Urban Transformations and the Architecture of Additions:

Rodrigo Pérez de Arce’s essay Urban Transformations and the Architecture of Additions was published during the formative stages of postmodernism, at the point where theory was becoming seriously established. Jencks’ first essays formalising the term postmodernism in architecture and the revised Learning from Las Vegas were published the previous year. In planning terms, modernism had become associated with comprehensive redevelopment and forms of urban organisation that ignored context, history and any sense of tradition. De Arce considered the essential nature of buildings and the richness of historic urban form and explored how robust that essence was over time. He looked at the value of essential remnants and rich complexities in maintaining a sense of continuity and relevance. Having explored the adaptation process in history, de Arce went on to see how such a process might be simulated in contemporary cities with modern buildings, using additions and layers to change them from objects in infinite windswept space to being part of a rich urban fabric which described urban place. To do this he used concrete examples; housing schemes by James Stirling, new government centres in Chandigrah and Dacca and more prosaic 1960s housing blocks. The paper had a fundamental influence on the way that architects and planners thought about the nature of cities: as dynamic organisms that were tangible to human beings, completely opposite to the systems thinking of the time. It contributed to ideas about the importance of street, place and city block which influenced so much recent regeneration practice. As we enter a phase of development where the reuse and adaptation of existing buildings is becoming paramount from both an economic and sustainable point of view Pérez de Arce’s paper gives important insights into how to think about the process positively

Alkaline igneous rocks of the coastal belt, south of Luderitz, South West Africa : a petrological study

The Luderitz Alkaline Province, as it is at present known, comprises the subvolcanic central complexes of Drachenberg, Pomona, and Granitberg. An attendant dyke swarm strikes NE-SW and crops out between the latitudes of 27°00' and 27°30' S. Stratigraphic indications (now confirmed by a K/Ar age from Granitberg) are that the Luderitz Province is early-Cretaceous in age and therefore older than the Klinghardt phonolites (Eocene) as well as the smaller melilitite and nephelinite intrusions. Granitberg is a circular foyaite complex, in the centre of which is preserved a large fragment of sedimentary rocks that originally formed the roof of the intrusion. The foyaites have been emplaced into the feldspathic sandstones and dolomites of the Bogenfels Formation, and three major intrusive phases can be recognised. The first phase produced chilled nepheline syenites beneath the roof of the intrusion. These chilled rocks grade downwards into coarse-grained foyaites. The second phase was the emplacement of the Inner Foyaite which crystallized as a cylindrically zoned plug, capped by a zone of layered, laminated, and xenolithrich foyaites. The third phase was the emplacement of the Outer Foyaite, into which the Roof Zone and the Inner Foyaite foundered. The Outer Foyaite is zoned with a miaskitic core, and an agpaitic outer zone

Community energy schemes: the role of public participation and engagement

Faced by global challenges brought on by climate-change and over-reliance on fossil fuels, more people are looking towards developing energy systems characterised by renewables. Community energy groups have been identified as key stakeholders who could play a strategic role in enabling the transition to a clean and affordable energy supply. Acting as a contact for local energy consumers they can help residents engage with energy matters by harnessing local natural resources to build social capital, creating revenue to address community needs and combating fuel poverty. As these groups are defined by the communities in which they exist, public participation and engagement is vital to their success. The extent of community involvement could include identifying needs, generating solutions, seeking funding and managing assets to enable positive socio-economic impacts. In this paper, the authors examine how a community energy group in Nottingham adopted a model of local energy generation and storage to improve their energy security and to reduce fuel poverty. Results indicate that the use of various engagement strategies provides opportunities to encourage active discussions, explain processes and gather feedback. The regular planning of these sessions helps to maintain momentum, enthusiasm and commitment and encourage wider participation as the project progresses

