Procedia environmental sciences最新文献

The purpose of this paper is to explore the unique ways in which a group of Clemson University students and faculty achieved the design and construction of a net zero energy house for the 2015 U.S. Solar Decathlon competition. This paper will describe not only the role of the competition but also the foundation of the team's research and ultimate goal of realizing a holistic view of energy use. Furthermore, this paper will detail the unique materials, systems, and strategies successfully employed by the team in the Indigo Pine solar house, their measured performance, and their future applications.

Excessive exposure to UVR is known to cause skin cancer, cataracts, and damage to the DNA^1,2. In recent years, many skyscrapers have been built in urban areas, and these buildings use energy conscious glasses such as low-e glass and heat reflecting glass to block heat from the outside. Furthermore, unlike common glass, some high-performance glasses reflect not only infrared radiation but also UVR. Therefore, urban streets flanked with office buildings might induce a condition of high UVR exposure. In this paper, the UVR environment of urban streets with office buildings in Tokyo and Singapore was observed. The amount of UVR exposure at a street block was investigated by determining the radiant quantities of the radiation reflected from four directions using UVR and visible radiation sensors. In the results, UVR correlates roughly with sky view factor. However, the coefficient of variation among UV radiation values for the four directions was lower than that for visible radiation because UVR has a high scattering property³ Therefore, it is important to reduce the doses of UVR on urban streets by implementing strategies such as shielding with plant canopies, shade structures attached to building facades, and grass.

The siting of an Industrial park with environmental criteria is an attempt to organize and develop the productive capacity of a region while seeking to reduce the burden of environmental conditions. The companies involved aim at reducing production costs by increasing the efficiency of materials and energy and recycling byproducts / waste. The establishment of an EnvironmentalIndustrial Park promotes the use of new environmentally friendly technologies, structures and infrastructure and reduces the sources of pollution and waste. The application of industrial ecology and eco-industry networks remains in an early stage in Greece. The Greek legislation does not incorporate or define Environmental Industrial Parks and the standard of “industrial symbiosis” has not yet been implemented.

The paper examines the “industrial symbiosis” standard, through international practices and existing implemented examples. Also, the paper examines the principles, conditions and design criteria in locating a manufacturing / industrial park in accordance with environmental standards and legislation. A case study is being presented involving the proposal for siting and design of a BusinessPark in the municipality of Pili, Greece,with implementation of environmental criteria.A methodology of establishing the B.P. is being applied with emphasis on location criteria, since issues such as geographic proximity and spatial principles are considered to be of high importance. The methodology comprises certain steps, which examine the elements of the natural and human environment. An evaluation of alternative locationsis carried out, which results in the final evaluation of the selected location. Finally, the compatibility of the location selectedin relation to the elements of the natural and human environmentis being assessed. The principles of industrial symbiosis are also applied through certain proposals for saving and reuse of energy, water, materials / by-products / waste and reducing the environmental burden.

Urban sprawl and the increase of the built-up area have a major impact on land use. Buildings are responsible for two types of land use interventions: primary land use, i.e. the building footprint and secondary land use, associated with the resource extraction, production, transport and end-of-life treatment of construction products. However the environmental impact related to the primary land use is mostly not considered in current Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies of the built environment.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the environmental impact of primary land use in neighbourhoods, considering not only the footprint of buildings but also the footprint of infrastructure and open spaces. Impacts related to land occupation and transformation are evaluated based on the impact assessment methods soil organic matter (SOM) (i.e. impact on soil quality) and Eco-indicator 99 (i.e. impact on biodiversity).

An LCA study of neighbourhood models with diverse built densities, i.e. consisting of detached houses, semi-detached houses, terraced houses to compact apartment blocks, is performed. Moreover, buildings are simulated using combinations of building elements, from solid to timber frame structure.

The results reveal the high contribution of primary land use to the neighbourhood life cycle environmental impacts, especially in low built density neighbourhoods. Furthermore, the environmental impact of primary land use is in most cases higher than secondary land use. Based on this analysis, it is recommended to include the assessment of primary land use in neighbourhood LCA, especially in studies comparing different built densities.

This article aims to evaluate envelope retrofit as a tool to decrease reliance on air conditioning units in hot arid climates. Energyplus is used to model an apartment block in Cairo and analyze its energy performance.Retrofit through glazing improvement is evaluated in relation to cooling load andcarbon emissions. Results provide guidance for envelope retrofitas a part of a plan to empower energy efficiency in Egypt and hot arid countries.

