1.

INTRODUCTION

In recent years, Malaysia has been moving towards greener mindset. Nowadays, there is more sense of environmental awareness than before in this country though it is still at a low level compared to countries like Denmark, Germany, or Japan. There has been progress over the years and recently hype is green buildings. Though there are a lot more about power generation and transport which are believed to be the major emitters of greenhouse gases, the buildings are actually the single largest contributor to global warming they account for 33% of global carbon dioxide emissions, according to the World Green Building Council. In Malaysia, commercial and residential buildings use up 48% of the electricity generated which is why green architecture is so important. In Malaysia, commercial and residential buildings use up 48% of the electricity generated which is why green architecture is so important. A low energy house or low energy building is any type of house that from design technologies and the building utilities use less energy, from any source compared the traditional or average building. Inspired by green building rating tools such as UKs BREEAM, USAs LEED, Japans CASBEE, Australias GREENSTAR, and Singapores GREEN MARK, to name a few, Malaysia introduced its very own Green Building Index (GBI) in early 2009. GBI was jointly developed by the Malaysian Institutes of Architects (PAM) and the Association of Consulting Engineer Malaysia (ACEM). Green rating tools by its nature and role is very dependent upon location and environment and thus climate. Malaysias Green Building Index or GBI will be the only rating tool for the tropical zones other than Singapore Governments GREEN MARK. So in other words, Malaysias GBI is customized to suit local conditions our climate, current state of development, and existing resources. Buildings are awarded GBI Malaysia ratings Platinum, Gold, Silver or Certified depending on six key criteria (generally based on the LEED certification of USA): 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Energy Efficiency Indoor Environmental Quality Sustainable Site Planning and Management Materials and Resources Water Efficiency Innovation
1

The Malaysian government is also very supportive of the development of green buildings in the country. In fact, recently it has been decided that all new government buildings must incorporate the features of GBI. Aside from that, in the recent tabling of Malaysias Budget 2010, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced tax exemption for building owners who obtain the GBI certificate. In addition, buyers of buildings with GBI certificates will also be exempted from stamp duty starting from October 24 2009 until December 31 2014 a good five years. A RM1.5 billion fund will also be set up to provide assistance to companies dealing with green technology. With such political will, Malaysia is set to progress much more significantly than ever before in the development of green buildings. Its about time anyway.

2.0

LOW ENERGY OFFICE BUILDING (LEO BUILDING)

The LEO building is one of the green building in Malaysia is aimed to achieve the low consumption of energy. The first LEO building in Malaysia is stated to be at the Putrajaya where here is located the Head Quarters of the Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water. This LEO building is launched officially by Minister of Energy, Water and Telecommunication of Malaysia, Y.B Dato Seri Dr. Lim Keng Yaik on 25 June 2005. The LEO building won first place in the Energy Efficient Building Best Practices Competition 2006 at the ASEAN level under the New and Existing Building category. The award was presented at a special ceremony organised on 27 July 2006 in conjunction with the 24th ASEAN Energy Ministers meeting in Vientiane, Lao PDR. The Deputy Minister of Energy, Water and Communications received the award on behalf of the Malaysian. This building have feature like 20,000 m2 gross floor area and would have an energy savings of RM 600,000.

Figure 2.1: LEO or low energy building that is located at the Putrajaya, Malaysia.

2.1

FUNCTION

LEO building is said to be the first Government building in Malaysia to incorporate a wide range of EE (energy efficiency) features and technologies exemplifies the Governments commitment and serious efforts in achieving sustainable development through energy efficiency and conservation. This building is constructed and builds with the aim to be a showcase building for energy efficiency and low environmental impact design. The main target is to minimize the energy consumption and also include the running cost but without sacrificing occupants comfort on that buildings. This building can give to a greener way of life and works. Other than that, this building also expected to achieve energy savings of more than 50% compare to the traditional building or common building in Malaysia. Although it is said the construction cost will be higher about 10% higher than the ordinary office building, the energy saving is expected of more than RM600, 000 per year, the predicted return on investment is less than 10 years. Furthermore by reducing the energy consumption about 1,700 tones of CO2 emission, it can be avoided annually and indirectly contributing to reduce the global warming effect and protecting the environment. A typical new office building in Malaysia and ASEAN region will have a Energy Index of 200-300 kWh/m2 year but for the LEO building it is targeted to set on 100 kWh/m2 year. This analysis show that the target will decrease in order to use less energy. This
3

LEO building also will acts as a catalyst for others to design and build energy efficient buildings in the future. This LEO building has it own EE that includes daylighting, EE office equipment, ventilation, control and sensor, orientation, insulation and energy management. To achieve the goal of 100 kWh/m2 the building must occupied certain characteristics which is the top and around of the building should be green environment. Other than that, the building orientation also must be optimized where the windows facing north and south where solar heats is less than. The building also must be insulated well in facade and roof. The LEO building also has the energy efficient cooling system where the air volume for each building zone is controlled individually according to the demand. The building is using less electricity and has an implementation of an Energy Management System. 2.2 SHADING Malaysia has hot climate and high humid temperature. The common temperature is between 24C to 35C. This is the main point to the modern energy efficient design. In the office working areas, a controlled and conducive environment is essential for the occupant comfort and for the productive input. The windows are oriented to the north and the south in the LEO building. This orientation will give less direct sunshine and only shallow out shading to shade off the sun. The east and also west orientation will receives more suns and as the results the sun is more difficult to shade off due to the low sun angles for the radiation in the morning an also afternoon. In the exterior aspects, two types of window facade are used. The punch holes window facades in the lower floors and the curtain wall windows with exterior shading in the upper floors. The wall of the LEO building consist of 200mm aerated concrete and also exterior surface have light colours in order to reduce the solar heating on the walls. The concrete wall has an insulation value which is 2.5 times better compared to the traditional building which is made by brick wall. The roof of the building is insulated with 100mm insulation compared to the normal which is 25mm. The roof surface is also protected by a second canopy roof. In the roof also, the green landscaping that will provides shading and will improves the aesthetics of the roof areas. On the top of atrium, there is a solar chimney. The air in the gazed cavity is heated by the sun and after that the rising hot air will pulls out the air from atrium and the fresh air will entered at the bottom of the atrium.
4

The local temperature in the outside of the building can be reduced by using the cooling effect of trees, greenery and also water areas. In the big city with high heat island effect, the feature will help to create optimal comfortable, local micro-climatic conditions for buildings and people.

