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BUILDING SERVICES 2 (BLD 60503)
Student Name: Deong Khai Keat
Student ID No: 0320055
Lecturer: Dr Kam
Date of Submission:29th
May 2016
Assignment title: Green Technology
Word Count: 2165 words (with references)
: 2015 words (without references)

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Green Technology
Since the global population starts to grow rapidly and the human beings are
continuously progressing, the basic necessities of human being are growing
extremely as well. Hence, to fulfil these basic needs, the use of technology comes
to our lives. However, the advances in technology have changed the natural
environment and lead to the problems such as global warming, greenhouse effect,
pollution, and climate change. Therefore, in order to recover and retrieve our
mother earth to a healthy state, green technology is introduced to overcome and
reduce these several environmental problems.
Green technology is recognized as the science and concept behind applying
technological systems while reducing unfavourable outcomes caused by human
activities on the earth.1
It has been said to reduce deterioration on the
environment, encourage healthy lifestyles and maintain the use of energy and raw
materials of the earth. These objectives are reached by promoting the use of
natural resources which means barely or no emission of any greenhouse gases
such as carbon dioxide, methane, chlorofluorocarbons and such. Alternative fuels
and energy such as solar or wind are preferred when we talk about green
technology.
Nowadays, green technology plays one of the vital roles to save the environment
and has a great impact on international market as well and Malaysia has
anticipated that the green machinery is one of the crucial elements of the country’s
economic growth. Thus, in enhancing the Green Industry in Malaysia, the
Malaysia Government had introduced the National Green Technology Policy2
(NGTP). The policy statement is “Green Technology shall be a driver to accelerate
the national economy and promote sustainable development.”3
This policy has
targeted on four pillars which are energy, environment, economy and social.
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1
Kristin Klinger,Green Technologies: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools and Applications, (United States of
America and United Kingdom, 2011), xxvi.
2
The policy had introduced on 24 July 2009.
3
Implementation of Green Technology Policy in Malaysia. (2015). p.Page 5 http://www -
iam.nies.go.jp/aim/event_meeting/2015_cop21_japan2/file/03_malaysia.pdf

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The NGTP looked further into this situation and identified the major sectors in
Green Technology specifically the building sector, energy sector, transportation
sector and water and waste management sector which play a major role in
contributing to the development of Green Technology. Despite that, most of the
energy consumption in Malaysia still comes from fossil fuels4
which means that
the burning of these fuels will release harmful greenhouse gases and eventually
cause an adverse effect on the earth. One of the main source of these harmful
energy consumption is the air conditioner.
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4
Saleem, A., Malaysia’sGreen Energy Path, (University of Queensland (Australia),2016)

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Heating, Ventilating and Air-conditioning (HVAC)
Heating, ventilation and Air-conditioning5 (HVAC) is the technology of indoor and
vehicular in order to preform heating or cooling for the residential area,
commercial and industrial buildings to achieve environmental comfort. Heating,
Ventilating and Air-conditioning6 (HVAC) regulates the inside temperature of the
building to maintain the air quality and humidity in our homes in order to achieve
an optimum internal comfort. Heating is the act of adding heat to the conditioned
space in aspiration to raise or maintain the temperature in that area.
The HVAC system constantly providing fresh outdoor air in order to dilute the
contaminants content of interior air such as odos, dust, biological contaminants,
carbon dioxide (CO2), volatile organic compounds (VOCs) sources from
furniture polish and cleaning solvents, etc. Heating is the act of adding heat to
the conditioned space in aspiration to raise or maintain the temperature in that
area. Ventilating is the exchanging of contaminated air between outdoors and
the conditioned space indoors with fresh air in order to dilute the gaseous
contaminants in the air to achieve air quality and freshness. Air-conditioning is a
system typically used to cool the atmosphere by controlling the humidity,
ventilation, and temperature in a building or vehicle.
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5
Saleem, A., Malaysia’s Green Energy Path, (University of Queensland (Australia), 2016)

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Components
Several important components6 in the HVAC system are the filter, heating coil,
cooling coil, humidifier and fan.
 Fan – It is to drive the air through the system and blow it in to the space.
 Filter – It helps to prevent system parts from getting clogged by the solid
pollutants found in air.
 Heating coil – It works by drawing hot air over the refrigerant-filled coil, to
cool the air.
 Cooling coil – A thermostat is used to control this coil that provides
cooling and dehumidification using a refrigerant. Both the heating coil and
cooling coil are controlled by a single thermostat and controller.
 Humidifier – It is used to add moisture and is controlled by a humidistat. If
it is too humid in the duct, a humidistat will switch the humidification “off”
to minimize the condensation in the duct.
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6
McDowall, R., Fundamentals of HVAC Systems: SI Edition, (Oxford, United Kingdom, 2007),
76-78.

