Case study of an eco-friendly house-Vibha

Sreepathi L. K.

Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, JNN College of Engineering, Shimoga, Karnataka,

India; Email: Sreepathi_lk@hotmail.com, sreepathi.lk@gmail.com

INTRODUCTION

Global warming induced climate change is the biggest environmental threat being faced by our planet,
and may be the biggest humanitarian challenge that the developing world will have to face in the coming
decades. It is now well established that, the increase concentration of carbon dioxide and other green
houses gases in the atmosphere is the main reason behind global warming [1]. Among the many
contributors for CO2 emissions, electricity consumption and raw materials use in buildings are
significant and responsible for a large share of global emissions. Buildings are one of the major
consumers of energy and are the third largest consumers of energy, after industry and agriculture.
Buildings annually consume more than 20% of electricity used in India. The awareness about the
impact of depletion of fossil fuels and global warming phenomena has led to renewed interest in the green
technologies. Apart from research work on energy conservation in industrial systems, significant work is
also being done in domestic sector also. Few such areas of study are passive cooling of buildings,
alternate energy sources for cooking, solar lighting, solar water heating etc. Examples of implementation
of passive cooling techniques for commercial buildings are available in the literature [2]. Similarly,
sufficient information is also available on working principle and design of various energy saving devices
that can be used in domestic sector. However, no literature is available on assessment of conventional
energy savings that has been achieved by implementing these techniques/devices in a single house.
Considering the fact that, domestic sector swallows a significant fraction (20-25%) of the total amount of
energy consumption; it is worth doing such an exercise. The conclusions drawn out of such an analysis
can be extrapolated to over 150 million residential buildings of India and also of other countries with
similar climatic conditions.

About “Vibha”

The house “Vibha” under study, was constructed in the year 2004 and is located at Shivamogga (75.5 0E,
13.60N) city of Karnataka state, India. The city experiences hot and dry weather condition during summer
months from February to May with average temperature 32 0C. Here rainy season starts in June and ends
in October and winter season is from November to January. In winter, it is dry and cold weather (Average
temperature 150C). Over all, it is moderate climate condition with ample sun light during summer and
winter seasons and reasonably good showers during monsoon (Average annual rain fall 900mm). A north
direction view of the house is shown in Fig.1. The built up area of the house is around 115 m2 in a site
area of around 275 m2. The built up area includes portico and utility space. Utility space is provided in the
south side with large openings in the wall. This gives protection from sun for the south wall of the main
building. Terrace above the first floor has open area in the south side to provide space for solar devices. It
has a large garden area (150 m2) mainly in the west side which provides shading for the west side wall of
the house. Following sections discuss the details of the passive cooling techniques incorporated and other
renewable energy devices installed in the house. Brief description of the same is available in e-journals
[3], [4] also.
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PASSIVE COOLING TECHNIQUES

Following passive cooling techniques are incorporated while constructing the house.

1) Hollow cement block walls for south and west sides to reduce heat penetration through walls.
2) Hollow clay tiles below the RCC roof to reduce the heat penetration through the roof (Fig.2).
3) Higher ceiling (3.6mt) when compared to conventional houses by which relatively cool air is
available at the leaving space.
4) Wide windows for cross ventilation
5) Wind breakers for guiding more air in to the building through west side windows
6) Lesser built up area (35% of the site area) to allow air circulation around the house.
7) Wide ventilators below the ceiling (Fig.2) and solar chimney at the center of the second floor roof
for hot air escape.

All the above listed techniques directly or indirectly improve the thermal comfort conditions and there by
reduce the energy consumption for cooling and lighting. The working principle behind each technique is
well known and a discussion on the same is beyond the scope of this article. The climatic conditions of
the location are such that, the house heating is not at all required. The energy savings achieved due to
incorporation of passive cooling techniques, when compared to a conventional house of similar size, is
estimated as below.