Figure 2.2: the punch hole windows in LEO buildings.

2.3 COMFORT & INDOOR AIR QUALITY In a tropical climate, a person will be increasingly uncomfortable with increased air temperature, humidity and radiant temperature. The recommended indoor temperature is range on 23C to 26C with the recommended relative humidity is 60%-70%. Buildings therefore have to be tight, and the fresh air intake has to be controlled for optimum quality of the indoor air. In the LEO Building, intake of outside air is controlled according to CO2 level of the indoor air, and thereby controlled according to the occupancy level. The more people in the building, the more fresh air intake required. It is noted that low temperature and low humidity is uncomfortable, unhealthy and expensive. Office air temperatures lower than 22C to 23C means that people will have to dress up with warmer clothes, and the cooling load of the building increases. In the LEO Building, the quality of the indoor air is further improved by the use of electronic air cleaners, instead of normal fibre filter to clean the incoming air from particle pollutants. 2.4 DAYLIGHT

Natural light is the preferred light source for human beings. In Malaysia, daylight is plentiful during the normal office hours throughout the year. Therefore daylight can be an important light source to help reduce energy use for artificial lighting to provide adequate building design. The challenge in the daylight design is on how to design window and shading which lets daylight in, prevent the sunlight to enter the building, and reduces glare problems from the windows. In the LEO building, these criteria are achieved through a combination of exterior shading and glazing which in turn allows 65% of the light through and allowed only 51% of the heat through. The atrium allows daylight. This will improve the energy savings and also the user comfortness. A daylight responsive control system on lighting system is combined with a motion detector which automatically shuts off lighting and reduces the cooling once an office is unoccupied. This is in order to controll the artificial lighting. The artificial lighting will automatically shuts off when daylight is sufficient to satisfy the lighting need. In the future the advanced glazing will become available. Glazing that filters the sunlight such that the visible light has preference and solar heat is avoided. This glazing reflects will reflect the invisible infrared and ultraviolet and also heat away from the building.

Figure 2.3: The daylight entering the atrium spaces. 2.5 OFFICE APPLIANCES

Office equipments such as computers, printers, and a copy machine are responsible for the increased electricity consumption and thereby responsible for additional increase in cooling
6

load. To reduce this, LEO building has made an emphasis to reduce the electricity consumption for the equipment. Simulation with the Energy-10 computer tool confirms the significance of the office equipment and the overall energy consumption. From this the energy consumption will be reduced from 25 to 10 kWh/m2/year. The main energy consuming for office is said to be the personal computer with its screen (computer with PC) with 150W. The LCD screen computers is said to be more efficient in reducing energy with 80W but more better if use the portable laptops computers with energy use of 30W only. This is because the laptops have its own energy efficient on the on the maximum battery life. 2.6 ENERGY MANAGEMENT

For the low consumption of energy such as LEO building, a comprehensive energy management system (EMS) is one of the prerequisite matters. The energy management system will monitor on a continuous basis of the energy consumption of the building. From this system, the action can be taken if the abnormal high energy used is detected. This EMS need installation of a metering system in order to measure the energy used. In the LEO building, the system will be placed at each floor and section to detection of uses of energy on cooling, lighting and plugging. The temperature on the various parts also will be monitored. 2.7 BENEFITS

Generally, the low energy buildings have it own benefits such as low energy bills. The owners or the occupants of this building can keep their cost under control and become less vulnerable to future fluctuations of energy prices. Other than that, this LEO building will have an excellent indoor climate. The use of the mechanical ventilations flows will help to eliminate air pollutants away and will provide fresh air indoor. LEO building also have a pleasant warmth. Especially on the overseas country that have experience four seasons, during the winter and also summer, the large fluctuations in temperature are not practically non exist. Lastly the LEO building will have a better acoustical and visual comfort. The bioclimatic design and performing insulation of the glazed and also opaque walls will protect the buildings occupants from the outside noise pollutions and will brings more natural light into the premises instead of using the artificial light. 2.8 SUMMARY
7

The LEO building is one of the best ways to reduce the consumption on energy by cutting the source that use more energy in office especially. Malaysia is said to be the highest energy consumer. This is also good in order to achieve the greener way of life. Malaysia also has sign to be one of the member in Kyoto Protocol. By developing green building such as LEO building, the principle in National Energy Policy can be achieved in the environmental objective that to minimize the negative impact of energy production, transportation, conversion, utilization and consumption on the environment. This building can achieve energy savings of more than 50% compare to the traditional building or common building in Malaysia. Energy Index of normal building is 200-300 kWh/m2 year but for the LEO building it is targeted to set on 100 kWh/m2 year. This decreased show that the lower consumption of energy. Each floor has its own air handling unit (AHU) and it is sub-divided into smaller zones, where the provision of chilled air is controlled with a Variable Air Volume (VAV) damper. The VAV damper controls the chilled air volume to the zone according to the temperature set point instead of using normal air conditioning that will use power required to run air conditioning consumes fossil fuel, depleting reserves, and again, adding to global warming. Artificially changing the temperature from ambient levels confuses the body's regulating mechanisms, designed to synchronize our bodies with seasonal variations and lowers resistance to infection infections we are more likely to get as a result of breathing recycled air. Every advantage will have other side on the disadvantages. One of the disadvantages is to build and prepared building like LEO building needed very large cost because the satisfaction of this building is in the higher ranking. But this high cost level will benefit in the future that the energy can be saved more. People will say that the building will make waste in the construction cost because the impact of this building is not seen today yet.

