Article taken from A&B 06|2023 issue
Energy-active solutions in architecture
The topic of energy began practical pro-environmental thinking about architecture in the second half of the 20th century, when theidea of sustainable development was just forming. Other issues, such as concern for the management of raw materials or the healthiness of the human living environment, were vague and far removed from the consumerist rush. At the time, buildings along with technological equipment were consuming more and more energy. So the prospects of reducing its resources caused immediate consequences - economic and political. At that time, energy-efficient design trends began to develop, the passive building standard was developed, and the challenge for plus-energy buildings was taken up. Initially, this was the dominant prism of the directions of eco-friendly architecture. Over time, it proved insufficient. New threads emerged, without which energy-saving efforts did not produce "balancing" effects, did not inhibit environmental degradation and the decline in the quality of human life. One of the most important issues emphasized at the beginning of the 21st century is the environmental footprint of buildings, covering their entire life cycle. As a result, the concept of the circular economy emerged, and energy began to be seen as an integral part of it. We no longer think only about the energy required for the operation of an erected building, but also about that required for the production of building materials, the construction process, future demolition and waste disposal. We juxtapose energy data with others measuring the consequences for the safety of raw materials, ecosystems or human well-being. It is also known that in order to achieve real energy results, we need to change our consumer attitudes and the economy that relies on them. Thus, the energy issue has become very complex and "immersed" in a much broader context of related processes. In the first twenty years of the 21st century, more attention was paid to other topics - raw materials, quality of life in cities, models for shaping green-blue infrastructure, climate change. At the time, it seemed that technological progress was so dynamic that any moment new material and installation possibilities would emerge that would free us from the problems of unreasonably thick layers of thermal insulation or the dilemmas of choosing heat sources. Unfortunately, the subject of energy has returned to us as a burning issue before the technological revolutions in this area. The global economic crisis, the increasingly unstable political situation, already clearly felt in many countries, are causing real threats of energy supply shortages and energy poverty, including in countries with relatively high previous living standards. Unfortunately, few countries have made good use of the last few decades for energy transition, and there is as yet no clarity on which directions to bet on. It is known that there is a need to move away from fossil fuels, but the argument over the superiority of renewable or nuclear energy is not definitively resolved. Thus, current energy considerations for building design are extremely complex and uncertain. On the one hand, it is impossible to develop unequivocal principles valuing the superiority of one solution over another, on the other hand, it is necessary to act.
Several issues seem to be key. One is the need for decisive action to improve the energy performance of existing buildings, which are still not talked about enough. For example, housing estates built at a time when requirements in this regard were low form a large part of the building stock of Polish cities. Thus, addressing them as a target group for energy regeneration measures will bring tangible benefits at the city scale. In their case, it makes the most sense to take a comprehensive approach that combines improvements in the thermal insulation of walls with opportunities for active renewable energy generation and overall improvement in the quality of these buildings. Great potential is provided by the possibility of retrofitting balconies (they can be made into greenhouse structures), introducing window shading systems, and even solving the greenery and paving around the buildings. So far, the effects of the eco-modernization of housing estates in Poland are not impressive. They are carried out on the basis of poorly coordinated individual actions. There should be real support programs for housing cooperatives and communities, including in the form of model projects and modernization methods.
In the case of newly designed buildings, the requirements of modern regulations can be considered to guarantee high energy efficiency. As designers, however, there is too little emphasis on passive, simplest and cheapest solutions. These include, for example, the pursuit of forms that are favorably shaped for the purposes of solar energy harvesting while being able to protect against excess energy and protect against heat loss. Also important is the rational arrangement of functions in the building due to thermal and light zoning, selection of the size of glazing and elements that protect them from excess sun. These solutions are well known and well described in the literature, and yet they are still too rarely used in projects, resulting in the need to compensate for the consequences of energy irrational architectural decisions with additional material and installation expenditures.
In view of the uncertain energy situation of the modern world and many questions about the direction of its development, it is important to stick to rational energy-saving methods associated with the aforementioned passive methods, as well as to change the consumerist approach to the use of space and to educate about energy-saving behavior. It is also important to increase opportunities to draw on renewable energy, for the time being considered the safest and "greenest". Technological progress in this area is significant, installations acquiring solar and wind energy are increasingly efficient and better suited for integration into buildings. It is necessary to seek opportunities for their application in new and existing buildings. However, it is important not to lose sight of the broader goals of environmental responsibility and control of the environmental footprint of proposed solutions, despite the nervous energy situation.
Katarzyna Zielonko-Jung
Katarzyna Zielonko-Jung - Architect, scientist, professor at Gdansk University of Technology. Graduate of the Faculty of Architecture at the Gdansk University of Technology and doctoral studies at the Faculty of Architecture at the Warsaw University of Technology. She is a co-author of the program and lecturer at the postgraduate program Architecture and Pro-Environmental Construction. She is the author of numerous publications related to the issues of pro-ecological architecture, especially its relationship with microclimatic phenomena in the urban environment. She is the author of the books "Contemporary Pro-ecological Architecture", "Combining traditional and advanced technologies in pro-ecological architecture" and "Spatial shaping of ecological architecture in the structure of the city". She has participated in research projects focused on sustainable architecture and urban climate improvement. She is a member of the Gdansk Council of Architecture, the Climate Council of UN Global Poland, the Mazovian Regional Chamber of Architects, and the Association of Polish Architects.
