VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Photo source: eng.ui.ac.id

The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) once again has named a team of students from the Faculty of Engineering (FT) of the University of Indonesia (UI) as the 1st Place Winner. The team won the Setty Family Foundation Net Zero Energy Design category at the ASHRAE Design Competition 2024. in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The sIx students who are members of the Archine team, Faculty of Engineering (FT) of the University of Indonesia (UI) managed to outperform 163 other teams with their green building design which they named Bromeliad Library. For three consecutive years, UI students have always won this event.

This project highlights the concept of a building that can reduce CO2 emissions and meet net-zero emissions standards. To achieve this goal, the building combines passive and active strategies in its design. Passive strategies include optimizing natural light, reducing solar heat, and innovative clay facades to control humidity. On the other hand, building strategies focus on air quality, efficient water management, and energy-efficient lighting.

Biman, a member of the team, explained that the Bromeliad Library is equipped with several superior features such as LED sunlight sensors and the use of the roof area for vegetated terraces and solar panels. The building also has a water and fog harvesting system that can collect up to 3.3 million liters of rainwater and dew per year. With the implementation of these strategies and technologies, the use of Energy Use Intensity (EUI) in the building has been significantly reduced from 211 kWh/m² to 87 kWh/m², reducing energy consumption by 59%.