Thursday, 1 March 2012

Theme Day: Electricity- The Green Building


The dawn of March and it's a beautifully sunny morning here in Manchester. Time to visit the Green Building on River Street. It consists of 32 apartments and, on the ground floor, a nursery and a doctors' surgery.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants in City Daily Photo's monthly Theme Day.

I was pleased to read that the Green Building's main green features are:
  • Energy efficient thermal design encompassing renewable insulation.
  • Solar thermal water heating system providing hot water for domestic plumbing and underfloor heating.
  • Large full height triple glazed windows on the south facing side maximise solar gain. The north facing apartments have relatively small windows.
  • An internal central atrium interlinked with all apartments provides a passive air conditioning system. Warm air from each apartment passes into the central atrium and rises, drawing fresh cooler air in to the apartments. Computer controlled windows at the top of the atrium regulate air-flow.
  • Building electrical requirements are supplemented by a 2.5 kW push-type wind power turbine.
  • The cylindrical shape of the tower provides the least surface area related to the volume, further increasing thermal efficiency.
  • Integrated recycling facilities for glass, paper and aluminium. A communal composting bin.
  • All apartments only have showers in the bathrooms, there are no baths in the residential apartments. The taps are designed to use the minimum amount of water necessary to wash hands safely.

17 comments:

  1. Wow Chrissy that is mega impressive, makes you think if one new building can be designed this way, why not many more of them from now on. I love this 'anti electricity' post for today's theme!!

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  2. A good choice for the theme - wish our apartment had been built with just showers and no baths (had to pay to have it taken out!) Those computer-controlled windows can be a bit iffy. I was going to do a nice pylon shot for theme but didn't get out near one so decided to just take the utilitarian substation in the carpark. And yes now March is here the sun is shining - shame it won't last.

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  3. VERY green indeed! Glad the sunshine reached you today too!

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  4. Beautiful dog in the picture I saw. Also I really like the shot of your building in this picture.

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  5. Green in the Round, I guess.

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  6. I really like some of the features of this building. I personally never use a bathtub, but I understand when you have young kids, they can be handy. SO I guess most of the people who live here must not have young kids. Another possible plus. ;)
    IN any case, great choice for the theme day. Quite original!

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  7. Great looking spot. Love the building features.

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  8. This place sounds like it would be a great place to live. Someday maybe all homes will be as Green as this one.

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  9. Lovely, and so green...don't think badly of me, but I had a moment of sadness at the thought of no bath.

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  10. This is so good to read. We should all be living a greener life.

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  11. Looks like they tried to make the outside attractive with the different color panels. Not too bad. And an elevator to get up and down? Or do they make residents walk?

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  12. Ah! Green on the inside as well as the outside. Excellent.

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  13. I'd love to live in a place like this - so important to conserve our environment in this day and age. Kudos to Manchester!

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  14. What a great place! It would be fun to see some of the inside. Alternative sources of energy are no longer an option but a necessity!

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  15. may it continue to grow, impressed.

    please have a good new month ahead.

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  16. What an interesting building... I'm impressed!

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  17. One of the effective ways to reduce carbon emissions is to building energy efficient buildings. According to surveys, 25% of the nation's footprint come from homes alone and if we can make our homes make energy efficient, I think the carbon footprint will greatly decrease and it's a good step for the planet's health.

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