Dissertation Topic- Traditional Building vs Sustainable Building

Martyhuggins

Hi All,

I am currently studying Building Surveying and I am in my final year

I am currently doing my dissertation, and have a proposed topic titled "Traditional House vs Sustainable House" in which I hope to discuss how a sustainable house (roughly 240m2) is more sustainable than a traditional house (using the tgds 2008 part l as a standard cavity wall)

Does anybody have any ideas of what approach i could take, while not going too broad and not fully concentrating my thesis on costs?

It is a broad topic but i have a interest in using and discussing different materials if that is any help. I have also worked on the construction of what could be called a sustainable house and used different materials such as lightweight blocks, different insulation, extra approaches to moisture penetration etc. I was maybe intending on making a case study out of this experience.
It would be much appreciated if you could share them with me

Thanks,
Martyhuggins

MicktheMan

Martyhuggins wrote: »

I am currently doing my dissertation, and have a proposed topic titled "Traditional House vs Sustainable House" in which I hope to discuss how a sustainable house (roughly 240m2) is more sustainable than a traditional house (using the tgds 2008 part l as a standard cavity wall)

Imo, 240m2 house isn't sustainable for a start.:)

fclauson

I have had about 4 or 5 dissertations written about my house

Can I suggest a change in topic - "how can renewable energy elements of a build be balanced cap ex vs op ex"

My build made investments on the capital elements so that when operating it does it at near zero costs

Many people are putting in Solar thermal when the pay back is just not there - in the summer you have way too much heat and in the winter you need a back up source. I did look at (think I made a previous post on this) having a large buffer tank and lots of solar thermal but the price was just silly.

My manta was "practical, pragmatic, price sensitive, and passive"

Martyhuggins

Hi fclauson,

Could you go into more detail on your "cap ex op ex". I understand its capital expenditure vs operational expenditure but is this not going towards the costs side of things and performance factors?

I am interested in your proposed topic and have viewed your build through various pages. Are the previous dissertations written about your build similar to your proposed topic?

fclauson

Martyhuggins wrote: »

Hi fclauson,

Could you go into more detail on your "cap ex op ex". I understand its capital expenditure vs operational expenditure but is this not going towards the costs side of things and performance factors?

My view would be investment at build time is cheaper than a continuous operational cost each year

[/quote]

I am interested in your proposed topic and have viewed your build through various pages. Are the previous dissertations written about your build similar to your proposed topic?[/QUOTE]
No - so far it's been around construction techniques and fabric build ups

Penn

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Thread Locked. Please PM me for further clarification if required, Martyhuggins.