Sangath 3 - Test and Refine - Embodied Energy and Water

Embodied energy is the amount of energy required to produce a material and transport it to the site. Similarly the embodied water of a material is the amount of water used in its production. Both of these factors contribute to how environmentally sustainable a material is and how renewable it is. In the refinement of our Domus design there have been significant changes to materiality, which has meant a notable reduction in the embodied water and energy, as well as life cycle and sustainability benefits.

Embodied Energy of the original design

The problem with the original design mainly lies in the embodied energy of the materials which were proposed. The main structure of the bedrooms was constructed of a hot rolled portal frame which has an excessively high embodied energy rate of 84.285GJ/t. The embodied energy of this material alone is greater than the entire embodied energy of the entire refined structure.
Similarly, the floor area of the original design was almost 1.5 times the refined floor area. This meant that more hardwood flooring was required which significantly increased the environmental effects of construction. With sustainability being a major issue in todays design practice, it is imperative to choose renewable materials in order to reduce environmental effects. In the original design there was much wastage of materials with the use of mechanical timber louvers for walls, this was not only high in embodied energy, but required regular maintenance, meaning a greater life cycle expense.

Embodied Energy of the refined design

The most significant reduction in the redesign is the roof structure which is now made of a paper based tensional membrane supported by bamboo ribs. This has meant that a portal frame structure is no longer necessary. Likewise, the use of curtains constructed from organic fibers has seen an enormous reduction in terms of energy, water and recyclability, with the materials being biodegradable and renewable. The amount of floor area reduction has also seen mass decreases in the amounts of material required.

The refined design gives a total reduction of embodied energy of 6124.2KJ/Unit. This is a saving of 70.2% due to using significantly less Hot Rolled Steel and using recycled and environmentally friendly materials such as Ramie Fabric and Bamboo.

A Reduction in Embodied Water of 9226.8 KL/Unit has been achieved with the refined design through the use of renewable and recycled materials with a low embodied water rating. This has helped to achieve a saving from the original design of 62.6%.