•Energy saving potential in historic wooden apartment buildings is up to 63%.•In historic wooden apartment buildings an economically viable energy saving level is 50%.•The largest energy saving ...potential lies in heat source and building service systems.•Of the building structures, insulation of the external wall has the highest potential.•New heating and ventilation systems must be installed to fulfill regulations limits.
Buildings represent the largest sector of primary energy consumption and play a major role in saving energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Our analysis of energy consumption and potential energy savings is based on field measurements, computer simulations and economic calculations. The average primary energy consumption (PE) of wooden apartment buildings was 331kWh/(m2a) 83% higher than the limit 180kWh/(m2a) set in national regulations for apartment buildings subject to major renovation. The studied buildings represent a high potential for energy savings. The renovation packages were compiled using different insulation measures, HVAC solutions and energy sources to achieve a 20–65% reduction of primary energy. For historic buildings, the renovation solutions that concentrate on the building envelope can be problematic due to the need to preserve cultural and architectural values. Our calculation results indicate that the cost optimal PE level is around 250kWh/(m2a) and the point at which renovation packages recover expenses is around a PE level of 170kWh/(m2a). In terms of the architectural appearance the point at which renovation packages recover expenses is around a PE level of 210kWh/(m2a). We propose to set a different PE limit for historic wooden apartment buildings with an architectural appearance worth preserving.
We performed the first large-scale investigation of indoor air quality (IAQ), energy and occupant behavior and satisfaction, in 650 energy-efficient dwellings in western Switzerland. The ...investigation included comparative assessment of 217 green-certified Minergie (M) and 433 energy-renovated (R) dwellings. Data were collected through a combination of questionnaire survey of building characteristics and occupancy symptoms/satisfaction, as well as field measurements of radon, total volatile organic compounds (TVOC), formaldehyde and fungi. The results showed that 90% of M dwellings relied on renewable and low-carbon energy sources for space and water heating, as compared to only 40% of R dwellings. The annual electricity consumptions of M and R dwellings were similar (~33 kWh/m2), however, R dwellings consumed more gas and heating oil, thus contributing more to greenhouse gas emissions. Concentration of sampled air pollutants in the two dwelling types was generally below the maximum guideline values. Interestingly, concentration of all air pollutants was significantly lower in M relative to R dwellings: Radon (48 vs. 91 Bq/m3), TVOC (167 vs. 259 μg/m3), formaldehyde (12 vs. 15 μg/m3) and fungal colony forming units (33 vs. 48 CFUs). Statistical comparisons revealed that residents of naturally ventilated R dwellings tended to open window more frequently, while occupants of M dwellings relied on mechanical ventilation. We found no differences in occupant satisfaction and self-reported symptoms between the two dwelling types. The findings of this study are of potential utility for interpreting impacts of growing building energy renovation initiatives on indoor air quality, ventilation design and occupant satisfaction.
•The first Swiss large-scale survey of Minergie (M) and energy-renovated (R) houses.•M dwellings relied more on renewable and low-carbon energy sources than R dwellings.•Radon, TVOC, formaldehyde and fungi were generally low, especially in M dwellings.•Ventilation habit varied in M and R dwellings, while owner satisfaction was similar.•Occupants of M and R dwellings reported similar incidences of health symptoms.
The residential sector is an important target area for achieving Europe's 2020 energy saving aims. There is virtually no evidence, however, of how incentives for attaining energy efficiency interact ...with countries' regional development aims. This article presents recent experiences from Estonia, where an energy renovation subsidy programme financed with carbon emission trading funds was carried out between 2010 and 2014. We show that despite equal access to subsidies for residents living in various places, a regionally unequal distribution of subsidies occurred. Empirical analyses confirm that low-performing regions acquire less public subsidy, thus adding another layer of regional inequality to existing socio-economic differences. Findings suggest that renovation subsidy distribution is related to regional socio-economic indicators and that real estate value explains 40% of subsidy distribution variations between regions. Although the energy policy goal of carbon conservation is important, ignoring the location and organisational capacity of local communities results in missed opportunities to mitigate growing regional disparities.
•Renovation grants are unequally distributed between and within regions of Estonia.•Real estate value is the strongest predictor of grants distribution.•A state renovation programme fails the opportunity to mitigate regional disparities.•Weak links between energy and regional policy shows a lack of policy co-operation.•More explicit consideration of equity is needed in European energy policy.
