Energizing building renovation: Unraveling the dynamic interplay of building stock evolution, individual behaviour, and social norms

In recent years, discussions surrounding climate change have increasingly emphasized the significance of demand-side solutions. This shift has led to an interdisciplinary and bottom-up approach aimed at supporting global efforts to mitigate climate change. However, conventional modelling tools used to understand the energy demand system and to inform policymaking often fall short in capturing bottom-up dynamics accurately and at the required level of granularity. This is particularly evident in the nuanced and complex aspects of behavioural and social changes and their interactions. This research introduces a novel coupled -agent-based and integrated assessment modelling framework designed to analyse the advantages arising from diversity in renovation decisions, social dynamics, and the evolution of residential building stocks. This study demonstrates that, to effectively formulate realistic policies leading to substantial changes in building energy demand, policymakers require decision-support tools that extend beyond the confines of the rationality principle

Особенности разработки термостабилизированных германиевых фотодиодов

Рассмотрены подходы к конструированию лавинных и нелавинных германиевых фотодиодов с применением эпитаксиальных структур и термоэлектрического охлаждения

The Influence of Mineralization on Intratrabecular Stress and Strain Distribution in Developing Trabecular Bone

The load-transfer pathway in trabecular bone is largely determined by its architecture. However, the influence of variations in mineralization is not known. The goal of this study was to examine the influence of inhomogeneously distributed degrees of mineralization (DMB) on intratrabecular stresses and strains. Cubic mandibular condylar bone specimens from fetal and newborn pigs were used. Finite element models were constructed, in which the element tissue moduli were scaled to the local DMB. Disregarding the observed distribution of mineralization was associated with an overestimation of average equivalent strain and underestimation of von Mises equivalent stress. From the surface of trabecular elements towards their core the strain decreased irrespective of tissue stiffness distribution. This indicates that the trabecular elements were bent during the compression experiment. Inhomogeneously distributed tissue stiffness resulted in a low stress at the surface that increased towards the core. In contrast, disregarding this tissue stiffness distribution resulted in high stress at the surface which decreased towards the core. It was concluded that the increased DMB, together with concurring alterations in architecture, during development leads to a structure which is able to resist increasing loads without an increase in average deformation, which may lead to damage

Integrated Climate-Change Assessment Scenarios and Carbon Dioxide Removal

To halt climate change this century, we must reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from human activities to net zero. Any emission sources, such as in the energy or land-use sectors, must be balanced by natural or technological carbon sinks that facilitate CO2 removal (CDR) from the atmosphere. Projections of demand for large-scale CDR are based on an integrated scenario framework for emission scenarios composed of emission profiles as well as alternative socio-economic development trends and social values consistent with them. The framework, however, was developed years before systematic reviews of CDR entered the literature. This primer provides an overview of the purposes of scenarios in climate-change research and how they are used. It also introduces the integrated scenario framework and why it came about. CDR studies using the scenario framework, as well as its limitations, are discussed. Possible future developments for the scenario framework are highlighted, especially in relation to CDR

Global climate damage in 2°C and 1.5°C scenarios based on BCC_SESM model in IAM framework

The quantitative functions for climate damages provide theoretical ground for the cost-benefit analysis in climate change economics, and they are also critical for linking climate module with economic module in the Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs). Nevertheless, it is necessary for IAMs to update sectoral climate impacts in order to catch up the advance in climate change studies. This study updates the sectoral climate damage function at global scale from climate Framework for Uncertainty, Negotiation and Distribution (FUND) model and develops the aggregate climate damage function in a bottom-up fashion. Besides conventional sectors such as agriculture, forestry, water resources, energy consumption and ecosystems, this study expands climate disaster types, assesses human health impacts caused by various air pollutants, and updates coastal damage by sea level rise. The Beijing Climate Center Simple Earth System Model (BCC_SESM) is used to project climate system based on Business-as-Usual (BAU) scenario, and the 2 °C and 1.5 °C scenarios based on RCPs and SSP2 databases. Sectoral results show that the agricultural sector is projected to suffer 63% of the total damage, followed by water resources (16%) and human health (12%) sectors in 2100. The regression results indicate that the aggregate climate damage function is in positive quadratic form. Under BAU scenario, the aggregate climate damage is projected to be 517.7 trillion USD during 2011‒2100. Compared to that, the 2°C and 1.5°C scenarios are projected to respectively reduce climate damages by 215.6 trillion USD (approximately 41.6%) and 263.5 trillion USD (50.9%) in 2011‒2100