In a conventional house, assuming that, there are five fans of 60W each running for an average five hours
per day for 100 days( i.e., during the months of March, April and May), the energy consumption is 150
kWh/year or 540MJ/year. In Vibha, two fans of 60W each are used for approximately five hours per day
for 30 days in a year (Generally during May month). The energy consumption for the same is 12kWh/year
or 43.2MJ/year. Hence, the net savings in energy is 496.8MJ/year.

SOLAR LIGHTING SYSTEM

The complete lighting requirements of the house are provided by solar photovoltaic (SPV) system. Grid
power is used for TV, fans, refrigerator and water pump. The system consists of two number 40pW solar
panels, one 150AH battery pack, nine CFL lights and three LED lights. The total connected load is 80W.
The system performance is excellent and no maintenance problem has been encountered since last five
years. The energy savings achieved due to the installation of solar lighting system is estimated as below.
In a conventional house, assuming that there are five fluorescent tube lights of 40W each and five CFL
lights of 14W each being used for an average two hours per day for 365 days, the energy consumption is
197.1 kWh/year or 709.6MJ/year. In Vibha, as there are no lights using the grid power, the net savings in
lighting energy is 710MJ/year. It is also observed that, in most of the days the battery pack gets
completely charged before 12AM. It indicates that, the installed SPV system is grossly under utilized.
Addition of another battery pack of 150AH with inverter can further reduce the grid power consumption
significantly.

ENERGY FOR COOKING

Cooking energy constitutes a major fraction of domestic energy consumption. In rural India, it accounts
for almost 80% of the total house hold energy consumption [5]. Table 1 gives the average daily LPG
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(liquid petroleum gas) consumption and its energy equivalent for a five member family. The data on
cooking time required is obtained by recording the time taken for each activity on seven days, considering
the variations in receipi for each item. The average value is calculated and is found to be in good
agreement with total LPG consumption of other house holds of similar size. The data on LPG
consumption per hour (143g/h) is obtained from the gas stove supplier. In Vibha, along with LPG, two
types of solar cookers and kitchen waste biogas plant are used for cooking purposes.

Solar Cookers

Solar cookers are most economical and eco friendly cooking devices. Since, most part of our country
receive annual mean daily solar radiation in the range of 5-7kWh/day [6], solar cookers can be effectively
used for cooking needs. In Vibha, box type solar cooker is mainly used for drying grains, reheating the
cooked food etc. Parabolic cooker is used for cooking rice, and boiling rain water for drinking purposes.
In a year, these two cookers are used from December to May (180 days) effectively.

The energy savings achieved due to the use of solar cookers is estimated with the help of data given in
Table 1. Solar cookers replace LPG used for cooking rice and heating water for drinking purpose. Thus,
the amount of energy saved per day is 3.83 MJ. Considering the fact that, the solar cookers are used for
approximately 180 days in year, annual energy saving amounts to 687.6MJ.

Kitchen Waste Biogas Plant

Kitchen waste biogas plant is similar to gobar gas plant in design. ARTI [7] has successfully developed
and marketed the system. While Fig.3 shows the sectional view of Kitchen waste gas plant, Fig. 4 shows
th photograph of the system installed at “Vibha”. The plant consists of a digester, gas holder, feed inlet
and out let pipes and a gas out let pipe. The main advantages of the system are its compactness due to
lesser residence time (4-5 days) and multi feed flexibility (grains, green leaves, waste vegetable and waste
food etc.). Due to these advantages, the system can be conveniently used both in rural and urban houses
and also in hostels and hotels.

Vibha has a 1.5kg feed per day capacity kitchen waste biogas plant. It produces around 0.13Nm 3 gas
(calorific value: 23MJ/Nm3) per day. It supplies around 20% of the cooking energy (ie.2.84MJ/day)
requirement of the house (Refer to Table 1). The annual cooking energy savings is thus calculated to be
1036MJ. When compared to solar cookers, the gas plant has a definite advantage of flexibility in usage
timings, higher intensity of heat and hence lesser cooking time. It also solves the problem of bio waste
disposal and provides good quality manure as by product.

A systematic study of effect of feed to water ratio on quantity of gas production was made using the
installed gas plant. It is observed that, maximum gas yield of 450 liters/day was obtained for a feed to
water ratio of 1:1 by weight and a feed rate of 1.5kg/day (wet basis).

