Low Energy Strathclyce groupe 1

1. Low Energy Building Design
Crit 1 – Group G
Mandy Wardrop | Nichola Murray | ChristopherWeir | Callum Maloney | Jonathan Donnard | Martin Choné

2. Crit 1
In today’s presentation we will cover:
 Key activities
 Project management
 Research
 Initial ideas

3. KeyActivities
Over the course of this semester we will develop a low energy data
centre for a major computing company by:
 Meeting twice weekly to discuss project and update team
members on work done
 Researching the site, climate and local resources available
 Creating a concept design – an example of sustainable
architecture with efficient technical sub-systems
 Undertaking performance and cost appraisals for our concept
 Generate a web site to convey our work

4. Project
Management
Week 1-3
• Organise group
• Begin research of data centre use, data centre design criteria and the local area
• Prepare for Week 3 crit
Week 3-4
• Decide which team members will take responsibility for each relevant technical sub-system
• Research web site design
• Finalise sizing of data centre
Week 5-6
• Begin to generate web site
• Consider and create sustainable design for technical sub-systems
• Prepare for Week 6 crit
Week 7-8
• Undertake performance and cost appraisals for proposed design
• Prepare for Week 9 crit
Week 9-10
• Finalise design of data centre
Week 11-12
• Finish web site design
• Prepare for final crit

5. Research
SiteAssessment
Situated in the small village of Allandale , the site is located between two rail tracks
with close proximity to the M8O motorway.
The site occupies an area of around 6O,OOOm2 and was previously used as
Castlecary Brickworks until it closed in 198O.
Site is centrally located and therefore should make use of local materials available.

6. Research
SiteAssessment

7. Research
Climate
Key Climate Factors
 Temperature
 Precipitation
 Daylight hours
 Wind speed
 Atmospheric Pollution

8. Research
Climate
0
5
10
15
20
25
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Temperature(°C)
Average Temperature Profile
Average Low Temp Average High Temp
 Average temperature ranges from 1 - 19°C
 Excessive heat loss for part the year
 Overheating for part of the year

9. Research
Climate
 Fairly constant levels of rainfall throughout the year
 From SEPA flood maps – Medium chance of surface water flooding
associated with heavy downpours of rain
 Possibility to utilise rainwater in the building design

10. Research
Climate
0
50
100
150
200
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
41
68
98
132
176
155 155 147
114
83
54
33
Sunshine(hours)
Daylight Profile
 Yearly total of 1256 hours
 High levels during the summer and significantly lower during the
winter
 Large site so PV may be an option

11. Research
Climate
Wind speed
 25.2 m/s (fundamental basic wind speed from Tedds)
 Prevailing winds from the South West
 Wind speed is reasonable consistent throughout the year
Atmospheric Pollution
 Low – Moderate levels of pollution
 Site may be affected by pollutants from the motorway and
industry in nearby towns
 May cause some building materials to deteriorate

12. Research
LocalResources

13. Research
CaseStudy
Equidix Data Centre – München,Germany
Energy Use
 IT load: 3.5 MW
 Cooling: 3.6 MW
 Other: 0.7MW
IT Load
45%
Cooling
46%
Other
9%

14. Research
CaseStudy
 Equidix Data Centre – München,Germany
 Areas :
 Gross 5000m²
 Computer room : 3200m² with 1000 cabinet
 Power areas:
 4 x power transformers at 1600 kVA
 4 x diesel engines, generating a total output of 6400W
Cabinets
Raised Floor : 400-500mm
Lighting : 300lux
Security

15. Research
CaseStudy
Equidix Data Centre – München,Germany
Areas :
 Gross 5000m²
 Computer room : 3200m² with 1000 cabinet
Power areas:
 4 x power transformer at 1600 kVA
 4 x diesel engines at 6400W
 Cooling system
 Security
 Offices
 Loading dock
 Car park

16. Initial Ideas
Considerations
We will appraise our options and make final decisions regarding our
design by considering the following:
 Energy consumption and the impact of demand reduction
measures
 The role of embedded new and renewable energy supply
technologies
 The environmental performance of the design
 The environmental impacts of the embodied and operational
energy

17. Initial Ideas
Buildingdesign
A data centre has strict operating conditions:
 Running temperature should be between 40% and 60%
 Light levels in the equipment rooms and office spaces should be
between 300 and 500 lux
 Room acoustics should be considered to maximise the occupants
comfort

18. Initial Ideas
Technicalsub-systems
Our preliminary ideas for the energy systems in our data centre are
as follows:

19. Initial Ideas
Technicalsub-systems
CoolingSystem
 Factors to consider:
 Ambient temperature v ideal temperature inside data centre
 Relative humidity – prevent moisture forming
 Prevent dust from entering cooling system/IT equipment
 Cost
 Environmentally friendly
 Energy efficiency
 Potential option to expand

20. Initial Ideas
Technicalsub-systems
 Cooling specifications to meet:
 Building needs to be continuously cooled to prevent IT equipment
overheating and failing
 Needs to be at a suitable temperature for both computing equipment and
staff
 Cooling demands should be minimised and passive cooling should be used
where possible
High
priority
Low
priority

21. Initial Ideas
Technicalsub-systems
CoolingOptions

22. Initial Ideas
Renewables
EnergySupply
 Energy specifications to meet:
 Should employ demand management
 Minimise reliance on grid electricity
 Maximise the quantity of energy supplied from local sources
 Showcase for multiple renewable energy technologies;
High priority
Low priority

23. Initial Ideas
Renewables
 Could use energy generated fromTodhill wind farm
roughly 6.5 miles away and has an annual energy
production of 26.29 GWh

24. Initial Ideas
Renewables
 CHP – can control energy costs while improving reliability of power for
data centres
 Could provide air conditioning as well as electricity for IT equipment
 Would reduce emissions, includingCO2, SO2 and NOX.
 Solar PV – large site area so solar panels could be used on excess land
 Would only provide a small contribution in winter months
 Relatively expensive initial costs
 For our project we will source local climate data and then assess
supply/demand match to determine feasibility

25. Next steps
Our plan for the next 3 weeks is to:
 Decide which team members will take responsibility for each
relevant technical sub-system
 Research web site design and begin to generate our site
 Finalise sizing of data centre
 Consider and create sustainable design for the energy systems
 Prepare for theWeek 6 crit