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3.0 Ways To Enhance The Use Of Green Technology
3.1 Solar Air Conditioning System (SAC)
Solar air conditioning7 (SAC) runs by switching solar thermal energy (heat) that is
collected into conditioned air. It changes the solar thermal energy to electricity by
using a solar panel. It is suitable for hot climate countries. It commits itself to
perform as a conventional air conditioner but with less unfavourable impacts on
the environment as well as reducing consumptions of energy. SAC system is a
rational and practical solution towards the requirements of air conditioning
through giving the maximum cooling while making smaller input to peak capacity.
Solar cooling cuts down the need of electricity, reduces the costs of operation as
well as minimizes the emission of GHG (Green House Gas).
Solar Air Conditioning system will provide cooling while having a lower
consumption of fossil fuel energy than the conventional air conditioning. Besides,
if there is ever a time where solar radiation is insufficient, a backup energy source
is prepared for use as the system incorporates a storage system for storing and
enables cooling whenever we desire. The cooling output is maximum during the
sunny days. Cooling is triggered and accomplished through the expansion of a
refrigerant in the SAC system. When heat from solar panels is applied, it gets
rejected and passed on to the atmosphere where refrigerant is compressed.
SAC shows that no harmful chemicals or gases (such as GHG) are used or
emitted by using this system. Also, this Solar Air-conditioning system greatly
contributes to energy saving as it uses natural resources like the sun to obtain the
energy needed to power the air-conditioner. SAC is a very appropriate method to
enhance green technology in Malaysia.
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Jiunn Hao, E. k. and Hoseini, A. G., Solar vs. Conventional Air-Conditioning Systems, (LIMKOKWING
University, Cyberjaya, Malaysia, 2012),Vol.2, 27-29a.

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3.2 Chilled Water System
Chilled water air conditioning systems are generally applied in those utilizations
which require huge cooling capacity such as hypermarket or commercial air
conditioning for instance hotel, workplaces, factories and so on. Chilled water
system is increasingly being used in residential building as well due to its cost-
saving and free from danger of having refrigerant tubed all over the residence.
Chilled water system is not much various from typically residential air conditioning.
The only difference between them is chilled water systems use water in the coil
rather than refrigerant. It is a normal chiller that uses the technique of refrigeration
to chill the water in a chiller cylinder and then the water will be pushed from the
chiller to the air handler unit to cool the air. This system cools the air by using the
water instead of air.
A water chiller cools water to between 4.4-7.2 degrees Celsius and is then piped
throughout the whole building and connected to air handlers. Components8 of the
CWAC system consists of:
Water chiller – A component that clears out heat from a liquid either by vapour
compression or absorption refrigerant cycle. Chillers can be of either air cooled
or water cooled. When liquid is cooled, it flows through the pipes, coils or other
systems while cooling and taking moisture out from air in the building.
Evaporator – An opposite of the condenser as the refrigerant is converted to a
gas and it also absorbs the heat from the air in that compartment.
Compressor – One that compacts and pressurizes the refrigerant vapour and
draws it to the reversing valve.
Condenser – An equipment that changes a gas to a liquid in order to get either
the substance or the freed heat. There are two types of condensers: Air cooled
condenser and Water cooled condenser
Expansion valve – An inlet through which pressurized liquid or vapour is allowed
to increase in molecule size to a lower pressure and greater volume.
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Altiche, A., Chilled waterair conditioning system(2014), 5-8.

