Sustainability in design: now! Challenges and opportunities for design research, education and practice in the XXI century

Copyright @ 2010 Greenleaf PublicationsLeNS project funded by the Asia Link Programme, EuropeAid, European Commission

SPACERGY:

SPACERGY builds upon the need for planning authorities to develop new models to implement energy transition strategies in the urban environment, departing from the exploitation or reciprocity between space and energy systems. Several policies have been made by each EU nation, but effective and practical tools to guide the urban transformations towards a carbon-neutral future present several challenges. The first challenge is to confront long term changes in envisioning how a specific socio-cultural context can respond to the application of solutions for energy efficiency. Secondly, the engagement of communities in bottom-up approaches mainly includes the sphere of urban planning that underestimates the importance of relating spatial transformations with the energy performances generated in the urban environment. The third challenge regards the tools used for the assessment of the energy performance and the necessity of enlarging the scale in which energy demand is analyzed, from the scale of the building to that of the district. In this context, the project explores the role of mobility, spatial morphologies, infrastructural elements and local community participation in regards to the smart use of local resources. The project addresses a knowledge gap in relation to interactions and synergies between spatial programming, energy and mobility systems planning and stakeholder involvement necessary to improve models of development and governance of urban transformations. Based on detailed spatial morphology and energy use modeling, SPACERGY develops new toolsets and guidelines necessary to advance the implementation of energy-efficient urban districts. New toolsets are tested in three urban areas under development in the cities of Zurich, Almere, and Bergen, acting as living laboratories for real-time research and action in collaboration with local stakeholders. The results of this research project support planners and decision-makers to facilitate the transition of their communities to more efficient, livable and thus prosperous urban environments

Energy Efficiency in Buildings: Both New and Rehabilitated

Buildings are one of the main causes of the emission of greenhouse gases in the world. Europe alone is responsible for more than 30% of emissions, or about 900 million tons of CO2 per year. Heating and air conditioning are the main cause of greenhouse gas emissions in buildings. Most buildings currently in use were built with poor energy efficiency criteria or, depending on the country and the date of construction, none at all. Therefore, regardless of whether construction regulations are becoming stricter, the real challenge nowadays is the energy rehabilitation of existing buildings. It is currently a priority to reduce (or, ideally, eliminate) the waste of energy in buildings and, at the same time, supply the necessary energy through renewable sources. The first can be achieved by improving the architectural design, construction methods, and materials used, as well as the efficiency of the facilities and systems; the second can be achieved through the integration of renewable energy (wind, solar, geothermal, etc.) in buildings. In any case, regardless of whether the energy used is renewable or not, the efficiency must always be taken into account. The most profitable and clean energy is that which is not consumed

Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Energy Efficiency in Domestic Appliances and Lighting

At the EEDAL'15 conference 128 papers dealing with energy consumption and energy efficiency improvements for the residential sector have been presented. Papers focused policies and programmes, technologies and consumer behaviour. Special focus was on standards and labels, demand response and smart meters. All the paper s have been peer reviewed by experts in the sector.JRC.F.7-Renewables and Energy Efficienc

Proceedings of the 7th International Conference EEDAL 2013 Energy Efficiency in Domestic Appliances and Lighting

This book contains the papers presented at the seventh international conference on Energy Efficiency in Domestic Appliances and Lighting. EEDAL'2013 was organised in Coimbra, Portugal in September 2013. This major international conference, which was previously been staged in Florence 1997, Naples 2000, Turin 2003, London 2006, B2e0r0l9in, Copenhagen 2011 has been very successful in attracting an international community of stakeholders dealing with residential appliances, equipment, metering liagnhdti ng (including manufacturers, retailers, consumers, governments, international organisations aangde ncies, academia and experts) to discuss the progress achieved in technologies, behavioural aspects and poliacineds , the strategies that need to be implemented to further progress this important work. Potential readers who may benefit from this book include researchers, engineers, policymakers, and all those who can influence the design, selection, application, and operation of electrical appliances and lighting.JRC.F.7-Renewables and Energy Efficienc

A transformation grammar-based methodology for housing rehabilitation: meeting contemporary functional and ICT requirements

This research starts from the premise that the future of the real estate market in Portugal will require the rehabilitation of existing residential areas in order to respond to new life-styles and dwelling requirements that have emerged in an era in which information plays a structuring role in society. The goal of this research is the definition of design guidelines and a rehabilitation methodology to support architects involved in the process of adapting existing dwellings, allowing them to balance sustainability requirements and economic feasibility with new dwelling trends such as the incorporation and updating of Information Communication and Automation Technologies and the need to solve emerging conflicts affecting the use of space prompted by the introduction of new functions associated with such technologies. In addition to defining a general methodology applicable to all the building types, the study focuses on a specific type, called “rabo-de-bacalhau” (“cod-tail”), built in Lisbon between 1945 and 1965 for which a specifc methodology has been generated. Both shape grammar and space syntax were used as part of the rehabilitation methodology as tools to identify and encode the principles and rules behind the adaptation of existing houses to new requirements.FCT PhD Gran

The East Austin housing science center : towards a more environmentally accountable design approach

Thesis (M. Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1991.Includes bibliographical references.This thesis project focuses on the community design implications for a less resource intensive way of life in the US context. The quantifying of the input, output and cycling of resource flows (energy, materials, water, biomass) at the site scale should provide a better understanding of the underlying support metabolism that an architect impacts with design decisions. This thesis attempts to identify opportunities and limitations for form generation by exploring the process of encouraging the sustainable utilization of on-site resources (primarily sun, wind, rain, plants and soil). To structure the understanding of these flows and tradeoffs involved, the development of simulation models and matrices is outlined. Over the life of a community, society's understanding of these flows will change, as will other aspects such as economically viable technologies, resource availability, behavioral patterns, and perhaps even climate. This thesis will explore an architectural framework that will be more resilient to future opportunities. To provide a design context for these decisions, I explored the phased growth of an affordable mixed-use, experimental community for the Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems on a 50 acre tract on the eastern city limits of Austin, Texas.by Knute Thomas Brinchmann.M.Arch

Advances in Computational Social Science and Social Simulation

Aquesta conferència és la celebració conjunta de la "10th Artificial Economics Conference AE", la "10th Conference of the European Social Simulation Association ESSA" i la "1st Simulating the Past to Understand Human History SPUHH".Conferència organitzada pel Laboratory for Socio­-Historical Dynamics Simulation (LSDS-­UAB) de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.Readers will find results of recent research on computational social science and social simulation economics, management, sociology,and history written by leading experts in the field. SOCIAL SIMULATION (former ESSA) conferences constitute annual events which serve as an international platform for the exchange of ideas and discussion of cutting edge research in the field of social simulations, both from the theoretical as well as applied perspective, and the 2014 edition benefits from the cross-fertilization of three different research communities into one single event. The volume consists of 122 articles, corresponding to most of the contributions to the conferences, in three different formats: short abstracts (presentation of work-in-progress research), posters (presentation of models and results), and full papers (presentation of social simulation research including results and discussion). The compilation is completed with indexing lists to help finding articles by title, author and thematic content. We are convinced that this book will serve interested readers as a useful compendium which presents in a nutshell the most recent advances at the frontiers of computational social sciences and social simulation researc