E B Energy G Ene Nh 1 H

Environmental Building Guidelines for Greater Hyderabad Ver. 1.2(2010)

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O&M

New build

Site/Neighborhood layout design as per Solar geometry

Orientation of building faade is an important parameter of solar passive building design and energy efficiency as the amount of solar radiation falling on surfaces of different orientation varies considerably depending on the view or exposure to the sun. Hence the recommendations below have to be followed 1. New residential layouts and developments shall follow the solar geometry by a. Laying the plots with longer dimension facing North and South and shorter dimensions facing East and West. b. Shading the southern sides of the plots by deciduous trees. 2. In case of multistoried apartments a. Sides having openings shall face either North or South. b. windows/faade should be shaded by built-in shading devices, as presented in figure 6 c. Protect east, south and west facades using shading devices, vegetation, buffer spaces. d. Orient streets and courtyards along east-west axis to capture wind. Provide water elements along wind paths to create cooler microclimate conditions.

Checklist 1. Longer sides facing northsouth

2. Shading on South, West and East 3. East and west wind with precooling

Why is this required?

Building layout and design can affect solar access and wind exposure as well as the rate of heat loss or heat gain through the external envelope. Building layout, design and environment share the most complementary relationship in a sustainable design process. The built form in terms of its orientation on site, and position of trees and other landscape elements should be modulated as per the solar geometry and wind direction. A building gains heat from the sun by conduction, convection and radiation. Heat gains from radiation can be minimized by laying the building in appropriate orientation. Solar angle and altitude with respect to a particular surface however vary from time to time, but follow a distinct geometry. This geometry is a guiding tool for design of the building. Solar geometry in Hyderabad is shown in figure 1. The longitudinal curves present the twelve months of the year and the vertical curves present 24 hrs in a day. The building can be laid
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Special points of interest: 1. Design of shading as per orientation 2. Innovative shading devices 3. Landscape design to allow cooling of hot winds 4. North south orientation

in a way that it gets advantage of sun for day time lighting at the same time the direct radiation is minimized. The building designed according to solar path remains comparatively cool in summers and warm in winters, and hence requires less energy to operate as compared to the conventional buildings.

How is it beneficial?
The layout and design of building are important for an energy efficient building. Following points describe the same:

Hyderabad is primarily hot and dry and the buildings, primarily the commercial buildings are heavily reliant on air-conditioning to meet thermal comfort. Appropriate layout that allows ideally oriented building receives comparatively less radiations, which directly results in lower heat gains and thus lower air-conditioning loads. Layouts of neighborhood that allow for ideal orientation ,in combination with other low cost strategies such as shading , landscape features such as water bodies, plantations ,can offset a lot of need for mechanical space conditioning and reduce demand for conventional energy.

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Fig 2 Orientation as per solar geometry and

wind direction Sunlight and wind are the free resources on site, which can be effectively used in order to make the interior spaces comfortable.

Layout and design are also crucial for daylighting that can offset need for artificial lights during daytime. Layout and design are important also from wind flow point of view. The wind speeds can be effectively utilized in naturally ventilating and cooling the building in a well laid and designed building.

Submittals
Layout and design compliance documentation:

The Set-back for North faade is must for all the buildings, and this faade should have openings. West and South faade must be shaded with building elements. Building blocks must have space for free natural wind movement. The plots/buildings should be laid in a way that the longer faade face North or South. Arrange spaces with respect to favorable orientations, e.g. place buffer spaces like toilet, service areas, and staircases along the west/east faade of building; spaces with the requirement for natural lighting to be on the north

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Submittal requirement:
1. 2. 3. Site plan with building outlines and clear distinction of the North-side set back. Local wind-map showing the wind direction in site plan. Drawing showing effective utilization of wind movement in the building.

Guidance Notes
Documentation of the faade treatment with photographs and drawings.
Designing a Layout as per Solar Geometry and Wind Directions

The layout of a building or a group of buildings must be integrated with the landscape design to respond to solar geometry and wind directions. The best orientation in Hyderabad is presented in figure 2. The longer facades of the building should face North-South cardinal directions and the shorter facades should be facing East-West directions. In Hyderabad the average solar radiation intensity falling on different facades facing various cardinal directions is as given below

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Fig. 3 Longer Facade Facing North-South

Average Solar radiation Intensity on various facades of a building Facade Orientation North Facing South Facing East Facing West Facing Solar Intensity (W/m2) 100 600 600 400 Month of maximum solar intensity May December Mar-April Mar-April

From the above given table it is clear that a building having longer North South facades will receive lesser amount of solar radiations. Also East and West facades receive maximum solar intensity during the summers while on south the maximum radiation falls in the month of December.