SOLAR WATER HEATER

Vibha has one 100 liter/day capacity SWH to meet the hot water needs of the house. Almost 75% of the
hot water requirement is met with by this system. The remaining 25% of hot water is supplied by one

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agro waste boiler. Al together, no electricity or LPG is used for water heating purpose. Annually the SWH
saves around 5000MJ of energy.

RAIN WATER HARVESTING

Rain water harvesting is an age old technology gaining popularity in a new way. Extensive rain water
harvesting structures existed since 4000 years in India as well as in many places of the world. In simple
terms, rain water harvesting (RWH) can be defined as collection of rain water for storing and using and/or
for recharging the under ground. There are many benefits to be derived from harvesting this bountiful
flow of rainwater on our rooftops. Few of them are i) Independent and ample supply of water in the
dwelling. ii) Water received is free of costs. Use of this water significantly reduces water bills for
purchased water from municipal supply. iii) Costs incurred for purifying the water for potable use are
nominal. iv)For users located in the rural areas, an independent supply of water avoids the cost of
installing a public water supply system. v) Rainwater harvesting lessens local soil erosion and flooding
caused by the rapid runoff of water from impervious cover such as pavements and roofs. A reduced level
of storm water requires smaller sized storm water drainage systems.

Even though, the importance of rain water in meeting the fresh water demand is well known, the less
discussed factor is its role in saving the precious energy. Typically, fresh water supply system consists of
reservoirs or tube wells, number of water lifting pumps, pipe line net work, treatment plant and over head
tanks at different locations. The amount of energy required to supply fresh water is location specific. In
general, municipal water supply system consumes significant amount of energy. In Shivamogga city
where the house under study is located, water is supplied from a reservoir 12km away from the city by
gravity. Based on the records maintained by the water supply department, 34.1 million liters of water is
supplied every day, for a population of 0.348 million. The energy required for this purpose is around
27,700 units or 2.92kJ/liter. For a family size of four members, the annual energy consumption is
calculated to be around 417.8MJ/year.

The energy consumption may increase significantly, if water has to be supplied from a distant source
against gravity. In Vibha, rain water harvesting is adopted effectively. It has two big water storage tanks
of 20,000 and 10,000 liter capacity respectively. The first one is constructed right below the dining hall of
the house keeping the inspection door out side the building. The second one is located below the portico.
The water harvesting system consists of drain pipes from roof, water filters to separate out the physical
contamination and collecting tanks. Over flow water from the storage tank is led to an open well for
recharging. Rain water thus collected, is used for all the requirements during rainy season (100days) and
only for cooking, drinking and solar water heater for the remaining period (265 days). Well water is used
for other requirements like washing, cleaning etc., during the off monsoon days. A hand operated washer
pump is used to lift water from open well for few applications. Municipal water supply facility is not
availed at all. Periodic tests on stored water quality at medical laboratory indicate no growth of any type
of harmful bacteria. It endorses the claim that, water can be kept clean if it is stored in the absence of
light. Calculation of energy savings obtained due to the installation of RWH system is shown in Table 2.

The calculations shown in Table 2 indicate that, around 45% of water requirement is fulfilled by RWH
system. However, the energy savings due to RWH system is insignificant when compared to savings from

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other devices. Considering the other benefits listed earlier, it is felt that, the RWH system should be made
mandatory for all the existing as well as to be constructed houses.

It is worth mentioning here that, “Vibha” has gray water reuse facility and it is used to water the plants in
the garden saving a significant amount of fresh water. However, the energy savings in this regard is not
accounted far.

OVER ALL ENERGY SAVINGS

Table 3 gives the breakup of energy savings from various components discussed earlier. It can be seen
that, the total energy requirement of the house is 14,520 MJ/year and cooking and water heating toghether
constitute almost 70% of the total consumption. Further, the savings in external energy supply is 100%
for water heating. It is worth noting that, 55.8% of the total energy requirement is supplied from eco-
friendly devices. The major contribution for savings is from solar water heater (34.4%). The remaining
amount of savings (21%) is from other devices. Cooking energy requirement is highest (35.7%) but the
savings in this category is only 33% for the item and 11.8% with respect to total energy requirement. It
indicates that, there is scope for further increase in the savings in this item. It is also worth note that, there
are over 150 million households in India and even if 1% of the households adopt these features, the
savings amounts to a staggering 12 billion MJ energy.

