Interdependent energy relationships between buildings at the street scale

Oppgaven tar for seg en analyse av etterforsyning av flytende oksygen(LOX) til C-130J i internasjonale operasjoner og er gjennomført som en case-studie av NORTAD2. Hensikten med undersøkelsen er å anbefale det etterforsyningskonseptet som vil sikre tilgang på LOX til NORTAD3 og som i fremtiden vil kunne benyttes i liknende operasjonsområder. Studien drøfter tre konseptuelt ulike løsninger for etterforsyning: obtain in the battlefield, ship to the forces og carry with the troops, avgrenset til responssyklusen fra siste leverandør til sluttbruker. Først gjøres det en analyse av dagens løsning obtain in the battlefield med lokal leveranse fra leverandøren Air Liquid. Analysen er gjennomført med utgangspunkt i teori fra fagområdet logistikk. I teorien identifiseres det tre hovedutfordringer: usikkerhet knyttet til kvalitet, ledetid og sikkerhet, spesialtilpasning av responssyklusen for et heterogent produkt og organisering av kjeden. Drøftingen tar utgangspunkt i de identifiserte problemene og søker å finne løsninger som kan redusere disse. Den første løsningen som drøftes er ship to the forces ved etterforsyning fra Las Palmas eller nærmeste tilgjengelige flyplass med godkjent LOX. Løsningen vil redusere usikkerhet knyttet til de nevnte faktorene, men imidlertid forlenge ledetiden til to dager. Samtidig reduseres behovet for LOX-spesifikt materiell og personell, og således reduserer ressursbruken. I tillegg vil arbeidet i forkant av bidraget minskes, men tvert imot øke det administrative arbeidet underveis. Løsningen vil by på en prioritering av operativ tilgjengelighet på flymaskinen og redusert usikkerhet. Løsningen anbefales ikke som det primære etterforsyningskonseptet da operativ tilgjengelighet vil være en prioritet. Videre drøftes en rotasjonsordning som et carry with the troops-konsept. Løsningen vil kunne redusere ledetiden ved rotasjon i Mali, men redusere Forsvarets totale fleksibilitet med tanke på transportflykapasitet. Her vil også behov for LOX-spesifikt materiell og personell reduseres. På den andre siden identifiseres det at løsningen vil skape god fleksibilitet for bidraget i forbindelse med LOG-flights og kan således styrke bidraget. Det antas at løsningens totale ressursbruk vil overstige dagens, men det anbefales å gjøre en grundig kost-nytte analyse av denne løsningen. Avslutningsvis drøftes forbedringer ved nåværende løsning. Her foreslås det å sikre operativ tilgjengelighet på lagertanken med en vedlikeholdsplan og utdanning på denne. Samtidig anbefales det investering i egen transportkapasitet for frakt av LOX for å redusere usikkerheten knyttet til leveransen og sikkerhet. Sist bør forståelsen for LOX økes i hele organisasjonen gjennom utdanning slik at å sikre etterforsyning prioriteres. Oppgavens konklusjon og anbefaling er å videreføre dagens løsning med noen utbedringer. Løsning ship to the forces anbefales som plan B. Samtidig bør det gjennomføres en kost-nytte analyse av carry with the troops

Creating sustainable cities one building at a time: towards an integrated urban design framework

One of the tenets of urban sustainability is that more compact urban forms that are more densely occupied are more efficient in their overall use of space and of energy. In many designs this has been translates into high-rise buildings with a focus on energy management at their outer envelopes. However, pursuing this building focused approach alone means that buildings are treated as stand-alone entities with minimal consideration to their impact on the surrounding urban landscape and vice versa. Where urban density is high, individual buildings interact with each other, reducing access to sunshine and daylight, obstructing airflow and raising outdoor air temperature. If/when each building pursues its own sustainability agenda without regard to its urban context, the result will diminish the natural energy resources available to nearby buildings and worsen the outdoor environment generally. This paper examines some of these urban impacts using examples from the City of London where rapid transformation is taking place as very tall buildings with exceptional energy credentials are being inserted into a low-rise city without a plan for the overall impact of urban form. The focus of the paper is on access to sunshine and wind and the wider implications of sustainable strategies that that focuses on individual buildings to the exclusion of the surrounding urban landscape. The work highlights the need for a framework that accounts for the synergistic outcomes that result from the mutual interactions of buildings in urban spaces

Good neighbours

The energy impact of tall buildings on neighbourhoods should be taken into account when evaluating their carbon emissions, say Julie Futcher, Gerald Mills and Ivan Korolij

