Anilkumar Mailvaganam
Sustainable Energy
“Our biggest challenge this new century is to take an idea that
seems abstract – sustainable development – and turn it into a
reality for all the world’s people.”
Kofi Annan, United Nations Secretary-General
speaking about the challenge of sustainable
development at the start of this millennium 1
Sustainable energy is the sustainable provision of energy that meets the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.2 There
are many kinds of technology that promote sustainable energy which include renewable
energy sources such as hydroelectricity, solar energy, wind energy, wave power, geothermal
energy and tidal power, as well as technologies used to improve energy efficiency.
The importance of sustainable energy according to Wikipedia is that sustainable
energy can benefit the environment because sustainable energy technologies are clean
sources of energy that have a much lower environmental impact than conventional energy
technologies. They do not also emit any greenhouse gases making the world a cleaner and
safer place. Furthermore, sustainable energy can prevent and reduce air emissions as well
as water consumption, waste, noise and adverse land-use impacts. Moreover, sustainable
energy provides energy for the future generations because renewable energy will never run
out and it prevents the rapid depletion of fossil fuel reserves and will empower future
generations to deal with the environmental impact of over-dependence on fossil fuels. It
also provides jobs because renewable energy can bring economical benefits to remote
communities, as many renewable energy plants are situated away from large cities which
can help in economic growth. Sustainable energy also lessens our dependence on fossil and
imported fuels. The Sarawak Corridor for Renewable Energy (SCORE) project in my state in
Malaysia is a good example of the government’s commitment towards using sustainable
energy in the development of Sarawak.
Nowadays there are more and more buildings that are being put up. Most buildings
are almost entirely covered in glass windows as seen in the picture below.
Anilkumar Mailvaganam
Two factors must be considered when putting up a building, the use of sustainable
energy and energy efficiency. A good example of this is the use of Tropiglas Advance Glazing
Technology which uses sunlight to obtain energy. When sunlight passes thought that glass
the ultraviolet rays and infrared radiation are reflected to the edge of the panel and are
converted into electricity. 80% of the visible light can pass through this pane of glass. An
average thirty story building uses tens of thousands square metre of glass which can
generate several hundred megawatt hour per year. According to Tropiglas the cost saving of
using this product is up to 40%. This product can save electricity and also suppress heat
propagation and block about 90% - 96% of the unwanted ultraviolet and infrared radiation.
Long exposure to this radiation can cause sunburn and some forms of skin cancer. Tropiglas
also reduces the running cost of air-conditioning systems because of the absence of any
metallic heat-absorption layers which would lead invariably to increased heat transfer
through thermal conductivity. Conversely, in cold climates, heat can be retained inside the
building, reducing energy consumption.
UV
Solar
Cell
VIS
Nano Struture
IR
Solar
Cell
IR: Infrared
UV: Ultraviolet
Spectrally selective coating
VIS: Visible light
The diagram above shows a cross section of a glass created by Tropiglas. It shows that as
sunlight passes through it the infrared and ultraviolet rays are deflected to the edge of the
glass panel and are converted into electricity. The visible light is allowed to pass through the
glass.
Anilkumar Mailvaganam
We can also generate electricity by utilizing our walkways. This is another example of
sustainable energy in a sustainable built environment. A green technology company called
Pavegen have a set of power-generating pavement tiles in London’s West Ham tube station.
The tiles absorb kinetic energy from people’s footsteps and turn that energy into usable
electricity. Each footfall on those tiles creates between five and seven Watts of energy. The
unused energy generated will be stored in batteries. I strongly feel that we can save so
much electricity by using power-generating pavement tiles because every day the
population
keeps
on
increasing.
The pavement slab moves under 5mm from each footstep. The tiles are made from nearly
100-percent recycled materials (mostly rubber) and some marine grade stainless steel. They
can be retrofitted to existing structures and are waterproof as well as designed to withstand
outdoor conditions and each tile is claimed to have a life of approximately 20 million steps
or 5 years. The system involves piezoelectricity. That’s where a crystal, quartz for instance,
will produce a charge if pressure is applied. The breakthrough is to make a piezoelectric
system produce significant energy from footsteps.