A 108-meter high Eiffel Tower rises above Champs Elysées Square in Hangzhou. A Chengdu residential complex for 200,000 recreates Dorchester, England. An ersatz Queen's Guard patrols Shanghai's Thames ...Town, where pubs and statues of Winston Churchill abound. Gleaming replicas of the White House dot Chinese cities from Fuyang to Shenzhen. These examples are but a sampling of China's most popular and startling architectural movement: the construction of monumental themed communities that replicate towns and cities in the West.Original Copiespresents the first definitive chronicle of this remarkable phenomenon in which entire townships appear to have been airlifted from their historic and geographic foundations in Europe and the Americas, and spot-welded to Chinese cities. These copycat constructions are not theme parks but thriving communities where Chinese families raise children, cook dinners, and simulate the experiences of a pseudo-Orange County or Oxford.In recounting the untold and evolving story of China's predilection for replicating the greatest architectural hits of the West, Bianca Bosker explores what this unprecedented experiment in "duplitecture" implies for the social, political, architectural, and commercial landscape of contemporary China. With her lively, authoritative narrative, the author shows us how, in subtle but important ways, these homes and public spaces shape the behavior of their residents, as they reflect the achievements, dreams, and anxieties of those who inhabit them, as well as those of their developers and designers.From Chinese philosophical perspectives on copying to twenty-first century market forces, Bosker details the factors giving rise to China's new breed of building. Her analysis draws on insights from the world's leading architects, critics and city planners, and on interviews with the residents of these developments. 69 illus., 54 in color
The European Union (EU), aware that having an energy efficient building stock is crucial to achieve decarbonisation goals and to improve people's quality of life, has established a legislative ...framework made up of Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBDs) and Energy Efficiency Directive (EEDs) to support Member States’ (MS) governments in boosting energy performance of buildings by offering a broad range of policies and support measures. Since 2014, all EU countries must establish a long-term renovation strategy (LTRS) every three years to support the renovation of their national building stock into a highly energy efficient and decarbonised building stock by 2050, contributing to achieving the Member States’ energy and climate plans (NECPs) targets. The requirement for EU countries to adopt a LTRS was first set out in the EED (2012/27/EU) and was revised in 2018 EPBD (2018/844/EU). With the aim of facilitating the interpretation of the latter directive by the national governments, Commission Recommendation (EU) 2019/786 was published. In this recommendation a voluntary framework based on progress indicators to assess the decarbonisation of the building stock was proposed. Later, in 2021, a proposal for the recast of the EPBD was launched, and in 2023 it was amended. In these new versions, the LTRs are strengthened towards Building renovation plans (BRP). The plans will include national targets in a more unified and comparable approach, and progress will be measured through a compulsory assessment framework based on indicators, among other issues. In this paper, the assessment frameworks proposed in the Commission Recommendation (EU) 2019/786, the proposal for the EPBD recast (2021 version) and the 2023 amended version of the EPBD recast are compared. Additionally, 2020 Member States’ LTRSs are analysed, focusing on the indicators that each one proposes to assess the renovation progress in the country. Finally, the level of alignment between the indicators proposed by each national strategy and by the 2023 amended version of the EPBD recast is evaluated, in order to identify best practices among MS to get closer to the future ‘Building renovation plans’.
Energy saving and consumption reduction in the field of public buildings (PBs) are keys to achieving the target global temperature growth of the Paris Agreement. However, evaluations of the green ...renovation (GR) of existing PBs are challenged by the need to construct a unified dimensional model for renovations that are convenient, durable, resource saving and environmentally friendly. This paper proposes a TOPSIS decision method based on a cloud model for the evaluation of GR schemes of existing PBs that can overcome the ambiguity and complexity of scheme selection. The method and preparation processes are described, and the qualitative concepts and boundaries are defined. Then, evaluation models of GR for existing PBs that comprise energy savings and energy utilization, water savings and water resource utilization, land savings and both the outdoor environment and indoor environment are established. An integrated assessment is performed to identify the best plan for GR, and the corresponding evaluation indexes are determined. Finally, a case study in the main library of Huazhong University of Science & Technology (HUST) is examined. The most suitable scheme for the case study is to expand the library by connecting the vacant land space between Yifu Library and the old library. This case study illustrates the validity and practicability of the proposed method, laying a foundation for the selection of GR schemes.
•A evaluation of green renovations for existing public buildings developed.•Developing green renovation strategies for a higher-education building in Wuhan, China.•Energy-efficient feasible schemes alternatives were compared and developed.
