SEMINAR ON PROMOTION OF ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND CONSERVATION FOR BUILDINGS IN SOUTHEAST ASIA School of Design and Environment,

National University of Singapore

24th January 2008, Singapore

Best Practice on Energy Efficiency & Conservation of Mingalar Garden Resort in Myanmar
(First Prize Winner of EE&C Best Practice Tropical Building)

For
(2007)

Presented by
U Win Khaing General Secretary Myanmar Engineering Society (MES)

ASEAN Energy Awards Night 23rd August 2007

(First Prize Winner of EE&C Best Practice Tropical Building) For (2007)

OVERALL ON-SITE DESIGN Pyay, 280 kilometers north-west from Yangon is near the ancient city Srikhittaya of 4th century AD and the ancient monument Phayagyi of 4th. Century AD is so near to Mingalar Garden Resort.

OVERALL ON-SITE DESIGN

Pyay, where Mingalar Garden Resort situates is a large town in hot and dry climate zone in Myanmar. Its maximum temperature is 44 in May. Fortunately the site area where Mingalar Garden Resort constructed is a low land and there are natural spring resources forming spring ponds and overflowing into the surrounding areas. With abundance of spring water resource this area became forest with varieties of flora and fauna as an oasis in the desert.

This natural environment as an advantage to create the best tropical and energy efficient buildings of Mingalar Garden Resort. 8 Hectares site of this resort area is surrounded by total 22 Hectares of natural forest, spring ponds, flora and fauna and mini golf course The resort complex consists 18 Standard rooms and 31 Superior rooms.

All the bedrooms are placed in the spring ponds and connected by the timber decking walkways above the spring ponds. Since the spring water is always flowing, the water areas are fresh and clean. All the bedrooms are one storey buildings and shaded by nearby trees to protect from the direct sunlight.

Dining halls are placed along the bank and projected into the biggest spring pond to have the breeze across the pond as the halls have only roof and handrails on timber deck dining areas.
Walkway along the dining halls and reception hall is restricted to motor vehicles and perforated with square shape grass areas to reduce sun light radiation and dust pollution. A large function hall is separated with bedroom areas by a large spring pond and green

The design concept was to create comfort in hot and dry conditions with natural environment of cool and clean spring ponds and the breeze across them. Tall and green trees are to act as umbrella, balancing daylight and shading the one story buildings.

The beautiful landscape with clean spring ponds and greenery will create a fresh and pleasant environment providing comfort for visitors to walk from one building to another building, thus reducing the use of cars and avoiding the noise and air pollution. Thus the Mingalar Garden Resort has minimized energy consumption and optimised the natural environment to maximize the energy efficiency result.

PASSIVE DESIGN
The building was designed for energy saving manner, in trying to meet the existing site condition and the client's needs. Site preparation

Natural Landscape and trees are preserved as much as possible.

Upgrade the existing ecosystem by transforming swamps into clean lake filled with natural potable spring water. The buildings are located in the middle of the site at a comfortable distance from the site bounding on all sides so that noise and air pollution from the roads and neighboring activities are buffered.

Fish are bred in the lake to reduce insect breeding such as mosquitoes. The continuously coming out water from the ground has advantages to keep it as flowing water by is draining out the overflow water into the nearby stream.

Building design All guest rooms are placed around and in between the lake, so cool air passing through the water surface help cooling. The whole site is virtually covered by green grass and big trees, it is significantly cooler than other places in Pyay. Only the sleeping areas are air-conditioned which is required the whole year round except 2-3 winter months to meet comfort condition. Bath rooms have comfortable temperature without using air-conditioning system because of using less glazing and more mass areas. The buildings are carefully placed to enjoy greenery and the ponds for the visual comfort and also the thermal comfort. Besides, the distance between them also helps the buildings to get nice breeze passing through the pond.

The timber walkways connected to the buildings are elevated from the ground without disturbing the natural lake and the plants. The guest room units are designed to be with minimum required space. Consequently, it contributes to reducing materials and energy resource usages as well as the cooling load and the environmental impact.

