When it comes to large building projects, there is not a lot of opportunity for experimenting with full-scale, “green” technologies. With each building you may only get one shot for each test case. That’s not an efficient way to engineer better buildings. Unless, of course, you happen to be where more buildings are going up than anywhere else in the world. China.
Green building technologies are being developed rapidly, but they need a building to be incorporated into. They also need a builder willing to incorporate these new products and designs. The U.S. and China have partnered at government and commercial levels to help fast-track innovative solutions.
According to a Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) press-release, “…several green building projects… have been initiated under the U.S. Department of Energy’s U.S.–China Clean Energy Research Center Building Energy Efficiency Consortium (CERC-BEE).”
CERC-BEE director, Nan Zhou, explains, “China is the largest commercial building market in the world, adding 2 billion square meters of new construction per year.” That fast-paced building schedule makes China a prime candidate for curbing energy use. It’s not just that China has so much construction. Equally important, they are willing to try innovative approaches.
One of the new building approaches is the white roof. It seems pretty simple. A white roof reflects more sunlight and the associated heat. Less heat means less cooling costs. The downside? If you've owned anything that is white, you know that it doesn’t stay white very long.
To address this issue, researchers are investigating superhydrophobic modifications to the white paint. In cities where pollution can quickly dirty the white surface, thereby rendering it less effective, the self-cleaning, “lotus-effect” of superhydrophobic surfaces can help improve performance and reduce maintenance.
White roofs are not the only technology being implemented. Other initiatives include renewable energy integration, policy incentives and building operation. Part of the research is aimed at making energy efficiency easy to achieve. This includes automated, dimmable lighting in office buildings and integrating human behavior in design simulation.
CERC-BEE members include Oak Ridge National Lab, MIT, ICF International, and the National Resource Defense Council, and industrial partners are Dow Chemical, Saint-Gobain, ClimateMaster, Sage, C3, Bentley, 3M, and Lutron. This strong collaboration - in combination with equal Chinese support - is creating a platform for expanding U.S. business opportunities, establishing green building codes and achieving significant energy conservation now and in the future.
Image courtesy of Berkley Lab