3.0

GREEN ENERGY OFFICE BUILDING (GEO BUILDING)

Green building is a building designed with green technology that is low-carbon technologies and environmentally friendly nature. In an effort towards greening the earth, the government has taken several initiatives such as come out with buildings that apply green technologies. One
8

of the building that applied green technologies is Pusat Tenaga Malaysia (Malaysia Energy Center), previously known as ZEO (Zero Energy Office) Building. It is a combination of two projects which are Super Energy Efficient Building Design (Super Low Energy with BEI 35-40 kWh/m2/year) and Malaysian Integrated Photo-Voltaic, MBIPV (with Solar PV 92 kWpeak installation), hence resulting PTM Zero Energy Office, ZEO with BEI target 0 kWh/m2/year (demonstrate 10-15 years Energy Efficient building technology). Or in other meaning the amount of energy used by the building is counter balanced by the amount of energy generated by its own renewable energy power generation system which contributes ti its name ZEO Zero Energy Office. It is officially Malaysias first Green Building Index (GBI) Certified Building. Now it is known as Green Energy Office Building recognized in short GEO building. It is also Malaysias first completed green-rated office building. Since its completion in October 2007, a staff of 60 has occupied the three-level ZEO building in Bandar Baru Bangi, Selangor. The RM 20 million projects by the Energy, Water and Communications Ministry, was co-ordinate by Danish consultancy IEN.

Figure 3.1: GEO Building Fashioned after the Low Energy Office (LEO) building initiated by the Ministry of Energy, Water and Communications (MEWC) in Putrajaya, the PTMs ZEO building has placed Malaysia on the regional map as the first completely self-sustainable building in Southeast Asia. Spread over a 5-acre site in Bandar Baru Bangi, Selangor, the building located 40 kilometers south of the city centre of Kuala Lumpur, operates on the dynamics of both passive

and active techniques and on-site renewable energy generation, as exemplified in the solar BIPV system. The business of sustainability is big news, by any standards. The PTMs ZEO building serves as a pilot project that provides a platform for proof of concept in driving forward the goals of the Malaysian building industry (developers, consultants, architects, local professionals and academia at large) in the subject of sustainable building design. This is great news as most building in Malaysia are energy inefficient most of them record higher Building Energy Index (BEI) beyond the benchmark for Energy Efficient Buildings (EEB) set at 135 kWh per square meter per year (the kWh per square meter of the BEI is derived based on dividing the total kWh or electricity used per year by the building area based on meter square calculations). 3.1 BIPV SYSTEM

Pre-programmed into the buildings DNA are energy efficient features and the BIPV system they make up the backbone of this self-sufficient, fully sustainable landmark. As such, PTMs ZEO building does not use fossil fuels, driving home the point that an office building need not consume electricity derived from this source. Instead, all electricity needed by the building is being generated by its own solar building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) systems. BIPV are photovoltaic materials that are used to replace conventional building materials in parts of the building envelope such as roof, skylights or facade. Four BIPV systems were incorporated into the building as part of the building element during the design stage of the building. In all, four different solar BIPV systems utilizing four different technologies have been installed into PTMs ZEO as follows:

SYSTEM

BIPV MODULES

AREA

TARGET CAPACITY (kWp)

INSTALLED CAPACITY (kWp)

EXPECTED kWh (based on 1200 kWh/kW/year

A B

Polycrystalline Amorphous

Main roof Second main

44.5 5.88

47.28 6.08

53 400 7 056

10

silicon C Glass-glass semi transparent D Integrated monocrystalline Total

roof Atrium 10.0 11.64 12 000

Car park

25.0

27

30 000

85.38

92

102 456

Table 3.1: Summary details of BIPV used in GEO. The solar BIPV systems are all linked up to grid-connected inverters that convert the produced direct current (DC) electricity into alternating current (AC) electricity. For purposes of verifying the electricity production, electricity generation is recorded through the meter. In this case, no battery is installed as the generated solar electricity is directly consumed and the net surplus sold to Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) on a net meter basis. Besides that, the electricity generated from the PV is sold to the national utility (Tenaga Nasional Berhad, TNB) at the same purchased tariff of RM0.323 sen/kWh. Looking at the example of a total BIPV capacity of 92 kWp, the anticipated target for annual electricity generated from solar BIPV systems stands at 102 MWh. To date, the BIPV systems have produced about 103 MWh/year average, based on actual output over three months. Buildings that are not energy efficient would need more than 92 kWp as compared to PTMs ZEO. Besides that, an additional feature is added to System A and System B where it will act as cooling tower at night. The chiller runs only at night and the cooling is stored in the concrete floor slabs by running cold water pipes embedded in the slabs. At night, the water normally sent to the cooling tower is trickled over two solar photovoltaic roofs and collected again for another cycle. These measures keep the water bill to only RM50 a month.

11

Although various problems cropped up that affected the chiller efficiency, the system meant that no cooling tower was needed, the solar panels replaced the normal roof, the running water cleans the solar panels while the roof also traps rainwater. Reimann said they are still working on improving the system so that the building will achieve zero-energy usage, as initially intended.

Figure 3.2: 92 kWp BIPV installed in the GEO Building.

