AT FIRST glance, the quaint little house outside the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia engineering faculty looks like any house. But there is more to it than meets the eye.
Called the Solar-Hydrogen Eco-house, it is the first in the world that is fully self-sustainable and runs entirely on hydrogen. The house is part of UKM?s new fuel cell and automotive research centre. It was jointly designed and developed by Prof Kamaruzzaman Sopian, director of UKM?s Advanced Engineering Centre, and architect Shah Jaafar.
?My initial idea was to have a small hut which was entirely fuelled by hydrogen,? said Kamaruzzaman, who has been researching solar power since 1985. ?Then someone suggested that I build and design an actual house which implements the technology.?
After more than a year of designing and planning, the house was constructed to demonstrate the technology and architectural aspects to the public, as well as for further research into the viability of solar hydrogen technology application for a residential dwelling. Covering an area of 110sqm, the cost of building the house at almost RM250,000 was sponsored by the Science, Technology and Environment Ministry, as it was then known.
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However, the solar-hydrogen production system is not the only unique aspect of the eco-house.
For Shah, designing the house proved to be a real challenge because he had to accommodate the professor?s technology and incorporate low energy architectural features such as shading, day-lighting, and at the same time, ensure that people would find the house pleasant enough to live in.
Shah drew inspiration from traditional Malay architecture, which he says possesses a bio-climatic environment and is in harmony with nature.
?The raised floor and the serambi (deep veranda) of the house are some of the traditional features I incorporated into the eco-house,? Shah explained. ?I wanted to give traditional Malay architecture a modern and contemporary image, and at the same time reflect the technological and environmental aspects of the house.?
Low energy architectural features were also incorporated into the design. One such feature reduces the use of air-conditioning by manipulating natural ventilation effects. The principle relies on air temperature differences between the top and bottom of the building caused by solar radiation that heats the air.
The buoyancy of the warm air causes the air movement to rise vertically through the stack, resulting in a cool breeze running through the house.
Meanwhile, a combination of both classical day-lighting techniques (such as side-lighting and top-lighting) and innovative ideas (sloped light shelves and shading devices) were used, further reducing the usage of energy needed for lighting the house during the day.
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