The North Tower Building is an eight-storey building that serves as dormitory for the students of Bond University.

The west and south side of the building is directed to the sunlight. In order to reduce the heat to be absorbed, the walls of the building were painted light colors. This gives a cooler indoor environment.

The rooms of the building have wide aluminum windows which allow the use of natural lighting during ay time which is an advantage since it promotes conservation of energy. The windows are made up of aluminum which is an energy-saving material.

Aluminum is a stable material and it is resistant to temperature and humidity changes. Furthermore, aluminum windows consists of central core of materials which acts as an obstruction to heat flow which reflects heat during warm days and absorbs heat during cold days. This property of aluminum conserves energy by reducing the use of air-conditioners and heaters (Aluminum Extruders Council 2006).

Aluminum windows also have a high-enduring properties and it does not rust. With this properties, it can decrease the cost of maintenance and repair.

But the windows do not have coverings to block out the sun. The coverings are not important in terms of energy conservation but it is necessary to give privacy to the occupants.

The windows also serve as an entrance of natural air which gives good ventilation to the occupants. Good ventilation can minimize energy consumption because it can lessen the use of air condition systems. The use of day light and windows for natural ventilation can minimize the use of artificial lighting fixtures, mechanical cooling and first cost. With good ventilation, the used of air conditioning systems installed in each rooms is minimized.

The building uses fluorescent lights which is also a good feature of the building since the use of fluorescent lamps reduces labor cost for maintenance. Fluorescent lamp operates about 10,000 hours compared to 1,000 hours of an incandescent lamp.

Fluorescent lamps converts more usable light than heat which reduces the size, cost and energy consumption of an air-conditioning system (Wikepedia, 2008).

The dormitory provides shared automatic washers and dryers. These facilities are energy-consuming and needed to be replaced.

Each room in the dormitory has each own comfort rooms. The comfort rooms have water using urinals which has a high cost during the construction and can cause higher maintenance cost because there will be a need for repair and maintenance of pipes. Because of wear and tear of the internal fixtures, there is a need for minor changes to maintain a pleasing and good condition for occupants.

Minor changes include paints, carpets and tiles.

In order to achieve sustainability, it is recommended to use low-emitting paint. The application of low-emitting paint produces low or no emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) which reduces negative reactions that normal latex paint caused and allows the room to be occupied immediately after application. The use of this kind of paint reduces cost of maintenance and purchase.

Since it important that a building has a capability to protect and to provide good security to its occupant, it is a good feature of the North Tower Building to have smoke detectors and a burglar alarm system.

The existence of stairs for emergency purposes is also an advantage. The stairs is important in case of fires and power interruptions when the elevators cannot be used.

The North Tower can be considered as a sustainable building with the energy-consuming features. The energy-consuming feature is very significant because of the continuous reduction of sources of energy. It is also helps in the reduction of costs of maintenance since the economy is lowering.

References:

Aluminun Extruders Council (2006) Building and Constructions [online] Available from http://www.aec.org/exapps/building.html [15 July 2008]

Student Residence (2008) Private Ensuite [online] Available from https://www.myroom.bond.edu.au/rooms/showbuilding.asp?pagecode=SINGLE+ENSUITE [ September 2008]

The Economic Benefits of Sustainable Design (2008)

Wikepedia, The Free Encyclopedia (2008) Fluorescent Lamp [online] Available from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorescent_light#Efficiency [9 July 2008]