Engaging as Partners in Energy Efficiency: A Primer for Utilities on the Energy Efficiency Needs of Multifamily Buildings and Their Owners

The multifamily building sector presents a unique set of challenges and opportunities for utilities seeking to implement effective energy efficiency programs. To deliver successful programs, utilities must understand what motivates building owners to take part in these programs, as well as barriers that may prevent participation.This paper outlines the opportunities to meet energy efficiency goals with multifamily programs. It then describes the benefits that multifamily building owners gain from these programs, and the barriers they face to participation. The paper focuses on rental housing, because these buildings are owned by a single entity and form the largest sector of the multifamily housing market. The paper provides a framework to help utilities develop successful programs that maximize energy savings and create benefits for building owners, tenants, and communities. And lastly, the paper recommends nine program design considerations that can help attract multifamily building owners to utility energy efficiency programs

Towards a Layered Architectural View for Security Analysis in SCADA Systems

Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems support and control the operation of many critical infrastructures that our society depend on, such as power grids. Since SCADA systems become a target for cyber attacks and the potential impact of a successful attack could lead to disastrous consequences in the physical world, ensuring the security of these systems is of vital importance. A fundamental prerequisite to securing a SCADA system is a clear understanding and a consistent view of its architecture. However, because of the complexity and scale of SCADA systems, this is challenging to acquire. In this paper, we propose a layered architectural view for SCADA systems, which aims at building a common ground among stakeholders and supporting the implementation of security analysis. In order to manage the complexity and scale, we define four interrelated architectural layers, and uses the concept of viewpoints to focus on a subset of the system. We indicate the applicability of our approach in the context of SCADA system security analysis.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

Between a White Cube, Black Box, and Warehouse: Constructing Spaces for Contemporary Art throughout the Recent Museum Building Boom

Since the 1990s, museum buildings and the art housed inside them have undergone dramatic changes. Once canonical structures, they have evolved to more suitably contain new art forms and reflect the expanding and dynamic purposes of the museum. Museum architecture constructs the meanings and values of institutions as its primary and most tangible symbol. It commands a specific approach for display rhetoric and dictates the ways users and curators make use of space. What is the relationship between the latest museum building boom and contemporary art? What specific architectural strategies are employed by museums and architects to suit contemporary art? This paper examines the recent trends in museum construction in order to explore the ways in which new museums have reshaped the museum experience and dialogue between users and contemporary art.Desde la década de 1990 los edificios de los museos y el arte alojado en ellos han sufrido cambios dramáticos. Las estructuras canónicas han evolucionado para contener de manera más adecuada nuevas formas de arte y reflejar los propósitos dinámicos y en expansión del museo. La arquitectura del museo manifiesta los significados y valores de la propia institución como su símbolo principal y más tangible, presenta un enfoque específico para mostrar la retórica y dicta las formas en que los usuarios y los curadores hacen uso del espacio. ¿Cuál es la relación entre el último auge de la construcción de museos y el arte contemporáneo? ¿Qué estrategias arquitectónicas específicas emplean los museos y arquitectos para adaptarse al arte contemporáneo? Este artículo examina las tendencias recientes en la construcción de museos para explorar las formas en que los nuevos espacios han reformulado la experiencia y el diálogo entre los usuarios y el arte contemporáneo

Earth observing system. Data and information system. Volume 2A: Report of the EOS Data Panel

The purpose of this report is to provide NASA with a rationale and recommendations for planning, implementing, and operating an Earth Observing System data and information system that can evolve to meet the Earth Observing System's needs in the 1990s. The Earth Observing System (Eos), defined by the Eos Science and Mission Requirements Working Group, consists of a suite of instruments in low Earth orbit acquiring measurements of the Earth's atmosphere, surface, and interior; an information system to support scientific research; and a vigorous program of scientific research, stressing study of global-scale processes that shape and influence the Earth as a system. The Eos data and information system is conceived as a complete research information system that would transcend the traditional mission data system, and include additional capabilties such as maintaining long-term, time-series data bases and providing access by Eos researchers to relevant non-Eos data. The Working Group recommends that the Eos data and information system be initiated now, with existing data, and that the system evolve into one that can meet the intensive research and data needs that will exist when Eos spacecraft are returning data in the 1990s

A Comparative Analysis of High-Speed Rail Station Development into Destination and Multi-Use Facilities: The Case of San Jose Diridon

As a burgeoning literature on high-speed rail development indicates, good station-area planning is a very important prerequisite for the eventual successful operation of a high-speed rail station; it can also trigger opportunities for economic development in the station area and the station-city. At the same time, “on the ground” experiences from international examples of high-speed rail stations can provide valuable lessons for the California high-speed rail system in general, and the San Jose Diridon station in particular. This study identifies and draws lessons from European HSR stations that share similarities across several criteria with the San Jose area context. From an initial consideration of twenty European HSR stations, the researchers chose five stations for in depth case studies: Euralille and Lyon Part Dieu in France, Rotterdam Centraal and Utrecht Centraal in the Netherlands, and Torino Porta Susa in Italy. Additionally, the study drew information from relevant local actors and stakeholders to better tailor recommendations to the particular California context.Through the undertaking of different research tasks–literature review, case studies of European railway stations, survey of existing station plans and other planning documents for the Diridon station, station area analysis, and interviews with station area planners and designers–the study compiles timely recommendations for the successful planning of the Diridon station and other stations along the California high-speed rail corridor

An Outcome Analysis of the Mills Act in Three Exemplar Cities

The purpose of the research was to assess the outcomes of the Mills Act program in the cities of Gilroy, Santa Clara, and Mountain View, and to determine whether they are supporting the legislative intent of the program, including the use of the tax incentive program for its intended purpose of funding maintenance, restoration and preservation of the property, which will require determining the potential effects of the program on historic preservation. The research question for this study was the following: Is use of the Mills Act correlated with positive preservation outcomes of designated historic properties in the cities of Gilroy, Santa Clara, and Mountain View

Historic Preservation and its Cultured Despisers: Reflections on the Contemporary Role of Preservation Law in Urban Development

The past years have seen widely noticed critiques of historic preservation by “one of our leading urban economists,” Edward Glaeser, and by star architect Rem Koolhaas. Glaeser, an academic economist specializing in urban development, admits that preservation has value. But he argues in his invigorating book, Triumph of the City, and in a contemporaneous article, Preservation Follies, that historic preservation restricts too much development, raises prices, and undermines the vitality of the cities. Koolhaas is a Pritzker Prize-winning architect and oracular theorist of the relation between architecture and culture. In his New York exhibit, Cronocaos, he argued that preservation lacks an organizing theory, imposes inauthentic consumer-friendly glosses on older structures, and inhibits architectural creativity. Although these critiques are as different as the cultural spaces inhabited by their authors (although both are professors at Harvard), both seemed to strike nerves, suggesting an underlying unease about how large a role preservation has come to play in urban development. This article assesses these critiques as part of an ongoing effort to make sense of historic preservation law. This article proceeds as follows: First, it presents Glaeser’s critique in detail, placing it within the context of his larger argument about what makes cities attractive and dynamic. Grappling with the strengths and weaknesses of Glaeser’s critique leads to a discussion of how preservation regulation actually works and clarification of some of the benefits it confers. Second, this Article will attempt to specify Koolhaas’s critique, connecting it to similar complaints about preservation by more linear thinkers. Weighing objections to the coherence or authenticity of preservation leads to further discussion of the role that preservation plays in the larger culture. This article concludes with a call for future research