12

Figure 3.3: Cooling Tower system of System A and System B BIPV systems installed complement the energy efficiency concepts of the whole building. Since the migration of the office in October 2007, PTM has been receiving an average of 80 to 90 visitors per month from educational background, professional and private sectors. Under the MBIPV project itself, PTM through its BIPV systems has been receiving wide publicity from local and international media. As a showcase project, it is expected that the BIPV systems serve as a good reference case for spinning of BIPV projects in Malaysia. 3.2 RADIANT COOLING (UNDERFLOOR COOLING)

The temperature people feel is an average (effective temperature) of the air in a room and the radiant temperature from the surrounding surfaces. If the floor temperature is 18oC and the room temperature is 26 oC people will feel it as 22-24 oC. Therefore, with floor cooling the room temperature can be increased compared to air-conditioning system. The floors of the building take on a cooling effect role, thanks to the insertion of embedded Cross-linked polyethylene (PEX) pipes in this building within the concrete floor slabs. During the day, the stored cooling effect (water) is released from the floor slabs to the rooms above and below them, directly contributing to the cooling effect of the building that is also supplemented minimally by air-cooling systems. And ambient cooling and evaporation during the night cools the water for use the following days. Radiant floor take advantage of effective temperature. The radiant-floor system take advantages of the phenomenon that the suns rays
13

coming in through the skylight only warm up the surfaces they hit not the air. The heat never really enters the space. With this cooling system, the sunlight hits the floor. And heat is taken away by circulating water in the embedded PEX pipes in the floor. Since the slab never warms up, the solar energy never becomes a load in the space. Radiant cooling takes advantage of the fact that it is more efficient to remove heat from water than to remove it from air. The energy required to pump air is more than the horsepower to pump water to remove the same quantity of heat. ZEO achieves 75% of its cooling requirements by radiant cooling. While the remaining 25% of its cooling requirement is achieved by conventional air-conditioners, powered by electricity generated by its own the BIPV system.

Figure 3.4: Underfloor cooling: application concept.

14

Figure 3.5: Close in view of the PEX pipes installation in floor slab. 3.3 LIGHTING SYSTEM

A typical Malaysian building would have been all walled up, and the dark interiors lit with multiple artificial lights but not so the ZEO building. It is 100% daylit during daytime. It appears to embrace the sun and this is just one of the many tricks employed in the building to conserve energy. This building applied good orientation for daylighting by having majority of its windows and doors faced towards North and South.

Figure 3.6: ZEO Building orientation

15

The windows have been integrated with mirror lightshelves which functioned as daylight facade. Besides, the building itself has Step-in design which provide self-shading. The roof also transparent and thus allows light coming into the rooms on top of the building.

Figure 3.7: Step-in design (self-shading) in the GEO Building.

16

Figure 3.8: Typical section

Figure 3.9: Lighting design. The implementation of high performance Double Glazing Windows with Integrated Blinds also complements the call for energy efficiency. Glass used in double glazing window for thermal
17

insulation is known as Low E, or low-emissivity glass. It has a transparent metallic coating that works in two ways to economize heating energy. The dual action coating reflects cool air back into the room, whilst allowing light from the sun to pass through. Besides, its ability is also to harness high visible light at low infra-red (IR) and ultra-violet (UV) transmittance. As for the integrated blinds, the lower surface is painted with white and the upper surface is the layer of reflective aluminium. While the Reflective Mirrors or mirror lightshelf helps enable diffuse sunlight to be thrown deeper into the building thus increases the brightness inside the building. The result is the effective harnessing of natural daylight minus, to a great degree, unnecessary heat radiation into the building. Thus, the usage of air conditioner will be minimized in the building. Moreover, the noise from outside will be reduced at the same time too.

Figure 3.10: Double Glazing Windows (Vision Windows). 3.4 INDOOR ENVIRONMENT

Careful thought has also gone into the preservation of air quality achieved via the process of dehumidification. Given the fact that dehumidification of air quality in buildings consumes a great amount of electricity, a desiccant heat wheel that operates by replacing incoming hot and humid fresh air with cooler and drier exhaust air is used to counteract this effect.
18

Inside the building, energy efficient lighting fixtures are used. The LED tasklight which consume 6.2 W power and suspended T5 tube (2x) up/down lighter c/w DALI ballast. Another energy efficient is the office equipment where PC with CRT monitor with ~120-180 W power consumption are not used by the workers. Instead, they use PC with LCD monitor with ~70-90 W power consumption. Besides that, netbook or laptop with only ~15-35 W power consumption also encouraged. 80% of the PC used in the ZEO building is laptop. Rainwater is use for condenser side cooling system and irrigation. The use of piped water is only 1/3 of the total amount of water used for ZEO building. Sensors are widely integrated in the building, some of them are daylight sensor where the brightness sensor (ranges from 1-20000 lux) can send switching telegrams to EIB actuators when the brightness exceeds or falls below a specified threshold. Then the light will be automatically on. The occupancy sensors consist of physical sensors or movement detector and thermal movement detection. 3.5 SUMMARY

A standard building consumes between 200 and 300 kWh/sqm annually and it is equivalent to 150-200 kg/sqm per year. But a well-designed building like GEO only consumes 35 kWh/sqm/year! The building sector is still the single polluting sector in the world. According to IEA, the sector not only consumes 40% of energy, it also releases 30% of greenhouse gases and produces 25%-40% of solid waste. Thus now it is time to design building so that they do not give further construction on earth. According to Poul Erik Kristenen, Managing Director of IEN Consultants Sdn. Bhd. Malaysian buildings are known to be leaky. With hot and humid air leaking into the building, additional energy is needed to dehumidify buildings. While Malaysia neither is nor used to building airtight buildings, what seems to be lacking is the awareness of a better usage of materials in different conditions. He says Malaysian building do not need Low E glazing for its window as it is designed for cold climate countries. He added that what we need here is specifically selected solar glazing or the solar control glazing that still allows light in but keeps the UV and Infrared rays out, which will save on the cooling load.