Streets deserve respect, they shape the form of the city and how we move through it. They accommodate buildings, people, vehicles, utilities, vegetation, signage, street furniture and lighting. Streets make up the majority of the public realm in our towns and cities. There is a strong relationship between urban design and sustainability, which led to the development in the compact city and street. Sustainable streets can defined as multimodal rights of way designed and operated to create benefits relating to movement, ecology and community that together support a broad sustainability agenda embracing the three E's: environment, equity and economy, and implementing sustainable urban streets can create more livable communities.

The aim of this paper is to identify an approach for applying sustainable design criteria for urban streets. By defining sustainability in a broader context a case will be made for enhancing the sustainability of urban streets. Considering and assessing sustainable principles will enable urban streets to function in a manner that is more beneficial to people, communities, the economy and the environment. Through these sustainable street design criteria, analyzing the development of El-Moaz Ldin Allah Elfatimy street in Cairo, Egypt. Hence, a comprehensive improvement of the streets is certainly needed to ensure a successful sustainable street design. The paper concludes some recommendations to develop the main components of sustainable streets that are derived from the theoretical study in order to well design a sustainable street for a liveable communities

Using TRNSYS, the performance of three heat management strategies of an air-based Building Integrated Photovoltaic/Thermal (BIPV/T)system in an energy efficient home are assessed. The first scenario makes direct use of the heated air as fresh air supplied to aheat recovery ventilator. The second scenario uses the heated air from the BIPV/T collector as a source for the outdoor unit of an air source heat pump. The third strategy involves storing the energy from the BIPV/T collector heated air in an ice-slurry latent storage tank that is coupled with a water source heat pump. These strategies are evaluated in reference to a base case scenario with a simple air–based ducted system without a BIPV/T collector. Results show that using a latent storage medium such as ice can potentially bridge the time gaps between available solar radiation and domestic space heating loads.

Material and component performances are blunt instruments for appraising the thermal performance of structures. A certain amount of consumed energy is attributable to the interaction of building fabric components, where thermal bridges occur. This paper analyses the thermal bridging effect and provides a number of modelled, cost-effective retrofit approaches in Greek single family houses, in order to address thermal bridges and improve the building's energy performance. The impact of thermal bridging on the overall annual heating load was estimated at 13%. The investigated retrofit solutions achieved a decrease of the annual heating energy requirement of 4-10%. The sunspace achieved the highest energy reduction of 10%, offering ‘free’ solar heating at a reasonable payback period.

In this paper the rationale of the bioclimatic regeneration of part of the commercial triangle of Athens is presented. In this 11 ha area, identified by three streets in the form of a triangle, the most vivid commercial activities have been taking place, from the transformation of Athens into a capital city in the 19^th century, up to late 20^th century, when the upcoming of “malls” displaced consumption habits from small shops to large shopping centres. As it is a place that has been either within the city walls or at the outskirts since antiquity, its geometry is very much affected by ancient and medieval Athenian city planning, which is explored and highlighted in this regeneration project. The commercial triangle area today is characterised by a mixture of neo-classical and modern buildings, as well as simplexes of pedestrian streets. The landscape of the area is being reshaped as the old uses that reflect the former economic backbone of the city, are displaced or replaced by new ones which are more related to the industry of entertainment. In this paper, a brief spatial description and historical review of the area is presented, pinpointing to the political and municipal decisions that have affected the area, highlighting the conflicts that the area faces today. Existing land use is monitored in detail and compared to past ones. The sustainability rationale of the regeneration of the public spaces of this area is presented, taking into consideration environmental issues (pedestrianisation of narrow streets, environmental footprint of used or reused materials, recycling municipal waste, low energy consumption street light, construction site measures), bioclimatic issues (microclimatic considerations, surface materials, placement of vegetation in narrow streets), cultural issues (putting forward the area's historic footprint through the design) as well as social issues (conflicts that might arise from competitive or incompatible land uses), trying to achieve a holistic sustainable regeneration approach.

The developed nation's faces the demographic challenges, rapid urbanization, and rapid growth of their cities. The research attempts to create new indicators with several goals to evaluate the city to help developed nation decision makers and planners to do their role in enhancing the quality of life in their cities. First, review of urban challenges and urban development with the increasing of populations. Second, review the conventional urban indicators. Third, formulate of urban planning goals. Finally, it will calculate the comprehensive Planning Capa² Energy (PC²E) by creating new urban indicators on an agricultural road (Abies) in the middle of Alexandria, Egypt as a case study.