Methods to Obtain the Occupant Perspective

This chapter summarizes the most important methods for actively engaging occupants in the processes of designing buildings. Each stage in the building life cycle places different demands on the professional-to-occupant relationship. Both objective and subjective data are important in this relationship and raises key epistemological questions about factors that cannot be directly observed—e.g., how do we know what we know about occupant behavior? The chapter guides the reader through this intellectually dangerous terrain by suggesting that the best way to find out what people think is to ask them. Some methods discussed here are familiar to practitioners, including interviews, surveys, focus groups, and direct observation. Others are just entering widespread practice, including virtual reality simulations, ubiquitous sensors and monitoring systems, and momentary ecological assessments. Each method has strengths, weaknesses, and appropriateness for use during certain stages of the building life cycle. The key takeaways from this chapter are that (1) building designers and operators can learn much value from occupants and (2) the new skills needed to engage successfully can be quickly learned. Occupant-centric design approaches that employ these methods improve the likelihood of successful building, interface design, and occupant outcomes

"I'd want to burn the data or at least nobble the numbers": Towards data-mediated building management for comfort and energy use

In this paper, we explore the role of pervasive environmental sensor data in workplace building management. Current interactions between management and workplace occupants are limited by the gap between experiences of (dis)comfort (i.e. individual preferences and perceptions) and the rigid objectivity of organisational policies and procedures such as static setpoint temperatures for indoor spaces. Our hypothesis is that pervasive sensor data that captures the indoor climate can provide an effective platform from which to more successfully communicate about comfort and energy use. Through a qualitative study with building managers and occupants, we show that while data does not necessarily resolve these tensions, it provides an engaging forum for a more inclusive building management process, and we outline directions for taking a more conversational approach in the design of comfort and energy-use interventions for the workplace

Prosumer behaviour in emerging electricity systems

This dissertation investigates the interface between technology and society in the emerging electricity systems and in particular the role of the energy prosumer in the energy transition. It contributes to the understanding of the role of consumers in emerging electricity systems within the current EU energy policy context where consumer active participation is regarded as "a prerequisite for managing the energy transition successfully and in a cost-effective way". Emerging energy systems are characterized by a high level of complexity, especially for what concerns the behaviour of social actors. Social actors interact through physical and social networks by sharing information and learning from one another through social interactions. These interactions determine self-organization and emergent behaviours in energy consumption patterns and practices. I argue that the best suited tool to study emergent behaviours in energy consumption patterns and practices, and to investigate how consumers' preferences and choices lead to macro behaviours is agent based modelling. To build a sound characterization of the energy prosumer, I review the current social psychology and behavioural theories on sustainable consumption and collect evidence from EU energy prosumers surveys, studies and demand side management pilot projects. I employ these findings to inform the development of an agent based model of the electricity prosumer, Subjective Individual Model of Prosumer – SIMP, and its extended version, SIMP-N, that includes the modelling of the social network. I apply SIMP and SIMP-N models to study the emergence in consumer systems and how values and beliefs at consumer level (as defined by social psychology and behavioural theories and informed by empirical evidence) and social dynamics lead to macro behaviours. More specifically, I explore the diffusion of smart grid technologies enabled services among a population of interacting prosumers and evaluate the impact of such diffusion on individual and societal performance indicators under different policy scenarios and contextual factors. The analysis of the simulation results provides interesting insights on how different psychological characteristics, social dynamics and technological elements can strongly influence consumers' choices and overall system performance. I conclude proposing a framework for an integrated approach to modelling emerging energy systems and markets that extend the SIMP model to also include markets, distribution system operator and the electricity network

Occupant-Centric Simulation-Aided Building Design Theory, Application, and Case Studies