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One of the advantage of chilled system is if there is a leakage of chilled water
tubing in the architecture, it only loses out the water and the repairment is only
required the plumbing works. In comparison with the standard air conditioning, if
there is a leakage occurred in a refrigerant line inside the building, it will probably
need brazing, evacuation of the system, leak testing with nitrogen and also
recharging with a refrigerant that will cost more expensive than the water. If the
air is prevented from flowing through the cooling coil, the chilled water will direct
it back to the chiller as the heat will not be absorbed by the water so it is still cool
and the chiller will react by discharging and switching off. Compare to the
conventional air conditioning, if the same situation occurs, there is a possibility
that the liquid refrigerant will return to the compressor and damage it.
As this chilled water air-conditioning system uses chilled water as an alternative
to other secondary refrigerants, it provides an enhancement in green technology
considering the fact that water is non-corrosive, non-toxic and inexpensive as
compared to the air-cooled system.
3.3 Propane as Refrigerant
Refrigerant is fluid that used in air conditioners to transfer heat from the room to
the atmosphere. The most commonly used refrigerants are CFCs that is harmful
for the environment as they contain chlorine. It is an organic compounds which
are made up of carbons and hydrogens only, they are called hydrocarbons. It is
a naturally occurring substance and is produced as a by-product of natural gas
production and oil refining. Propane are halogen free, which is without chlorine.
Thus, it does not have an ozone depletion potential and it has a negligible global
warming effect.
They also have high-energy efficiency but highly flammable as they are
hydrocarbons. Propane has high compatibility with materials which commonly
used in the construction of air conditioning equipment. It is commercially available
and inexpensive. Furthermore, propane can be stored and transported in steel
cylinders. An intensified exchange of knowledge about the properties of propane
and handling of their corresponding systems must be identified in order to operate
and maintain the air-conditioning system. Manufacturers who use propane as
refrigerants had claim that the appliances are absolutely safe. So, we can
comfortably trust that propane is safe to be use as refrigerants and is green
environmentally friendly.

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4.0 Conclusion
Malaysia had already implemented the National Green Technology Policy and
also being one of the fast-paced developing countries, green technology should
be widely known and introduced to the nation by now. These three ways of how
air conditioning systems can enhance green technology all have something in
common and that is the fact that they reduce the negative impacts on the
environment. Though air-conditioners are just one of the many green
technologies that are invented, Malaysia is slowly but efficiently letting the subject
of green technology be known and recognized.
Green technology will not only benefit the consumer but indeterminately help the
overall environment of the earth to improve if done on a large scale. Beside,
people nowadays still continue to use the conventional technologies which can
lead to the significant problems such as global warming, greenhouse effect,
pollution, and climate change. Therefore, we should all do our parts in welcoming
green technology in to our everyday lives to allow better and healthier living while
being able to enjoy the use of technology at the same time.

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References
Airconditioning-systems.com. (2017). Chilled Water Air Conditioning
Principles And Applications. [online] Available at:
http://www.airconditioning-systems.com/chilled-water-air-
conditioning.html [Accessed 29 May 2017].
Ali, S. (2017). Malaysia’s Green Energy Path. [online] National Geographic
Society (blogs). Available at:
http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2016/09/16/malaysias-green-energy-
path/ [Accessed 29 May 2017].
Climate.nasa.gov. (2017). Cite a Website - Cite This For Me. [online]
Available at: http://climate.nasa.gov/scientific-consensus/. [Accessed 29
May 2017].
Sersc.org. (2017).. [online] Available at:
http://www.sersc.org/journals/CSABE/vol2/4.pdf. [Accessed 29 May
2017].
Surna.com. (2017). Chilled-Water Cooling Basics. [online] Available at:
http://surna.com/water-chilled-systems-work/ [Accessed 29 May 2017].
En.wikipedia.org. (2017). Greenhouse gas. [online] Available at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_gas [Accessed 29 May 2017].
Encyclopedia Britannica. (2017). hydrofluorocarbon (HFC). [online]
Available at: https://global.britannica.com/science/hydrofluorocarbon
[Accessed 29 May 2017].
HVAC, H. (2017). Chilled Water System Basics | HVAC Cooling. [online]
High Performance HVAC Heating & Cooling. Available at:
https://highperformancehvac.com/chilled-water-system-basics/ [Accessed
29 May 2017].

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