Mardiana Idayu Ahmad

Applications of Air-to-Air Energy Recovery in Various Climatic Conditions: Towards Reducing Energy Consumption in Buildings

A substantial increase in world energy consumption has resulted in global rising pattern of building energy consumption. This trend is predicted to continuously rise as a result of economic prosperity and accelerated growth in living standards for shifting to contemporary lifestyle. Hence, the need for energy-efficient technologies in buildings is pivotal in order to reduce energy consumption and mitigate global environmental impact. Amongst these technologies, the application of air-to-air energy recovery system is proven as one of the significant solutions towards reducing energy consumption and providing fresh outdoor air in buildings. The system is defined as a mechanical system that able to conserve energy by transferring heat or mass from a stream at a high temperature to a low-temperature stream through a core. It was also able to remove stale, polluted air indoor spaces and replaces it with fresh outdoor air. In order to have an in-depth understanding of the system, this chapter discusses the mechanism and the application of the system in various climatic conditions such as winter and summer conditions; cold and extremely cold climate conditions; and hot–humid condition.

Enhancing Students' Ecological Thinking to Improve Understanding of Environmental Risk

The current rate of human development poses a major threat to the ecological balance of the environment, and this is exacerbated by climate change effects. It is therefore important for people to understand the ecology of different locations so they can make informed decisions that will not have an adverse effect on the environment. In this regard, students form a significant group for whom sound ecological thinking is necessary as they will be the future leaders and decision makers who can ensure the world’s continued sustainability. This chapter presents the results of an ecological education project that successfully expanded students’ ecological thinking. Evidence of this change is taken from interview responses before and after the ecological education project. The interview was based on a set of six photographs of different situations found in the environment. Responses were analyzed based on an ecological thinking framework developed by the researchers. This framework consisted of two components: understanding of ecology concepts and understanding of the impacts of human activity on ecosystems. The ecological education project succeeded in increasing students’ ecological thinking, thereby increasing their awareness of environmental risks.

Challenges, Future Outlook, and Opportunities

Nocturnal cooling technology has the characteristics of cleanness, pollution-free, energy savings and great development potential. Throughout the literature, it can be seen that the nocturnal cooling technology has become a research hotspot since 1960s. Early researches were mainly concentrated in optimising the structure of radiation cooling systems and improving the radiation cooling capacity. The last recent years have witnessed exceptional achievements in nocturnal cooling approach, with a huge body of literature consisting of more excellent performance studies related to hybrid systems; improvement and advancement on the technological aspects of existing and previous works as well as design and applications of the system within building envelope. Nocturnal cooling systems are directly affected by the atmospheric conditions. The performance studies of these systems are widely distributed and various climatic conditions and regions. However, most of the studies are conducted under laboratory scale and not many studies focus on the performance of the systems on real or existing buildings towards commercialisation. In this chapter, challenges, future outlook and opportunities are highlighted.

Renewable and Sustainable Materials for Various Green Technology Applications

In the recent years, the environmental issues in terms of pollution and energy consumption foment an increasing interest to focus on green technology. Pertaining this, this chapter is intended to recapitulate a review on renewable and sustainable materials produced either from single unit process or integrated approach through chemical or biological methods or combination of these methods for various green technology applications. This includes the recent development and potential of these materials for energy, building and environmental applications.

Renewable and Sustainable Materials from Chemical Approach

Despite the negative connotations associated with the word ‘chemistry’, in reality many chemical principles and processes are used to develop renewable and sustainable materials. In order to do so, a wide selection of organic materials is readily available. Application of these ranges from renewable energy to advanced materials. In the near future, it is expected that chemistry for sustainability would become the new mantra in the world of ever-limited resources. This chapter presents a detailed discussion on chemistry and chemical approach of these materials. It is hoped that in the near future, chemistry for sustainability would become the new mantra in the world of ever-limited resources.

Turbine Ventilator as Low Carbon Technology

There is a growing awareness among the general public, energy developers, and governments worldwide to look for renewable and alternative energy systems that capable of reducing the amount of carbon emissions. In response to the scenario, the last century has seen tremendous progress in technological development of low carbon technologies and green energy resources for building applications. The deployment of these technologies not only contributes to a significant percentage of carbon dioxide emission reduction, but also aids to reduce energy consumption and mitigate environmental impact. The need for such eco-friendly technologies in buildings has underpinned significant increases in the application of wind-driven ventilation techniques. This includes turbine ventilator, a wind-driven ventilation device or air extractor that is commonly used in attic, rooftop spaces or loft to facilitate ventilation, control high energy consumption, and improve indoor environment. In order to gain a deeper understanding into existing knowledge in this field, this paper discusses low carbon technology concept and characteristics of turbine ventilator. Furthermore, physical and operating parameters that influence its performance are also discussed.