Climate adaptive building shells for the future – optimization with an inverse modelling approach

Most of currently designed and constructed building shells are fairly static systems which limits the possibilities for optimal energy performance and/or optimal indoor comfort. Solar shading is often only regulated by hand with (indoor) lamellas. This static behaviour of the shell often leads to discomfort and a high energy use for the various installations which are needed to climatise the building. In common design practice energy performance calculation programs or, in the best case, dynamic building simulation programs are used as a tool to improve the building shell performance. Different options for façade constructions are compared to retrieve the best result in energy use. In the ongoing FACET project (Dutch acronym: ‘Adaptive future façade technology for increased comfort and low energy use’) a completely new, inverse modelling approach is chosen by asking the question: "What would be the ideal, dynamic properties of a building shell to get the desired indoor climate at variable outdoor climate conditions?" By reversing the design approach, a set of ideal, but realistic building shell parameters is computed for different climate conditions, at various time scales (seasons, day-night, instantaneous). The ‘ideal’ adaptive behaviour makes it possible to maximize comfort and to minimize energy demand. Technologies to reach this ‘ideal’ behaviour are partly already available, in low or high tech solutions, such as smart glazing, variable vacuum insulation, insulating window covering, etc. However, further technology development is desired to fully meet the requirements. This paper describes results of the inverse thermal modelling for a climate adaptive building shell. It shows that ideally adaptive building shells have the potential to practically eliminate the heat demand and to reduce the total heating and cooling demand by a factor 10, compared to state of the art new built offices under the Dutch climate. This is even a factor 2–3 lower compared to the very energy efficient passive house technology. The extremely low energy demand facilitates new technologies like compact heat/cold storages and the practical realisation of zero energy, or energy producing buildings in the near future

Methodiek arbeidsmarktprognoses en -indicatoren 2001-2006

In dit werkdocument wordt een overzicht gegeven van de methodiek die is gehanteerd bij het opstellen van de arbeidsmarktprognoses naar opleiding en beroep tot 2006 en de bijbehorende arbeidsmarktindicatoren ten behoeve van het rapport De arbeidsmarkt naar opleiding en beroep tot 2006. Dit rapport is in november 2001 uitgebracht in het kader van het Project Onderwijs-Arbeidsmarkt van het ROA. In dit werkdocument wordt een actualisatie gegeven de beschrijving van de methodiek in Van Eijs e.a. (2000) ten behoeve de vorige uitgave De arbeidsmarkt naar opleiding en beroep tot 2004 (ROA, 1999a). Daarnaast bevat dit werkdocument een uitgebreidere toelichting op de methodiek van de vervangingsvraag.De weergave van de methodiek in dit werkdocument heeft betrekking op het samenstellen van de arbeidsmarktinformatie over 34 bedrijfssectoren, 127 beroepsgroepen en 104 opleidingstypen die op de website van het ROA (http://www.roa.unimaas.nl) te bestellen is. Ook deze arbeidsmarktinformatie is in het kader van het Project Onderwijs-Arbeidsmarkt (POA) samengesteld, waarbij bovendien is rekening gehouden met de actualisatie van de gegevens over de werkenden op basis van de Enquête Beroepsbevolking (EBB) 2000 en 2001 van Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek (CBS). In de ROA-classificatiegids 2002 (ROA, 2002a) worden uitgebreide overzichten gegeven van de namen en coderingen van de sectoren, beroepen en opleidingen die binnen POA gehanteerd worden en de koppelingen tussen de classificaties van het CBS en het ROA.education, training and the labour market;

Zoektocht naar de ideale adaptieve gevel

Dit artikel geeft een beknopte samenvatting van de simulatieactiviteiten die zijn uitgevoerd in het kader van het door RVO gesubsidieerde EOS-LT project Facet (Facade als Adaptief Comfortverhogend Energiebesparend Toekomstconcept). Binnen het Facet project is uitgegaan van een zogenaamde inverse aanpak. Hierin is op basis van vooraf gedefinieerde gebouwprestaties (minimale energievraag met optimaal thermisch en visueel comfort) gezocht naar gebouwschilconcepten met adaptieve eigenschappen die hier het beste aan voldoen. De simulaties tonen aan dat met toekomstige adaptieve gevels de toepassing van nul-energiegebouwen met hoogwaardig binnenklimaat binnen handbereik komt

