Last November 17, I had the opportunity to speak before the audience of The Future Energy Show Philippines 2020. Held back-to-back with The Future Energy Show Vietnam, it is the country’s largest energy conference and exhibition. This event is already in its 7th year, drawing a crowd of more than 8,000 participants and 200 exhibitors who showcased the best renewable and smart energy solutions available from across Asia.
My talk was about the strategies that can be used to reduce energy consumption in green buildings. These techniques and green design strategies are being utilized by ItalPinas Development Corporation in the way it designs and builds its projects.
We are primarily concerned about designing structures that save energy and water, and produce renewable energy without increasing the construction costs and, consequently, the selling price. Our ultimate goal is to provide sustainable projects at an accessible price.
One of the passive green strategies to reduce energy consumption is to increase natural ventilation inside the building’s units and common areas in order to reduce the use of aircon, which represents around 60% of total energy consumption in the country.
Increased internal ventilation can be achieved with the creation of internal vertical voids all throughout the building. The voids act like a natural chimney, enhancing the vertical ventilation of the entire building. This, together with the unit’s cross ventilation, represent the best way to increase natural building ventilation.
Facade shading is another technique that we use in order to control and reduce the temperature inside units and common areas. This has to do with creating cantilever structures and ledges that prevent the sun from hitting the building’s glass façade during the hottest hours of the day. We know that when direct sunlight hits glass surfaces, it produces what is called the “greenhouse effect”, increasing temperature in the indoor spaces.
Reducing the direct sun radiation — but not the indirect sun radiation –through shading will result in having lower temperature inside, therefore decreasing again the need for aircon. In this way, we are also able to have abundant natural light inside the units and common areas, reducing the need to use artificial lights and helping the unit owners save money on electric bills while helping promote a healthier environment.
The use of energy saving appliances–like energy efficient aircon and ref–and the use of energy saving lighting–like LEDs and CFLs–can augment the reduction of energy consumption.
To produce renewable energy, we apply photovoltaic solar panels on the building’s rooftop. This enables us to generate and deliver renewable energy to the building common areas so that the monthly condominium dues can be reduced.
These are just some of the passive green design solutions I presented in my talk and–to practice what is preached–also the green solutions we use at Italpinas for all of our projects.
I am grateful to the organizers of The Future Energy Show Philippines 2020 for the invitation and the opportunity to share the above-mentioned green concepts.
About Architect Romolo Nati
Romolo Valentino Benedetto Nati known as Romolo Nati or RVN, is a multi-awarded Italian architect and businessman with interest in sustainable development (energy and real estate). He is the current Executive Chairman and CEO of Italpinas Development Corporation (IDC), an Italian-Filipino real estate development firm that specializes in the design and development of sustainable buildings. He is also the Vice Chairman of the Philippine renewable energy company Constellation Energy Corporation (CEC) that focuses in acquiring, financing and developing small to medium-scale renewable energy projects across the Philippines. Follow Architect Nati on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.