Search

A multidisciplinary approach to microbiological implications of indoor air is fruitful for research as well as management of health and building problems. The Finnish and the Danish mold programs are examples of such productive collaborative studies. Dust samples taken from classrooms in schools where occupants complain of building-related symptoms (BRS) demonstrated an inflammatory potential in vitro, measured as a release of cytokine interleukin (IL)-8. An increase of the metabolite NO and liberation of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and other cytokines during exposure were obtained in vivo, was presented based on these programs and on epidemiological studies on residential fungal contamination and health conducted in Canada and The Netherlands, New methods for assessing fungal exposure are PCA analysis for the toxigenic mold Stachybotrys chartarum and EPS-Asp/Pen for detecting of Aspergillus and Penicillium in dust. Based on a limited data set it is shown that emission rates of fungal spores are inversely proportional to relative humidity (RH), directly related to flow rate and to surface loading. Poor maintenance, risk constructions and risk materials are described in several studies as the main causes of water damage in buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is it more environmentally friendly to replace an existing building with a new one or to renovate the existing property? This paper addresses how to frame and evaluate this question. Although several previous studies exist, their methods lack a harmonised set of practice. A new framework is introduced that adopts the concept of consequential replacement framework (CRF) for life cycle assessment (LCA) which had previously been applied to vehicles. The application of the CRF to buildings is demonstrated with case studies on school buildings in Finland. Three alternative cases are examined: the refurbishment of a 1950s school; extending it with an annex; and demolition and replacement with a new concrete or timber building. As the European environmental impact regulation of buildings pertains to CO2 emissions, the paper also focuses on CO2. The case studies demonstrate that refurbishment in Finland is a more climate-friendly alternative to demolition and new build. The studied new buildings' better energy efficiency is set off for decades by the carbon spike caused by the embodied CO2 in their materials. The CRF is shown to be a methodologically sound, easily approachable framework for evaluating immediate environmental consequences of decision-makers' retention or replacement choices, suitable to different contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heat waves and the consequent heat stress of urban populations have a growing relevance in urban risk management and strategies of urban adaptation to climate change. In this context, social science studies on subjective heat stress of urban citizens are a new emerging field. To contribute to the understanding of subjective heat stress and its major determinants in a daily life perspective, we conducted a questionnaire survey with 323 respondents in Karlsruhe, Germany, after a heat wave in July and August 2013. Statistical data analysis showed that heat stress is an issue permeating everyday activities. It was found that the subjective heat stress at home is lower than at work and in general. Subjective heat stress in general, at home, and at work was determined by the health impairments experienced during the heat and the feeling of being helplessly exposed to the heat. For heat stress at home, additionally characteristics of the residential building and the built environment played a role. Although the rate of implemented coping measures was rather high, coping measures showed no uniform effiect for the subjective heat stress. The results furthermore show that coping with heat is performed within the scopes of action in daily life. We conclude that in terms of urban adaptation strategies, further research is needed to understand how various processes of daily social (work) life enable or limit individual coping and adaptation capacities and that communication strategies are important for building capacities to better cope with future heat waves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research projects on neighbourhoods with zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions often emphasise technological solutions. Does the representation of this technological emphasis appeal to potential homeowners and occupants? How can sustainable neighbourhoods with low or zero GHG emissions be represented in an attractive manner? A pilot project in Elverum, Norway, to develop a zero emission neighbourhood (ZEN) called Ydalir is examined for its efforts to attract potential homeowners. This paper investigates how the suggested meaning and use of this ZEN have been produced through these efforts. Drawing on the concept of socialisation, the analysis shows that the involved actors' efforts to fit the ZEN concept into the local market have moved the understanding and representations of Ydalir ZEN from 'a facilitator for zero emission buildings' to 'a facilitator for sustainable practices'. As part of this shift, the promotion of technology has gone from an enabler of the neighbourhood to a bonus factor. In addition, the roles ascribed to the residents have changed from passive receivers of technical energy-saving solutions to responsible participants in sustainable activities. A stronger narrative connection between the social and technological attributes of the neighbourhood should be reflected in both the research agenda and the representations of the areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What are the consequences of a local carbon levy applied to (1) all estimated residential consumption emissions and (2) all residential gas and grid electricity-related emissions? Housing stock simulations in the City of Southampton, UK, are used to explore whether a local carbon levy could pay for retrofits at a local level. The value of the levy is estimated for the whole city and for neighbourhoods at the census lower layer super output area (LSOA) level (about 1500 households) using recently published 'official' carbon values under two scenarios. The levy is then set against an estimate of the cost of retrofitting energy-efficient dwellings in each LSOA. The models show that highly emitting LSOAs (generally those with least deprivation) would raise sufficient levy to retrofit their dwellings within three to five years if an 'all emissions' levy were applied. This is not the case in lowemissions LSOAs which tend to be those with the highest deprivation. Here