The Devonshire building in the heart of the campus of University of New Castle has all the ingredients for it to be called the greenest building around. Going by the university’s commitment to the environment, the construction has everything in it from recycled materials to renewable energy. The six storey building has solar panels on the glazed southern elevation, in order to allow as much natural light inside the building as possible. The blinds help manage the heat. An intelligent system allows these shades to be opened and closed automatically to allow the right amount of sunlight entering the windows. The system not only adjusts according to the time of the day but also according to the season. Designed by the Dewjoc architecture firm, the large roof area of this green building couldn’t have gone waste. It is home to solar modules which generate 25 kW of power. It also is home to a rain water harvest system that collects the rain and sends the water into a 20,000 liter underground tank. Incase the tank overflows, the excess water is sent to fill up the geothermal tank which has a capacity of about 40,000 liters. The whole system is so symphonic that the water in this geothermal tank is sent to a heat sink which then acts as a cooling agent for the entire building. Home to the Institute for Research and Sustainability and the Regional E-Science Centre, this building is an example in itself on how to use energy around us can be put to best use. With so much research happening around the day is not far away when we will have buildings which will produce more energy than they consume. Via: LovelySpotBlog
