Life Cycle Assessment of Representative Swiss Road Pavements for National Roads with an Accompanying Life Cycle Cost Analysis

The subject of this paper is an environmental Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) of processes needed to construct and maintain representative Swiss asphalt, concrete and composite pavements (including subbase layers) applicable for the Swiss national road network over a period of 75 years. The environmental indicators analyzed are the Global Warming Potential indicator, the non-renewable Cumulative Energy Demand and the Swiss Ecological Scarcity indicator. Processes of the use phase of the road (fuel consumption, noise, etc.) have been evaluated qualitatively based on intensive research. The study shows that the Global Warming Potential of concrete and asphalt pavements equilibrates over the analysis period and that concrete pavements compared to asphalt and composite pavements offer advantages in regards to the non-renewable Cumulative Energy Demand, the Ecological Scarcity Indicator and Life Cycle Costs. The qualitative evaluation of the processes of the use phase shows for example the positive qualities of concrete pavements regarding fuel consumption and permanent noise properties

Field study of natural, mechanical and hybrid ventilation systems of 27 office buildings in the temperate zone country Switzerland

Analyses in this study focus on characteristics of three different clusters of ventilation for office buildings. These comprise natural, mechanical and hybrid ventilation. In a major project study, extensive data was collected from 27 office buildings. Besides physically measurable parameters, psycho-social-oriented surveys of building users and information about building-specific constructional or building technology were compiled. In a selection, results of indoor air quality (IAQ) and indoor environment quality (IEQ) were compared with current standards. Thom’s Discomfort Index (DI) suggested that, for all three clusters, populations feeling discomfort are to be expected during the summer months. Responses for certain aspects corresponding to IEQ and IAQ showed a remarkable seasonal divergence of satisfaction with air temperature for naturally ventilated buildings. The appearance of stagnant air is found to occur in its strongest form in naturally and hybrid ventilated buildings. Mechanically ventilated buildings were reported as having the lowest values for satisfaction with air humidity in winter. Each ventilation system comprises characteristic advantages and disadvantages. A tendency might favour, at least seasonally, mechanically or hybrid ventilated buildings. Differences between these two systems are not significant in this sample. The result raises the question of how much technical effort is actually necessary to provide satisfactory ventilation

Pathways towards an Energetic Refurbishment Replication Strategy for Eastern European Countries - Findings from the EU project BEEM-UP

The goal of significantly increasing the energetic performance of multifamily buildings through effective retrofit measures has been proven to be feasible in three pilot sites in the Netherlands, Sweden and France in the BEEM-UP project. Further development of the project would naturally be to seek ways towards implementation of the gained experience on an even bigger scale, namely Eastern European countries with a large energetic refurbishment potential. However, the European Union comprises of countries of various stages of economic development, social-cultural values and environmental framework conditions so that the strategies discovered need to be translated to the specific national context. The goal of this paper is to evaluate seven countries from Eastern Europe by collecting and condensing information to great levels of abstraction, divided into seven major categories. The paper concludes on the major barriers towards energy efficiency and proposed a concrete strategy on how to overcome them

Heat and moisture balance simulation of a building with vapor-open envelope system for subtropical regions

Global warming and the resource depletion induced discussions on sustainable developments within the construction sector. Also the rapid urbanization in subtropical regions is becoming one of the most important global issues. Appropriate measures must be taken in such developments to avoid further damage to the environment. In this study, the heat and moisture balance simulation of building with a sustainable building envelope system for subtropical climate was proposed. In the moisture balance simulation the moisture buffering by the interior materials was taken into account. The prediction of moisture buffer value (MBV) of the interior finishing materials was attempted and validated by measurements. Subsequently, the whole building calculation was carried out and the contribution of the moisture buffering to the indoor comfort and energy consumption was investigated. The MBVs of the mineral-based materials were predicted with high accuracy. However, that of wood-based composite was much higher than the experimental value. In order to create a more accurate model, nonlinear moisture conductance should be accounted when modeling wood-based materials. The heating and cooling demand of a test house was 9.4 kWh/m2 and 14.5 kWh/m2, respectively. It was concluded that the utilization of the building envelope system has a high potential to provide sustainable houses in subtropical regions. In order to enhance both energy efficiency and indoor comfort of buildings in subtropical regions, there still is a strong need to develop a holistic method to find the optimum building design considering not only moisture buffering but also all the relevant factors. The presented model will be validated by in-situ measurements in the near futur

Wege von der nachholenden zur nachhaltigen Entwicklung: Infrastrukturen und deren Transfer im Zeitalter der Globalisierung. Welche Globalisierung ist zukunftsfähig?

