Gray energy, gray water, black water, carbon footprint – the list for sustainable design and architecture is long, and if you want to build ecologically, we will go into the topic in detail in this guide. Just read on to understand what each of these terms means in the world of sustainable construction.
You've probably heard about sustainable design and similar-sounding concepts. These terms have been floating around among design consultants in recent years. Due to climate change, natural disasters and other environmental conditions, designers of all disciplines around the world are returning to design concepts that have been known for centuries. In this way, they rediscover technical materials and ideas. Such approaches attempt to reverse or at least reduce the impact of buildings, structures and people on the environment.
Building ecologically – sustainable methods
However, if you are not completely familiar with the concept of sustainable architecture, the terminology used in the industry may be confusing or difficult to understand. Although there are dozens of terms and concepts for us to learn about, we decided to put together some of the following basics for you.
CO₂-Fußabdruck
Carbon footprint is an important term that we often use when discussing sustainable design. The CO₂ footprint refers to the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions. These are gases such as carbon dioxide that we produce through the greenhouse effect. These adversely affect the environment due to temperature increases around the world and are produced by a person, event, product or organization. In general, the lower the carbon footprint, the better the product or measure is for the environment.
A carbon calculator is also often mentioned when we talk about both creating and using a product. Typically, manufacturing an item indirectly produces greenhouse gases from the fuel burned to create or ship the finished product to consumers. On the other hand, we emit direct greenhouse gases during the consumption of the actual object. An example of this is the combustion of gasoline in a car. Although carbon footprint is a critical component when building green, it is complex and difficult to calculate accurately.
Life cycle assessment
A life cycle assessment, which we also call life cycle analysis, is a technique that analysts and designers use when they want to build ecologically. By this we mean the environmental impact of a product over its entire “life”. A life cycle assessment begins with the extraction of a product's raw materials to its material consumption, manufacturing, distribution, shipping, use, repair, maintenance and finally disposal or recycling. A life cycle analysis can therefore provide a long-term and comprehensive understanding of a product's inputs and triggers.
So when you build green, you allow designers and other professionals, for example, to compare two different options for wooden shelving. One option can be the rapidly renewable resource bamboo. However, this raw material has to be transported thousands of kilometers to reach the customer. We can compare these products with solid maple shelves. We can grow them locally and ship them less than 100 km from the production facility. However, maple does not grow as quickly as bamboo and does not always come from sustainable forests. Sometimes life cycle analyzes do not lead to clear answers, but instead allow for a complex, nuanced understanding of an item.
Gray energy – cumulative energy expenditure
The term gray energy is closely linked to life cycle assessment and refers to the total amount of energy required to produce goods or services. This energy is said to be embedded or “embodied” in the product itself. We take into account the entire process of the life cycle of goods, from initial production to demolition. In general, the production of a steel beam, for example, causes more greenhouse gas emissions than a building material such as concrete. Typically havenatural materialslower energy consumption than man-made building materials.
Interestingly, the focus is on improving theEnergy efficiency of buildingson energy consumption during operation and less on the manufacturing process. However, it is estimated that when you build green, embodied energy accounts for around 30 percent of the total energy consumption over the life of the building. This means that taking gray energy into account can have a significant impact on the total amount and thus significantly reduce CO₂ emissions.
Gray water recycling and black water
Dirty water or waste water and black water do not refer to the actual color of the liquid, but rather to a classification of wastewater. Gray water comes from sinks, showers, bathrooms, dishwashers and washing machines. After processing and processing, we can in principle reuse these waters for toilet flushing, irrigation and other non-potable uses. Recycling dirty water is critical in many places where access to fresh, clean water is limited.
In contrast to gray water, black water is wastewater from toilets, bidets and toilet paper that contains pathogens and other dangerous substances. For this reason, they must not be released into the environment without safe treatment. The organic material in black water makes it difficult to process, but canproper treatment and compostingcan actually be reused for the materials they contain. Regardless, the separation of gray and black water is often a critical component in ecologically oriented buildings and districts.