Current Uptake of Technology Related to the Built Environment to Support Older Adults to Live Independently in Their Community

Current forecasts predict that, in line with increasing global populations and extended life expectancy, older adults will dominate the population structure. To accommodate this demographic shift, governmental policies point to ‘ageing in place’ as key. This article outlines research findings of an initial investigation into the uptake of technology to support ‘ageing in place'. The study sets out to identify both incentives and barriers to the uptake under four key activity criteria - medical, monitoring, mobility and social - at three built environment scales - home, street and neighbourhood, for urban, semi-urban and rural locations - to support older adults to live independently in their community. Results show that whilst there are significant and justified concerns over the limitations of physical conditions to support 'ageing in place', most physical conditions along with age are not barriers to the uptake of technology, as uptake is high regardless of circumstances. However, the study revealed that uptake is dependent on level of training, if shown to lead to increasing independence, includes a level of ‘enjoyment of use’, and does not replace existing physical relationships. The study also identified that there is limited research around the use of technology for either mobility or social activities outside the home; rather, research focus is concerned with medical monitoring in the home. Finally, research overlooks the role of geographic demographics to support 'ageing in place'. The results of this research can provide useful guidelines co-created with older adults for the development of new policies to 'ageing in place'

Urban Form as an Energy Management Parameter

Urban form is generally economically driven; as a result little attention is paid to how the surrounding urban geometry affects the energy performance of a building. Instead building designers tend to rely upon a fabric first approach to energy management. This work explores the interdependent relationships that develop between buildings at the scale of the city street. We use dynamic thermal simulations of multiple buildings at the scale of a neighbourhood to study the effects of urban form on the regulated loads of modern non-domestic buildings. Simulations are based upon the area of Moorgate within the City of London with simulations of buildings in their standalone setting are compared against identical buildings in various urban settings, both for the current climate and a possible future climate within the lifetime of the building. In this way the effects of urban form were compared to the effects of improving the building fabric. We find that not only do identical buildings behave differently as a direct response to the form of the surrounding urban setting, but that these performance patterns become increasingly significant with lowered operational loads (as a result of the mitigation agenda) and predicted warming trends. The results imply that the current fabric first approach to meet carbon reduction targets and avoid dangerous climate change may not be adequate

Urban form and function as building performance parameters

Copyright © 2013 Elsevier. NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Building and Environment . Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Building and Environment Vol. 62 (2013), DOI: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2013.01.021The climate in cities differs significantly from those found in the surrounding area. These differences results from modifications of the Earth's surface that alters the disposition of “natural energy balance” at a micro-scale and the concentration of activities that results in anthropogenic emissions that change the composition of the atmosphere. These urban effects have distinctive temporal and spatial properties with different impacts on building energy performance depending on their purpose which are rarely accounted for. This paper examines performance implications of a change-of-use (from office to residential) in the context of the UK government's proposal to encourage regeneration and to meet housing needs. However, the diurnal occupation and activity patterns of these uses are distinct. For office buildings, with daytime occupation, focus is on the diurnal heating cycle driven by solar energy gains to which internal energy sources must be added. For residential buildings occupation and activity are primarily associated with the diurnal cooling period, and lower levels of activity that results in a primary heating need. This paper highlights the link between the timing of the urban climate effects, the urban setting and energy performance in a typical city street, where buildings are currently designed for commercial use. It employs London's current and projected climate to simulate heating and cooling demands. By studying the role of urban form and its implications on the suitability of a buildings function we find that a ‘form first’ approach should be considered in the early design stages over the standard ‘fabric first’ approach

Teaching urban climatology through field observations: The London urban climate walk

Urban climatology (UC) is fundamentally interdisciplinary as it draws upon the expertise of several distinct fields including: atmospheric sciences, architecture, engineering, geography and urban planning & design [1]. For a student of UC, integrating the contributions of each to an understanding of urban climate is a challenge; each has a focus on different spatial and time scales and uses different terminology to describe the relevant features/processes from their perspectives. As a result, what represents a solution in one field can create a problem for those working in another. For example, building air conditioning that is used to offset uncomfortably hot outdoor temperatures adds waste energy to the outdoors, contributing to warming and creating an energy demand feedback loop. In this paper, we describe the London Urban Climate Walk and how it is used to explore urban microclimates and teach the principles of urban climatology. The walk treats the participants as a mobile 'weather stations' and links their sensory faculties to climate processes. The paper will present the results of atmospheric measurements taken along the route and of interviews with participants. © Copyright: PLEA 2018 Hong Kong