The picture below shows a Pavegen tile.
Anilkumar Mailvaganam
The picture above shows the slabs that were installed at the London 2012 Olympic
Games at West Ham tube station. In the future we can use this human power to power
streetlight and advertisements. We can make a sustainable built environment by using
products such as these in the future. Every country must be ready to spend some money
now on developing these kinds of products that produce sustainable energy in the long
term.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Nairobi, Kenya is a very good
example of utilizing sustainable energy. Buildings are an intrinsic part of our lives because
they provide us shelter and most people who spend most of their working lives in office
buildings will know how it has an influence on productivity, health and contentment. This
new building takes environmental sustainability to a new level. The building utilizes
maximum amount of natural lighting. Solar panels cover the roof space, automated low
energy lighting illuminates workspaces and energy efficient computers are used. The
rainwater is collected from the roofs to provide water for the fountains and ponds at the
four entrances, and sewage is treated in a state-of-the-art aeration system and recycled to
irrigate the beautifully landscaped compound. The design of the building maximises cooling
natural airflow through the building, all contribute further to sustainability. This building is
setting a very good example for buildings constructed in the future.
The ambition of this project was to make the new building energy neutral. Energy
neutrality means that the building produces as much energy as it consumes over the years. .
For example maximum use of natural light must be used. This is because IT and lighting are
the biggest consumers of electricity in offices. Excess solar power can be used by other
buildings in the compound and any shortfall will be met by the national power supply and
standby generators when necessary. This is to prevent the wastage of energy. This building
is estimated to consume 750000kWh per year or 42.5 kWh per square meter per year which
ranks it highly amongst green building worldwide. The energy neutrality is met when the
electricity needs are met by renewable energy generated by the building itself over the
Anilkumar Mailvaganam
years. This shows that the solar panel plays an important role in energy neutrality. The very
high solar yield in Nairobi supplies the panels with energy from the sun, which is then fed to
inverters and converted to the power that will run computers, lights and cafeterias. The
building was designed for maximum solar energy yield, with panels set on the flat,
north/south oriented roof of all four blocks.
In conclusion, sustainable energy is very important for our future. In Malaysia we have the
ZEO buildings in Bandar Baru Bangi which achieves energy neutrality through a combination
of reduced consumption and solar energy generation. Completed in 2007, the building is the
first of its kind in South-East Asia. We still have a long way to go towards achieving
sustainable energy and energy efficiency but we are on the right track.
Anilkumar Mailvaganam
Notes
1Building
for the Future: A United Nations Showcase in Nairobi
2Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_energy
Reference
1. http://www.worldenergy.org/documents/wei_2012_sm.pdf
2. http://umrefjournal.um.edu.my/filebank/published_article/2527/870.pdf
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_energy
4.http://www.penguinsonthinice.com/Sustainable%20Energy%20and%20Development%20fact%20s
heet.pdf
5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy_commercialization
6. http://planetgreen.discovery.com/feature/planet-100/top-5-radical-green-inventions-videonews.html
7. http://researchbank.rmit.edu.au/view/rmit:8694
8. http://www.tropiglas.com/how-it-works/
9. http://www.itproportal.com/2012/07/20/power-generating-tiles-light-olympic-walkway-usingfootsteps/
10. http://www.pavegen.com/west-ham-dashboard.php
11. http://www.gizmag.com/pavegen-tiles-kinetic-energy-harvesting/20235/
12. http://techocular.wordpress.com/2011/02/20/help-power-the-road-by-walking/
13. http://techocular.wordpress.com/2011/02/20/help-power-the-road-by-walking/
14. http://revmodo.com/2012/07/30/olympic-carbon-footprint-just-got-smaller/
15. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46dKC99N3FU&feature=plcp
16. http://www.unep.org/gc/gc26/Building-for-the-future.pdf
Anilkumar Mailvaganam