Designing appropriate shading for different directions in the Layout

Designer should take care of Vertical solar angle (VSA) and Horizontal solar angle (HSA) for determining depth and spacing between the shading devices. The HSA and VSA are the angles between Sun and the normal of the surface in vertical and horizontal plane. Figure 4 presents the HSA (horizontal solar angle), VSA (Vertical solar angle) and ALT (altitude angle).

VSA and HSA can be calculated from the sun path diagram. Nowadays various softwares are available to calculate these angles on various surfaces. Ecotect is one of them.

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It is clear from the figure that when HSA and VSA are the depth of the shading devices will be lesser.

larger

Designer should select the most critical time when these angles make a combination which requires maximum shading. The Critical HSA and VSA for different cardinal directions which needs to be cut down are as given below
Solar Angles to be cut-down on various cardinal directions Cardinal Directions North East West South North-East (NE) North-West (NW) South-East (SE) South-West (SW) HSA (Horizontal Solar Angle) in Degrees 33.7 -11.8 9.5 -30.5 33.2 -35.5 -56.8 54.5 VSA (Vertical Solar Angle) in Degree 84 38.1 57.7 64.1 42.5 62.5 54.5 69.6

Note

Angles have been measured from the normal to the fenestration Angles measured anti-clockwise from the normal to the fenestration have been shown with negative sign for HSA (horizontal solar angle)

Various kinds of shading devices can be opted to cut down the direct solar radiations. To cut-down the horizontal solar angle one can provide single or multiple vertical fins where as in case of vertical solar angle one can provide single or multiple horizontal projections. For designing the shading device one can use the drafting softwares such as Auto-CAD, Sketch-up etc or can use the formula given below to find the depth and spacing.

Fig. Various Shading Devices

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Formula to calculate depth and spacing for shading device to cut-down VSA Depth of shading device = Spacing between the shading device X {tan (90 -VSA)} The critical VSA values can be read from the table given above and either of the depth or spacing can be chosen by he designer to calculate the other unknown parameter. Formula to calculate depth and spacing for shading device to cut-down HSA Depth of vertical fins = Spacing between the vertical fins X {tan (90 -HSA)} The critical HSA values can be read from the table given above and either of the depth or spacing can be chosen by he designer to calculate the other unknown parameter. Example showing how to design shading designs To cut-down VSA Design a shading device to cut down the vertical sun angle of 60 0 for a window of 1300mm height. The shading device can be designed in two ways for this particular case. 1. Single horizontal projection: A single horizontal projection of 693mm depth can be provided as shown in the figure to cut down the 600 VSA.

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2. Two horizontal projections: Two horizontal projections each of 346mm depth which are 600mm apart from each other can be provided as shown in the figure to cut down the require VSA of 600. To cut-down HSA Design a shading device to cut down the horizontal sun angle of 300 for a window of 3000mm width. As the HSA is quite low, the option of providing single vertical fin will not be a good option. Instead one can design the shading design in form of multiple vertical fins. To cut down HSA of 300 five numbers of vertical fins having depth of 866mm and at a spacing of 500mm can be provided as shown in the figure.

Integrating simple techniques in layout design for cooling hot winds

Hyderabad being a hot and dry region has a predominance of hot dry winds and natural ventilation provision may lead to discomfort conditions, if the wind is not cooled by passive means. Hence water bodies placed in the direction of wind can provide cooling effect. Cooled wind can then be allowed to ventilate spaces by appropriate design interventions, such as wind placements, stack effect etc. Detailed design strategies to induce ventilation are provided in the relevant EBRGs on Solar Passive Design and Thermal Comfort.

References
1. Results of analysis in Ecotect and Weather tool software ICAEN (Institut catala d Energia), 2004, Building Design Manual, Chapter 6 -Passive Solar Design, TERI Press, New Delhi

2.

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