Energy Sustainability in Urban Buildings: Biomimicry and Energy-Efficient Designs

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Energy Sustainability in Urban Buildings: Biomimicry and Energy-Efficient Designs
The rates at which city and urban buildings consume energy and emit greenhouse gases such as carbon oxide are alarming and sustainable solutions are required to address this challenge. Buildings use 40 percent of the total amount of energy expended globally while emitting 43 percent of carbon dioxide. Out of the total electric energy consumed in the United States, 70 percent of it is used by buildings. Erebor et al. (1) note that office buildings around the world consume excessive amounts of energy during construction as well as occupation resulting in adverse consequences on the health and comfort of the occupants as well as environmental issues. Increased emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) was one of the concerns raised during the 2018 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) meeting in South Korea (Erebor et al. 1). The adverse impacts of buildings on the environment have drawn the attention of policymakers and leaders in industry and academia to find ways of designing energy-efficient buildings while at the same time meeting thermal, acoustic, spatial, visual, and proper indoor air quality needs of urban life (Ereboret al. 1). One of the approaches that have been adopted is biomimicry in the design of energy-efficient building skins (Radwan and Osama 178). This paper presents the problem of increased energy consumption in urban buildings and identifies nature-inspired building skin designs as a solution to sustainable, energy-efficient city and urban buildings.
Increased energy consumption in urban and city buildings has been a major problem since the 1970s as populations continued to rise. In attempting to find solutions to arrest this challenge, architects have resolved to biomimetic designs in building skins. Biomimicry refers to an applied science deriving answers from natural systems, processes, and designs to address human problems (Radwan and Osama 178). In applying biomimicry in designing building skins, architects target the entire exterior section of buildings that interacts with the environment to reduce energy demand as well as meet other acoustic, spatial, visual, and indoor air quality needs. According to Mohamed, Bakr, and Hasan (257), biomimicry has been used as one of the approaches in the 21st century in achieving emotional, smart cities that use technologies to make life easier for occupants by enhancing life while reducing energy consumption. This approach has been implemented in several case buildings worldwide due to the realization that the building industry is one of the leading sectors in CO2 emissions and energy consumption. For instance, Mirniazmandan and Rahimianzarif (1) have argued that since high-rise buildings require more materials and energy during construction, they emit more GHGs that have significant impacts on the environment. An example of today’s nature-inspired or biomimetic buildings in urban centers is Eastgate Center in Harare, Zimbabwe.
The Eastgate Center in Harare has several shopping complexes and office buildings with stable indoor air temperatures throughout the year (Jamei and Vrcelj 7). The building was...