it could take up to 60 years to meet the retrofit costs if the levy were only applied to energy emissions. Redistribution of the levy from the least deprived but highly emitting neighbourhoods to the more deprived but least emitting would therefore be needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a growing need of sustainable building development all over the world. It aims to decrease the adverse effects to the environment due to urbanization and escalating population growth. Since the building construction is considered as one of the main concerns, the priority was given to mitigate the negative impact to the environment. Therefore, incorporating sustainable elements and techniques to the buildings to regain the land loss due to construction activities in cities is currently practicing. Adding various vegetation types through different approaches, to obtain the expected results of better living condition around the building is called as building integrated vegetation systems (BIV). Vertical gardening systems, vertical farms, constructed green roofs and roof farms can be stated as main categories of BIV systems. However, there is a paucity of published critical reviews on such systems and therefore, this study is an attempt to review the overall sustainability aspects of BIV systems including environmental sustainability, economic sustainability and social sustainability. This study consists with a critical review of 114 research publications from relevant journals and online scientific databases. Finally, the identified sustainability aspects of each BIV systems were analyzed to select the best option in terms of greening a building which can be recommended for the implementations in future. Mainly, the importance of moving towards the sustainable solution which meets the food needs through BIV is finally discussed. Finally, it can be concluded that by incorporating green architecture with smart agriculture, we can expect green, healthy and productive cities which fulfill the main requirements of sustainable cities. Though there are many challenges to overcome, maintaining good management practices will give better output. Out of the 114 literature selected for this study, only 8 research papers were discussed about the drawbacks and the limitations of the BIV systems which is still having paucity of information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research was conducted with the purpose of providing a bibliometric overview of sustainable practices in hotels. The PRISMA methodology was utilized, and the Scopus database was consulted to choose a total of 228 publications to analyze hotel sustainability trends. The results revealed that the International Journal of Hospitality Management is the prominent source of choice for the authors to publish the hotel's sustainability practice research. Additionally, the findings of prolific authors showed that Acampora A was the leading author. The thematic analysis identified three themes based on various aspects of sustainable hotel practices. The findings were analyzed, and implications and recommendations for further research were presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy efficiency policy is expected to play a key role for meeting the European Union's energy targets (particularly for reduced energy demand and reduced CO2emissions) using a range of policy instrument combinations. However, most analyses undertaken so far have focused on single-policy measures rather than developing a more generic framework for assessing to what extent a particular policy mix is effective and under which specific conditions. This paper both contributes to the theoretical literature on policy mixes and undertakes an empirical analysis of the current policy mixes in buildings efficiency policy in 14 European Union countries. Building on the existing literature, and using expert knowledge, an assessment of the interaction of 55 pairs of policies is presented. This identifies policy mixes likely to deliver more, less or the same energy savings in combination than singly. The theoretical assessment is compared with actual policy mixes present within the European Union, highlighting that combinations of multiple financial incentives may need further investigation. By bringing these forms of knowledge together, the paper suggests how buildings policy mixes could be made more effective, shows gaps in current knowledge and highlights key research needs. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Site planning not only involves the arrangement of a large number of elements but also considers the complexity of urban systems; hence, the design process involves large workloads and is time consuming. Retrieving similar existing cases helps architects optimize or accelerate the design process. This paper proposes a computational approach that provides valuable references by retrieving similar cases. Three types of attributes are extracted to represent a given parcel: land-use attributes, geometric attributes (area, orientation, etc.), and environmental attributes (greening rate, surrounding facilities, etc.). The complete hierarchical retrieval process is divided into three phases. The first phase selects cases whose land-use attributes are consistent with the target parcel. Then, the similarity distances between the given target parcel and the selected cases are calculated using geometric attributes. The eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) classifier is adopted to determine which case is similar to the target parcel. Finally, similarity scores of the retrieved cases are calculated based on the environmental attributes to provide more options during the actual design. In total, 1189 cases with different land-use types in Beijing were collected for the case base. The comparative experimental results confirmed that the proposed ensemble learning-based hierarchical retrieval of similar cases approach improves the accuracy of retrieval results. Furthermore, we use a real-world target parcel to demonstrate the superiority and flexibility of the retrieval process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While modem building codes have proven effective at reducing casualties caused by structural collapse following several recent earthquakes, they have been less effective at preventing damage that can lead to loss of functionality, especially in ordinary buildings (e.g., offices, factories, hotels, etc.)