Energy Management In Buildings: Challenges, Methodology, And Management Aspects

Chapter 1 

Nature of energy management in buildings

Scale of the problem

Geographic boundaries

Public awareness

(The scale and geographic boundaries of the problem depends on the location of the new development. It is important to make sure the public understands the purpose of the new development, as well as the pros and cons.)

Chapter 2

Energy waste in buildings

Electricity

Water

Lighting

Heat

(This section describes different energy waste in a building. For example, energy lost during transfer of energy form.)

Chapter 3 – Methodology of energy management in buildings

History

Civil engineering solutions for new development

Materials

Timescale

(The history of energy management in buildings explains how human needs change.  As technology improves, there are more civil engineering solutions available to solve the energy waste problem.)

Chapter 4 – Management aspects

Surrounding environment

Planning for permit

Risk assessment

Stakeholders’ relationship

(The management aspects of energy waste solutions need to be addressed carefully in order to make the whole process practical. There are many social and political factors that need to be considered when providing an effective civil engineering solution.)

Nature of energy management in buildings

1.Chapter 1

Nature of energy management building:

The energy of a building can be managed through Building Energy Management System and an overall growth of the building can possible through this system. However, the main object of the system is to manage the energy intelligently so that it may provide all the comforts without hampering the environment (Lee, Kwon and Lee 2014). It is a computer-based control panel and all the mechanical as well as the electrical systems are included in this system. In the world of modern civil engineering, BEMS is used to consume the energy efficiency power and it represents 40% of the building energy usage. In certain circumstances, if the lighting is calculated under this system, the energy efficiency power will be increased up to 70% (Brahman, Honarmand and Jadid 2015). However, not only the heating or lighting, in order to control the internal operation of the building, the BEMS can make a link with the motion detectors or the CCTVs. In the earth quake prone zones, BEMS are used to work as a response mechanism with the intention to save the building. Due to its flexible nature and easy maintenance process, most of the civil engineering sites and buildings are applying this system.

Scale of the problem:

Depending on the area and cost, a building can be categorised into two scales: large scale and small scale. According to United States Agency for International Development, small scale construction has a minimum effect on the environment (Kumar et al. 2016). According to this agency, if the constructional or developmental activities of a building cause disturbance to the environment and the disturbed area is not more than 10,000 Square feet and/or the total monetary loss are not more than $200,000, the building will be treated as small scale (Usaid.gov, 2018). The example of small scale industries are housing, commercial buildings, schools, community centres and roads. In this report, commercial buildings are the prime topic and therefore, the energy and environmental matter related with the topic should be prescribed in a detailed and systematic manner. The environments are being hampered by certain small scale activities such as construction, demolition, excavating, grading and levelling that are needed to be resolved with Building Energy Management System.

It has been reported by BBC news that one of the main reasons behind deforestation is building construction (BBC News, 2018). It has been observed that the greeneries are being lost slowly due to building construction and this became a threat to carbon sink. According to the environmental scientist, the Carbon Di Oxide is disappeared from the environment and the forest. Therefore, in order to secure the balance in the atmosphere, the buildings should be sustainable in nature and emission of all the harmful energies should be reduced.   

Scale of the problem

Geographic boundaries:

This report is discussed with the small scale construction of London city (Citypubs.co.uk, 2018). It is regarded as the central business district of London and a part of the Greater London. London city is a separate county of England. The area of London city is 1.12 square mile and it serves under the authority of City of London Corporation. This city is regarded as one of the financial territories and industrial hubs of England. Over 300,000 people live there. The city is butted and bounded by West: Westminster North: Baltic Street West South: Tower Hamlets East: Greater London. The city is situated at the bank of Thames. However, the city has grown with oceanic climate.

Public awareness:

The common people are required to understand the importance of the Building Energy Management System in case of modern civil engineering. The system can be applied both on the large scale and the small scale construction (Gerrish et al., 2018). Therefore, the public should know about the pros and cons of the system. The energy emission from both the scales is affecting the society on large basis. It is required to manage all the energies in such way so that the occupier can enjoy the services without harming the nature (Shaikh et al. 2014). The technologies adopted by BEMS make a building safer and strong. The entire essential as well as the emergency systems are being managed and revised by the system by monitoring the environmental condition of the building. This system suggests the building occupier about the methods of energy consumption and it has been observed that the functional standards of the buildings are increased by the help of BEMS technologies.

However, there are certain disadvantages too. The installation cost of the system is much higher than any other applications and without a skilled operator; no one can better handle the system. The system can proved to be effective if similar response can be obtained from all levels. Therefore, it is important to know every aspects of the system before install the same in any commercial building or public residence.

Chapter 2

Energy waste in the building:

It has been observed that the energies are wasted on large scale now a days in the buildings and the environments are being affected by this a lot. However, in the commercial buildings, common energy sources are electricity and natural gas. In London city, many commercial houses are working as a supplier of the electricity to the concerned local authority and most of the commercial buildings have installed their own alternative current system. 36% of the total Carbon-Di-Oxide is emitted from the residential houses of United Kingdom due to the increment in household energy. The commercial buildings are playing an effective role in this case. Almost 55% of Carbon-Di-Oxide is emitted from the commercial houses (Kamilaris et al. 2014). On the other hand, it has been broadcasted by the British news channels “The Ade” that almost 54% energies are wasted before reaches to the small scale constructions. According to the investigation made by the news channel, the energy that has been wasted from the household of  London City are equal to the power required in nuclear stations or the wind turbines that can cover half parts of Scotland.  