Energy saving potential of climate adaptive building shells - Inverse modelling of optimal thermal and visual behaviour

In common building design practice energy performance calculation programs or, in the best case, dynamic building simulation programs are used to optimize the properties of a building shell. However, even with use of dynamic building simulation programs adaptive behaviour, in terms of changing building shell properties, is not easy to simulate since many inputs - like insulation values, window ratio, etc. are ‘fixed’ values. The result of these optimization calculations is therefore rather an optimization in fixed design values then a set of ideal optimal adaptive behaviour building shell parameters. In the Dutch FACET project (Dutch acronym: ‘Adaptive façade technology for increased comfort and lower energy use in the future’) a quest for the ideal building shell with adaptive, variable properties is performed. Since the standard way of simulating does not allow fully adaptive building shell behaviour, a completely new, inverse modelling approach is set up. The key question here is: "What would be the ideal, dynamic properties of a building shell to get the desired indoor climate at variable outdoor climate conditions?" By reversing the design approach, and using inverse modelling, a set of ideal, hypothetical building shell parameters is computed for different climate conditions at various time steps (seasons, daynight, instantaneous), for different building categories like offices, schools and dwellings. This ‘ideal’ adaptive behaviour will make it possible to maximize indoor comfort and to minimize energy use for heating, cooling, ventilation and lighting. It does not start with having existing concepts in mind, but instead focuses on clarifying the theoretical potential of adaptive architecture. In the TRNSYS and Radiance simulations the building shell input is given as a black box, with a wide range of possible (combinations of) thermal and visual properties. Technologies and materials to meet the requirements can be more futuristic but also very ‘down to earth’. Partial solutions are already available, in low or high tech solutions, such as smart glazing, variable vacuum insulation, insulating window covering, etc. Further technology development is expected to be desired to fully meet the ideally adaptive behaviour requirements. Based on state of the art ‘adaptive temperature’ criteria optimal thermal behaviour was simulated in a first step. This gives the energy saving potential for an optimal thermal adaptive building shell. In a second step the computed optimal daylight characteristics of the building shell is given by optimizing visual comfort in Radiance. In a next step, both visual and thermal behaviour is optimized in an integral way, using a multi objective criteria approach. This paper describes the thermal and visual simulation optimization results of the FACET project. Preliminary results show that optimal adaptive building shell properties can reduce the total heating and cooling demand by a factor 10 compared to state of the art new built offices. For the Netherlands this means a factor 3 compared to the very efficient passive house technology. In the case of offices the heat demand is practically eliminated and the cooling demand can be reduced significantly by a factor two. The resulting extremely low energy demand means that less effort is needed to enable zero energy, or energy producing buildings in the future

Interactions between temperature and energy supply drive microbial communities in hydrothermal sediment

Temperature and bioavailable energy control the distribution of life on Earth, and interact with each other due to the dependency of biological energy requirements on temperature. Here we analyze how temperature-energy interactions structure sediment microbial communities in two hydrothermally active areas of Guaymas Basin. Sites from one area experience advective input of thermogenically produced electron donors by seepage from deeper layers, whereas sites from the other area are diffusion-dominated and electron donor-depleted. In both locations, Archaea dominate at temperatures >45 °C and Bacteria at temperatures <10 °C. Yet, at the phylum level and below, there are clear differences. Hot seep sites have high proportions of typical hydrothermal vent and hot spring taxa. By contrast, high-temperature sites without seepage harbor mainly novel taxa belonging to phyla that are widespread in cold subseafloor sediment. Our results suggest that in hydrothermal sediments temperature determines domain-level dominance, whereas temperature-energy interactions structure microbial communities at the phylum-level and below

