A Multi-Criteria Methodology to Support Public Administration Decision Making Concerning Sustainable Energy Action Plans

For municipalities that have joined the Covenant of Mayors promoted by the European Commission, the Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP) represents a strategic tool for achieving the greenhouse gas reductions required by 2020. So far as the energy retrofit actions in their residential building stock are concerned, which in the small-to-medium municipalities are responsible for more than 60% of CO2 emissions, the scenarios for intervening are normally decided on the basis of an economic (cost/performance) analysis. This type of analysis, however, does not take into account important aspects for small and medium-sized communities such as social aspects, environmental impacts, local economic development and employment. A more comprehensive and effective tool to support the choices of public administrators is the multi-criteria analysis. This study proposes a methodology that integrates multi-criteria analysis in order to support Public Administration/Local Authorities in programming Sustainable Energy Action Plans with a more targeted approach to sustainability. The methodology, based on the ELECTRE III method, was applied to a medium-size municipality in the Lombardy region of Italy. The results obtained with this approach are discussed in this pape

Water level fluctuations in a coastal lagoon: El Yali Ramsar wetland, Chile

El Yali coastal reserve is the most important wetland complex in Mediterranean climate central Chile, especially due to the native and foreign bird fauna which arrives here periodically. The coastal lagoon, part of a microtidal estuary (1.2m tidal range), is a shallow (< 1m depth) dynamic system and unique site of coexistence of northern halophyte and southern palustrian riparian vegetation. This study identifies and quantifies the effect of forcing variables in the lagoon water level over 1 year of data collection. Transects of piezometers with level sensors were installed between the coastal lagoon and the sea. Monthly water quality data were collected. During the winter rainy season, the lagoon connects with the sea via an ephemeral tidal inlet, producing noticeable daily variations in the water level, up to 80-cm depending on the tides. In contrast, during the season when bar closure of the inlet disconnects the lagoon from the sea, the lagoon level is very stable and only decreases very slowly due to evaporation, which also makes the system hypersaline. During the connection phase, analyses using general pattern, spectral and Fourier analysis of the sea-vs. lagoon-level signals show that two temporal scale hierarchies are relevant: monthly (due to moon cycles) and daily (due to tidal cycles every 12.5 and 24.2-h). A simple diffusion numerical model simulated the water table trends well for the sand bar between the lagoon and the sea, supporting the main effect of the sea level on the lagoon water levels

Integrated approach for school buildings rehabilitation in a Portuguese city and analysis of suitable third party financing solutions in EU

In this paper we present an integrated approach for building rehabilitation on a group of buildings of a primary school located in the southern suburbs of Lisbon – Moita, Portugal. The approach includes taking into account collected data concerning the actual energy consumption for: space heating; occupants' behavior, technical and architectural characteristics of the buildings. Detailed energy auditing was done to the buildings including interviews to pupils and teachers to understand occupants' behavior, construction materials used, energy consumption and lighting. Thermal images of the interior zones were generated to provide information about the temperature distribution and a notion about air or heat leak from or into the building. Based on the obtained data, 5 different energy retrofit scenarios were studied with different performance and cost-effectiveness targets, compatible with some European available financial mechanisms to promote energy retrofit of buildings. Life cycle cost analyses (LCC) should be taken into account to minimize environmental impact and some recommendations were suggested. Each scenario service life’ presents an important effect in LCC. It is found that implementing those measures can cost-effectively reduce the annual energy use by 40% compared to the original building design

The impact of occupants’ behaviours on building energy analysis: A research review

Over the past 15 years, the evaluation of energy demand and use in buildings has become increasingly acute due to growing scientific and political pressure around the world in response to climate change. The estimation of the use of energy in buildings is therefore a critical process during the design stage. This paper presents a review of the literature published in leading journals through Science Direct and Scopus databases within this research domain to establish research trends, and importantly, to identify research gaps for future investigation. It has been widely acknowledged in the literature that there is an alarming performance gap between the predicted and actual energy consumption of buildings (sometimes this has been up to 300% difference). Analysis of the impact of occupants’ behaviour has been largely overlooked in building energy performance analysis. In short, energy simulation tools utilise climatic data and physical/ thermal properties of building elements in their calculations, and the impact of occupants is only considered through means of fixed and scheduled patterns of behaviour. This research review identified a number of areas for future research including: larger scale analysis (e.g. urban analysis); interior design, in terms of space layout, and fixtures and fittings on occupants’ behaviour; psychological cognitive behavioural methods; and the integration of quantitative and qualitative research findings in energy simulation tools to name but a few

A multi-layer approach for estimating the Energy Use Intensity on an urban scale

Various governments are planning their cities to be climate responsive by reducing the energy consumption and carbon emissions according to different scenarios whilst maintaining good indoor comfort conditions. A robust and reliable tool that can estimate the Energy Use Intensity (EUI) of a city is required. This paper presents a new bottom-up engineering-based multi-layer approach able to analyse the energy performance of existing settlements of every size by retaining as much information as possible about their complexities. The process involves i) creating a 3D model of the urban area, ii) building up templates representing different building characteristics such as functions, the age-band of the buildings and operating schedules, iii) running dynamic thermal simulations and iv) displaying the EUI or total energy demand in the 3D model which can be post-processed for further analysis. This approach offers a flexible simulation process according to various purposes, which is particularly useful in decision-making for urban energy retrofitting or planning for new areas. The hourly high-resolution outcomes would benefit the detailed analysis of energy efficiency strategies in order to achieve carbon reduction. The application of this approach is demonstrated for the case of Yuzhong district in Chongqing municipality, China

Mapping Buildings’ Energy-Related Features at Urban Level toward Energy Planning

To boost energy efficiency in the building sector at urban and district scales, the use of a Geographic Information System (GIS) for data collection and energy spatial analysis is relevant. As highlighted in many studies on this topic reported in literature, the correlation among available databases is complex due to the different levels of information. As the first part of a wide research aimed at estimating the energy demand of urban buildings, we present in this article a focus on the details of the GIS-based procedure developed to assess the main energy-related features of existing building stocks. The procedure is based on the elaboration of data from the Italian Topographic Databases, under provision at the national level according to the INSPIRE European Directive and the national General Census of Population and Houses. It enables one to calculate and map the urban built volume characterized by mostly diffuse use categories in an urban context (residential and offices), to which different equipment and building usage patterns can be associated, and by construction periods, featuring different technological solutions. The method has been applied to the city of Milan (Italy). An insight into the outcomes from the overall method of the wider research is also reported