AN ANALYSIS OF A LOW-ENERGY, LOW-WATER USE COMMUNITY IN MEXICO CITY A Dissertation by JOSE LUIS BERMUDEZ ALCOCER Submitted to the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Chair of Committee, Jeff Haberl Co-Chair of Committee, Juan-Carlos Baltazar-Cervantes Committee Members, Charles Culp Mark Clayton David Claridge Head of Department, Ward Wells August 2014 Major Subject: Architecture Copyright 2014 Jose Luis Bermudez Alcocer ABSTRACT This study investigated how to determine a potential scenario to reduce energy, water and transportation use in Mexico City by implementing low-energy, low-water use communities. The proposed mixed-use community has multi-family apartments and a small grocery store. The research included the analysis of: case studies, energy simulation, and hand calculations for water, transportation and cost analysis. The previous case studies reviewed include: communities in Mexico City, Mexico, Austin, Texas, Phoenix, Arizona, New York City, New York and San Diego, California in terms of succesful low-energy, low- water use projects. The analysis and comparison of these centers showed that the Multifamiliar Miguel Aleman is an excellent candidate to be examined for Mexico City. This technical potential study evaluated energy conserving measures such as low-energy appliances and efficient lighting that could be applied to the apartments in Mexico City to reduce energy-use. The use of the simulations and manual calculations showed that the application of the mixed-use concept was successful in reducing the energy and water use and the corresponding carbon footprint. Finally, this technical potential study showed taking people out of their cars as a result of the presence of the on-site grocery store, small recreation center and park on the ground floor also reduced their overall transportation energy-use. The improvement of the whole community (i.e., apartments plus grocery store) using energy-efficient measures provided a reduction of 70 percent of energy from the base-case. In addition a 69 percent reduction in water-use was achieved by using water-saving fixtures and greywater reuse technologies for the complex. The combination of high-efficiency automobiles and the presence of the on-site grocery store, small recreation center and park potentially reduced the transportation energy-use by 65 percent. The analysis showed an energy cost reduction of 82 percent reduction for apartments and a 22 percent reduction for the store. In addition, for water cost there was a 70 percent reduction for apartments and a 16 percent reduction for the store. Overall, a 64 total percent reduction in carbon dioxide (CO2) was accomplished by saving energy-use in the apartments, the grocery store and transportation. ii Finally, a guide has been created for Mexico City to establish strategies and actions based on the results of this work in order to reduce overall energy and water-use in Mexico City. The guide is expected to be useful in the short term in Mexico City, and could be potentially adopted in the long term in other countries in the same manner as which Brazil and Colombia adopted the Mexican CONAVI’s 2010 Housing Building Code. iii DEDICATION To my parents Jacqueline and Jose Luis iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to express my gratitude to my chair, Dr. Jeff Haberl, for his guidance, valuable comments, suggestions and provisions that benefited the completion of this technical potential study. I also want to thank my co-chair, Dr. Juan-Carlos Baltazar-Cervantes, for his expertise, helpful direction and encouragament. Finally, I want to thank the rest of my dissertation committee: Drs. Charles Culp, Mark Clayton and David Claridge for their insightful comments and ideas. I acknowledge the important financial support from the National Council for Science and Technology of Mexico (CONACYT) to study the Ph.D. in Architecture at Texas A&M University. I am thankful for the partial support from the Energy Systems Laboratory (ESL) through the Texas Emissions Reduction Plan (TERP) in order to complete the Ph.D. in Architecture. I also acknowledge the support from the Physical Building Information Modeling (PBIM) for Solar Building Design and Simulation project funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Energy Systems Laboratory (ESL) and the Department of Architecture at Texas A&M University who funded the various Graduate Research or Teaching Assistantships during my time at Texas A&M. Finally, I am thankful to Rose Sauser for editing the final document. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................................. ii DEDICATION ......................................................................................................................... iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................................v TABLE OF CONTENTS ......................................................................................................... vi LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................ xii LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................. xxi CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................1 1.1. Background .................................................................................................................1 1.2. Purpose ........................................................................................................................4 1.3. Objectives ...................................................................................................................5 1.4. Organization of the Dissertation .................................................................................5 CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................................................................7 2.1. The Population and Energy Consumption in Mexico Compared to the US ...............7 2.2. The Concept and Application of Low-Energy, Low-Water Use Communities in Mexico ..................................................................................................................10 2.2.1. Concepts and Reasons for the Low-Energy, Low-Water Use Communities. ....................................................................................................10 2.2.2. Applications of Low-Energy, Low-Water Use Communities for Case Studies in Mexico and the US. ..........................................................................19 2.2.2.1. Centro Urbano Presidente Aleman (Multifamiliar Miguel Aleman) in Mexico City, Mexico. ..............................................................................20 2.2.2.2. Centro Urbano Presidente Juarez (Multifamiliar Benito Juarez) in Mexico City, Mexico. ..................................................................................23 2.2.2.3. Centro Urbano Presidente Adolfo Lopez Mateos (Nonoalco- Tlatelolco Housing Unit) in Mexico City, Mexico. ....................................26 2.2.2.4. CityScape, Phoenix, Arizona. .....................................................................30 2.2.2.5. Triangle Square, Austin, Texas. ..................................................................32 2.2.2.6. Battery Park City, New York City, New York. ..........................................33 vi 2.2.2.7. East Village, San Diego, California. ...........................................................39 2.3. Urban Patterns in Mexico City .................................................................................41 2.3.1. Urban Space Composition in Mexico City. .......................................................41 2.3.2. Transportation in Mexico City. ..........................................................................46 2.4. Building Characteristics in Mexico City ...................................................................50 2.4.1. Building Codes, Energy Norms, Energy Guide and Building Codes with a Sustainabilty Chapter in Mexico. ...................................................................50 2.4.2. Sustainable Achievements in Mexico. ...............................................................52 2.4.3. Bioclimates in Mexico. ......................................................................................57 2.5. Potential Energy-Efficiency Measures and Water-Efficiency Measures for Mixed-Use Buildings in Mexico City .......................................................................58 2.5.1. Building Envelope Measures for Mexico City. .................................................58 2.5.2. Mechanical Systems and Equipment for Mexico City Residences. ..................60 2.5.3. Daylighting and Lighting Systems and Appliances. ..........................................64 2.5.3.1. Daylighting. ................................................................................................65 2.5.3.2. Lighting Systems and Appliances. ..............................................................65 2.5.4. Natural Ventilation.............................................................................................67 2.5.5. Rainwater Harvesting Systems; and Greywater Reuse Systems and Water-Use. .........................................................................................................68