increased awareness and adoption of rain water harvesting techniques will make buildings and household self sufficient for water supply, reduce costs and reduce the burden on environment.

15. Give it a thought! The sources of Eco – Friendly renewable energy and Eco- Friendly technology though are freely and abundantly available, the components used are costly as the demand is less as compared to demand for components of conventional energy. One of the basic reasons is lack of awareness among the end users, especially in the urban area who lack the time and will to invest in learning about methods to contribute towards the environment. While we continue to turn a blind eye towards the damage we cause to the environment and conveniently blame the administration for the consequences, it is we who as individuals are responsible for the damage as our wrong actions and even in – actions are contributing towards the deteriorating condition of the environment. Now, the time has come where we should inculcate the culture of ‘ Living in Harmony with nature ‘ by firmly choosing and adopting eco-friendly lifestyle and products and pass on the same ethics and culture to the future generations. Increased use and demand for eco- friendly products and technology will lead to mass production and reduction in cost thereby making ‘ Green - Living’ a healthy and feasible option for us. Our choice of way of living life today will decide the future of the planet earth and its environment and consequently will decide the future of our coming generations ! A ‘Green’ choice today will leave a greener earth for tomorrow.