Natural lighting is sufficiently available in each none of the rooms requires artificial lighting at day time for general purposes.
The building uses lots of timber finishes which are locally acquired in its property of having low heat storage capacity and low conductivity which suit this kind of hot tropical climate. The open air dining units are made of only timber frame structure and bamboo mat roof which have low embodied energy, biodegradable.

The ceiling and the counter at the reception area are also made of bamboo which is also abundantly available in the surrounding. The guest rooms facing the pond are designed with private gardens attached to keep the windows opened in winter months when outside temperature is fair to enjoy natural ventilation without sacrificing privacy. This design feature solves the barrier of privacy issue to use natural ventilation in sleeping area. By mean of the large window on the garden side, cool air coming through the landscape area enters to the room, carries hot air away through the high level of the opening and leaving the building with fresh cool air in winter.

ACTIVE DESIGN

Mechanical Ventilation System

Mechanical ventilation are provided to all areas where there is no air-conditioning and where natural means of ventilation are not available. M&E plant rooms Electrical switch room and pump room are ventilated with supply and exhaust fans system and produce a ventilation rate of 6 air changes per hour.

Water resource
The underground water is extracted by its own pressure through a tube up to the tank located on ground without using any energy. This is just the use of natural mean to save pumping energy we by taking advantages of the site. Only the process of pumping water from the ground tank to the overhead tank needs energy. The water are then distributed to the whole site by gravity feed.

Hot water production

Hot water required was at first produced by own invention of heated looped GI pipes where cool water moves down and hot water goes up to the overhead tank by circulating by itself without using any energy.
The only energy used is that needed at heat up the GI pipes in which the paddy husk disposed as waste from the neighboring rice mills is used as fuel. By using this kind of reused waste as an alternative energy also reduce environmental impact resulting from fossil fuel. Recently, hot water demand is increasing as more guest rooms are built. therefore an additional boiler was installed. In that case an old model boiler from an unused factory is reused in stead of buying a new one. It also is heated by burning paddy husk and water in the overhead tank is heated by mean of steams coming out of the boiler.

The boiler is heat up only once a day and the hot water in the overhead tank is kept warm fill the next day by insulating the tank by thick layer of paddy husk. In some guest rooms hot water is supplied from specially designed water storage tanks heated by sun light at day time which can maintain the hot water until the next day. In future all the guest rooms will be supplied hot water by this mean, thus reducing energy consumption and developing solar and perpetual energy.

Lighting
The light sources in public area are installed only to meet the minimum requirements (12.w/m2 for the offices). The general lighting for public walkways are only 6.w/m2. The electricity switches are controlled manually by the hotel staff not to waste unnecessary while the rooms are not in use. Toilets & Kitchen Toilets & Kitchens rooms are designed to be ventilated at 10 air changes per hour. The toilets' ventilation system shall be in exhaust so that foul air from the toilets shall not infiltrated to other rooms.

Sanitary system
The sanitary system for the development are design to recognized international Codes and the wastes generated from the development are properly disposed through an efficient means of conveyance of sewage from the premises via a sanitary plumbing system to a sanitary drainage system. Grease from kitchen shall flow into a grease interceptor. After the grease and other solids are separated out at the interceptor, the discharge will flow into the septic tank where it would be treated before been discharge to the public sewer.

Future Plan

Hydropower turbine to generate electricity by means of the energy of flowing spring water is under the process of construction. When it finishes, it will contribute to all circulation route lightings.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT.
Considering the environmental impacts of all aspects of the resort complex, the following areas have been addressed with a view to reducing or eliminating the negative environmental impacts and maximizing the positive.

Air pollution
As mentioned in the passive design section, the building area is only about 10% of the whole site and the rest 90% are left as green and water features. It implies that Carbon emissions from the building materials are balanced by Carbon absorption from the trees. The Landscape contributes not only in reducing carbon emission of the whole project.

Water pollution
Since the complex area is covered with large area of spring ponds and most of the guest rooms are located in the ponds, prevention of water pollution of the ponds is the main aim of the design considerations.