This book promotes occupants as a focal point for the design process

Harnessing social innovation for energy justice: a business model perspective

This paper uses a business model framework to discuss how principles of energy justice - in particular, equitable distribution of costs and benefits, affordability, due process and greater participation in decision-making - can be embedded in business model innovations for energy, through social innovation. The paper discusses four cases at different scales (local, subnational, regional and global) to highlight opportunities for introducing principles of energy justice into the core of business models of companies. By doing so, the paper offers a critical perspective on the potential of business model innovation to be guided through a more broadly defined understanding of value enhanced by concepts of energy justice. The discussion of the four case studies— the Carbon Cooperative, Robin Hood Energy, RenEsco, and the Yansa Community Interest Company—highlights the importance of creating supportive wider environments for social and business model innovations, such as the development of skills, knowledge and social capital, through interventions coming from multiple levels and focused on different aspects of energy generation, supply and use (i.e. finance and technical implementation). Going against the grain of current policy, the study implies a shift away from upscaling innovations by taking them to the national scale, and towards creating supportive conditions for more local deals in different geographic locations

Change Narrative in Fictionalizing the Nuclear Disaster: Trauma as a Starting Point for Hope

Peer reviewe

Sustainable development, poverty eradication and reducing inequalities

This chapter takes sustainable development as the starting point and focus for analysis. It considers the broad and multifaceted bi-directional interplay between sustainable development, including its focus on eradicating poverty and reducing inequality in their multidimensional aspects, and climate actions in a 1.5°C warmer world. These fundamental connections are embedded in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The chapter also examines synergies and trade-offs of adaptation and mitigation options with sustainable development and the SDGs and offers insights into possible pathways, especially climate-resilient development pathways towards a 1.5°C warmer world

Securing Healthy Circular Material Flows In The Built Environment:

Multi-family buildings usually have a fixed subdivision in units with standard layouts. However, households are all different and change over time, as so do their needs and desires. With this in mind, the Open Building concept, which originated in the 1960s, proposed two levels of intervention and decision-making: the (collective) ‘support’ and (individual) ‘infill’. Although the Open Building approach has been embraced conceptually, with a new wave of interest in the Netherlands in recent years, it is remarkably overlooked in the actual design and construction of housing. The current attention for Circular Building puts, once again, the spotlight on Open Building. This renewed attention is due to the shared benefits around flexibility, and as such Circular Building and Open Building are two sides of the same coin. However, there is a big difference between accommodating unforeseen use of space and accommodating foreseen circularity-conditions for material management. Moreover, thus far little attention has been paid to residential user perspectives or the operational processes of Circular Building product and material cycles. Securing healthy circular material flows in the built environment cannot be the objective of one industry, let alone one organisation, but reshuffles whole value networks. This doctoral research adopts multiple perspectives and cuts through different scales and disciplines to derive criteria for indoor partitioning, with an emphasis on user health and well-being, flexibility and circularity. Although focused on partitioning, the findings can be applied to other components, such as kitchen cabinets, furniture, stairs, or to the interior side-sheeting and insulation of walls and ceilings in energy renovations