19

4.0

DIAMOND BUILDING

Figure 4.1: Diamond Building in Putrajaya towers over (from left) Gregers Reimann of IEN Consultants, architect Nafisah Radin and Energy Commision head of promotion and communication Md Yuha Ismail Photo by Mohd Sahar, The Star. It looked like an upside-down pyramid with top buried in the ground and greenish glass window. This building is the Energy Commission headquarters which built with green concept. Officially launched by deputy prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin in May 2011, the building is home to the Energy Commission of Malaysia. IEN Consultants Sdn Bhds third green building project in Putrajaya, the first two being the Green Energy Office (GEO) Building, currently the most energy-efficient office building is South-east Asia, and the Low Energy Office (LEO) Building. It is completed on December 2009 with construction cost of RM 60 million, and the client is Senandung Budi SDN BHD. The Diamond Building in Precinct 2, Putrajaya, the administrative capital of Malaysia, an energy efficient and sustainable seven-storey building on a 5000 square meter site is the first building to be awarded the Malaysian Green Building Index (GBI) Platinum award and the Singapore Building & Construction Authority (BCA) Green Mark for Buildings (Overseas) Platinum award.
20

At the start of the project, the consulting team went on a series of study trips, which included trips to Singapore in 2005 to study the green buildings there. In Thailand, they were impressed with the work of architect Dr Soontom Boonyatikam, who eventually became the principal architect for the Diamond Building. 4.1 LIGHTING SYSTEM

Figure 4.2: The atrium of the Diamond Building, designed to optimize daylight utilization. The atrium was designed to optimise daylight utilisation with reflector panels and an automatic roller-blind system that responds to the intensity as well as the angle of the sunlight. The sensors detect how much light is to be allowed and activate the blinds appropriately. The air in the atrium was cool, despite the bright sunlight from the skylight.

Figure 4.3: Daylight utilization

21

Figure 4.4: Control of daylight and glare

Its all natural light, said architect Nafisah Radin, whose firm NR Architect was involved in the design of the building. The light comes from the roof through a light trough. The offices and worktables are all placed near the glass windows either looking towards the outside of the building or into the atrium. This is to make best use of available daylight. But somewhere on the seventh floor is the lounge area, located in an area where there are no windows. Yet, the colourful area with its sofas and paintings on the wall are brightly illuminated. On the other hand, the public areas such as the corridors are located in the centre where there is the least amount of light. In addition, each workstation is also provided with a task light, which promotes lower energy consumption compared to a traditional office. Staffs are advised not to put too many items on window sills, so as not to affect daylight performance. Everything is designed so that the amount of light is always at a comfortable level, and computer screens do not fade out in the glare. One of the major design targets for the Diamond Building was to make it highly daylit. During the day, daylight is deflected onto the ceiling by the facade mirror light shelf system which ensures a good daylight distribution of up to 5 m from the facade.
22

Two sides of the building face north and south. While the suns path is from east to west, it will sometimes tilt to the north or to the south. The tilt angle is about 25, so the buildings facade is also tilted at 25. The north and south facades are self-shading, said Reimann. Of course you will still have the morning sun and afternoon sun in the east and west. But the time of exposure to direct sunlight would also be lessened because of the inclination. The solar exposure on the east and west sides is reduced by about 40%, thus there is only diffused sunlight which is softer.

Figure 4.5: A building shape defined by sun. The windows that face the atrium gradually increase in size from the upper floors down to the lower floors where there is less sunlight. Reflective panels (which resemble half a Christmas tree) on the fourth and fifth floors, tilted at 10 degrees, help to reflect light across to the first and second floors. The interiors are also naturally lit through the use of mirror light shelves. Installed above the windows, these deflect daylight onto the white ceiling to illuminate the entire room. And yes, there is a reason why everything is painted white. Even on an overcast day, lights are not needed as the automatic blinds will be fully open. When the blinds are fully closed (during bright sunshine), they still let 30% of the light
23

through, so daylight can be used throughout the day. Reimann said it is only during a heavy rainstorm, when it gets really dark, that lights have to be turned on. The electric lights are off 50% of the time. This buildings energy consumption is only about one-third that of a normal building, said Reimann. You can still find window blinds in the building even though there is no harsh light. This is because daylight changes, and the blinds are needed for those periods when the light is glaring. In the future, task lights or table lamps will be distributed to everyone. That will ensure lights are only switched on for individual needs. When you are more than 50 years old, your eyes need 30% more light, said Reimann. Right now, that person would switch on the light and everyone else also gets the light. That is of course a waste of energy. Once we distribute the task lights, only that person would switch on his or her task light. The design of the building calls for a large void in its middle to allow daylight to filter in. Some might see that as space wastage but not Reimann. Well, many buildings have central atriums, so I dont think you can consider it wasted space. Just think of shopping malls. They also have atriums even though in principle, it could have been expensive rental space. But buildings (or shopping malls) with a very deep floor plate lose their attractiveness, hence, the common use of a central atrium. In Denmark it is illegal to build work spaces without a certain amount of daylight. This means that most Malaysian buildings would be illegal in Denmark and would not get their building permit. I know that Malaysia does not yet have such a regulation, but perhaps it will be coming. People simply feel much better when they are in visual contact with the outside. Reimann says: For the lighting system, we saved almost 80% of energy, half from the use of energy- efficient lighting fixtures and half from use of daylighting. 4.2 WATER EFFICIENCY

The Diamond Building also adopted the Floor Slab Cooling (FSC) technology, the second building to do so in Malaysia after the GEO Building. Reimann explains that the technology makes the building structure function as a thermal storage system by embedding flexible 22 mm PERT pipes in the reinforced concrete slabs during construction. Forty per cent of the cooling comes from chilled water slabs.
24

