Module 2: Micro-Climate-Adaptation, Technology & Place

In this second module we have explored the aspect of human comfort and how it affects our lifestyle and habits. This covers every aspect of our lifestyle from clothing, to transportation, and housing. You regulate your own individual comfort by adding layers of clothing, or removing them to where you feel the most comfortable. You can also regulate your comfort by adjusting the temperature on the thermostat in a building. You can also make that adjustment in your own car when you are travelling through different environments.

It important for us to be comfortable in the environment that we live in to be the most productive we can, but at what cost does this harm our environment. Are there measures that we can take to still stay comfortable and be productive and reduce our effect on the environment? Yes, we can take steps. The environment around us has been adapted to the changes made by many generations, which may have disrupted many other animals habitats which were there long before us, for this reason it is important for us to integrate our lifestyles into the environment around to not only just take away, but give back more than it gave us. If we did this we would reduce our impact on the environment and have a positive influence which will also benefit us being more confortable in the outdoor environment we may help to improve.

Just like our bodies try to stay comfortable, so does everything around us. A cars engine has an optimal temperature of operation, that has a maximum efficiency. This also applies to all appliances, whether it is a HVAC system, a fridge-freezer, an oven, or a water heater. All of these appliances need to stay constant and efficient. These appliances are dependent upon humans to do this, so to reduce our own energy consumption we need to make them as efficient as possible, and reduce our impact on the environment. Our goal should be to reduce our carbon footprint, and we can do this by adapting our comfort to a balance between our actions and how they affect the environment.

I will be discussing how technology affects our comfort in the aspect of light and temperature in a building and how we can reduce impact on the environment around us.

2.1: Building, Place, and Setting as a Creator of Micro Climate for Comfort and Productivity

Technology plays a vital role in peoples lives on a daily basis, most things we do today are as a result of technology. Technology is designed to make humans lifestyle more comfortable, and possibly more productive. Recently technology has been moving towards becoming more efficient, the Energy Star label is an example of this. It is also present in vehicles EPA rating, where it states the average miles per gallon (MPG) that it is expected to consume. It is noticeable that as time goes on that these numbers are increase s people become aware of the the internal combustion engine and its affect on the environment. The is a slow trend that vehicles are moving away from internal combustion engines to electric motors which are more efficient.

Technology for different purposes, each time something is invented it is to solve a problem, then people re-design it to solve the problem that it created that was not there before. A good example in my lifetime is that people needed was light when the sun when down, so that the amount of productive hours was increased. People once used to use candle light, but then the Incandescent light bulb was invented and people could work during the night. This solved the problem of not being able to see when the sun went down, although it was not the most efficient method of lighting, actually they converted less than 5% of the energy they consume as light, the rest of the energy is converted as heat into the surroundings.

When energy was starting to become a scarce resource the technology had to be changed. I have to say that in England we used to use this type of lighting, and it was useful to have the light give of heat, but that was not what they were originally designed to do. In different climates this would defeat the purpose of A/C.

Here in America me and my family began to start using Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs (CFL), and they are a lot more efficient that the Incandescent light bulb equivalent. The only problem with these are that they contain mercury vapor, which is toxic to humans and could be released if the bulb cracks. My family uses these with a great precaution to preserve the environment and save energy.

Another alternative technology that is also most efficient, and does not contain mercury is the Light Emitting Diode (LED). These are very expensive, and use a very direct light, me and my family do have a couple of these in our home, and we do not like to use them. The reason for this is that the light is very bright and concentrated, which is very different from the light a CFL produces. Most of our light are ceiling lights, so we want our light to illuminate the entire room, rather than just one area. The use of LEDs would be useful as a spot light, but not as a whole light illumination. A CFL is the most efficient for entire room illumination.

Technology is always trying to enhance our lifestyle and make us live more comfortably in order to be more productive. It is up to use which technology makes us the most comfortable and productive, just like I mentioned in the previous page, we are all different and have different needs. Everyone uses different amounts of energy, some more than others. But before we make our decision it is crucial to balance the benefits over the negative consequences, so that you can make a conscious decisions of your actions.

