A quantitative analysis of cold water for human consumption in hospitals in Spain

An estimation of the water used for human consumption in hospitals is essential to determine possible savings and to fix criteria to improve the design of new water consumption models.The present work reports on cold water for human consumption (CWHC) in hospitals in Spain and determines the possible savings. In the period of 2005–2012, 80 Eco-Management and Audit Schemes (EMAS) from20 hospitals were analysed. The results conclude that the average annual consumption of CWHC is 1.59m3/m2 (with a standard deviation of 0.48 m3/m2), 195.85 m3/bed (standard deviation 70.07 m3/bed), or 53.69 m3/worker (standard deviation 16.64 m3/worker). The results demonstrate the possibility of saving 5,600,000m3 of water per year. Assuming the cost of water as approximately 1.22 €/m3, annual savings are estimated as 6,832,000 €. Furthermore, 2,912MWh of energy could be saved, and the emission of 22,400 annual tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere could be avoided

PETER building : an example of integration of renewable energies into the edification

El objetivo principal del presente artículo es mostrar y dar a conocer las aplicaciones de la edificación bioclimática, sus ventajas y características. Para ello, se muestra el proyecto de Construcción de un Edificio Inteligente de “Energía Convencional Cero” (“Bioclimático”) de unos 1700 m2 en el Campus de la Universidad de Extremadura en Badajoz. Se pondrán en práctica los conceptos sobre ahorro y eficiencia energética en la edificación, así como la integración de las energías renovables en el edificio PETER. Además se mostrará como es posible en ciudades de clima extremo (como es la ciudad de Badajoz, con necesidad de calefacción en invierno y de refrigeración en verano), climatizar edificios aplicando medidas que minimizan el consumo energético. Finalmente, se lleva a cabo un proceso de simulación energética que permite comprobar el comportamiento energético del edificio.The present article is intended to show the main features, advantages and applications of bioclimatic architecture as well as the the integration of renewable energies ito the edification. For such purpose, the Project of an approximate 1 700 m2 intelligent zeroconventional- energy (“Bioclimatic”) building (referred to as PETER Project (Experimental Transborder Park on Renewable Energies)), to be located in the Campus of the University of Extremadura in Badajoz, is described. Specific principles directly relating building design, like energy saving, energy efficient and integration of renewable energy sources, are put in practice. In addition will be shown as it is possible in cities of extreme climate (as it is the city of Badajoz, with necessity of heating in winter and refrigeration in summer), to acclimate buildings applying measures that diminish the power consumption. Finally, a description of the energy response of the building is carried out via computer simulation techniques

Healthcare Engineering Defined: A White Paper

Engineering has been playing an important role in serving and advancing healthcare. The term "Healthcare Engineering" has been used by professional societies, universities, scientific authors, and the healthcare industry for decades. However, the definition of "Healthcare Engineering" remains ambiguous. The purpose of this position paper is to present a definition of Healthcare Engineering as an academic discipline, an area of research, a field of specialty, and a profession. Healthcare Engineering is defined in terms of what it is, who performs it, where it is performed, and how it is performed, including its purpose, scope, topics, synergy, education/training, contributions, and prospects

Spatial Analysis of Residual Biomass and Location of Future Storage Centers in the Southwest of Europe

Forests can be exploited for obtaining biomass, which belongs to a bioenergy group with great energy potential that could replace fossil fuels. This article presents a novel procedure to quantify, map and define biomass, which takes into account both environmental and economic issues. With regard to the environment, only the annual growth of tree species is considered, and not the previous stocks. The growth is determined by logarithmic equations through an original procedure supported by a biomass estimator, which represents the amount of biomass generated annually for energy use, and by means of Excel tables, the exploitable biomass values are obtained. Previously, and by using GIS, areas with slopes exceeding 20% are discarded, thus avoiding soil erosion and damage, and in any case that biomass is not extracted for economic reasons. The same procedure is followed, discarding those areas located more than 4 km from forest roads and runways, as transport costs are increased. Finally, those layers with low energy potential are eliminated as well. Therefore, annually selected quantities of biomass can be obtained safely and abundantly by using detailed distribution maps of the resources, and through planning and performing efficient forestry extraction works

Statistical Study of Rainfall Control: The Dagum Distribution and Applicability to the Southwest of Spain

