Climate Change Science: 11 - Green science: smart building technology to mitigate global energy and water crises

The adverse effects of burning fossil fuels to power the building sector around the world put our Mother Earth at risk because fossil fuels are being depleted due to the present level of consumption. The adverse effects on the planet from using fossil fuels to power the building sector around the world, together with the fact that these fuels are being depleted as a resource, demands fundamental changes in the building sector. Additionally, the traditional water supply to the building sector causes lowering of the ground water strata, which is a dangerous sign for the survival of future generations due to the shortage of ground water. Additionally, we see increases in the use of the water supply within the building sector, which is lowering the ground water levels to a state that threatens the survival of future generations. Thus, in this research, an innovative technology is proposed to mitigate these global energy and water crises being produced by the building sector. The use of solar energy to generate electricity within a building’s exterior curtain wall through the implementation of active PV panels can power the building naturally. Additionally, cloud water molecules have been proposed to catch static electricity, forming an insulator water tank in a building, which can be treated in situ by implementing a UV application to fulfill the day by day water needs of a building. The results of this research revealed that the use of only 25% of the exterior curtain wall skin of a building will capture the sufficient solar radiation for conversion into electric energy to meet 100% of the energy demand of the building. In addition, the possibility of cloud water capture by the static electricity force to fill an insulator tank near the building suggests tremendous potential of this mechanism regarding the use of cloud water treated it in situ by UV technology to meet the net water demands of a building. Thus, the combination of these two technologies to capture sunlight and the cloud water by designing smart building technology to satisfy the net energy and water needs of a building provides an innovative technology for mitigating global energy, environmental, and climate vulnerability.