Tapping the potential for energy storage in community energy initiatives

Driven by environmental concerns resulting from global warming, interest in renewable energy has grown in recent times. Similarly, improved efficiency and reliability in energy technologies have played a significant role in facilitating their adaptation at various scales. Of these technologies, energy storage has been suggested to have potentially far-reaching benefits including: more effective utilisation of renewable sources, better integration into smart energy systems and the improvement of grid reliability. In a community energy setting, energy storage can be used to stow away energy generated during low demand periods. This energy can then be accessed by community members at a lower cost during periods when there is higher demand and when energy is more likely to be expensive to buy. In this paper, the authors review the potential benefits of integrating energy storage into community energy initiatives based on the experiences of a community energy company set up in the Meadows in Nottingham, UK. In addition, the barriers they experienced when trying to maximise on these benefits including inefficient government policy and regulations, high capital cost and a lack of replicable business models, are highlighted. The results from t this case study review indicate that the introduction of energy storage can facilitate the future-proofing of community energy infrastructure with increased community and grid efficiencies as well as improve community resilience to changes in energy provision, particularly with regard to finances and infrastructure

A comparison of the pyrolysis of olive kernel biomass in fluidised and fixed bed conditions

The use of thermogravimetric analysis to describe biomass kinetics often uses bench top thermogravimetric analyser (TGA) analysers which are only capable of low heating rates. The aim of this research was to compare experimental fast pyrolysis of Olive kernels in a bespoke laboratory thermogravimetric fluidised bed reactor (TGFBR) characterised by rapid heating rates at high flow rates, compared to a smaller bench scale fixed bed TGA system. The pyrolysis in the TGFBR was analysed by using the isothermal kinetic approach and it was theorised that the pyrolysis decomposition reactions occurred by two mechanisms depending on the temperature, resulting in an activation energy of 67.4 kJ/mol at temperatures below 500 °C. For comparison, a bench scale TGA was used to look at the thermal behaviour in different fixed bed thermal conditions giving a higher activation energy of 74.4 kJ/mol due to the effect of external particle gas diffusion. The effect of biomass particle size (0.3–4.0 mm) on the conversion of biomass at different temperatures, was investigated between 300 and 660 °C in the TGFBR. The results suggested inhibition of internal gas diffusion was more important at lower temperatures, but in comparison had no significant effect when measured in the fixed bed TGA at lower heating rates. Bench top TGA analysis of pyrolysis is a rapid and valuable method, but is limited by smaller sample sizes and lower heating rates. In comparison, the conditions encountered with the laboratory scale TGFBR are more likely to be relevant to larger scale systems where heat distribution, heat transfer and mass diffusion effects play major roles in the reactivity of biomass

Report on the Mesozoic volcanic and intrusive rocks on the Namibe Basin, Southwest Angola:

The Bero Volcanic Complex comprises a diverse group of quartz latite and tholeiitic basalt lavas, pyroclastic and volcaniclastic deposits, aeolian sandstones as well as intrusive tholeiitic mafic dykes and gabbros. Only the silicic members of this suite have received prior attention being referred to as “granitic porphyries” by Carvalho (1961) who regarded them as being Precambrian in age. Alberti et al.(1992) informally referred to these silicic rocks as the ‘Giraul Volcanics’ and correlated them with the early Cretaceous Paraná-Etendeka Igneous Province of Brazil and Namibia

Karoo volcanic and intrusive rocks: Lesotho and Eastern Cape

The Karoo Igneous Province is one of the classic Mesozoic continental flood basalt provinces. At present erosion levels it comprises numerous eroded remnants of an extensive, thick volcanic sequence (largely lava flows) and a well-exposed subvolcanic intrusive complex of dykes and sheets which are particularly abundant in the underlying Karoo sedimentary strata

Excursion to Granitberg and the Klinghardt Mountains, southern Namibia

Three small subvolcanic intrusions (Granitberg, Pomona and Drachenberg) and associated dykes of Cretaceous age, occur between Bogenfels and Prinzen Bucht, S of Luderitz, Namibia. This field trip will chiefly be concerned with rocks that have crystallized from magmas of nepheline syenite composition

Field Trip A1: Karoo dykes, sills and volcanics in the Eastern Cape

The Karoo Province (Fig. I I ) is one of the classic Mesozoic continental flood basalt provinces At present erosion levels it comprises numerous eroded remnants of extensive, thick, and largely volcanic sequence and a well-exposed subvolcanic intrusive complex of dykes and sheets