Final report

The Sustainable Global Technologies (SGT) Rock Village project was a great opportunity for us to challenge our knowledge with working in an environment and culture, which differs so much from our own. The outcome of this project is for a great part a result of the tremendous support and expertise we have got during this spring.

We want to thank everyone who has supported us during the way to reach our objectives.

• FINAL REPORT: Self-Sustainable Energy Solution for Rock Village (pdf)

Final presentation on 7th May and some new information.

The final presentation of the project was held on 7th May at Design Factory. The group got a good response on their presentation although we were the last group to present their work in a four-hour presentation marathon. We still have some work to do with our final report as we want to make as informative as possible. The final report can be downloaded from this blog most probably on Tuesday 15th.

During the presentation the group was happy to hear that a new law is coming in Lebanon that would allow private actors to sell solar energy to the grid. We feel that this is a huge step in Lebanese energy independence, which is crucial for the future generations! We were asked why we've chose to go with wind energy as this possibility has presented itself.

As we started this project, we were told that selling energy to the grid is not allowed. Therefore in the report there is no discussion about this option. What we can tell you, something we've heard from professor Jukka Paatero at Aalto University, is that the equipment needed to convert low-voltage solar energy into high-voltage grid electricity is very expensive. Since Rock Village mainly runs on donations and we feel that the purpose of the project is not to make money by selling energy we do not recommend trying to sell the energy, but rather keep the system independent as suggested in the upcoming report.

The final presentation

The Planning Team will present findings and conclusion of the analysis done to the Rock Village project on May the 7th.

You are very welcome to join the final presentation of Sustainable Technologies Studio on Monday, 7th of May, 12:00-16:30 at Aalto University Design Factory, Otaniemi. The Rock village -group will give the presentation at 15:10.

If you want to follow the presentation online, contact me (mari.jaakonaho(at)gmail.com) for the details.

Green building and Rating Tools

There are different rating systems to classify a certain structure to stand on ’How sustainable the building is’.

”Green building is the practice of creating structures and using processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building's life-cycle from siting to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation and deconstruction. This practice expands and complements the classical building design concerns of economy, utility, durability, and comfort. Green building is also known as a sustainable or high performance building.”

International Rating Tools for Green Buildings

•  LEED (USA) 
• BREEAM (UK)
•  DGNB (Germany)
•  CASBEE (Japan)
•  HK-BEAM (Hong Kong)
• Green Star (Australia)

The above mentioned Rating Tools (called as Systems also) have common components as the following graphic.