He says: At night, 18C cold water is circulated in the slabs to cool them down to about 21C. During the daytime, the system is shut off, and the floor slab passively absorbs heat gains from people, computers and solar gains. He pointed out that the advantages of the floor slab cooling system include reducing cooling transport energy by 64%; shifting much of the cooling to the slabs so that the air handling unit (AHU) system can be down-sized by about 30%; and shifting 30-40% of the cooling to night time so that the building can enjoy lower off-peak energy rates. The Diamond Building has another unique feature to boast of, the first-of-its-kind heat recovery shower system, which was installed for the convenience of those who opt to cycle to work. The system provides hot showers that are heated to about 38C by solar heating. In this case, the copper pipe of the incoming cold water, which is about 27-28C, is coiled around the pipe of the outgoing hot water, which allows the latter to transfer about 30-40% of its heat to the incoming pipe. This reduces the energy demand of the heater. Reimann says: In the big scheme of things, this system does not make such a big impact as the energy consumption for heaters is very little. However, it is a fun installation and we installed it in such a way that people can see how it works. Hopefully, the system will inspire more people to give more thought to heat recovery systems. The Diamond Building also has in place a grey water system. Instead of going to the sewer, all water from the sinks and floor traps (grey water) is piped separately through a sand filter to a collection tank from where it is re-used for the irrigation of a mini-wetland. Besides, rainwater is harvested for toilets and gardens. Thus saving 70% to 80% on water usage. This system helps recycle about 2,000-3,000 litres of water every week day. Together with the use of water-efficient fittings and rainwater harvesting, the building has successfully reduced its water consumption by an amount that is equivalent to the use of 12 households. 4.3 VENTILATION

Unlike traditional office buildings which often consume a lot of energy to ventilate the basement car park, the Diamond Building basement car park features a sunken courtyard that helps promote natural ventilation. Energy- efficient equipment and motors are installed in the car park, as well as carbon monoxide (CO) sensors, which only activates the ventilation system when CO exceeds certain limits.
25

4.4

ENERGY EFFICIENCY

According to associate director and energy consultant of IEN Consultants Gregers Reimann, a normal building in Malaysia consumes about 210 kWh/m year. In comparison, the Diamond Building consumes just under one third of that, or 65 kWh/m year (excluding the energy generated by solar photovoltaics). He says: The building was designed to have an energy index of 85 kWh/m/year, so, right now, it is actually more efficient than what it was designed for. However, we need to keep in mind that the building is not yet fully occupied. Even so, the energy index should still be within the design target with full occupancy. Says Reimann, the shape of the building came about after a study of the solar path for the site was conducted. He says: We found that a 25 tilt angle of the facades ensures that the north and south facades are fully self-shaded during the hottest mid-day hours. As for the east and the west facades, the tilting facade helps to reduce the solar impact by 41%. Thin-film solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, currently the most efficient type in Malaysia, that were installed on the roof of the Diamond Building provide about 1,400 kWh/kWp per year or 10% of the buildings energy needs. This has helped cut its energy bill by about RM40,000 every year. With the implementation of the feed-in tariff, this savings is estimated to be about three to four times higher. This also translates into a savings of 63 tonnes of CO which, together with the 1,350 tonnes of CO savings from energy efficiency, is equivalent to taking 700 cars off the road, assuming that each car travels a distance of 12,000 km per year.

26

Figure 4.6: Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) 4.5 SUMMARY

According to IEN Consultants Sdn Bhd, the Diamond Building has 57% electricity savings (CO emission savings correspond to taking 324 cars off the road), 71.4 kWp solar PV plant (CO emission savings correspond to taking 30 cars off the road), Water-efficient fittings, rainwater harvesting and grey water recycling (water saved corresponds to consumption of 12 households), Conducive working environment (50% daylighting, good air quality and passive slab cooling), Additional savings come from the 35% savings on the district cooling consumption for the building. Amazingly, all these green features combine to create an energy savings of almost RM1 million every year in the buildings operational cost. Reimann says: The green cost of the Diamond Building is only about 6% (including PV) with a payback period of about 3.5 years. There is a
27

common perception that going green is expensive, but the real fact is that not going green can be even more expensive. It just makes perfect economic sense to go green. But even with all these energy-saving and green features, one thing is still needed to ensure optimum performance peoples habits and attitudes. Malaysians in general seem averse to any sunlight and would pull down the blinds in a second. Md Yuha Ismail, head of promotion and communication in the Energy Commission, said the staff had been prepared for their new experience even before they moved to the building in June last year. We had a series of talks and we even brought them to this building just to have them experience it beforehand. Even now, we encourage them to not use the lifts but the stairs instead. It is an ongoing process. And its been good, because we achieved an energy index of 65kWh/m2 per year, when our initial target was 85. Said Md Yuha There are regular talks on sustainability by experts for the staff.

5.0

G TOWER HOTEL

Aside from government building, the awareness to go green arouse among other business too. One of them is the establishment of G Tower, the first green hotel in Malaysia. It was built on March 28, 2010. G Tower Hotel is proving a force to be reckoned with by winning big at the Hospitality Asia Platinum Awards (HAPA) 2010 2012 and Malaysia Interior Design Awards (MIDA) 2010. Formerly known as The G City Club Hotel, it is now re-branded as the G Tower Hotel. The re-branding exercise follows after the hotels recognition across various industry awards. G Towers New Working Concept is a pioneer in the real estate industry, changing the way buildings are being designed, constructed and operated in Malaysia by harnessing the latest technologies and innovation to build Green and Smart. G Tower was built in order to save the energy, water and the environment. Through the adoption of the latest Green Building Technologies to achieve a more sustainable, low-energy and healthy environment, G Tower boasts a 25% energy reduction compared with other buildings of similar size and location.