- Because the performance of these buildings can significantly impact community recovery and resilience, it is imperative that building codes expand their current focus on protecting life safety in rare earthquakes to include provisions and requirements that aim to prevent damage and minimize loss of functionality in more frequent events. Towards this end, this paper presents a conceptual framework that directly connects performance targets for structural and nonstructural components to global resilience objectives for an entire building. The framework uses fault trees, a common failure analysis tool, to: (1) model how damage to or failure of different components and systems within a building can affect overall building functionality, and (2) provide the quantitative underpinnings for deriving consistent performance targets for building components and systems. The paper then presents a demonstration of the proposed framework to study loss of functionality in a generic commercial building and derive a set of consistent performance targets for its structural and nonstructural components. Lastly, the paper discusses potential applications of the proposed framework, including providing risk-consistent foundations for future generations of building codes and engineering standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy and water are the two major concerns which humanity is presently facing at large, and many concerns are being expressed at the international, national and local level related to these critical issues. Optimizing the use of energy and water in buildings are significant challenges faced by architects and designers in developing countries like India while planning of townships and designing of buildings and their surrounding environments. Different building regulations are formulated in various Indian cities to optimize the use of energy and water in built environment. But, these regulations are not efficiently enforced and followed. As a result, the problem related to insufficient supply and inappropriate use of energy and water persists, which leads to excessive pressure on already scarce energy and water resources. Environmentally sensitive in hill towns of India are facing most of the issues, where provision and improvement of infrastructural facilities is a tedious task and may lead to enormous impacts on the environment. In this paper, an attempt is made to understand their issues and problems of different building regulations related to energy and water enforced in Indian hill towns. Valuable lessons are outlined related to formulation and implementation of building relations imposed on development in hilly areas in other countries. This paper also includes various interventions required to incorporate regulations related to energy and water in existing building regulations of Indian hill towns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a comprehensive survey of the latest international publications (2012-2017) regarding innovative and environmentally sustainable materials that reduce the production of pollutants. It is recognised that world construction is responsible for substantial amounts of harmful emissions. In particular, the survey collected data on new sustainable solutions and innovative materials, such as cement, wood, glass and ceramics that are essential to minimize the environmental impact of buildings on the ecosystem and to reduce the consumption of natural resources. ThTherefore, the paper's intent is to give an overview of the current state of the art and research in the field of bio-building, gathering information on the environmental impacts of these innovative materials and listing the benefits that can be obtained with their use. Th...The fifindings of this study support the growing importance of green building as a component of the whole construction market and provide a benchmark against which to measure future changes in the industry over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Life cycle thinking has become widely applied in the assessment for building environmental performance. Various tool are developed to support the application of life cycle assessment (LCA) method. This paper focuses on the carbon emission during the building construction stage. A partial LCA framework is established to assess the carbon emission in this phase. Furthermore, five typical LCA tools programs have been compared and analyzed for demonstrating the current application of LCA tools and their limitations in the building construction stage. Based on the analysis of existing tools and sustainability demands in building, a new computer calculation system has been developed to calculate the carbon emission for optimizing the sustainability during the construction stage. The system structure and detail functions are described in this paper. Finally, a case study is analyzed to demonstrate the designed LCA framework and system functions. This case is based on a typical building in UK with different plans of masonry wall and timber frame to make a comparison. The final results disclose that a timber frame wall has less embodied carbon emission than a similar masonry structure. 16% reduction was found in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increased awareness of climate change has precipitated more stringent mitigation targets. Public sector institutions in Canada are committed to becoming carbon neutral to attain a leadership position in climate change mitigation-related initiatives. Recent statistics reveal that buildings account for the majority of the corporate carbon footprint of public sector institutions. Hence, there is an increasing interest towards developing net zero energy and net zero emission buildings to comply with climate action targets. With limited financial resources, public sector institutions must optimize investments into building energy retrofits by considering lifecycle cost (LCC), overall energy performance, and related greenhouse gas (GHG) emission. The aim of this paper is to develop an investment planning approach for net zero emission buildings (NZEB). First, an investment planning approach for NZEB is proposed. A typical recreational centre building in British Columbia, Canada, was used as the archetype to demonstrate the concept. Second, innovative and proven building energy retrofits were analysed using energy simulation software to assess the impact on energy consumption reduction, GHG emissions, and LCC. Third, impacts of geographical location, tariff regimes, and grid emission factors on energy retrofits were studied by locating the same building in other provinces of Canada. This study revealed that net zero energy investment has a strong correlation to the grid emission factor. The proposed approach in this paper will assist building managers and owners in retrofitting and budget planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For centuries, the notions