Waste water is not disposed into the pond. Waste water from the guest rooms is collected in separate waste pipe line and disposed into the outlet of the drainage away from the ponds area. Sewage is also collected into each septic tank and due to hot and dry climate condition all the sewages are easily digested.
Overflowing water from the ponds is collected into a natural land drainage flowing as a stream into a near by creek which starts from the surrounding agricultural land and then finally flows into Ayeyarwaddy river. Thus the ponds become always fresh and clean without pollution and eutrophication.

Waste management A number of recycling bins are placed at key locations for occupant use. Therefore littering is well controlled except those dried dead leaves and plants that finally became the natural soil beds and surface covering of the land. Solid wastes are disposed in landfills far away from the groundwater resource area. Kitchen wastes and garden wastes are collected and reused as fuel by neighbours to make tobaco curing process which save energy to dispose waste and reduce land fill area requirement, thus prevent environmental impacts.

All the service personnel of the resort management as well as the visiting guests are well aware of the waste, as well as negative impacts to environment and ecology, therefore no significant negative ecological impact has been traced as of now in the resort area.

Noise pollution As the location of the resort lies amidst wooded area of spring ponds and some distance away from the population, there are no counts of noise pollution. Soft surfaces from the trees limit the extent of noise propagation, generating more calming noise instead. Visual impacts of the site

The resort complex surrounded by mini-forest and located in the spring ponds with a high number of trees and separated from motor vehicles with green lawn and big spring pond create the aesthetic of the space and provide the green and clean environment. Prevention of impacts
Natural materials such as timber and bamboo are used for less toxic gas emission. As the chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) is one of the compounds which pollute the earth atmosphere, CFC free refrigerators are chosen and used in the project to reduce environmental impact to a certain extent.

MAINTENANCE AND MANAGEMENT The operational management and maintenance system inclusive of building energy management system were carried out by management and maintenance staff of Mingalar Garden Resort. They have developed, upgraded and operated the whole resort phase by phase from the very beginning to now. Regular and routine electrical and mechanical maintenance works were under good prescribed schedule. Mingalar Garden Resort has its own energy operation and maintenance personnel consisting of one general manager, one maintenance engineer and four technicians with a presence 24 hours per day, every day of the year.

BUILDING INFORMATION A. General Infomation

Mingalar Garden Resort

Mingalar Garden Resort, Pyay, Myanmar Tel: 95-053-25518, 25279 Fax: 95-053-25279, 22716 Email: mgresort.pyay@mptmail.net.mm

B. Building Physical Information Physical building background The resort established in 1996 and developed phase by phase in 2000, 2002 and 2005. The resort is famous in the regional tourism industry due to its site location among the spring ponds and varieties of green trees in hot and dry region of Myanmar. The resort is to accommodate as a transit between Yangon, commercial city of Myanmar and Bagan, ancient city of 11th.century AD., popular cultural tourism area in Myanmar. Out door activities of boat rowing in the ponds, exploring flora and fauna in the mini-forest and relaxing in mini-golf course can be enjoyed within the premise of the resort complex.

Physical building background (contd.)

Age of building: 7 years

Total number of stories: one

Total number of basement floor: none Number of car parks stories: none Total gross floor area: 3757 m2 Car park area: 964 m2 Gross let table area: 1817 m2 Air-conditioned area: 954.56 m2

Non-air conditioned area: 2803 m2

Plot ratio (total GFA/ground area) 0.093:1

C. Building Design and Practice Information

The resort had made its best efforts to preserve and upgrade the naturally formed spring ponds and naturally grown plants and trees. Natural landscape in their original state is well preserved and some harmonious and user friendly, eco-friendly landscaping such as stone slab pathways are added and perforated among the lawn and elevated timber walkways are constructed upon the ponds to connect the guest rooms. Car parking areas are added to facilitate the guests and services. Faade and shading design: Type of faade: Plaster & Paint and stone

Color of faade: Yellow, green, grey and brick

pointing Use of shading devices: natural plants

Location of service core Shape of building: Rectangle Overall heat transfer through building envelope Wall 22 W/m2; Roof 27 W/m2

Lighting fixtures. Predominately compact fluorescent.