Securing Healthy Circular Material Flows In The Built Environment

Departing from two problem statements, one concerning circularity in the built environment and one concerning flexibility in the built environment, this dissertation sets out to answer two main research questions: – In an Open Building division of support and infill, to what extent can the infill contribute to sustainable circular material & product flows? – Which qualitative and quantitative criteria and preconditions are central to integrating the notions of user health & well-being, circularity, and flexibility in infill configurations? In view on these research questions, this dissertation revolves around multiple topics and disciplines, addressing material properties, material flows, product design, and user benefits, relating to a specific building component: non-bearing partitioning. The research follows a mixed-method approach, primarily qualitatively driven and supported by quantitative data and tools. Literature studies, workshops and expert consultations are applied throughout the trajectory to derive, test and adjust criteria, guidelines and design concepts. The dissertation is structured around four research chapters (each set-up as a separate academic article), preceded by a general introduction and background sketch, and followed by an overarching evaluation of the findings. The results from the first research chapter (Chapter 3) concern the distinction of various intrinsic and relational properties, as well as an inventory matrix based on building layers and material reutilisation routes. In the next chapter (Chapter 4), a first set of criteria is derived (Circ-Flex I) in order to integrate flexibility, circularity and user benefits. In Chapter 5, criteria are further elaborated, including assessment guidelines that pinpoint health, well-being, and operational performance (Circ- Flex II). The following chapter (Chapter 6) is aimed at design aspects: a design conceptualisation trajectory is laid out, applying design preconditions rooted in the criteria that were shaped in the preceding chapters. Furthermore, a novel flow analysis and modelling method is utilised with respect to secondary raw materials: the Activity-based Spatial Material Flow Analysis (AS-MFA). This stage revolves around materialisation and operational propositions for an innovative partitioning configuration of side-panel and insulation. The innovations are based on renewable material and reversible adhesive technologies. The following conclusions are derived from the research: Circularity in the built environment can only occur if flexibility is fully integrated in the whole building (component) value network, and conversely, flexibility in the built environment increasingly depends on the handling and management of materials designated for healthy, circular applications. – Infill parts, implemented in an Open Building context, enable multiple short to medium length cycles within the longer service lives of multi-family building structures, following changes in user requirements. As such, this model accommodates more sustainable product and material flows. However, decisive success factors are the attitude of and interplay between actors in the value network, not least the end-user. – Technical circularity potential of building products and materials resides at the intersection of intrinsic and relational characteristics. – The differentiation of building layers and parts, in combination with differentiated reutilisation routes, provides leverage for more advanced approaches to circular building strategies, anticipating multiple handling and treatment processes. – To bring circular building to scale in a socially engaged way, value models need to take account of actors’ shared incentives around flexibility and health, as well as split incentives around circularity. – Monitoring the operational performance is key for capitalising on the intrinsic health and circularity potential of building components during their service life. – Research and design exercises into circular building concepts and products benefit reciprocally from data and experience in adjacent disciplines, such as urban planning and waste management, whilst integrating multiple sub-systems associated with value creation in circular models. – Modifications associated with the innovative partition concepts occur above all in raw material sourcing, manufacturing, reutilisation logistics, and data-sharing, of which the latter should extend to the end-user. Next to partitioning, the findings can be relevant for other infill components as well, such as: kitchen cabinets, stairs, furniture, and the interior side-sheeting and insulation of walls and ceilings in energy-renovations. Follow-up research and practical efforts should be aimed at the development and testing of products, as well as value propositions regarding ownership: from regular transactions in which ownership shifts to the customer, to more innovative models in which ownership stays with the supplier or shifts to an intermediary actor (e.g. pay-per-use, buy-back or deposit model). Securing healthy circular material flows in the built environment cannot be the objective of one industry, let alone one organisation, but reshuffles whole value networks. This cannot be done without binding agreements and multi‑criteria learning loops. The first emphasises legal frameworks. This is therefore another prime area for future action. The aspect of multi-criteria learning loops, finally, relates to the need for more sophisticated data-exchange, also engaging endusers, which is nowadays rare in housing

Sustainable consumption: towards action and impact. : International scientific conference November 6th-8th 2011, Hamburg - European Green Capital 2011, Germany: abstract volume

This volume contains the abstracts of all oral and poster presentations of the international scientific conference „Sustainable Consumption – Towards Action and Impact“ held in Hamburg (Germany) on November 6th-8th 2011. This unique conference aims to promote a comprehensive academic discourse on issues concerning sustainable consumption and brings together scholars from a wide range of academic disciplines. In modern societies, private consumption is a multifaceted and ambivalent phenomenon: it is a ubiquitous social practice and an economic driving force, yet at the same time, its consequences are in conflict with important social and environmental sustainability goals. Finding paths towards “sustainable consumption” has therefore become a major political issue. In order to properly understand the challenge of “sustainable consumption”, identify unsustainable patterns of consumption and bring forward the necessary innovations, a collaborative effort of researchers from different disciplines is needed