28

Figure 5.1: G Tower Jalan Tun Razak G Tower is located just 30 metres from the Ampang Park Light Rail Transit (LRT) subway which is 400 meters from the KLCC Park perimeter and only 45 minutes by road to KL international Airport. It is also close to the foreign diplomatic community of Jalan Ampang and the U-Thant enclave. Strategically located at the crossroads of Jalan Tun Razak and Jalan Ampang, the G Tower has strong environmental-friendly credentials due to its placement within Malaysias first internationally green-related building G Tower. The green credentials are further complimented by full MSC Malaysia Cyber centre status certification, highlighting rooms and services that feature a fully converged data and information network. The building is a 30-storey twin tower owned by Goldis Berhad and was built at an estimated cost of RM 470 million. This boutique hotel is a mixed-use development containing a 180room 5-star hotel that employs contemporary minimalist concept that provides guests more space to work, a 100000 ft2 of general office space, another 400000 ft2 spread amongst 112 CEO duplex suites and numerous meeting rooms. Additionally, there is a private club, lobby

29

bar or caf, rooftop bar, other food & beverage outlets and a wellness floor with gym, yoga, spa and pool facilities. 5.1 CONCEPT

The tower recently received the Green Mark Gold Award given out by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) of Singapore and GBI Certified Award. Located at the crossroads of two major thoroughfares in downtown Kuala Lumpur, G Tower was a huge green walls and refreshing rooftop gardens. The building was designed from the start, properly oriented to the sun, has more water features, overlay green walls, koi pond and green walls system to help cooling effects. All these things assist greatly during design and construction of the building. The 180 room hotel provides superb business facilities and is specifically designed for corporate and business executives. The entire building is equipped floor-to-floor with fibre optic and CAT6 cables to ensure superior high-speed broadband internet access. Wi-Fi is available everywhere. Each room comes equipped with high-speed broadband on demand to every room, Wi-Fi hotspots, IP telephony, IT Concierge, business secretarial services and of course, access to The Club, an exclusive private club on the penthouse floor of GTower. All rooms in GTower Hotel come loaded with state-of-the-art technology and gadgets such as iPod docks, IP televisions, complimentary broadband as well as IP telephony. Necessary comforts for the busy executive to recharge and get inspired are close at hand, such as executive writing desks, LCD flat screen television in the bathroom, premium toiletries, rain shower, designer furniture and slumber beds. Other than that, all four function rooms which are located on the Mezzanine floor of GTower benefit from natural sunlight and fully-integrated audio visual equipment such as start of the art audio visual equipment, high-speed internet access and 46 LCD televisions. 5.2 ENERGY EFFICIENCY

The building is designed to maximize energy. Energy efficient building systems will cut carbon dioxide emissions by at least 60%. The IT infrastructure alone is expected to produce 30% energy savings. 3Coms Intelligent Building Solutions (3CiBS) products was installed. It was the products which combines state of the art hardware and software that optimize network capacity while reducing power consumption and carbon emissions.
30

The building use double glazed glass panel with a layer of vacuum trapped in between that cuts down on heat transmission via neither conduction nor radiation. It was allowing for maximum entry of natural light while minimizing the amount of not only heat transmission but also noise pollution. For parts which receive direct heat from the sun, less glass is used. Furthermore, this will cuts down electricity and air-conditioner usage. The building also used efficient lighting system with motion sensor in toilets and staircases. Light will automatically switch on when sensors are activated by movements in these areas and thus control and minimize the usage of electricity. Light fixtures in the hotel utilize low energy LED lighting, energy savings PLC and T5 lighting providing ambient lux level, whilst minimizing energy consumption. Green food for thought, a LED light bulb can reduce energy consumption by 80-90% and last around 100,000 hours. It can reduce the cooling load by 5.4%. There were also efficient elevators and escalators. They will have dual mode system in which escalators will operate on a slower speed when not in use. 5.3 WATER EFFICIENCY

Another green initiative was a system to harvest rainwater which is then used to irrigate plants and vertical greens found throughout the entire building. Thus this extensive landscaping with sky gardens and green walls was help to cool the building and improve air quality because green walls play an essential role as natural purifiers, absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen in return to help maintain air quality. The rooms are all fitted with water efficiency fittings remotely connected to the buildings sophisticated building managing system which monitors water usage as conservation is vital. These efficient fittings such as faucets, toilets, and shower also used to monitor leakage. All sanitary and tap fittings are green rated for water efficiency. Reducing the usage of water, without affecting comfort levels.

5.4

SITE & PROJECT MANAGEMENT

31

The building was direct link to LRT station (mass transit train). This was monitoring and reduction of construction waste. Other than that, the buildings material used was the recycled material. Some of them are wine bottles that are embedded into the bar, extensive use of cengal wood which was part of the outdoor decking at our corporative office on the floors, the glass on the floor is bullet proof and all outdoor decking comprises of eco-wood is fabricated from rice husk and does not use wood.

Figure 5.2: Cengal wood floor with bullet-proof glass

Figure 5.3: Outdoor decking comprises of eco-wood is fabricated from rice husk and does not use wood.

32

The building uses extensive green planting such as green walls, green roofs and trees in order to reduce toxicity and improve indoor environment. The carpets and the external timber decking use green certified materials that are recyclable. While the interior dcor features some old furniture thats refurbished and reused. Some parts of the building also used old recycled timber strips like these for its walls and flooring which give a different rustic feel to a modern state of the art building. Even the paint that has gone onto the room walls feature is low volatile organic compound, reducing toxicity and improving on indoor environmental quality. Hotel amenities and paper used are made from green or recycled materials.

Figure 5.4: Rooftop bar in G Tower 5.5 ENERGY, WATER & WASTE INNOVATIONS

Hotel operations often use a vast quantity of chemical cleanser agents. At G Tower Hotel, they used sourced green friendly cleaning agents that are good not only for the environment but also for the guests as well. The infinity pool, with the KL skyline as a backdrop is a showcase eco friendly pool. Even the swimming pool in this green mark certified building uses salt instead of chemicals like chlorine to keep the water clean. Besides, this eco-friendly pool which reduces the use of chemicals for cleaning also ensures good water quality and less impact on the environment. Another unique hidden feature is that the pool is heated by waste energy from the airconditioning system. Besides, waste heat recovered from G Towers air-conditioning units also was used to generate hot water for the rooms.