Geographic boundaries

                                                             

Water is one of the most important parts of energy and this resource has been wasted in the commercial buildings on large basis. On average, the amount of wastage of water in the commercial buildings in London can be categorised as follows:

It has been noticed that approximately 43% water is wasted flushing toilet, 27% is wasted in case of washing any substance, and 20% water has got wasted in urinal flushing, rest 10% is wasted in canteen and other cleaning. It has been reported in most of the companies that a certain amount of water has been wasted due to pipe or water tank leakage. However, it has been observed that the mentality of the people about the importance of water has been changed. The commercial buildings are adopting many steps to use the water in a sustainable way. According to the OECD’s global environmental report in 2012 reveals that more than 2.3 billion people in London are suffering from the curse of water scarcity. The commercial buildings are involved in huge water wastage. Mayor of the London city has implemented certain plans to curb the wastage mentality. Certain charges are imposed on the water supply. However, it is required to install Building Energy Management System or BEMS for the betterment of the industry as well as the environment (Kibert 2016).

Lights are one of the main source of electrical energy and in both the large scale and small scale building, lights are used in a non-systematic way and therefore, a huge amount of energy are being wasted from that. According to a study made by the University of Cambridge in 2012-13, it has been revealed that the small scale buildings like University are spending a huge amount of energy every hour. It has been reported that the lights used in the commercial buildings are been switched on overnight and waste a lot of energy. Further, the wastage of lights is creating detrimental effect on the environmental sustainability and polluted the environment badly. Approximately £170 million energy is being wasted in a year in London by switching on the lights without any reason. According to the environmentalists, if the tendency to switch on the lights can be changed, it will be possible to remove 171 kg Carbon-Di-Oxide emission in a year. The effect of these energies on the environment has certain direct impact and it has been observed that United Kingdom was witnessed the warmest year in 2014.

Public awareness

Every commercial building in London city has own heating and cooling system. From the residential building aspect, more than 36% Carbon-Di-Oxide are emitted due to heating wastage. The commercial buildings are responsible to take effective parts in 42% of carbon emission per year. It has been reported by the Cambridge University that use of electric heaters in the commercial buildings as well as in the small scale buildings are causing double effect on the green house gas. Certain shocking data have been revealed by the University regarding the energy wastage (Bengea et al. 2014). According to the report made by the university, approximately, 2°C temperature is increasing every year due to energy wastage in commercial buildings of London. The high emission of greenhouse gas has caused political and social instability in London. The climate crisis is a part of it. Adam Vaughan has revealed in his report in The Guardian in 2015 that the level of CO2 concentration has been increased and the milestone of 400ppm has been exceeded. The loss of land area and forest due to building construction has created a detrimental effect on the environment and the climate has changed. The changing nature of climate has affected the agricultural system of London. The frequency level of Hurricane has also been increased and Britain has to face great economic and political loss for this.

Chapter 3

Methodology of energy management:

History:

The term energy management denotes a term to save the energy that are used in small and large scale of buildings with an intention to reduce the chances of environmental degradation. To achieve this goal, it is important to monitor or control the energies of a building in an effective manner (Bakar et al. 2015). It has been observed that the expansion of and dependency on business are growing rapidly in the developed countries and therefore, huge amount of energies are being wasted. Drastic change can be noticed in the climate of United Kingdom since 2014. Most of the wastages are being caused by the commercial buildings, University and residential houses. Therefore, a need regarding the proper energy management has been generated in every sector of London.

The steam engine technology of James Watt was based on quite energy consume technology. The first step towards the energy management has been taken in 1973 during the oil crisis and it has been observed that the cost of the energies were rose drastically in 1979. Engineers were appointed to save the energies and necessary capital budgeting was managed by the financial experts. The idea of building energy management system was introduced in mid 80’s. The idea of Contract Energy Management was also initiated at that time. A further step was made in the year 1998 by way of liberalise the domestic gas as an alternative in the electricity market. In 2000, the UK government has started New Electricity Trading Arrangement for reducing the energy cost and has invented certain technologies for reducing the detrimental effect of commercial fuel cell. Britain has taken certain additional steps to develop the standard of energy management system and future plan has also been taken by the country up to the period of 2020.

Energy waste in buildings

Civil engineering solutions for new development:

It has been observed that most of the energies are wasted from the buildings and the emission of Carbon-Di-Oxide is gradually increasing. Therefore, it becomes necessary to keep a close vigil over the construction of buildings. Building construction is a part of civil engineering and the civil engineers are required to adopt or utilize energy efficient programs while concocting the structure (Papantoniou, Kolokotsa and Kalaitzakis 2015). It has been noticed that the design or retrofit taken by the civil engineers are creating harm on the nature and also emitted green house gases. Therefore, it is the duty of the civil engineers to adopt all the alternative methods to reduce the emission of the gases. Building energy management system can be installed in the buildings to reduce the possibility of environmental degradation. Certain action plan should be made to identify the loopholes and implement solutions for the same.