Infrastrukturen und Infrastrukturpolitik nehmen einen entscheidenden Einfluss aufdie Nachhaltigkeit eines Landes. Betrachtet man die (Fehl-) Entwicklungen desletzten Jahrhunderts in den Industrieländern, so ist zu erkennen, dass die der-zeitigen Energie-, Verkehrs- und Wasserinfrastrukturen selbst den Anforderungeneiner ökonomischen Nachhaltigkeit nicht gewachsen sind. Ihre sozialen und ökologischen Folgen wurden zudem meist vernachlässigt und spielten bei Entscheidungsprozessen nur eine nachrangige Rolle. Große Herausforderungenliegen vor den Industrieländern, wenn sie nachhaltige Infrastrukturen schaffenwollen - und gar eine Leitbildfunktion für Schwellen- und Entwicklungsländer im 21. Jahrhundert einnehmen möchten. Denn durch die Intensivierung der weltweiten Austauschbeziehungen werden die nicht-nachhaltigen Infrastruktur-konzepte und -politiken der Industrieländer zunehmend auf Entwicklungsländerübertragen. Eine Umorientierung muss deshalb auch im Süden erfolgen.Dieses Wuppertal Paper bietet am Beispiel der drei wichtigen Sektoren Energie,Verkehr und Wasser Ansätze einer nachhaltigen Infrastrukturpolitik. Dazugehören sowohl globale Lösungsstrategien als auch spezifische Instrumente fürdie Länder des Nordens oder des Südens. Im Rahmen von sektoralen Fallstudienwerden die Schwellenländer Brasilien (Energie), China (Verkehr) und Indonesien (Wasser) betrachtet. Zudem werden Strategien und Erfolgsfaktoren für eine anNachhaltigkeitszielen orientierte Transferpolitik skizziert, wobei auch auf dieBedeutung von Bildung und die Rolle internationaler Finanzinstitutionen (am Beispiel der Weltbank) eingegangen wird. Um die großen Herausforderungeneiner globalen nachhaltigen Entwicklung zu bewältigen, schlägt dieses Papier vor,mehrere Strategien parallel zu verfolgen. Im Norden sind die gegenwärtigenressourcenintensiven, nicht-nachhaltigen Infrastrukturen zu überdenken. Im Südensollte der Pfad der nachholenden Entwicklung verlassen und im Sinne einesökologischen leapfrogging der Sprung in post-fossile Infrastrukturen angestrebtwerden, um nicht die Fehler des Nordens zu wiederholen. Länderspezifische Lösungen sollten dabei an die Stelle eines Imports nicht-angepasster Infrastruk-turen treten. Der Transfer und Austausch von Ideen, Konzepten und Lösungenkann dabei einen wesentlichen Beitrag leisten, wobei eine unidirektionale Entwicklungszusammenarbeit von Nord nach Süd nicht ausreicht. Auch Süd-Süd-oder Süd-Nord-Kooperationen eröffnen wichtige Chancen. Zudem ist der industrieländerzentrische, Technologie orientierte Ansatz einer einfachen Optimierungder supply-side zu verlassen zugunsten einer Handlungsstrategie, die ein nachhaltiges demand-side-management integriert. --

RED – A supposedly universal quality as the core of music education

The Chapter consists in two sections complementing Analytical Short Films. The first is about a supposedly universal atmosphere called RED in the Bavaria-Lesson, the second about different cultures in voice and posture coming together in the Beijing-Lesson. Both are related to theory as well as German philosophies of music education

Summary comparing normative constellations in music education

This summary connects parts of nearly every chapter of the book with a thick brush regarding normative constellations. Comparing the constellations shows both, how practices within lessons are normatively connected with practices in other social fields, and that there are fractures that show a need for further research. In conclusion I sketch a model for comparative praxial music education

Letter to William Younger regarding SEAALL annual report, April 17, 1974

A letter from Linda Wallbaum to William Younger regarding the SEAALL annual report for AALL