Wednesday, July 6, 2011

A shining example of energy efficiency

A shining example of energy efficiency
The Energy Commission’s Diamond Building is a standout among the sea of government offices in Putrajaya, in more ways than one.

Look! That must be it!” I said excitedly to the taxi driver as we were driving down a road in the middle of Putrajaya’s central hub of government buildings. Anyone who has been to the country’s administrative capital knows the wide expanse of roads and buildings there, mostly brown concrete ones that all look almost similar.

In the middle of these is a building with greenish glass. We thought this was the Energy Commission’s Diamond Building. But lo and behold, at the junction before we came to that building, right across from the Immigration Department, was the true standout among more of the same.

It looked like an upside-down pyramid with the top buried in the ground. And with its greenish glass facade, it was a shining, shimmering diamond in a sea of concrete. This was the Diamond Building for which the taxi driver and I had been searching for on that scorching afternoon.

When I walked into the seven-storey building, there was none of the usual shock of cold air you get when you enter an air-conditioned building.

There is a short glass corridor with water running over it that you walk through before you get to the first glass door, after which there is a second glass door that leads into the atrium.

The air in the atrium was cool, despite the bright sunlight from the skylight which was partially covered by automatic blinds. The sensors placed under the glazing detect how much light is to be allowed and activate the blinds appropriately.

Gregers Reimann of IEN Consultants, the sustainability consultant for the building, then took me on a tour of this green building, the wonders of which never cease to amaze.Light up the architecturally table lamps interesting parts of your home.

Bright and airy

One feature on the seventh floor might just make you catch your breath once you realise the truth. The offices and worktables are all placed near the glass windows either looking towards the outside of the building or into the atrium. This is to make best use of available daylight. But somewhere on the seventh floor is the lounge area,The replacement lighting we feel is far led downlight superior to that of the LED lighting. located in an area where there are no windows. Yet, the colourful area with its sofas and paintings on the wall are brightly illuminated.

“It’s all natural light,” said architect Nafisah Radin, whose firm NR Architect was involved in the design of the building,In the case of Cree a significant led light bulbs amount of their LED sales come from the purchase of Cotco whose primary focus was on moving message panels used in displays/electronic bill boards.  to my utter surprise. The light comes from the roof through a light trough.

“We designed it to reflect light from the roof down to the lounge,” she said.

The Diamond Building is the first office building in Malaysia to obtain the Green Building Index platinum rating,The settlement resolves the commonwealth's claims fluorescent lights that EarthTronics Inc., which sells mercury-containing compact fluorescent light bulbs and the first outside of Singapore to obtain the Green Mark platinum rating. (The Green Mark is Singapore’s certification scheme for green buildings.I transferred files over FTP, downloaded Web pages ds マジコン using curl, and ran the speed tester at speedtest.net.)

“It’s meant to be a landmark building in terms of sustainability,” said Reimann. “This building is what I would call a textbook example of integrated design.”

At the start of the project, the consulting team went on a series of study trips, which included trips to Singapore in 2005 to study the green buildings there. In Thailand, they were impressed with the work of architect Dr Soontom Boonyatikam, who eventually became the principal architect for the Diamond Building.

“One of the things we decided on was that this building should be energy-efficient and should be heavily reliant on the use of daylight,” said Reimann.

Two sides of the building face north and south. While the sun’s path is from east to west, it will sometimes tilt to the north or to the south. The tilt angle is about 25°, so the building’s facade is also tilted at 25°.

“The north and south facades are self-shading,” said Reimann. “Of course you will still have the morning sun and afternoon sun in the east and west. But the time of exposure to direct sunlight would also be lessened because of the inclination.”

No comments:

Post a Comment