ENERGETICAL, ECOLOGICAL AND SUSTAINABLE OPTIMIZATION OF SKYSCRAPERS ALL OVER THE WORLD

Abstract

The climate protection is one of the greatest challenges of our time. Different countries face this problem with an ambitious climate policy and climate goals, especially in reducing CO2-emissions. The building sectors plays a crucial role. At international conferences with the goal of climate protection, different targets were defined. The Brundtland-Report “Our Common Future” (1987) characterized the term “sustainability” and indicates, that it is important to save resources and to act climate friendly. Also the Kyoto-Protocol, which came into effect in 2005, defined strategies for reducing CO2-emissions. In Germany nearly 30% of the final energy demand is used for the conditioning of buildings. As a consequence there is a large quantity of emissions for example of CO2. The European directive 2002/91/EG adopted by the European Parliament and Council in December 2002 regulates the energy demand of buildings in the different member states of the European Union. This balancing of the energy demand includes the demand for heating, ventilation, cooling, lighting and the supply of hot water. But it is not only important to decrease the energy demand, it is also necessary to reduce impacts on the environment. Additionally the indoor air quality is important for the users of an office building. This paper investigates the energy optimization for an exemplary office skyscraper. The building will be evaluated for different locations all over the world, including the specific climate conditions. Different energetic standards will be examined for the same building. In addition to the influence of the energetic standard, the proportions of the window area will be examined. To address all dimensions of sustainability next to climate comfort and ecological impacts also costs are considered during the operation period of the building. Different variations of construction will be assessed energetically with particular attention to the thickness of the insulation and the energetic quality of the windows. Therefore special cities with different climate boundary conditions in various countries and continents will be investigated. Furthermore indoor comfort criteria will be studied – also with regard to the different constructions and locations. As a result the inner temperature and humidity will be compared. Based on the outcome of the final energy demand the environmental expenses and effects and also the costs will be calculated for the period of operation. Special attention is paid to renewable and non-renewable primary energy input as well as the global warming and the acidification potential. Results consider the relation between climate regions and the minimum insulation as wells as the indoor air quality.