Low-tech solution for Smart Cities – Optimization tool CityCalc for solar urban design

Designed as an easily applicable planning and evaluation tool, CityCalc has been developed to assess the energy performance of urban planning projects at early design stages. The tool supports the development of low-tech solutions for smart cities by means of optimising the use of renewable energy on site – including passive and active solar gains. Currently energy planning and assessment tools for early design stages do not take into account the mutual interactions of buildings such as shading and shadowing from adjoining structures as their focus is on the individual buildings. A great variety of tools for urban solar design exist nowadays, however they are not suitable for architects and early design stages (IEA SHC Task 41). In the future it will be of increasing importance to quantify the passive and active solar gains in order to fulfil ambitious legal and funding requirement and to implement future-oriented building concepts (e.g. passive house, zero energy, zero carbon or plus energy standards). The objective was therefore to develop an easily applicable energy planning and assessment tool for urban planning projects for the early design stages. The CityCalc tool focuses on energy efficiency - that is, the reduction of energy demand - with the best possible use of site-specific energy sources (gains from solar thermal and photovoltaic plants, wind energy, combined heat and power). In order to ensure a simple, user-friendly usability for architects, a three-dimensional geometry and data acquisition and an interface with energy calculation software is developed. CityCalc is developed for urban development planning, urban design competitions and urban densification. CityCalc can be used on the one hand by architects for optimizing the conceptual design phase and on the other hand, for the energy assessment of urban planning and architectural competitions. CityCalc combines the simplistic three-dimensional geometry input method of the freely available software SketchUp with proven evaluation algorithms of the energy performance certificate. In addition it refers to a variety of default values for details, which are not defined in detail at this stage of planning. With the assessment tool CityCalc it is possible to assess the potential of active and passive use of solar energy at a very early planning stage. For this purpose, the simplified three-dimensional input of the building and its surroundings in the free software SketchUp is required. CityCalc is available as a plugin for SketchUp. The developed planning and assessment tool has been tested and validated in selected planning competitions and early design projects. The tool and the experiences of the validation will be presented in this paper. Conclusions are a well-adjusted applicability for an early design stage. System boundaries of the assessment have to be shaped based on the available information as well as the flexible parameters of early design stages. Further aspects of smart cities have been identified to be included in future upgrades of the tool, such as: daylight comfort of indoor and outdoor areas, costs for supply and disposal especially energy supply, embodied energy in materials. The project has been funded by the Austrian Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology (bmvit) within the research program ‘City of Tomorrow’ (Stadt der Zukunft)

SmartUP: Entwicklung eines Zentrums für Nachhaltigkeit

Industriegebiete wurden seit Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts an Stellen errichtet, die heute mitten in den Städten sind. Im Laufe der letzten Jahrzehnte kam es zu einem starken Wandel in diesen Bereichen. Die umweltbelastenden Emissionen sowie bessere Anschlüsse an die Verkehrsinfrastruktur führten zu einer Verlagerung von Produktionsstätten in die Peripherie der Ballungsräume. Als Ergebnis dieses Wandels stehen heute in zentraler Lage viele Objekte leer bzw. sind nur teilweise genutzt. Einer dieser ehemaligen Industriestandorte, das Areal der ÖKO-Service in der Puchstraße 41, 8020 Graz, soll in der Folge eines Smart City Sondierungsprojektes zu einem Nachhaltigkeits-Zentrum ausgebaut werden, das Menschen und Organisationen mit zukunftsfähigen Produkten und Dienstleistungen Platz bietet, Kompetenzen bündelt und diese nach außen sichtbar macht. Geplant ist in einem ersten Schritt der Ausbau zu einem Nachhaltigkeits-Zentrum, die Ansiedlung von neuen Nachhaltigkeits- und Reparaturbetrieben, Büros, Geschäften und Gastronomie. Die Entwicklung wird auch Impulse für das Umfeld geben, sich als energie- und ressourcenschonendes Stadtquartier im Sinne der Smart City Graz Strategie zu positionieren. Im Rahmen des Projekts, welches mit Mitteln aus dem Förderprogramm „Smart Cities Demo“ des Klima- und Energiefonds gefördert wurde, soll in einem kooperativen Prozess auf Basis von Umfeld- und Stakeholderanalysen sowie unter Beteiligung von NachbarInnnen, nachhaltigkeitsorientierten Unternehmen, Kunst- und Kulturschaffenden, Vertreterinnen und Vertreter der Stadt Graz sowie Wissenschaft und Forschung eine gemeinsame Vision für das Quartier erstellt werden. Gleichzeitig wird ein umfassendes Energie- und Ressourcenkonzept für das Projektgebiet ausgearbeitet. Mit dem Projekt Smart UP soll gezeigt werden, dass eine derzeit wenig attraktive Industriebrache durch einen innovativen Nutzungsmix aus Gewerbe, Büros und sozialer Infrastruktur zu einem energie- und ressourceneffizienten Stadtquartier umgewandelt werden kann

State of the art for use of LCA in building sector : Deliverable D2 of the project ENSLIC_BUILDING : Energy Saving through Promotion of Life Cycle Assessment in Buildings

QC 20120210ENSLIC_BUILDING : Energy Saving through Promotion of Life Cycle Assessment in Building

GUIDELINES FOR LCA CALCULATIONS IN EARLY DESIGN PHASES

QC 20120126ENSLIC BUILDING : Energy Saving through Promotion of Life Cycle Assessment in Building

Assessment of Euro Zone's Compatibility with the Concept of Theory of Optimum Currency Area and Projected Benefits of Latvia from Joining Emu

Darbā apskatāmais jautājums ir optimālo valūtas zonu teorija, kura nosaka kādiem nosacījumiem esot spēkā valstīm ir izdevīgi atsacīties no elastīga valūtas kursa un apvienoties vienotas valūtas zonā. Interese par šo jautājumu ir īpaši pieaugusi kopš Eiropas monetārās integrācijas pēdējās fāzes – eiro ieviešanas – sākuma. Tādējādi, darba autors, izmantojot koncepcijas teorētisko ietvaru, novērtē vai Latvijai ir izdevīgi pievienoties Eiropas Monetārajai Savienībai, kā alternatīvu pretnostatot nacionālās valūtas saglabāšanu. Darba autors secina, ka Latvijas dalība eiro zonā varētu nest makroekonomiskas izmaksas, tomēr ir grūti paredzēt vai tās būtu lielākas par ekonomikas ieguvumiem. Atslēgas vārdi: optimālā valūtas zona, eiro zona, valūtas kursa režīms, asimetriskie šokiThesis has its focus on theory of optimum currency area. Theory of optimum currency areas indentifies certain conditions under which it is beneficial for a country to join common currency area. Interest in this topic has grown since the final stage of Europe's monetary integration and introduction of euro in 1999. Thus, thesis attempts to link the theoretical backgrounds of the OCA theory with the economic performance of Latvia, examining whether Latvia is better off with a common currency as compared to the option of retaining the national currency. Author concludes that participation in euro area would cause macroeconomic costs to Latvia, however it is difficult to predict whether the costs would exceed economic gains. Key words: optimum currency area, euro area, exchange rate regime, assymetric shock

Riktlinjer för LCA beräkningar i tidiga byggnadsskeden

QC 20120209ENSLIC_BUILDING : Energy Saving through Promotion of Life Cycle Assessment in Building