33

Figure 5.5: G Tower Hotel Infinity Pool Indoor environment quality is closely monitored through carbon monoxide monitoring system at basement car parks, carbon dioxide sensors, refrigerant leak detection system and other means. Once it exceeds a certain level, the system will pump fresh air into the basement car parks. It will also have a system to monitor the carbon dioxide inside the building. 5.5 SUMMARY

G tower is Malaysias very first certified green building. It gives a lot of benefits on saving the energy used. It was built in order to achieve a better sustainable, low energy built environment by improving energy and water efficiency, indoor environmental quality, green planting, lowering heat transmission and using environmentally-friendly material throughout the building. Other than that, the building has been designed to achieve a Grade A rating, which is defined according to location, connectivity and hardware. To build the green building such as G Tower is not costly. Malaysia, however, still faces hurdles when it comes to changing the mindset of old school developers to switch to sustainable building methods as some concerns that going green is expensive. However, according to the Architects that Property report South East Asia, the increasing is minimal. A building with combinations of active and passive design as well as green technologies will only add a small amount to the building cost that is between 1 to 5 per cent compared to a conventional building. G Tower building used green technology in it concept. Those that are costly only apply to existing buildings that are incorporating green design later on.

6.0

CONCLUSION
34

Indeed, green buildings contribute a lot in preserving and conserving the earth as they represent design and construction that are sensitive to environment now and in the future. However, it is not a practice in Malaysia because of the many challenges these programmes face. From the research conducted the main hurdles identified are lack of awareness, education and information on the benefits of the construction on green buildings. The findings also show that the main obstacle in adoption of green building in the country is to create a paradigm shift in environmental issue for Malaysians, especially those in construction industry such as architect, engineer and developers. They are concerning more on the cost in development. Although cost is an issue, developers today need to change their mindset and should not look for the cheapest answer but instead aim for the best long-term solution. They should know that building with green concept has higher commercial value compared the conventional building. The diagram below shows the comparison of energy consumption by conventional building and green building discussed before.

Figure 5.1: Comparison of energy consumption by green and conventional building.

35

The standard energy efficient index for a building is between 150-220 kWh/m2/year. All of the three government buildings consume much lesser than that especially GEO Building. Hopefully in the future more green buildings will be built in Malaysia so that we can return this borrowed earth for next generation in the best shape. 6.0 REFERENCES

Adam (2012). GTower hotel. Retrieved on March 20, from http://www.gayatravel.com.my/articles/gtower-hotel Allan Koay (2011). Diamond Building: A Shining example of energy efficiency. Accessed on March 23, 2012 from http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp? file=/2011/7/5/lifefocus/8925744&sec=lifefocus Azah Ahmad (2008). Showcase Project: 92 kWp BIPV System Installation at Pusat Tenaga Malaysia Zero Energy Office (PTM ZEO) Building, Malaysia. Accessed on March 27, 2012 from http://www.mbipv.net.my/dload/MBIPV%20Reports/C2/PTM%20ZEO%20Milestone %20Report.pdf Eunice Ng (2011). The Case for Cheap Energy. Accessed on March 27, 2012 from http://www.homefinder.com.my/index.php/green/46-green/342-the-case-for-cheap-energy G.T. Chow (2009). The Recent Hype in Malaysia: Green Building. Accessed on March 23, 2012 from http://umsgreenpulse.wordpress.com/2009/11/02/the-recent-hype-in-malaysiagreen-buildings/ Kurniawan & Gregorius (2011). Radiant Cooling: Solution for Energy Efficient Building. Accessed on March 27, 2012 from http://www.iirxgallery.com/1stock/HVACR_Indo/2011/Web/SpeakerPresentation/Day_2/Gregorius %20Wahyu%20Kurniawan.pdf Melissa Goh (2010). New building in msia latest green technologies. Retrieved on March 20, 2012 from http://www.goldis.com/media/doc/channelnewasia%20020710%20new%20building %20in%20malaysia%20boosts%20latest%20green%20technologies.pdf Mohd Reza et. al. (2011). Obstacles in Implementing Green Building Projects inMalaysia. Retrieved on March 27, 2012 from http://www.insipub.com/ajbas/2011/December-2011/18061812.pdf
36

Poul Kristensen (2008). Sustainable Building for The Future. Accessed on March 26, 2012 from http://www.futurarc.com/forum/03%20-%20Paul%20E%20Kristensen%20%20Sustainable%20Buildings%20For%20The%20Future.pdf Pusat Tenaga Malaysia (2008). KTAK Low Energy Office (LEO) Building & PTM-Zero Energy Office (ZEO) Building. Retrieved on March 26, 2012 from http://www.uniten.edu.my/newhome/uploaded/coe/arsepe/2008/UNITEN%20ARSEPE %2008%20L24.pdf Sharon Liew(2012). Gtower KLCC. Retrieved on March 20, 2012 from http://www.propwall.my/klcc/gtower Suvarnaa Beesetti (2011). Gem of A Building. Accessed on March 23, 2012 from http://www.greenpurchasingasia.com/content/gem-building Wong King Wai (2010). Gtower awarded singapores green mark gold award. Retrieved on March 20, 2012 from http://gtower.com.my/pdf/archieve/The%20Edge %20220410%20GTower%20awarded%20Singapore%20Green%20Mark%20Gold %20Award.pdf Yvonne Yoong (2008). Pusat Tenaga Malaysias Zero Energy Office. Accessed on March 26, 2012 from http://www.mbipv.net.my/news1/2008/july/22.FP_Zero_Energy_FINAL.pdf

37