How can scientific literature support decision-making in the renovation of historic buildings? An evidence-based approach for improving the performance of walls

Buildings of heritage significance due to their historical, architectural, or cultural value, here called historic buildings, constitute a large proportion of the building stock in many countries around the world. Improving the performance of such buildings is necessary to lower the carbon emissions of the stock, which generates around 40% of the overall emissions worldwide. In historic buildings, it is estimated that heat loss through external walls contributes significantly to the overall energy consumption, and is associated with poor thermal comfort and indoor air quality. Measures to improve the performance of walls of historic buildings require a balance between energy performance, indoor environmental quality, heritage significance, and technical compatibility. Appropriate wall measures are available, but the correct selection and implementation require an integrated process throughout assessment (planning), design, construction, and use. Despite the available knowledge, decision-makers often have limited access to robust information on tested retrofit measures, hindering the implementation of deep renovation. This paper provides an evidence-based approach on the steps required during assessment, design, and construction, and after retrofitting through a literature review. Moreover, it provides a review of possible measures for wall retrofit within the deep renovation of historic buildings, including their advantages and disadvantages and the required considerations based on context

Beurteilung der Feuchteproduktion durch Klimamessungen in natürlich belüfteten Wohnräumen

Dieses Kapitel spricht über Anforderungen an den Mindestwärmeschutz zur Vermeidung kritischer, Feuchteproduktion in Wohngebäuden und Modellannahmen für hygrothermische Berechnungen. Im Gegensatz zur relativen Luftfeuchte ist die Taupunkttemperatur ein Maß für die im Luftvolumen enthaltene Wasserdampfmenge. Sie dient außerdem zur Bestimmung des Tauwasserrisikos. eine ausreichenden Wärmeschutz in Form des Mindestwärmeschutzes eine wichtige Rolle bei der Verhinderung von Tauwasser und Schimmelpilzbildung zu. Die Kenntnis der Feuchteproduktion ist ferner auch zur Bestimmung der Kühllast für die Auslegung von Klimatisierungsanlagen erforderlich. Für die Modellierung der relativen Raumluftfeuchte wird der Feuchtegehalt der Außenluft vernachlässigt; es wird lediglich zwischen normaler und hoher Belegung des Gebäudes unterschieden. Ein Ziel dieses Projekts ist es, gesicherte Daten über das Innenraumklima in Wohngebäuden zu erlangen. Aus den Messergebnissen werden sowohl Jahresgänge abgeleitet als auch die Abhängigkeiten des Raumklimas von Einflüssen, wie beispielsweise dem Außenklima oder der Belegung, bestimmt. Die entwickelten Jahresgänge der Temperatur‐ und Feuchteverläufe zeigten im Vergleich mit Ergebnissen des IBP Holzkirchen den Einfluss regionaler Klimaunterschiede und des Nutzerverhaltens

Marine microalgae attack and feed on metazoans

Free-living microalgae from the dinoflagellate genus Karlodinium are known to form massive blooms in eutrophic coastal waters worldwide and are often associated with fish kills. Natural bloom populations, recently shown to consist of the two mixotrophic and toxic species Karlodinium armiger and Karlodinium veneficum have caused fast paralysis and mortality of finfish and copepods in the laboratory, and have been associated with reduced metazooplankton biomass in-situ. Here we show that a strain of K. armiger (K-0688) immobilises the common marine copepod Acartia tonsa in a density-dependent manner and collectively ingests the grazer to promote its own growth rate. In contrast, four strains of K. veneficum did not attack or affect the motility and survival of the copepods. Copepod immobilisation by the K. armiger strain was fast (within 15 min) and caused by attacks of swarming cells, likely through the transfer and action of a highly potent but uncharacterised neurotoxin. The copepods grazed and reproduced on a diet of K. armiger at densities below 1000, cells ml(−1), but above 3500 cells ml(−1) the mixotrophic dinoflagellates immobilised, fed on and killed the copepods. Switching the trophic role of the microalgae from prey to predator of copepods couples population growth to reduced grazing pressure, promoting the persistence of blooms at high densities. K. armiger also fed on three other metazoan organisms offered, suggesting that active predation by mixotrophic dinoflagellates may be directly involved in causing mortalities at several trophic levels in the marine food web