of sacred and development were closely related in European culture, both in the field of architecture, and, more broadly, in the arts. Sustainability, in this respect, mostly appeared in non-architectural terms. (The word "sustain" appears multiple times in the Bible, but mostly in relation to humans: me, you, him, them.) Beginning with the Enlightenment, a gap has developed between the two, which is still experienced, and which results in a general distrust, misinformation, and, accordingly, a fundamental misunderstanding between artists, architects and the church. Is the gap too wide to reconnect these two notions? The changes of the 20th and 21st Centuries, having affected and continuing to affect Europe, represent a valid need for the different congregations to rethink their role, and the role of their places of worship. This paper highlights some positive examples of modern and contemporary sacred architecture, designed to reflect an awareness of today's issues -- sustainability, attention to environmental and social issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indoor air quality has been the object of interest for scientists and specialists from the fields of science such as chemistry, medicine and ventilation system design. This results from a considerable number of potential factors, which may influence the quality of the broadly understood indoor air in a negative way. Poor quality of indoor air in various types of public utility buildings may significantly affect an increase in the incidence of various types of civilisation diseases. This paper presents information about a broad spectrum of chemical compounds that were identified and determined in the indoor environment of various types of public utility rooms such as churches, museums, libraries, temples and hospitals. An analysis of literature data allowed for identification of the most important transport paths of chemical compounds that significantly influence the quality of the indoor environment and thus the comfort of living and the health of persons staying in it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermal renovation (retrofit) of residential buildings is one of the major issues in the transition to a low-carbon energy system. This paper argues that the specific conditions in shrinking middle-size cities create an especially difficult environment for energy renovations. Using empirical data from the shrinking City of Delitzsch, Germany, it is hypothesized that buildings with poor energy efficiency are often inhabited by tenants or owners who impede retrofit activities due to their socio-economic conditions. The research analyzes the relation between buildings with a high potential for final energy reduction and a concentration of low-income, older or empty-nest households. The analysis examines this relation not only on an aggregated city level but also on the level of the city's districts to identify renovation ‘hot spots’ in the city. Specific challenges are identified for building renovations in shrinking cities due to a high concentration of possible barriers in the relevant housing stock. As a further consequence, those households with a low net-equivalent income are also at risk of energy poverty. In order to achieve a low-carbon and just society, possible actions are suggested for buildings with elevated barriers to energy renovation in shrinking cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Buildings could be led to adverse impacts on environment, such as generation of construction and demolition waste, and emission of greenhouse gases (GHG). Therefore, promotion on development of green buildings is in need. With the increasing awareness in sustainable development, various rating tools are promoted to evaluate the performance of green buildings. Nowadays, these tools function as a guideline for green building development. There are various green building rating tools developed worldwide, and various countries follow different rules, incentives and regulations. However, despite of promotion of green building rating tools, environmental issues from buildings are still significant in Australia. This research compared green building rating tools in Australia and other countries or regions around the world. This research found that rating tools in Australia lack of (1) mandatory criteria and (2) regulations and incentives. This paper recommended that governmental incentives should be promoted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving the environmental performance of non-domestic buildings is a complex and ‘wicked’ problem due to conflicting interests and incentives. This is particularly challenging in tenanted spaces, where landlord and tenant interactions are regulated through leases that traditionally ignore environmental considerations. ‘Green leasing’ is conceptualized as a form of ‘middle-out’ inter-organizational environmental governance that operates between organizations, alongside other drivers. This paper investigates how leases are evolving to become ‘greener’ in the UK and Australia, providing evidence from five varied sources on: (1) UK office and retail leases, (2) UK retail sector energy management, (3) a major UK retailer case study; (4) office leasing in Sydney, and (5) expert interviews on Australian retail leases. With some exceptions, the evidence reveals an increasing trend towards green leases in prime offices in both countries, but not in retail or sub-prime offices. Generally introduced by landlords, adopted green leases contain a variety of ambitions and levels of enforcement. As an evolving form of private–private environmental governance, green leases form a valuable framework for further tenant–landlord cooperation within properties and across portfolios. This increased cohesion could create new opportunities for polycentric governance, particularly at the interface of cities and the property industry. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A need exists for robust environmental and health-related information to support decisions about construction products and the design of new construction and refurbishment projects. This need arises in order to protect resources and the natural environment. The relevant information can be provided from, for example, a life cycle assessment in the form of impact indicators. However, the large, complex data can overburden individual actors in construction and property (real estate). Hence, the question arises as to whether and how the complexity of communicating environmental information for construction products can be simplified. This paper explores various approaches to grouping the different impact indicators and to determining proxy indicators and impact indices as single scores within these indicator groups. No appropriate single proxy indicator is appropriate for all impact indicators. However, a cluster of indicators can be formed and proxy indicators or impact indices can be determined within these groups. An application of the approaches to the impact indicators according to the currently discussed product environmental footprint approach is presented. With a series of single scores, an existing multi-criteria decision problem can be reduced and a basis for business-to-consumer communication can be formed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlight • New on/off controller for residential applications validated using minute-level field data. • On/off controller improves the HVAC accuracy around 19% in terms of NMBE. • On/off cycling makes the operation and associated energy use more realistic. Abstract Heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems are sized using design conditions, conditions that occur only a small percentage of time each year. As a result, HVAC systems frequently operate at part-load conditions since their capacity is larger than necessary except in the most extreme weather conditions. Most HVAC systems for residential and small commercial buildings in the U.S. use on/off controls, however, most energy modeling software tools do not simulate the on/off nature of this type of HVAC controls. This paper presents the development and validation of an on/off controller for residential applications in EnergyPlus using a custom EMS (energy management system). This controller is validated using minute-level field data collected for a house located in Sacramento, California with simulated occupancy and internal loads. The results obtained from EnergyPlus with and without the use of the developed on/off controller are also compared. The application of the developed on/off controller improves the HVAC energy use results accuracy around 19% in terms of the Normalized Mean Bias Error (NMBE) at the one-minute level compared to the results without the application of the on/off controller. It also makes the nature of operation and associated energy use signal of the HVAC system more realistic in terms of the on/off nature of the residential direct expansion coils. Furthermore, in this paper, the accuracy improvement of the results dominated by the internal loads is investigated by applying the one-minute schedule compared to the usual hourly schedules for the internal thermal loads. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • A total of 925 papers were searched and 106 articles were screened for deep review. • Green buildings generally performed better than the conventional counterparts. • A significant gap between the designed and operational energy use was found. • The key findings of objective IEQ and occupant satisfaction were summarized. • The performances of green buildings in China and the U.S. were compared. ABSTRACT This paper aims to review the published researches on post-occupancy performance of green buildings in terms of energy use, indoor environment quality (IEQ) and occupant satisfaction. A total of 925 related papers were searched and 106 articles were screened for deep review. The study also compared the actual operating performance of green buildings in China and the United States, with information collected from previous research. The findings of literature review can be summarized as follows: 1) Though with some exceptional cases, the energy performance of green buildings was on average better than the conventional counterparts with similar climate conditions; 2) A significant gap between the designed and operational energy consumption was found, and lots of green buildings saved less energy than expected; 3) No clear relationship between the actual energy use and the green building certification level could be observed; 4) The actual IEQ conditions of green buildings were not comparable in different countries due to the variance in design criterions and operation modes; 5) Green buildings generally had higher occupants' satisfaction level than conventional buildings, although the subjective data from the U.S. did not support this inference. Furthermore, this study proposed two areas worthy further investigations in the field of post-occupancy evaluation on green buildings, including new data collection technologies and performance optimization at the comprehensive level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • A new experimental procedure to test PCM-enhanced components is presented. • A modified Dynamic Heat Flow Meter Apparatus is used to perform the tests. • The thermal conductivity of PCMs is measured in different phases (solid-liquid). • Indications to solve the issues related to building PCM-specimens are provided. Abstract The implementation, in Building Performance Simulations (BPS) tools, of robust models capable of simulating the thermophysical behaviour of a Phase Change Material (PCM) represents a fundamental step for an appropriate thermal evaluation of buildings that adopt PCM-enhanced envelope components. Reliable and robust measuring procedures are essential, at a material and component level, to provide experimental data for the empirical validation of software tools. The traditional laboratory tests that are generally used for the validation of models present some limitations, because PCMs are usually subjected to conditions that may be very different from the real boundary conditions of the building components in which PCMs are applied. Furthermore, in many experimental full-scale mockups, the relatively small quantity of installed PCM and the combination of several thermal phenomena do not allow software tools to be tested in a reliable way. In this paper, an experimental procedure, based on a modified Heat Flow Meter Apparatus, has been developed to test the behaviour of PCM-enhanced components; the procedure, which is based on the measurement of the sinusoidal response, has been set up to provide data for the comparison and testing of numerical models and of BPS tools. Moreover, general indications and guidelines are provided to solve some issues related to building specimens that contain bulk PCM in order to obtain a more accurate measurement of their performance. The experimental results presented in this paper were obtained from two different bulk PCMs (organic and inorganic). It was found that it is important to evaluate different PCM typologies and different thermophysical boundary conditions, including partial and full phase transitions, to test simulation codes that implement PCM modelling functions. In fact, some phenomena, such as hysteresis