                                                                   

It is the duty of the civil engineers to implement all the energy efficient plans and programs and generate effective price list to reduce energy charges. The structure and designs of the building should be eco-friendly and it should be taken into consideration that the emission of greenhouse gases can be reduced. Building energy management system should be installed in the building to curb the excessive use of the energies (Lazos, Sproul and Kay 2014). An investigation should have to be made by the civil engineers to recover the heat or energy if excesses. However, in case of development of roads, special emphasis on the design, aggregates, asphalt, lighting and signals is necessary.

                                                                        

Materials:

The materials that are used in business energy management system for energy consumptions are eco-friendly heating system, ventilation system to control the lighting, fire alarm and security and air conditioning system for maintain the energy consumption. Network-based operational system should be installed as a source of BEMS.

                                                                            

Electricity

                                                                                   

Chapter 5

Management aspect:

Surrounding environment:

Surrounding environments are the geographical point of the area and in case of thermodynamics, surrounding environment denotes everything except the thermodynamic system. During any construction or development program, the surrounding areas are affected the most.

Planning for permit:

All the buildings that are intended to protect the green belt system required to obtain permission under the National Planning Policy Framework in United Kingdom. The Department for Communities and Local Government is the responsible authority for issuing the plans. Certain factors are important for obtaining the permission such as sites of Special Scientific Interest, whether the building is on protected site, whether there is risk of flood or earthquake, whether the site is a heritage asset or there is a chance to endanger the surrounding environment or not (Shaikh et al. 2014).

Risk assessment:

Construction of building is always risky work. Risks can be cropped up in every step of the project and even after the completion of the projected work, risk can be generated. Fire, storm, collapse and vibrations are the general risks in case of any building construction. Apart from this, there are possibilities of environmental degradation by the construction. The risks are to be assessed properly and it is important to identify the risk factors thoroughly (Kibert 2016). The main objective of risk assessments is to ensure the quality of health and safety and take action to prevent the risks at highest priority. It is important to evaluate the risks and take effective precautions by the designers, contractors and engineers. The lifting operations and dismantling process should be done with proper planning and the equipments should be modern. BEMS method must be installed in case of post construction effects (Schaltegger and Wagner 2017).

What is the risk	Type/ level of risk	Who are at risk	Mitigation of risk
fire	extreme	Building and surrounding area and environment	Install fire alarms, fire extinguisher and BEMS service.
collapse	extreme	Building and environment	Emergency exit and proper design
Lighting level	moderate	Staff and visitors	Install energy saving lights along with the BEMS.
Electrical equipments	high	environment	Install PAT tested equipments.
water	high	Building and environment	Quality proof pipe installation with BEMS.

Aim of the report:

The main aim of the report is to study energy management in a new building and narrate the process of applicability. A systematic guideline has been provided in this paper along with the negative impact of greenhouse gas on the environment and certain methodologies have also been prescribed to control the emission of green house gas from the building and save the energies to secure the environment and provide pleasure to building occupier as well.

 

Water

Conclusion:

To sum up, it can be stated that the environmental degradation can be posed as a serious threat due to the building construction. Moreover, the detrimental effect of the building materials and hazardous substances has created a serious impact on the surrounding environment and helped to make a change in the climates. The mentality of the people against the environment deterioration has begun to change and certain new techniques are adopted to curb the problem. One of such techniques is business energy management system. Under this system an attempt has been made to develop the standard of waste material with the intention to reduce the scope of environment hazards. Energy can be wasted in four ways in a building: electricity, water, lighting and heat. However, the problems cropped up in small scale buildings have been discussed and necessary solutions for developing the standard of energy management in the building have also been stated. A detailed discussion on the process of monitoring the four energy related matters by the Building Energy Management System has been prescribed. This system works as a sensor to determine the response system for these issues. It helps to develop the energy consumption of a building. Considering the effective nature of BEMS, David Grundy states that the system is able to deliver quick energy efficiency method for the standard development of the building. Certain solutions for making new developments or construction have been mentioned and possible risks are assessed in this case. The report can be concluded with the facts that environment can be affected tremendously if the risks could not be assessed properly and proper planning are not to be adopted.   

In today’s world, energy efficiency in case of building management or construction plays an important role. In most of the cases, it has been observed that energies are wasted in a high rate that pollutes the adjoining areas as well as the environment. However, to stop these phenomena, the modern civil constructions are concocted with the guidelines of Building Energy Management System or BEMS. BEMS is a control system where the internal environment of a building are managed in an eco-friendly way and all the energies used in the buildings such as the heating or lighting are utilised or giving comforts to the occupier without causing harm on the environment or wasting the energy (Missaoui et al 2014). In the developed countries like United Kingdom, there is high possibility of pollution. The progressive nature of the civil engineering provokes the growing parameter of environment pollution. Building Energy Management System should be applied on these buildings to curb the wastage of energy or environment pollution (Han et al. 2014).

Lighting

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