Why do autocrats build spectacular new capital cities? InThe Geopolitics of Spectacle, Natalie Koch considers how autocratic rulers use "spectacular" projects to shape state-society relations, but ...rather than focus on the standard approach-on the project itself-she considers the unspectacular "others." The contrasting views of those from the poorest regions toward these new national capitals help her develop a geographic approach to spectacle.
Koch uses Astana in Kazakhstan to exemplify her argument, comparing that spectacular city with others from resource-rich, nondemocratic nations in central Asia, the Arabian Peninsula, and Southeast Asia.The Geopolitics of Spectacledraws new political-geographic lessons and shows that these spectacles can be understood only from multiple viewpoints, sites, and temporalities. Koch explicitly theorizes spectacle geographically and in so doing extends the analysis of governmentality into new empirical and theoretical terrain.
With cases ranging from Azerbaijan to Qatar and Myanmar, and an intriguing account of reactions to the new capital of Astana from the poverty-stricken Aral Sea region of Kazakhstan, Koch's book provides food for thought for readers in human geography, anthropology, sociology, urban studies, political science, international affairs, and post-Soviet and central Asian studies.
In the beginning stage of heart disease, the blockage of blood flow frequently occurs due to the persistent damage and even death of myocardium. Cicatricial tissue developed after the death of ...myocardium can affect heart function, which ultimately leads to heart failure. In recent years, several studies carried out about the use of stem cells such as embryonic, pluripotent, cardiac and bone marrow-derived stem cells as well as myoblasts to repair injured myocardium. Current studies focus more on finding appropriate measures to enhance cell homing and survival in order to increase paracrine function. Until now, there is no universal delivery route for mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) for different diseases. In this review, we summarize the advantages and challenges of the systemic and local pathways of MSC delivery. In addition, we also describe some advanced measures of cell delivery to improve the efficiency of transplantation. The combination of cells and therapeutic substances could be the most reliable method, which allows donor cells to deliver sufficient amounts of paracrine factors and provide long-lasting effects. The cardiac support devices or tissue engineering techniques have the potential to facilitate the controlled release of stem cells on local tissue for a sustained period. A novel promising epicardial drug delivery system is highlighted here, which not only provides MSCs with a favorable environment to promote retention but also increases the contact area and a number of cells recruited in the heart muscle.
Climate change is one of the greatest challenges facing the building sector and rural areas in particular should be prioritised due to their special characteristics. In this work, ways to adapt rural ...residential buildings in a Mediterranean climate to climate change via energy renovation were studied, taking La Rioja (Spain) as a case study. Different energy renovation solutions were evaluated under different climate change scenarios considering the possible evolution of the climate zones. The energy and economic impacts of these energy-renovated buildings were compared to those of existing buildings. Nearly zero-energy buildings were achieved by changing the thermal envelopes and their corresponding interior partitions. The study discovered that, on the one hand, the heating energy demand was reduced while the cooling energy demand was increased, thus reducing the total energy demand; on the other hand, the best energy renovation solution entails compliance by nearly zero-energy buildings with current building thermal regulation for the current climate zone. This work can serve as a guide to establish and promote energy renovation policies that are effective in addressing climate change and are economically viable. Furthermore, the methodology developed and the results obtained can be extrapolated to other cold Mediterranean climate zones.
•The energy and economic impacts associated with the adaptation of rural buildings to climate change were evaluated.•The different climate change scenarios accounted for the possible evolution of the climate zones.•Total energy demand will be reduced as cooling energy demand increases less than heating energy demand decreases.•The NZEBs that meet the current thermal building regulation are the best energy renovation solutions.•This work can serve as a guide for the energy renovation of rural Mediterranean residential buildings.
Proactive maintenance strategies in principle are devised to control degradation and sustain optimal performance of building components. While realizing the technical necessities, they also serve as ...an instrument towards multiple and often conflicting objectives during financial constraints. An optimal proactive maintenance strategy therefore should comprise a multiannual maintenance action plan optimized on different criteria corresponding to owners' objectives under existing constraints. This study offers a systematic approach based on a condition-deterioration model to address the complexity involved in decision making regarding optimized maintenance and renovation planning. Life-cycle cost analysis in form of Equivalent Annual Cost (EAC) is used for the economic assessment of maintenance/renovation scenarios. In this paper, the model is used to compare the economy of different maintenance/renovation plans in a chosen scenario in order to determine the optimal maintenance interval for a single and a combination of building components. Two façade elements, windows and façade rendering, are used to illustrate the application of the proposed method. This method is intended to help decision makers at both design and post-construction phases in the choice of both building components and maintenance/renovation strategies.
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