and subcooling effects are more evident when partial phase transition takes place. The results related to the characterization of the thermal conductivity of a paraffin-based PCM have shown a significant increase (up to 42%) of the equivalent thermal conductivity from a solid to a liquid state, with an upward heat flux, thus highlighting that further investigations and improvements are needed to measure the equivalent thermal conductivity in the different PCM phases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The entire tall building industry relies on floor-area measurements to serve as a precise, unambiguous calculation to guide decisions. This can range from architects using the measurement to influence design interventions and engineers formulating the loads on their systems, to developers determining the value of their assets and property managers analyzing the efficiency of building components. Unfortunately, the measurement systems for determining this floor area are not consistent across all markets, which creates a massive gap in the ability to compare projects across time and location, preventing evaluation of the success of one project against another, and making it difficult to build upon industry decisions made in the past. Work to create floor-area measurement standards that are accepted internationally is underway, but there is hesitancy from investors, governing bodies, and professionals that have used different methods for many years. This paper, one of the outputs of a one-year research project funded by ArcelorMittal, examines some of the problems with existing, local regulations, and presents the progress that has been made towards a globally-accepted standard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is generally assumed that vertical pollutant dispersion can reduce exposures to ambient pollutants in tall buildings, as concentrations of some ground-source pollutants are diluted at higher floors. However, no measurements of pollutant concentrations have ever been made specifically along the height of a building that would qualify as a supertall building by CTBUH Height Criteria. This paper summarizes the 2016 CTBUH Research Seed Funding study, conducted during a one-week period in the summer of 2017, which measured the vertical variation in the concentrations of several outdoor pollutants and environmental parameters along the height of an approximately 60-story, 300-meter building in downtown Chicago. Floor height was found to be more strongly correlated with PM1, PM2.5, PM10, CO2, and O3 concentrations than with local wind speed and direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The building sector is responsible for several environmental impacts, as well as economic and social consequences. Hence, the adoption of energy efficiency measures in building renovation projects can lead to benefits to several stakeholders in a holistic sustainability perspective. However, these projects require a gradual shift of their business models towards sustainable business models. In particular, performing quantitative sustainability analyses can help to overcome the traditional focus of business models on economic value and customers by defining wider costs and benefits for the environment and the society. This paper first provides a review of the state-of-the-art of sustainability analyses and business models for building renovation projects. Then, it proposes an analytic process based on the execution of quantitative sustainability examinations, as a support for the project proposition, creation, and capture of sustainable value in a multi-stakeholder perspective. The analytic process is applied to a case study that is the energy renovation project of a Norwegian single-family house, and several sustainability criteria are computed for three possible scenarios that are inclusive of different energy efficiency measures. The paper's findings can be relevant for both practitioners and academics who search for new approaches to embed quantitative analyses into the business context of building energy renovation projects. Furthermore, the findings can represent the groundwork for the possible operationalization of sustainable business in such projects, striving for a systematic execution of quantitative sustainability analyses as a key step towards sustainable business models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Land use is a potentially important impact category in life cycle assessment (LCA) studies of buildings. Three research questions are addressed in this paper: Is land use a decisive factor in the environmental impact of buildings?; Is it important to include the primary land use of buildings in the assessment?; and How does the environmental performance of solid structure and timber frame dwellings differ when assessed by distinct available models for quantifying land use impacts? Methods: This paper compares several operational land use impact assessment models, which are subsequently implemented in an LCA case study comparing a building constructed using timber frame versus a solid structure. Different models were used for addressing the different research questions. Results and discussion: The results reveal that contrasting decisions may be supported by LCA study results, depending on whether or not and how land use is included in the assessment. The analysis also highlights the need to include the building land footprint in the assessment and to better distinguish building locations in current land use impact assessment models. Conclusions: Selecting land use assessment models that are most appropriate to the goals of the study is recommended as different models assess different environmental issues related to land use. In general, the combination of two land use assessment methods for buildings is recommended, i.e. soil organic matter (SOM) of Milà i Canals and Eco-indicator 99. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of environmental practices on hotel performance is gaining more and more attentions from all over the world. Different methods have been employed to study the relationship between environmental practices and hotel performance, but the existing literature yields no conclusive results. Scholars represented by 'the Porter Hypothesis' insist that the costs incurred by the environmental improvements may be offset by higher savings in others. Moreover, environmental management may also permit product differentiation. For example, a hotel which does a better job in reducing pollution and environment protection may probably increase the demand from environmentally sensitive consumers. Therefore, environmental practices can become a new competitive power. However, other scholars hold a negative view. They believe environmental practices will incur significant costs, thus reducing its profit and the capacity to compete. Although cost savings can easily be gained from environmental practices, the cost may exceed the savings to be derived from these practices. To test and verify these two points in the real world setting, this paper aims to examine the link between environmental practices and hotel performance in luxury hotels in Guangzhou. A factor analysis, a correlate and a regression analysis were run via SPSS. The analysis outcome showed that the measurement scale of hotel environment practices can be divided into two different aspects which are basic environment management behaviors with 13 measureable variables and advanced environment management behaviors with 8 measureable variables. Meanwhile, hotel performance can be measured through 8 soft indicators. In addition, according to factor analysis and reliability analysis, hotel environment practices consist of 3 extracted common factors (energy such as water and electricity control, environmental protection strategy and energy saving and resources recycling) representing 13 indicators while hotel performance contains 2 extracted common factors (direct hotel performance indicators and indirect hotel performance indicators) with expressions of 9 indicators. At last, the findings of correlate and regression analysis revealed that environmental practices have significant and positive influences on hotel performance in Guangzhou luxury hotel settings. In other words, the more hotels are devoted to environmental practices, the stronger positive impacts they will have on hotel performance. Relative regression equations were also provided. In detail, Y1 (direct hotel performance indicators) = 0.457*H2 (energy such as water and electricity control) + 0.265*H3 (environmental protection strategy) + 0.221*H1 (energy saving and resources recycling); Y2 (indirect hotel performance indicators) = 0.326*H1 (energy saving and resources recycling) +0.240*H (environmental protection strategy) + 0.105*H2 (energy such as water and electricity control). Consequently, energy such as water and electricity control acts a key role in hotel direct performance, whereas it has a much less influences on hotel indirect performance. In reality, effective energy controlling is the most fundamental, immediate and workable means to execute cost saving which might also negatively affect guests' in-house experience and bring inconveniences. After discussing the findings, recommendations to hotel management are provided to help take advantage of environmental practices to achieve better hotel performance. Theoretical and managerial implications are further outlined. Limitations and future research suggestions are also discussed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with inefficient space management of public real estate resulting in discrepancy between the amount of space required for provision of public services and the amount of space that is available. This situation causes either waste of resources, in case of underused spaces, or affects quality of service if the space is overused. To address this issue, this paper compares different methods for space-use analysis and discusses their suitability for public facilities. It also proposes a novel, activity-centered method for defining space needs. The paper contributes to the state of the art in the following ways: It demonstrates that generally used methods for space-use analysis are not appropriate for public buildings due to their cost, complexity and building-centered approach. Moreover, it reveals that methods used in the private sector cannot be simply copied to the public one. However, its biggest contribution is proposal of a new, low-cost and activity-centered method for determining space needs that can be applied for multiple public buildings of different purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the past two decades, a large number of Green Building Rating Systems (GBRSs) have been developed by the countries around the world in order to rate and certify green buildings. The aims of this paper are to review the prevailing GBRSs used worldwide, to identify the major research efforts conducted by the existing GBRS-related studies, and to propose the directions for the future GBRS research. To achieve these goals, a comprehensive literature review was conducted, from which 15 prevailing GBRSs were identified. The review reported that the earliest GBRS was launched in the 1990s and then a surge occurred in the 2000s. It also revealed that a large number of particular versions of GBRSs had been created to assess the sustainability of different types of built structures or the projects at different stages. Moreover, the review identified seven essential evaluation criteria that were commonly used by different GBRSs, and found that the most important evaluation criterion was “energy”, followed by “site”, “indoor environment”, “land and outdoor environment”, “material”, “water”, and “innovation.” Additionally, this paper revealed the major research efforts conducted by the existing GBRS studies and proposed the directions for the future research as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to vertically thermal stratification in indoor spaces, the cooling load calculation is always a challenge in the design of stratified air distribution systems (STRAD), which in turn is crucial to determine the supply air flow rate and the cooling load to be removed by the air conditioning system. In this paper, several cooling load calculation methods, developed in the past 20 years and focused on STRAD systems, were briefly reviewed. It attempts to clarify these methods in terms of their advantages, limitations and suitable ranges of applications. Furthermore, series of numerical simulations with a total number of 56 cases were conducted, and the applications of a novel cooling load calculation method in STRAD systems were investigated. The reliability of the method was validated for STRAD systems with separated locations of return and exhaust grilles, when adopted in three typical spaces with different building heights, namely a small office, a large terraced classroom and a terminal building. Databases of effective cooling load factors ( ECLF i ) for different heat sources distributed in the three spaces were obtained and presented, which can be conveniently used to calculate cooling loads. In addition, the influences of return grill height on the occupied zone cooling load as well as the energy saving potentials of STRAD systems were also clarified. The results presented