COST OF CONSTRUCTION

All said and done, economics is the driving force behind most of the decisions. While constructing Vibha,
proper budgeting was done with an objective of incorporating eco friendly features with out any extra
cost. Low cost but durable materials were selected for flooring, doors and windows, walls, plumbing,
electrical fittings etc. Table 4 gives the break-up of the cost for various components of the house. It is
observed that, the cost of all the eco friendly features put together amount to only 13% of the total cost of
the house.

CONCLUSIONS

Based on the analysis made above, following conclusions are drawn.

1) Passive cooling techniques incorporated while designing the house result in energy savings also.
2) The energy savings from solar lighting system is marginal but can be increased with appropriate
modification in the system.
3) Almost 70% of the energy requirement of the house goes for cooking and water heating
4) There is scope for further savings in cooking energy requirement.
5) Rain water harvesting system is proved to be a reliable and sustainable fresh water source for the
entire year.
6) Gray water reuse/recharge solves waste related health problems and lessens the burden of waste
disposal.
7) 55.8% of the total energy requirement is supplied from eco-friendly devices
8) Total cost of eco friendly devices is insignificant when compared to the cost of the building
9) In India and even if 1% of the house holds adopt these features, the conventional energy savings
amounts to a staggering 12 billion MJ energy.

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REFERENCES

[1] IPCC (Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change) Reports; www.ipcc.ch

[2] Mili Majumdar, Energy Efficient Buildings in India, Tata Energy Research Institute, New
Delhi, 2002
[3] http://www.indiatogether.org/2008/jan/env-vibha.htm
[4] http://southasia.oneworld.net/Article/a-house-that-blends-well-with-nature
[5] MNES Annual Report: 993-94, Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources(MNES),
Government of India, New Delhi(India), 1994.
[6] Mani A, Rangarajan S. Solar Radiation over India. Allied Publishers, New Delhi (India),
1981
[7] Appropriate Rural Energy Technology Institute (ARTI), Pune, India

Table 1. Daily LPG Consumption for a House of Five Member Family

Sl. Item Duration of LPG Energy consumption Percentage

No. cooking(Min.) consumption(gm) (MJ/day) (%)

1 Tea/coffee 15 35.75 1.640 11.53

2 Breakfast 20 47.67 2.186 15.39

3 Rice (250 gm) 15 35.75 1.640 11.53

4 Sambar 25 59.58 2.729 19.23

5 Water boiling for 20 47.67 2.186 15.39

drinking (5 liter)

6 Milk boiling 10 23.83 1.093 7.70

7 Curry 15 35.75 1.640 11.53

8 Miscellaneous 10 23.83 1.093 7.70

Total 130 309.83 14.207 100

Table 2. Energy Savings due to RWH system

Roof area available for water collection 120 m2

Annual amount of rain water collected (rain fall 900mm, losses 20%) 86,000 liter

Water drawn from RWH system during monsoon for all the 40,000 liter
requirements (400 liter/day for 100 days)

Water drawn from RWH system during off monsoon period (100 26,500 liter

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liter/day for 265 days

Total amount of water drawn from RWH system 66,500 liter

Amount of water used in a year 400 liter/day for 365 days 1,46,000 liter

Amount of water recharged to open well 19,500 liter

Energy consumption for municipal water supply 2.92kJ/liter

Energy saved per year by incorporating RWH system 194.2MJ

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 FIG. 1. A VIEW OF THE ECO-FRIENDLY HOUSE ‘VIBHA’

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 Fig.2. Clay Tiles and Ventilator

Fig. 3 Sectional view of Kitchen waste biogas plant

Fig.4 Kitchen waste biogas plant