Grassland Resistance and Resilience after Drought Depends on Management Intensity and Species Richness

The degree to which biodiversity may promote the stability of grasslands in the light of climatic variability, such as prolonged summer drought, has attracted considerable interest. Studies so far yielded inconsistent results and in addition, the effect of different grassland management practices on their response to drought remains an open question. We experimentally combined the manipulation of prolonged summer drought (sheltered vs. unsheltered sites), plant species loss (6 levels of 60 down to 1 species) and management intensity (4 levels varying in mowing frequency and amount of fertilizer application). Stability was measured as resistance and resilience of aboveground biomass production in grasslands against decreased summer precipitation, where resistance is the difference between drought treatments directly after drought induction and resilience is the difference between drought treatments in spring of the following year. We hypothesized that (i) management intensification amplifies biomass decrease under drought, (ii) resistance decreases with increasing species richness and with management intensification and (iii) resilience increases with increasing species richness and with management intensification

Breakfast partly restores the anti-inflammatory function of high-density lipoproteins from patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: High-density lipoproteins (HDL) of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) have impaired anti-inflammatory activities. The anti-inflammatory activity of HDL has been determined ex vivo after isolation by different methods from blood mostly obtained after overnight fasting. We first determined the effect of the HDL isolation method, and subsequently the effect of food intake on the anti-inflammatory function of HDL from T2DM patients. METHODS: Blood was collected from healthy controls and T2DM patients after an overnight fast, and from T2DM patients 3 h after breakfast (n = 17 each). HDL was isolated by a two-step density gradient ultracentrifugation in iodixanol (HDL(DGUC2)), by sequential salt density flotation (HDL(SEQ)) or by PEG precipitation (HDL(PEG)). The anti-inflammatory function of HDL was determined by the reduction of the TNFα-induced expression of VCAM-1 in human coronary artery endothelial cells (HCAEC) and retinal endothelial cells (REC). RESULTS: HDL isolated by the three different methods from healthy controls inhibited TNFα-induced VCAM-1 expression in HCAEC. With apoA-I at 0.7 μM, HDL(DGUC2) and HDL(SEQ) were similarly effective (16% versus 14% reduction; n = 3; p > 0.05) but less effective than HDL(PEG) (28%, p < 0.05). Since ultracentrifugation removes most of the unbound plasma proteins, we used HDL(DGUC2) for further experiments. With apoA-I at 3.2 μM, HDL from fasting healthy controls and T2DM patients reduced TNFα-induced VCAM-1 expression in HCAEC by 58 ± 13% and 51 ± 20%, respectively (p = 0.35), and in REC by 42 ± 13% and 25 ± 18%, respectively (p < 0.05). Compared to preprandial HDL, postprandial HDL from T2DM patients reduced VCAM-1 expression by 56 ± 16% (paired test: p < 0.001) in HCAEC and by 34 ± 13% (paired test: p < 0.05) in REC. CONCLUSIONS: The ex vivo anti-inflammatory activity of HDL is affected by the HDL isolation method. Two-step ultracentrifugation in an iodixanol gradient is a suitable method for HDL isolation when testing HDL anti-inflammatory function. The anti-inflammatory activity of HDL from overnight fasted T2DM patients is significantly impaired in REC but not in HCAEC. The anti-inflammatory function of HDL is partly restored by food intake

Downscaling down under: towards degrowth in integrated assessment models

IPCC reports, to date, have not featured ambitious mitigation scenarios with degrowth in high-income regions. Here, using MESSAGEix-Australia, we create 51 emissions scenarios for Australia with near-term GDP growth going from +3%/year to rapid reductions (−5%/year) to explore how a traditional integrated assessment model (IAM) represents degrowth from an economic starting point, not just energy demand reduction. We find that stagnating GDP per capita reduces the mid-century need for upscaling solar and wind energy by about 40% compared to the SSP2 growth baseline, and limits future material needs for renewables. Still, solar and wind energy in 2030 is more than quadruple that of 2020. Faster reductions in energy demand may entail higher socio-cultural feasibility concerns, depending on the policies involved. Strong reductions in inequality reduce the risk of lowered access to decent living services. We discuss research needs and possible IAM extensions to improve post-growth and degrowth scenario modelling