Net Zero Energy Apartment

Abstract

In India, construction is the second largest industry next to agriculture, with respect to its contribution to the economy of our country. Construction sector consumes a lot of energy throughout the life cycle of the buildings and contributes immensely to the emission of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide. Considerable amount of water is being consumed during the construction activities. It is found that In-dia’s water table is decreasing, Hence, there is a need to bring down en-ergy consumption and conservation and harvesting of water by implementing green and zero energy concepts. Net zero energy building is defined as a building with zero dependence on external source of energy. The main aim of this study is “Planning, analyzing and designing a 5 floor apartment building by implementing zero energy concepts and techniques”. Planning has been carried out by taking into account, the orientation aspects. Planning and plotting of the structure has been car-ried out using AutoCAD. Further analysis is done in STAAD Pro V8i and Cype taking the design loads for both zero energy and conventional building. Energy saving components such as rainwater harvesting system, solar panels, biogas plant, and wind energy and sewage treat-ment plant have been implemented as per standards. The dependence on external energy source is reduced by making use of the alternative energy sources such as solar PV panels, biogas and wind turbine there by making it economical environmental friendly. Estimation of the materials based on the drawings and specifications is carried out. Lastly, a comparative study of conventional versus zero energy building is done by performing cost benefit analysis of solar panel system.By using rainwater harvesting system the water bills reduced by 27% annually and by installing a solar panel with a capacity of 233 Kw/h led to the energy savings by 20 % annually. Also from the cost estima-tion, the payback period for green building was approximately 2.9 years for solar power.