It is of vital importance in statistical distributions to fit rainfall data to determine the maximum amount of rainfall expected for a specific hydraulic work. Otherwise, the hydraulic capacity study could be erroneous, with the tragic consequences that this would entail. This study aims to present the Dagum distribution as a new statistical tool to calculate rainfall in front of frequent statistical distributions such as Gumbel, Log-Pearson Type III, Gen Extreme Value (GEV) and SQRT-ET max. The study was performed by collecting annual rainfall data from 52 meteorological stations in the province of Badajoz (Spain), using the statistical goodness-of-fit tests of Anderson–Darling and Kolmogorov–Smirnov to establish the degree of fitness of the Dagum distribution, applied to the maximum annual rainfall series. The results show that this distribution obtained a flow 21.92% greater than that with the traditional distributions. Therefore, in the Southwest of Spain, the Dagum distribution fits better to the observed rainfall data than other common statistical distributions, with respect to precision and calculus of hydraulics works and river flood plains

Influence of Climate Conditions on Deficiencies of Building Roofs

Climate conditions affect buildings’ performance and durability. The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of climate conditions on roof deficiencies. 763 cases of such deficiencies were analyzed in this regard. Once the construction deficiencies were quantified, they were characterized from a climatological point of view and their ‘climate location segments’ were studied to obtain ‘ranges of concentration of anomalies’ according to the obtained percentage. A direct relation is shown to exist between the location of the building (latitude, situation, type of climate, precipitation, thermal demands, and average wind speed) and a greater or smaller concentration of deficiencies found in both flat and pitched buildings. It was also found that an annual average wind speed greater than 3 m/s increases the appearance of deficiencies in roofs. A higher prevalence of deficiencies was also found in those geographical zones with a thermal demand of 1800–2800 heating degree days or 450–700 cooling degree days. It was found that a higher percentage of construction deficiencies are concentrated in buildings located in the northern coastal climate segments of Spain. With these results, technicians will be able to take more appropriate precautions during both the building process and the use and maintenance phase

A Quantitative Analysis of Cold Water for Human Consumption in Hospitals in Spain

An estimation of the water used for human consumption in hospitals is essential to determine possible savings and to fix criteria to improve the design of new water consumption models. The present work reports on cold water for human consumption (CWHC) in hospitals in Spain and determines the possible savings. In the period of 2005–2012, 80 Eco-Management and Audit Schemes (EMAS) from 20 hospitals were analysed. The results conclude that the average annual consumption of CWHC is 1.59 m3/m2 (with a standard deviation of 0.48 m3/m2), 195.85 m3/bed (standard deviation 70.07 m3/bed), or 53.69 m3/worker (standard deviation 16.64 m3/worker). The results demonstrate the possibility of saving 5,600,000 m3 of water per year. Assuming the cost of water as approximately 1.22 €/m3, annual savings are estimated as 6,832,000 €. Furthermore, 2,912 MWh of energy could be saved, and the emission of 22,400 annual tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere could be avoided

Use of BIM with photogrammetry support in small construction projects. Case study for commercial franchises

Building Information Modelling for small constructions is a useful working tool aimed at providing alternative solutions in building engineering. However, it is not commonly applied to this purpose, and even less together with photogrammetry techniques. This work seeks to analyse the advantages of this methodology with photogrammetry support in small projects. To this end, 121 commercial franchise projects in the field of perfume and cosmetic industry were studied in order to assess the benefits of BIM methodology. These projects were developed between 2011 and 2016. BIM protocols were shown to achieve 20% reduction in costs per project and in working periods (4.11 days), which led to a productivity improvement exceeding 27%. The total period until opening to public was observed to decrease in 10.09 days, and the number of inquiries and doubts during the project execution phase handled by the construction companies were seen to reduce by 25%. Moreover, the return of investment (ROI) corresponding to the implementation of BIM protocols was found to be more favourable than that of CAD (41.88%), with associated internal rate of return (IRR) of 34.5%. The validity of the results is limited to the scope of works for small commercial premises

Análisis de la Eficiencia de Mantenimiento en un Hospital en Madrid (España) = Analysis of Maintenance Efficiency at a Hospital in Madrid (Spain)

El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar la eficiencia del mantenimiento en un hospital localizado en la provincia de Madrid (España), con 198 camas instaladas y una superficie útil de 23.300 m2 , construido en 2007. Para ello, se estudiaron las siguientes instalaciones: aire acondicionado, agua caliente sanitaria, frio industrial, baja tensión, fontanería, saneamiento, gases medicinales, aire comprimido, protección contra incendios y ascensores. Se comprobó que se utilizaban 2 estrategias de mantenimiento: preventivo y correctivo, que supusieron el 42% y 58% de las incidencias resueltas. El 92,73% de los partes se cierran antes de que transcurran 16 horas, el tiempo medio transcurrido es 45,6 horas en el caso de mantenimiento correctivo y 4,3 horas para el mantenimiento preventivo. El tiempo medio dedicado a la resolución de una incidencia fue de 1,6 horas.AbstractThe objective of this work is to analyze the efficiency of maintenance in a hospital located in the province of Madrid (Spain), with 198 beds installed and a useful area of 23,300 m2, built in 2007. For this, the following facilities were studied: air conditioning, domestic hot water, industrial cold, low voltage, plumbing, sanitation, medical gases, compressed air, fire protection and elevators. It was found that 2 maintenance strategies were used: preventive and corrective, which accounted for 42% and 58% of the incidents resolved. 92.73% of the parts are closed before 16 hours have elapsed, the average elapsed time is 45.6 hours in the case of corrective maintenance and 4.3 hours for preventive maintenance. The average time dedicated to the resolution of an incidence was 1.6 hours

