Buildings have a very large carbon footprint. According to the International Energy Agency’s assessment in 2021, buildings accounted for 27% of global emissions. While 8% is direct emissions from energy generated at buildings, 19% is indirect from electricity and heat generated for consumption.
Managing indirect emissions is not in your control. But, the environmental impact caused by direct emissions can be reduced if sustainable engineering design is adopted for energy systems in a building. Renewable systems are the way forward but with sustainable design.
The Importance of Sustainable Design
Sustainable design is a design practice that seeks to eliminate issues that may lead to a negative environmental impact. The core idea of this design principle is to account for the needs of the present while also accounting for future generations.
Its goals are to:
- Reduce waste and optimally utilize resources.
- Create healthy environments for users and the community at large.
- Increase the use of renewable energy sources while reducing non-renewable energy consumption.
When the design principle is applied to engineering, we get sustainable engineering design where various building systems are designed to be environmentally friendly with a reduced carbon footprint and profit realization through reduced operational costs and improved bottom line.
Take, for example, energy management in a building. Sustainable engineering eliminates energy wastage, improves energy efficiency, and increases the use of renewable energy like solar, wind, or geothermal energy leading to less impact on the climate and increased savings by eliminating redundant systems.
How is Engineering Design Adapting Sustainable Models?
Engineers follow engineering design principles to design, build, and test a product or building. It involves defining the problem, brainstorming solutions, creating prototypes, and testing the solutions. With sustainable engineering, engineers adopt sustainable models into their engineering design.
Consider energy modeling for a building that helps in sustainable engineering design. Engineers use energy modeling to simulate building energy systems and analyze energy consumption patterns.
Using energy modeling tools, they gather critical information about system feasibility, Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, inefficient systems, etc., to model energy consumption in heating, cooling, and ventilation. Inputs like building location, weather, and climate data are also accounted for while developing a sustainable design for energy systems.
Engineers also use sustainable models like the geospatial-based solar radiation mapping model, the Digital Surface model, and others to achieve maximum output from a solar photovoltaic (PV) system. They analyze the landscape surrounding the building, rooftop geometry, building orientation, height, atmospheric interactions with solar radiation, and other geospatial data to accurately identify the location for employing solar PV systems.
Using the data gathered, engineers accurately estimate the solar energy potential and design the best solar PV system that is financially viable and can help reduce the building's carbon footprint.
Implement green construction methods in your next building project.
How NY Engineers Adapt Sustainable Engineering Designs?
NY Engineers is an experienced firm that embraces sustainability in its designs. Based on the user requirements and feasibility, we develop sustainable engineering designs for buildings to reduce their environmental footprint.
From using advanced Building Energy Modeling (BEM) tools to deploying design engineers on the ground, we use advanced sustainable models for engineering design. We even consider the minutest details, such as materials footprint, toxicity, weather patterns, impact on the community, etc., for engineering designs.
Our sustainable design principle includes:
- Effective utilization of resources
- Eliminating excess wastage
- Improved productivity of the systems
- Reduced carbon footprint
- Accruing benefits to the society
Be it a yet-to-construct building or an existing one, we use sustainable models to assess energy consumption needs and energy generation potential. Based on the analysis, we provide engineering designs that reduce costs, increase revenue and become a net zero energy building.
For solar PV system design, it is crucial to have a thorough understanding of the location and its solar energy output potential. At NY Engineers, our solar design engineers use the latest geospatial methods to quantify the solar energy resources of a building. Based on the analysis, we develop a sustainable solar PV system design that is highly efficient and has increased productivity. We can do this for projects of any scale and type.
By adopting sustainability in our designs, we benefit our clients with faster approvals. Our designs adhere to all local building codes and environmental regulations in New York state and beyond.
End Note
Climate change is humanity’s biggest threat. Buildings with high emissions footprints are one of the sources of climate change-inducing GHGs. To reduce the environmental impact of buildings, rapid upgradation with renewable power sources and effective energy management is the need of the hour.
Sustainable engineering design is the way forward to determine the exact needs of buildings and develop environment-friendly modules that can transform a building into zero-carbon structures. Sustainable engineering will also help you comply with local environmental regulations and get approvals quickly, saving you money and construction time.