in this paper are helpful for the design and optimization of STRAD systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The process of salt dissolution is a reason of structure severe deformation by effective settlement. This paper investigates the effect of soaking process on the soil samples from site near the Faculty of Engineering at University of Kufa. Four samples (S1, S2, S3 and S4) were taken from different locations near the selected site. These samples were soaked for two weeks' duration then tested with standard Proctor to estimate the change in the maximum dry density with reference one (natural samples). All samples experience an increase in the maximum dry density and this increase varies from sample to another (1.02, 18.73, 0.1613 and 5.61%) corresponding to the initial conditions of the samples such as water content (2.78, 8.33, 3.733 and 18.4%). The soil is expected, according to this increase in density, to experience an additional settlement upon the soaking, and this settlement increases with increasing the duration of soaking process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whilst low or zero carbon buildings (L/ZCBs) are espoused in many policy instruments, with many examples constructed to demonstrate their technical feasibility, there is a scarcity of effort examining the role of business models (BMs) in the delivery of L/ZCBs. BM innovation plays a decisive role in improving a company's competitiveness because it could quickly convert emerging technologies into commercial values by reorganising company's internal structure and offers. This paper aims to identify the factors influencing construction firms' BM innovation in the context of L/ZCBs, and measure the relationships between BM innovation for L/ZCBs and its influencing factors. This paper first identifies the influencing factors of BM innovation for L/ZCBs at both external and internal organisation levels and conceptualizes the constituting elements of BM innovation through a critical literature review. The paper then conducts a questionnaire survey with 132 building professionals in Hong Kong, and analyses the collected data using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). Results from the survey show that favorable external environment towards L/ZCBs has a positive impact on BM innovation. Entrepreneurship of top managers and organisational learning capability of a firm are positively correlated with BM innovation for L/ZCB. Entrepreneurship and organisational learning capability mediate the relationships between external environment and BM innovation. The paper provides novel insights for building developers, contractors, and designers that wish to develop alternative business strategies and BMs. Research findings provide practical guidances on the process and elements of BM innovation for industry practitioners, and support the accelerated diffusion of L/ZCBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to write a paper about how the government exercise control of buildings with a view to making them more energy efficient it is first necessary to explore the legal structure of that control. For the purposes of this paper the current author will consider that structure as it applies in England. The legislation in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland has subtle differences that the reader will need to make themselves aware of should they be undertaking work within those jurisdictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of a collaborative framework for balancing stakeholder power and social responsibilities in construction projects. To resolve the problems of unclear responsibility that is common in construction projects, the framework is designed to help stakeholders identify their roles in various issues and to facilitate collaborative endeavours by elucidating their responsibilities.Design/methodology/approach The framework is designed using a scientific approach based on a problem-solution paradigm. It is developed as a model that would provide strategies for responding to various issues and that would also balance stakeholder responsibilities with power. A case study is conducted to validate the framework in an ongoing real estate project in China.Findings The effectiveness of the framework is validated from the case study, which found that the engagement of stakeholders is improved by adopting the framework. It is also found that use of the framework led to enhancement of communication and trust, and better collaboration through a collective form of responsibility.Originality/value The study provides valuable insights into stakeholder collaboration on social responsibility issues in construction projects. The dynamic nature of stakeholders is addressed, and an easy-to-follow framework is offered for use in construction projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CO 2 is emitted throughout the lifespan of buildings—from construction through to operation, and eventually, demolition. Life Cycle Carbon Footprint calculations (LCCF) can be employed to provide useful evaluation metrics for the analysis and comparison of their environmental impact. This paper brings together, for the first time, a systematic review of the LCCF of 251 case study buildings from 19 different countries. This review focuses on the comparison of the LCCF of refurbished and newly constructed buildings, through the synthesis of the overall outcomes of these studies, to identify whether refurbishment or replacement design alternatives achieve better performance. The results highlight that the average embodied, operational-related and demolition-related CO 2 is responsible for 24%, 75% and 1%, respectively, of LCCF. Furthermore, this review indicates that while the type of heating and energy supply system can significantly impact overall LCCF (when normalised to kgCO 2 /60 years/m 2 floor area), other factors, such as building floor area or number of storeys, have minimal effect. A comparison between the LCCF of refurbished and new buildings showed that while most refurbishments had lower LCCF than most new buildings, some new buildings performed better than refurbished ones. Thus, findings suggest that on the basis of current evidence, it is still not possible to conclusively determine which of the alternatives is preferred. Finally, the paper highlights the current state of buildings LCCF, in particular in terms of the analysis scope and limitations, illustrating how these terms were interpreted differently in the examined case studies, and subsequently highlighting the need for a unified protocol to be developed for building LCCF analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]