2.2: Building as a Heat Exchanger

There are two main environments that we experience, this is the interior of a building and the exterior of a building. These are very different spaces, one of which can be controlled, and the other is regulated by the earth. Buildings were originally designed to protect people from the outdoor elements, and since then they have been developing into complex spaces that have to have systems to regulate the temperature and lighting to make us comfortable and productive. The reason they have to be regulated is that a small space with a lot of people inside it can heat up a considerable amount, where as if a lot of people were outdoors then all of the heat would be dispersed and not trapped inside.

Three places where we spend the most time indoors is home, work, and school. These are also the places that require the most amount of energy to make us comfortable and productive. I will discuss my home and how it works as a heat exchanger throughout the year, as well as a comparison between homes in different climates.

In Winston-Salem, NC the Spring is usually cold, this makes the interior cold. The house is a large volume that our body heat cannot emit enough heat to compensate for the amount of heat lost through the walls, ceiling, and windows. For this reason the house has to have its own method to heat it up to a comfortable temperature. This is usually done through a HVAC system, the heating transforms electricity, oil, or gas energy into heat. So the exterior space remains the same temperature, and the interior space is brought to a comfortable temperature of 68F for us to be productive in.

During the summer in Winston-Salem, NC the summer gets very hot. This weather is nice outside when there is a breeze which moves air, and there is shade which is not a hot as being in direct sunlight. This nice weather is not so nice in a interior occupied space where heat is trapped and has no where to go, this can often feel like an oven when there is no system like HVAC to condition the space. In England there was no need to condition the space, there was only central heating that used radiators to heat the space, if it was too warm then you could simple open a window and it would cool down naturally. Unfortunately when me and my family moved to America we were not able to do this, it was too hot to be confortable. For this reason we had no choice but to use the Air Conditioning to bring the temperature down to a comfortable temperature of 76F, this is still warm but it was the highest temperature that we felt confortable in. My family has a concern for the environment and wants to preserve energy that does not need to wasted. There are some times that we use the ceiling fans to add a breeze to mimic the natural environment to stay comfortable. The building itself uses the HVAC system as a heat exchanger, the fluid in the system is a primary method of transferring the heat. Just like our bodies use evaporation to cool down, so does an HVAC system. There is a continuous loop of coils, one of these expands the fluid mimicking evaporation causing a cooling effect to the interior of your home, then the fluid is compressed which produces a lot of heat which is then released to the exterior environment. This process is speed up through the use of fans which move the air to be processed, making it more efficient.

The interior space of a building receives radiation from the sun which heats it up, when a building is fully occupied then the heat we emit from our bodies to stay at a comfortable temperature is emitted into the interior space, therefore heating it. The hotter the exterior weather, and the more people that are inside, the HVAC system has to work harder for a longer period of time to transfer hot air to the exterior and cold air to the interior using more energy to maintain comfort.

The rate of heat exchange is dependent upon the amount of insulation that is integrated into the design of the building, the more insulation, the slower the rate of exchange. When this rate is slower the building does not have to use as much energy to heat or cool the space making it more efficient and comfortable.

Module 2: Micro-Climate-Adaptation, Technology & Place

We as humans of earth have a profound effect on the environment we live in, we have to stay comfortable in order to survive, but there are more efficient strategies that we can incorporate into our lives to minimize the effect on the environment. All buildings should be Environmentally, Sustainably, and Humanistic centered to minimize our impact on the environment. The design of a building should be high performance to help us use less energy, the design should solve a problem and not create one that requires a lot of energy to fix. Orientating a building in a certain direction, or creating over hangs would reduce the amount of solar gain during the summer, and thus reduce the amount of energy consumed to cool down the interior volume. Another alternative could be reducing the amount of fresh materials used, and supplementing them for recycled ones. For the environment that we have affected in the past we can take measures to reestablish habitats that were lost as buildings were constructed to reduce of negative effect on the environment and turn it into a positive one.

In the building temperature and lighting optimize our most comfortable and productive environment, it is essential that we have a balance between this and the effect on the environment that our lifestyles play.