ENERGY CONSERVATION THROUGH

SITE SELECTION AND ORIENTATION

 PRESENT SITUATION
The building sector alone represents about 35% energy
consumption.
Realizing the situation, the need of the day is to adopt
sustainable green building design approach which is the
ultimate solution to reduce the energy demand of the
building.
Over usage of conventional building materials not only
cause global warming but also affects the natural
resources. Green or sustainable building use key resources
like energy, water, materials, and land more efficiently than
buildings that are just built conventionally.
 INTRODUCTION
• Sustainability has become increasingly important in the
building industry in recent years.
• A movement has occurred to construct buildings in a
more efficient and sustainable manner by reducing
energy use and the costs associated in operating and
maintaining the building.
• A green building is an outcome of a design philosophy
which focuses on increasing the efficiency of resource
use; energy, water, and materials while reducing the
impact on human health and the environment during
the building's
• lifecycle, through better design, construction, operation,
maintenance and removal
 GREEN BIULDING DESIGN CONCEPT
Environment friendly innovative technologies like energy efficient materials,
intelligent gadgets, energy efficient doors and windows, solar water heating and
generating power, rain water harvesting, rain water harvesting are used by many
developers in different parts all over the country, but now more and more builders
and
developers are going in for projects that promote an eco-friendly life style.
 Energy Efficient Construction
Energy Efficient Construction

• The buildings being designed and used today are consuming excessive energy
for heating/cooling and lightning.
• There is about 30-40% energy saving potential in the building industry which
shall not only reduce the load on the power sector to meet its demand but
also help the inhabitants in reducing their energy bills.

LEED
• The leadership in energy and environmental design (LEED-INDIA) Green
Building rating system is a nationally and internationally accepted benchmark
for the design, construction and operation of high performance green
buildings.
• LEED-INDIA promotes a whole building approach to sustainability by
recognizing performance in the following five key areas: - Sustainable site
development, Water Savings, Energy efficiency, Materials selection and Indoor
environment quality.
 Various Energy Saving Concepts

• Site Selection- Although site selection is usually based

on price, a poor decision can preclude several
sustainable features. Making the most out of what the
site has to offer can be the difference between a high
performance building and traditional one.

• Orientation- Proper orientation allows for passive solar

gain and day lightning. In the northern hemisphere,
south facing windows have the greatest exposure to
the sun. West facing windows need to be carefully
designed, as the low angle of the setting can cause
overheating.
PRIOR TO SELECTING A SITE
To be avoided :-
• Prime farmlands
• Land identified as habitat for any species or state
threatened or endangered list.
• Land within 100 feet of any wetlands.
• Previously undeveloped land within 50 feet of a body of
water which supports or could support fish, recreation,
etc.
• Land which was public parkland.
 ORIENTATION
• Compass direction the building [Link] -South, 80° east-
northeast.
• Along with massing can be most important step in providing
building with passive thermal and visual comfort.
 Azimuth angle:
• Orientation is measured by the azimuth angle of a surface relative to true
north. Successful orientation rotates the building to minimize energy loads
and maximize free energy from the sun and wind.
• Successful orientation can also take advantage of other site conditions,
such as rainwater harvesting driven by prevailing winds. It can even help
the building contribute to the health and vitality of the surrounding social,
and economic communities, by orienting courtyards or other social spaces
to connect to street life.

A building's orientation is measured by

azimuth.
 Orientation for Visual Comfort
• As with massing for visual comfort, buildings should usually be oriented
east-west rather than north-south.
• This orientation lets you consistently harness daylight and control glare
along the long faces of the building.
• It also lets you minimize glare from the rising or setting sun.

If the building has cutouts to maximize

daylighting , the orientations of these cutouts
should also be chosen to maximize north and
south walls. With good building massing, such
cutouts can also act as their own shading to
prevent glare

Orientation #1 is worst for daylighting , #3 is

good, and #2 is best
 Orientation for Thermal Comfort:
Solar Heat Gain
• Different faces of the building get very different amounts of heat
from the sun. As with massing, orientation for thermal comfort is
similar to orientation for daylighting, with some exceptions:

• First, the amount of sunlight that is optimal for daylighting is often

not optimal for solar heat gain.

• Second, since the sun's heat does not come from all directions like
the sun's light can, walls facing away from the sun's path get no
heat gain, even though they can still get large amounts of diffuse
light.

• Third, the sun's heat can be stored by thermal mass, which the
sun's light cannot. This can be useful for west-facing walls to store
heat for the night.
 More glazing to the east and more thermal
mass to the west can even out temperature
swings from the sun’s heat

To even out temperature swings at sunrise and sunset, east sides may benefit
from more window area for direct solar heat gain, while west sides may benefit
from smaller window areas and high thermal mass to absorb the heat and release
it through the night. The right strategy depends on the climate.

Advanced glazing can separate the harvesting of the sun's light from the sun's
heat. It can also pull in daylight from sides facing away from the sun, without
losing too much heat through lack of insulation (low U-value).
Mutual shading of built forms and compact forms i.e. forms with
low surface area to volume (S/V) ratio and low perimeter to area
(P/A) ratio are ideal for extreme climates. Compact forms gain
less heat during daytime and lose less heat at nighttime.
 Orientation for Thermal Comfort:
Natural Ventilation
• Buildings do not have to face directly into the wind to achieve good cross-
ventilation. Internal spaces and structural elements can be designed
to channel air through the building in different directions. In addition, the
prevailing wind directions listed by weather data may not be the actual
prevailing wind directions, depending on local site obstructions, such as
trees or other buildings.
For buildings that feature a courtyard and are located in climates where
cooling is desired, orienting the courtyard 45 degrees from the prevailing
wind maximizes wind in the courtyard and cross ventilation through the
building.

• Orientation for maximum passive ventilation

 Service cores can act as thermal buffers against heat gain and
loss. Optimal locations for building service cores are in the east
and west
 Orientation for hot climate
• In tropical climate like India, long facades of buildings oriented
towards north- south are preferred.
• Buildings should be oriented with their longer axis (north –south)
aligned perpendicular to the prevailing winds to facilitate maximum
air-flow and cross ventilation through the building. (Buildings can
be oriented at an angle between 0° to 30° with respect to the
prevailing wind direction).
• Buildings that feature a courtyard (in climates where cooling is
desired), orienting the courtyard 45° from the prevailing wind
maximizes wind flow into the courtyard and enhances cross
ventilation in the building.
• In hot & dry climates, the surface to volume(S/V) ratio of the
building should be as low as possible to minimize heat gain
(compact plans have greater thermal efficiency, e.g. a square plan is
more thermally efficient than a rectangular one).
 Orientation for cold climate
• Surface area to volume ratio of a building should be low to avoid
unwanted heat loss (approaching a cube or a hemisphere).
• For cold climates, orientation slightly east of south is favoured
(especially 15° east of south), exposing the unit to morning and
afternoon sun and enabling the building to heat during the day.
• Buildings with a ‘rectangular form’ should ideally orient their longer
axes towards north-south direction rather than east-west direction.
Greater the perimeter to area ratio, greater is the heat gain of the
building.
• Building form for energy efficiency should consider the floor area,
perimeter, building height and surface to volume ratio.
• Glazing and Materials on different faces

Material choices and glazing are part of a building's

orientation for thermal comfort. They can avoid solar
heat gain, or--unlike daylighting--they can store the
sun's heat with thermal mass.

The orientation that supplies just enough daylight may

supply too much heat, or vice-versa.

Equator-facing sides of the building are well suited to

capture and store the sun's heat via large windows and
materials with high thermal mass, while sides facing
away from the sun's path are not.
• THANK YOU