A Study on the utilization of microalgaefor producing light and biofuel in the built environment

Download

index.pdf

Date

2019

Author

Sünger, Yağmur

Metadata

Show full item record

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Item Usage Stats

345
views

172
downloads

Microalgae utilization in the built environment can be a key way to develop sustainable urban environments. Microalgae have many potentials such as providing the raw material for biofuels, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to indoor air quality, treating wastewater, and illuminating spaces. Therefore, all these features offer the opportunity of symbiosis between the microalgae and the built environment. Although there are many studies on microalgae, more research is needed at the intersection of architecture and biotechnology to integrate them into the built environment. In this study, it is aimed to contribute to this new research topic by proposing integration designs to show the possibilities to produce biofuel and bioluminescent light from algae within a symbiosis between the microalgae and the built environment. In this context, a comprehensive literature review was conducted on microalgae and their characteristics, cultivation and harvesting methods, integration systems, processes to obtain bioenergy and bioluminescence. Microalgae utilized case studies in the built environment were reviewed. After having a fundamental knowledge, six microalgae species were defined for target use in the study: biodiesel and light production. Characteristics of selected species and requirements to cultivate them in buildings were presented and using this information, a conceptual study was prepared on Konya Provincial Directorate of National Education Building’s architectural project for microalgae integration. In the project, two different integrations were proposed: Utilization of microalgae on the building façade and inside the building. The proposal was based on the contribution that microalgae and the building could provide to each other. One of the conclusions of this study is the importance of architectural design process for integration studies. Microalgae become one of the building users as a result of integration, and like other living things, they can survive under certain conditions. In order to build a symbiotic relationship, the characteristics of the algae to be cultivated in the building should be well known and optimum conditions should be provided for them. Successful designs can create symbiosis and buildings can be productive components of sustainability.

Subject Keywords

Sustainable architecture., Keywords: Sustainable Architecture, Productive Architecture, Microalgae in Architecture, Building-Integrated Photobioreactors, Bioluminescent Lighting.

URI

http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12624478/index.pdf
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/44258

Collections

Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Thesis

Suggestions

OpenMETU
Core

Motivators and barriers for green building construction market in Turkey Gündoğan, Handan; Aydın, İsmail; Altan Sakarya, Ayşe Burcu; Department of Civil Engineering (2012) ‘Green Buildings’ play an important role to increase the implementation of sustainable strategies in the construction industry. Although there is a process of change within Turkish building environment towards implementation of green strategies nowadays, limited research has been conducted to search the reasons that drive the market and the important barriers that block the green building movement. This thesis is intended to fill this gap in the literature and contribute to the field of knowledge regarding ...
A Nearly Net-Zero Exergy District as a Model for Smarter Energy Systems in the Context of Urban Metabolism Kılkış, Şiir (2017-03-01) The planning of urban settlements requires a targeted approach towards more sustainable energy, water, and environment systems. This research work analyses the city of Uppsala and a district that is an urban renewal project at the site of former high voltage power lines, namely Ostra Sala backe, which will have a new energy concept. The latter is analysed based on proposals for two phases that aim to reach a net-zero district target based on the quality of energy (exergy). An indicator set with five main ca...
Exploring the potential of mat-building for the creation of universally designed environments Eren, Yasemin; Aközer, Emel; Department of Architecture (2004) The goal of this study is to reread the strategies of formal organization in architecture, which are called أmat-buildingؤ and أmat-urbanismؤ, exploring their potential to contribute to the creation of universally designed built environments in the 21st century. The idea of mat-building was first delineated by Alison Smithson in 1974, in her article أHow to Recognize and Read Mat-Building,ؤ by means of its traditional and modern examples. The concept of universal design was first used in 1970̕s and reinterp...
An overview of security and privacy in smart cities' IoT communications Al-Turjman, Fadi; Zahmatkesh, Hadi; Shahroze, Ramiz (2019-07-08) Smart cities have brought significant improvements in quality of life and services to citizens and urban environments. They are fully enabled to control the physical objects in real time and provide intelligent information to citizens in terms of transport, healthcare, smart buildings, public safety, smart parking, and traffic system and smart agriculture, and so on. The applications of smart cities are able to collect sensitive information. However, various security and privacy issues may arise at differen...
Ideology of sustainable architecture: a critique Yalman, Onur Lami; Sargın, Güven Arif; Department of Architecture (2019) The general consensus on Sustainable Architecture is that, it is the cure for the ecological crisis. However, neither sustainability, nor architecture exists in a vacuum, free of any connection to political struggle. Therefore, a thorough research must be conducted in order to uncover the roots of sustainability, and its relations to architecture. The objective of this thesis is to form a critique of sustainable architecture, and propose an emancipatory ecological architectural praxis. Current understanding...

Citation Formats

Y. Sünger, “A Study on the utilization of microalgaefor producing light and biofuel in the built environment,” Thesis (M.S.) -- Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences. Building Science in Architecture., Middle East Technical University, 2019.