Quantum Nonlocality with Spins in Diamond

In this thesis we experimentally investigate quantum nonlocality: entangled states of spatially separated objects. Entanglement is one of the most striking consequences of the quantum formalism developed in the 1920's; the predicted outcomes of independent measurements on entangled objects reveal strong correlations that cannot be explained by classical physics. Early on, such predictions led physicists to doubt the validity and completeness of quantum theory. At the same time, entanglement is a key resource for applications in quantum information processing and a pre-requisite for many tasks in quantum communication and computation.This thesis attempts to answer two application driven questions: Firstly, can we generate useful entangled states of solid state spins for applications in quantum information processing? Secondly, can we use such entangled states as a resource to teleport an unknown quantum state?Finally, we ask a foundational question: Are our entangled states indeed inconsistent with the classical notions of free choice, locality and realism? Can we prove this experimentally, under the minimal assumptions of a loophole-free Bell test? To answer these questions we use single spins in ultra-pure diamonds. In particular, we use the electronic and nuclear spins associated with single nitrogen-vacancy (NV) defects. The NV centre is a point defect in diamond, consisting of a substitutional nitrogen (N) atom and a neighbouring missing carbon atom (vacancy, V). The NV centre possesses bound electronic states, whose energy levels lie well within the bandgap of the diamond host and whose spin degree of freedom can be used as a quantum bit (qubit). Because of the large diamond bandgap and the 99% spin free carbon-12 environment, the electronic spin qubit has exceptional coherence properties even at room temperature. Optical and microwave fields allow control of the electronic spin, which in turn allows control of nearby nuclear spins (the host nitrogen nuclear spin, and nearby carbon-13 spins). At liquid helium temperatures, spin-preserving optical transitions provide a powerful optical interface to the electronic spin, allowing, for example, projective readout of the spin state.By employing a protocol where entanglement is heralded by the detection of a single photon from each of two NV centres in diamonds separated by three metres, we find we can answer the first question in the affirmative. We show for the first time heralded entanglement between solid state quantum systems separated by a human-scale distance.Then, by combining the heralded entanglement with a deterministic local Bell state measurement and fast feed-forward, we show for the first time unconditional quantum teleportation over human-scale distances. We teleport an unknown quantum state from a nuclear spin in one diamond to an electronic spin in a diamond three meters away.Finally, by employing techniques from the previous experiments, we implement the first loophole-free Bell test. We separate two diamonds by 1.3 kilometres and optimize all operational fidelities, collection efficiencies and rates. This allows us to generate heralded entanglement between them approximately once an hour. The distance provides us with time to read out the electronic spin state in each diamond, faster than any lightlike signal could travel between them. The high-fidelity entangled state preparation and spin readout are sufficient to violate the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt Bell-inequality. Combined with fast random number generators and a robust statistical analysis, we find a significant rejection of the local-realist hypothesis, without requiring additional experimental assumptions.The results in this thesis open the door to various applications in quantum information processing. In particular, a remote photonic entangling operation may enable future quantum networks. In such a network the nodes would be formed by the NV centre's combined electronic and nuclear spin register. The nodes would be linked by photonic entanglement operations. Such a network could be used for long distance secure communication, provide a connection between separated quantum computers, or form the basis of a fault tolerant quantum computer by itself. Furthermore, a loophole-free Bell test demonstrates the possibility to do device independent randomness generation and key distribution, that could form the basis for future secure communication channels.QID/Hanson La

Metamorphic conditions and characterization of fluids in the MM hill granulites, Karnataka, India

Charnockite and cordierite-bearing gneisses occur in the Male-Mahadeshwara Hills (MM Hills) in Karnataka, southern India. Petrographic observations indicate a prograde Mg - cordierite partial breakdown reaction to give rise to garnet + sillimanite + quartz and a retrograde reaction to sillimanite + biotite + quartz. Geothermobarometric data document a peak metamorphic temperature of 850-860-degrees-C at pressures of 7-8.2 kb for the charnokites. The cordierite gneisses record retrograde conditions of 550-690-degrees-C and 6-6.3 kb. High density carbonic inclusions (0.900 - 1.120 g/cc) occur in these granulites. Textural studies combined with CO2 density data indicate isobaric cooling of the granulite complex suggesting a midcrustal metamorphism caused by magmatic heat advection

Quantum rekenen: Quantumcomputers en qubits

De quantum computer is een computer gebaseerd op quantum bits, kortweg qubits. Dat zijn bits die fysiek gemaakt zijn van quantum systemen, met de speciale eigenschap dat ze in een superpositie tussen twee toestanden kunnen zijn.QN/Quantum NanoscienceApplied Science