Lighting load* 12 W/m2 (gross floor area) Building air-conditioner system and equipment: Individual separate A/C 1hp unit in each bedroom Cooling Load 50 W/m2 (air-conditioned area)

D. Operation Information Occupancy rate : Minimum 43.4 % of total area

Total number of occupants : 98

Ownership of building (occupied by owner(s)

Building operation schedule

- Weekdays from 6:00 AM to 11:00 PM - Saturday from 5:00 AM to 11:00 PM - Sunday from 5:00 AM to 11:00 PM - Operating hours/yr 17x365=6205 hr/yr

Building indoor environment: Indoor air quality setting: temperature 24 C and RH 60

E. Energy Consumption Information

Peak demand (monthly) :

2676 kWh/month

Typical Load curve (weekdays, weekends) : NA Energy efficiency index : Air-conditioned area 60 kWh/m2/yr Energy consumption : Electricity 32112 kWh/yr Fuel 9850 Liter/yr (not for electricity generation)

F. Energy Management Information

Building energy management physical points (Non) system connected

G. Maintenance Information

Maintenance program
Manpower : 42840 man-hr/yr Maintenance contractor owners staffs Availability of energy management engineer Training of maintenance workers: 392 man-hr/yr

H. Environmental Impacts

Impact of waste : not traced

Impact of pollution (air, noise, visual, exhaust, etc.): not traced

Conclusion
We can conclude that Mingalar Garden Resort deservedly became the Winner in the tropical category of the ASEAN Energy Awards for Best Practices in Energy Efficient Buildings as even at the initial concept stage, the design team with the owners participation and desire, examined the building structure and systems as a whole and how these will work best together to save energy and reduce environmental impact. The building was designed with extensive daylighting techniques and and aimed for a small air conditioning system resulting in much savings in energy cost. It is observed that the design team considered all aspects, including site location, energy use, materials, air quality, acoustics, natural resources and their interrelation which resulted in a commercial building with energy, economic and environmental performance that is substantially better than standard practice.

It is energy efficient and has saved money and natural resources and has created a healthy and pleasant place for the occupants that has relatively low impact on the environment.
The design team has improved the comfort of the occupants by using pleasing architectural designs to brighten up many areas using sunlight rather than electricity without causing excessive glare.

Conclusion (Contd.)
The unique location of a site near a naturally occurring spring has been optimized to the full in the design concept and contributes strongly to its popularity among visitors to the resort.

Additionally the flowing water is being utilized to rotate a small turbine to produce electricity (about 10KW) which can be utilized for nighttime security lighting. Another innovative method to utilize the rice husks abundantly available from the nearby ricemill to fire a boiler to produce hot water for the whole resort is to be commended as renewable source of biomass waste is being effectively used. Substantial energy savings are realized from this way to produce hot water. Other no cost-low cost methods for energy conservation are employed, i.e switch-off lights, daylighting, open type public areas and walkways, using CFL lamps for nighttime lighting, gravity feed water supply system are used extensively throughout the resort. The impact on energy savings, environmental effects and economic benefits are considerable and due to top management and owners awareness about the positive effect of energy efficiency and conservation would definitely make the activities at the Mingalar Garden Resort sustainable for a long time.

Conclusion (Contd.)
Many innovative ideas and methods are being implemented and could be easily replicated due to its simplicity and appropriate technology level. Mingalar Garden Resort through its innovative design concept has managed to operate a popular resort with reduced energy requirements and having minimal environmental impact.It has successfully used renewable sources of energy such as biomass and natural spring flowing water to produce heated water and electricity.It has managed to increase the comfort and health of the occupants and last but not least increased its productivity and profitability.

Thank you
Myanmar Engineering Society

MES Building, Universities of Hlaing Campus

Hlaing Township, 11052 Yangon

Union of Myanmar
Tel: +951- 519673 ~ 76

Fax: +951-519681
Email: mes@mptmail.net.mm

Web: www.mes.org.mm