Eco - Housing

SCOPE OF SERVICES
Green Earth® Constructions (Pvt) Ltd undertakes comprehensive consultancy services including feasibility, preparation of client’s brief, outlines and schematic architectural design, structural, electrical, mechanical and other services proposals and the bills of quantities and estimates, tender documents, calling of tenders, tender evaluation and recommendations and post contract construction management. The Principal Architect personally involves in all those stages and team is dedicated to assure a high standard final product.

In building houses, the company believes in developing close relationship with clientele, understanding their aspirations, offering personal attention and giving them environmental friendly, cost effective, innovative design solutions thus creating positive influence on their life styles.

WORKING WITH CLIMATE

It is understood that working with climate is the best way to lead the present development practice. Taking what we need and rejecting what we don’t with minimum disturbance to the nature is considered ‘working with climate’. There are six main principals used by Green Earth® Constructions (Pvt) Ltd;

1. Working with the Sun
A fundamental principle of solar design is that it aims to maximise the solar gain in the cold regions and minimise it in hot regions. To achieve this solar design combines five strategies- Glazing, Orientation, Thermal Insulation, Sun Protection and Thermal mass.

2. Stack Effect
The powerful suction created by escaping warm air from a building is called the Stack Effect or the Chimney Effect. Careful control of Stack Effect can produce a low cost and effective level of natural ventilation.

3. Thermal zoning
In Tropical Zone’s we prefer the houses to be cooler. This concept uses essential places like living, dining and bedrooms away from Sun’s orientation and other non essential areas on Sun’s path.

4. Embodied Energy
This considers environmental impact of the materials that goes into the construction. The embodied energy of a building material is the energy that has been required to extract, process, and manufacture and then to transport it to the building site. The lowest embodied energy is in materials that require only simple processing (Timber needs 180kWh/m3, where as Steel needs 57,000kWh/m3) or those made from salvaged materials or local natural materials, which require virtually no energy.

5. Use of Renewable Energy
Using of Renewable energy resources such as Solar electricity (PV), Solar thermal and Wind for essential energy needs such as lighting and heating requirements of buildings and homes not only brings energy independence but also long term cost savings.

6. Re-use of water
Re-use of water collected from Rain water (for toilet/ wash rooms) and Grey water (garden maintenance) are the common use of this methodology.

Solar Water Heaters

Use the sun to heat the hot water in your home and you will be saving money as well as doing your part for the environment. Conventional electric water heaters are often the biggest energy users in the home contributing up to 7 tonnes of greenhouse gas per year.
Green Earth® Solar Water Heaters are manufactured at a state of the art plant in suburbs of Colombo and currently being upgraded to obtain ISO 9001 certification.
Main features of the product includes :

• Hot Water Storage Tanks made of High Grade Stainless Steel which is corrosion and maintenance free
• The Solar collector panels of Green Earth® are the largest panel area for similar products available in the Sri Lankan market. This ensures high efficiency even during low sunlight.
• Best quality at the most affordable price in the market
• Available in different colours (Beige, Silver, Brown, Green and Blue)
• Solar collector panels are made of copper, a high grade conductor of heat and corrosion free material.
• Insulation to reduce heat loss and longevity of warm water the during non usage
• 10 year manufacturing warranty
• Free installation
• Green Earth® Solar Water Heaters are available in range of capacities from 100 Litre (domestic) to 600 Litre (industrial) to suit different customer requirements.

Solar Electricity (PV)

Solar photovoltaic (PV) power is the same technology that powers some calculators and watches. Photovoltaic (PV) cells are made up like a sandwich - two layers of silicon containing special chemicals. Sunlight is used to charge electrons in the silicon layers. The energised electrons move through the cell and flow into a wire, creating an electric current.

Solar electricity/ lighting for domestic and industrial use
The first step in solar electricity/ lighting is to assess your power needs. The Appliance Power Rating Guide, which will help you establish you daily power consumptions.

DC Loads Watts Amps at 12V
Fluorescent Light 5 - 25 1.00 – 2.5
12 volt TV 50 4.1
Water Pump 72 6.0
Cell Phone 6 0.5

Based on an average sunlight per day and the required power need Green Earth® will provide you with a custom design to your requirements.
Green Earth® also manufactures standard domestic use power lighting models, priced from LKR 60,000 onwards.
Ideal solution for

• Rural electrification
• Cabin or remote Bungalows
• High common usage lighting areas in buildings/ houses
• Telecom towers – as means of energy independence

Solar Street lights
Solar area lighting provides outstanding solutions for public area and security lighting.

Solar area lighting is a great way to provide lighting to public areas and for security lighting. They remove the need for digging expensive trenches and can save thousands of dollars in capital costs for new lighting.

Solar street lights have applications in:

• Roads
• Remote village gathering areas
• Parks/ Play grounds
• Beach side board walks/ pathways

Advantages of using solar energy

• Electricity is free once the equipment is installed.
• Energy from the Sun is renewable
• It is very useful for remote areas that are not connected to the main electricity grid
• Also, brings energy independence, for grid connected entities
• It is environmentally safe (ie it produces no greenhouse gases)
• South Asia is exposed to heaps of sunshine..!