ZERO ENERGY HOUSE THROUGH PASSIVE AND ACTIVE RENEWABLE ENERGIES

Zero Energy House?
So Watt!! An Enlightening Way To Conserve Energy From Our Own Home.
Energy does matter. We can’t ignore the fact that, the world has become addicted to fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas) to supply our energy needs from our heating and cooling, lighting, heating water, operating appliances and so on. More than 90% of energy we use come from fossil fuels which are non-renewable. Non-renewable energies are energies that can’t be replaced in a short period of time once they’re used. They are not eco- friendly either. They have caused so many negative effects on human lives and environment like the greenhouse effect which is caused by the CO2 that is produced by the burning of fossil fuels. Global climate change and its impacts like devastating drought, violent storms, water shortage, melting of glaciers, and changes in rainfall pattern are additional reasons.
You may ask why do we use these fossil fuels if they’re not renewable? The reason is because they’re cheap. But the era of cheap oil is over now. Oil price has been more than tripled over the past ten years because the demand for energy escalates as the world population grow and the supply of fossil fuels will soon be depleted. We are currently having an energy crisis. That’s why oil hungry nations are willing to go to war.
We can change the scenario by shifting to renewable energies. That is why I would like to create an awareness in our society that Zero Energy House (ZEH) through passive and active renewable energies help reducing our dependency on fossil fuels.
Zero Energy House (ZEH) doesn’t mean that the house needs no energy. ZEH means it reduces the needs for fossil fuels as the energy through efficiency such that the balance of energy needs can be supplied with renewable energies.
The renewable energies can be divided into two: Passive and Active. The fundamental principle of ZEH is passive design of the house that make the best use of natural elements such as sunlight, wind, and rainwater to reduce the consumption of energy without the use of active mechanical machine. For example, the windows need to be installed on the North and South side of the house instead of the West and East side to provide protection from direct sunlight while allowing for indirect and natural light thus limiting the consumption of electricity for lighting; the butterfly roof is installed to capture the rainfall and channel it to a contained space where we can use it to water the plants, flush the toilet and even drink the water if we install proper water filtration system; and the reflective roof is installed to reflect nearly 88% of the sunlight, thus reducing the temperature by as much as 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
Since most of home’s energy is spent on cooling and heating, insulation and air sealing are the most important steps in building the ZEH. Windows need to be at least double pane. Exterior walls and floors need to be built using concrete. The roof can be insulated using spray-in foam or fiberglass or cellulose.
Active Renewable Energies use technological innovation to capture the energies. Active Renewable Energies are clean energy and non-polluting. Most of them don’t emit any greenhouse gases or toxic waste in the process of producing heat or energy. For the Active Renewable Energy, ZEH uses 3 types of energy sources. They are solar, wind turbine and geothermal.
Solar energy means the energy from the sun. There are two types of energies we can get from the solar energy. The first one is electricity. The system converts the light from the sun into DC (Direct Current) electricity. Through an inverter, it creates a useful amount of AC (Alternating Current) power. The second type of solar energy is the solar thermal heat for water heating.
Wind is a form of solar energy. Winds are caused by the uneven heating of the atmosphere by the sun, the irregularities of the earth’s surface, and the rotation of the earth. The wind flow is used for many purposes: sailing, flying a kite, and in this case generating electricity.
Geothermal energy is the energy from the earth. It is used to heat and cool the house. Geothermal energy takes the advantage of the fact that the earth has a stable temperature between 45-58 degrees Fahrenheit no matter how hot or cold it is outside. It uses the geothermal heat pump to move heat from outside to inside the home and vice versa.
It is crucial to conserve energy in a situation that the world is facing now. Some alternative energies can be utilized in our 1 own home. ZEH can be the start up point to reverse this gloomy future ahead of us caused by the fossil fuels.
Conservation and efficiency can save the world.
Grade 5 GMIS Exhibition
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