Tutorials

 One can follow these steps to design a sustainable building

1.  Finding Location - The location of the building is essential to starting the design process, specifically when building a commercial addition to a community.
2. Design - When building a Library one the first step is to create a design that abides by the area of land and environment while also contributing to the community.
3. Layout - The square footage, number of library members, facilities needed and existing books numbers must be taken into account when designing the Layout. Additionally, the optimum placement of bathrooms, stairs, and entrances must be found according to convenience.
4. Envelope - Once the main design has been drafted the envelope must be taken into account. To create a supportable building the envelope must be as airtight as possible hence reducing the amount of heating going in and out of the building. When there is less ventilation leaving the building the energy needed to heat and cool the building will be less. The exterior of the building, the insulation, and the interior walls plus framing must be chosen.
5. Parameters of a Building - The building's size and available space must be calculated so that energy consumption, heating, and water usage can be found. The product of the lenght and width of the building will give area and when height is included volume can be found.
6. Finding U and R-Values -  Both values are reciprocal and so an efficient building should have a high R-Value while the U-Values should be as low as possible. When calculating the R-Value the type of windows, doors, envelope materials, 
7. K tot - The sum of the U-values multiplied by their respective areas will be the total K or K tot. This number tells us the total building transmission coefficient in Watts per Kelvin. When multiplied by the change in temperature the total energy loss can be calculated.
8. Typical Meteorological Data - Once the hourly weather data for the specific location is known the building's position, the necessary materials and structures can be established. Additionally, this data is essential to computing the best placement for windows and solar panels.
9. Finding Windows - Windows are an important factor when calculating K-tot. If not airtight, or if left open the windows might allow indoor ventilation out of the building increasing the energy consumption.
10. Surface Area of Window Estimation - Once the goal K-tot is established and windows are found the size of the windows must be calculated. If there is a large surface area sunlight will filter in, increasing the temperature of the building. During winter months this is opportune but during Summer months it may cause the HVAC to work harder.
11. Energy Calculations - These calculations are needed so that energy consumption can be reduced as much as possible. All necessary facilities that are electrically powered must be factored in along with the systems in place that produce power.
12. Solar Panel Angle Calculation - Angles of Solar panels, if well calculated, will obtain a large amount of sunlight and energy for a building. These angles completely depend on the location of the sun at all time of the day and year.
13. Finding the best HVAC - Farah
14. Geothermal System - Farah
15. Rainwater System - One of the most vital parts in implementing a rainwater system is the collection tank size and the monthly collection potential, the monthly collection potential can be found by multiplying the tank size, in inches squared, by the monthly precipitation, in inches.
16. Finding Occupancy Load - Occupancy load affects how many bathrooms, lights, chairs, computers and other facilities are included in the final design. Max occupancy according to International Building Code (IBC) and National Fire Prevention Association (NFPA) is one person for every 15 ft² of floorspace and require that 0.2 inches of door space be provided for each occupant (0.3 inches per occupant if the doorway consists of a stairway).
17. Maintenance -Once the library has been constructed and finished there are maintenance requirements that must be upheld to keep it running. Librarians for the books, repairmen for the solar panels, gardeners for the green roof, Plumbers for the Greywater system and building plumbing.
18. eQuest - eQuest is an energy simulation tool that is utilized to calculate needed cooling energy. To use the software one must input all known parameters of the building, electrical load calculations, and envelope specifications.