Noise map of the city of Guimarães: comparison and experimental validation of the prevision methods

Human being, especially in urban areas, lives surrounded by noise which causes discomfort and stress and is responsible for a great number of psychological and physical damages. The ever-growing technological development of our cities has been leading to a continuous increase in the sound levels observed in urban areas caused, essentially by traffic and industries. In order to reduce the noise levels in residential and service areas, recent Portuguese legislation in this field, makes mandatory, as a first step, the sound characterization of the different urban zones. Each municipality is obliged to do or to promote the elaboration of noise maps. There are already available several mathematical models that allow the elaboration of these maps. However, there are some limitations in these codes due to the great difficulty in foreseeing and simulate some particular situations. The objective of this work is the comparison and experimental validation of available codes in the elaboration of a noise map of the city of Guimarães. The accuracy and versatility of some existing codes will be evaluated by the comparison of the results obtained by simulation with real values measured in on-site measurement campaigns.(undefined)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Reabilitação em direção aos edifícios de energia e emissões zero

In order to mitigate climate changes induced by human action, the European Union settled a long term goal of reducing, up to 2050, the carbon emissions to 80 to 95% of 1990 values. At the level of the built environment it is expected to reduce carbon emissions to about 90% of the values of 1990 in that period. In order to promote this achievement, EU established the “nearly-zero energy” buildings concept that emerged in the context of the EPBD recast. This directive determines that by 31 December 2020, all new buildings must be nearly zero-energy buildings and all member states must develop policies and take measures to stimulate the transformation of the building stock also into nearly zero-energy buildings. In the actual context, this is a major challenge since there isn’t yet enough knowhow to do it and the existing standards and regulations regarding energy consumption are mainly focused on new buildings and do not respond effectively to the numerous constraints of the existing ones. It is then urgent to develop new renovation approaches that take into consideration the characteristics and limitations of existing buildings as well as to develop tools and good-practices guides, hold on appropriate, applicable and cost effective technologies, to support the different decision makers involved in this sector. The great challenge is to find sustainable ways of renovate in a cost-effective and massive way the huge and high energy consumer building stock

El proyecto Proderith : un caso de comunicación para el desarrollo participativo

El Programa de Desarrollo Rural Integrado del Trópico Húmedo - Proderith, desarrollado por el gobierno mexicano en zonas rurales, tuvo como estrategia la comunicación y la participación de los campesinos. Uno de los resultados fue la creación de videos y la formación de planes locales de desarrollo. En este artículo estudiamos esta experiencia y las estrategias de comunicación impulsadas por el proyecto. La reflexión teórica está basada en el concepto de la comunicación para el desarrollo: una comunicación aplicada a la participación comunitaria.The Integrated Rural Development of the Humid Tropic Program - Proderith, developed by the Mexican government in rural areas, had as strategy the importance of peasants’ communication and participation in the actions. One of the results was the creation of videos and the formation of local plans of development. In this article we study this experience and the strategies of communication has been developed by the project. Our theoretical reflection is based on the concept of communication for development: a communication applied to the communitarian participation

Water reuse for domestic consumption. A key element for environmental and economic sustainability

In a context of increasing social awareness about resources conservation, residential water management is essential in ensuring environmental and economic sustainability. An adequate management is attained with integrated solutions, which simultaneously reduce potable water consumption at least in 25% and enable the storage of recovered water. The recovery and storage of underground water can be ensured with the installation of a groundwater drainage network and an underground water deposit, which will supply the residential toilet cisterns and the automatic irrigation systems through independent piping. These solutions aim to achieve high levels of water conservation with the aid of known materials, components and techniques, with as little interference as possible in residential comfort. They also reduce the interference in the water cycle, since less public water is used for residential consumption and the surrounding surface permeability is assured in order to allow the infiltration of rainwater into the soil. Due to water reuse, the cold potable water consumption in residential buildings can be reduced in up to 50% when compared to average consumption in buildings without recovery systems. Therefore, the environmental and economic impact analysis of water reuse leads to the conclusion that the investment has a five year payback period, after which it represents a real gain for residents

Methodology for a sustainable rehabilitation

This work intends to show a methodology developed for the identification and resolution of buildings rehabilitation problems. The main goal of the present methodology is to support and help the decision-makers in order to achieve a capable and sustainable resolution of present problems, without compromising the needs for future interventions. This kind of tools is fundamental to avoid current mistakes and errors. In Portugal this type of tools is scarce. This methodology consists of a database system containing the available information concerning all the parameters involved in the rehabilitation process. The developed methodology was implemented with the assistance of a computational system developed from the start which, by means of pre-established relationships, allows the identification of the best intervention solutions and rehabilitation works to be carried out

Metodologia para a implementação de check lists em intervenções de reabilitação

A metodologia apresentada neste trabalho tem como principal objectivo servir de instrumento para a orientação das intervenções e dos intervenientes nos processos de reabilitação e manutenção de edifícios, contribuindo para tomadas de decisão mais fundamentadas, de modo a resolver os problemas actuais de forma eficaz e sustentada, não comprometendo a necessidade de futuras intervenções. Para tal, a metodologia aqui exposta resulta do desenvolvimento de um sistema de bases de dados e de conhecimentos relativos aos parâmetros envolvidos nos processos de reabilitação, que permite, entre outras coisas, a manipulação da informação sobre o estado dos elementos construtivos e as respectivas causas das anomalias verificadas, por forma a obter listagens das soluções de intervenção e dos trabalhos de reabilitação necessários. O desenvolvimento desta metodologia apresentou algum grau de dificuldade principalmente na atribuição de todas as relações admissíveis entre os dados das diferentes bases, ou seja, saber para cada elemento construtivo quais as anomalias a que o mesmo pode estar sujeito, as possíveis causas dessas anomalias, as soluções de reparação adequadas e os trabalhos necessários para as implementar de uma forma sustentada