Defectos frecuentes en la instalación de capas de impermeabilización en terrazas de azoteas = Frequent flaws in the installation of waterproofing layers in roof terraces

Las cubiertas son la parte más vulnerable de un edificio porque que están expuestas continuamente a las acciones climáticas externas y a su constante variabilidad, ya sea en lo relacionado con la lluvia, nieve, viento, temperatura, agentes biológicos o radiación solar. Por esta razón, dado su gran exposición a todos estos factores, los fallos que pudieran existir en una pequeña área de cubierta son, en la mayoría situaciones, más serios que en otros lugares, dado la velocidad de avance que tienen, así como su repercusión en la habitabilidad. Hace algunos años, una investigación realizada en Australia (en el estado de Victoria) determinó que las cubiertas son el segundo elemento de construcción más afectado por el número de fallos en ese país. En España, las cubiertas son también el segundo capítulo de obra más afectado por patologías, según un estudio de investigación sobre reclamaciones de usuarios. Para averiguar qué irregularidades y mala praxis constructiva se comete durante la ejecución (especialmente filtraciones y humedades, se ha querido analizar cuáles son los fallos más frecuentes en la instalación en obra de la impermeabilización. Para proceder a estudiar los fallos durante la ejecución ha sido necesario recurrir a algún tipo de fuente escrita que pudiera contener esta información. Hay que tener en cuenta que las constructoras en España, salvo casos muy excepcionales, no llevan un registro por escrito de cada una de las deficiencias de puesta en obra o de los incumplimientos normativos que acontezcan. Por tanto, hay que recurrir a las anotaciones que hace la dirección facultativa en el ‘libro de órdenes y visitas’. La investigación llevada a cabo se ha realizado en obras de la provincia de Badajoz, todas de tipo residencial entre 2012 y 2018, sobre las que se ha constatado cuáles son los fallos más frecuentes, haciendo un estudio comparativo entre las promociones que eran de viviendas unifamiliares y las que eran de viviendas en bloque. De esta manera, se pudo constatar que había 10 tipos de fallos que se daban en más del 30% de las ocasiones estudiadas. Especialmente reseñables son los fallos denominados ‘La altura de coronación de la impermeabilización es menor a lo que indica el CTE’ y ‘La cota del umbral está por debajo del nivel de protección de la cubierta’ que tuvieron una presencia superior al 75% de los casos.AbstractThe roofs are the most vulnerable part of the building because they are continually exposed to external climatic actions and their constant variability, whether related to rain, snow, wind, temperature, biological agents or solar radiation. For this reason, given their great exposure to all these factors, the faults that may exist in a small cover area are, in most situations, more serious than in other places given the speed of progress they have, as well as their impact on habitability. A few years ago, an investigation carried out in Australia (in the state of Victoria) determined that the roofs are the second building element most affected by the number of failures in that country. In Spain, the covers are also the second chapter of work most affected by pathologies, according to a research study on user complaints. To find out what irregularities and constructive malpractice are committed during the execution (especially filtrations and dampness, it has been wanted to analyze specifically are the most frequent failures in the installation in waterproofing work. To proceed to study the errors during the execution it has been necessary to resort to some type of written source that may contain this information. It must be borne in mind that construction companies in Spain, except for very exceptional cases, do not keep a written record of each of the deficiencies in the implementation or the regulatory breaches that occur. Therefore, the annotations made by the optional address in the "book of orders and visits" must be repeated. The investigation carried out has been carried out in works of the province of Badajoz, all of residential type between 2012 and 2018, on which frequent failures have been found, making a comparative study between the promotions that were of single-family homes and those of block houses. In this way, it was found that there were 10 types of failures that occurred in more than 30% of the studied occasions. Especially noteworthy are the failures called 'The crowning height of the waterproofing is less than what the CTE indicates' and 'The threshold level is below the level of protection of the roof' that had a presence greater than 75% of the cases