Climate Emergency – Managing, Building , and Delivering the Sustainable Development Goals


Book Description

Through research and proven practice, the aim of the International Conference of Sustainable Ecological Engineering Design for Society (SEEDS) is to foster ideas on how to reduce negative impacts on the environment while providing for the health and well-being of society. The professions and fields of research required to ensure buildings meet user demands and provide healthy enclosures are many and diverse. The SEEDS conference addresses the interdependence of people, the built and natural environments, and recognizes the interdisciplinary and international themes necessary to assemble the knowledge required for positive change.




Sustainable Building and Built Environments to Mitigate Climate Change in the Tropics


Book Description

This book offers a selection of the best papers presented during the International conference on Mitigating and Adapting Built Environments for Climate Change in the Tropics, held at Tanri Abeng University (TAU), Jakarta, Indonesia, March 2015. The book is divided into four main parts. The first part deals with the general issue of climate change, the cause and the ways to mitigate and to adapt the built environment for climate change in a number of countries. Part 2 deals with the conceptual ways to mitigate building for climate change. The ways to reduce cooling energy in tropical buildings by means of passive design. Part 3 offers papers that examine the way to overcome disasters in the city caused by climate change. The final part deals with the role of plants in mitigating and adapting built environments to climate change - the use of plants, trees and bushes to directly and indirectly reduce carbon emissions are discussed.




Data-driven BIM for Energy Efficient Building Design


Book Description

This research book aims to conceptualise the scale and spectrum of Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) approaches in energy efficient building design and to develop its functional solutions with a focus on four crucial aspects of building envelop, building layout, occupant behaviour and heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems. Drawn from theoretical development on the sustainability, informatics and optimisation paradigms in built environment, the energy efficient building design will be marked through the power of data and BIM-intelligent agents during the design phase. It will be further developed via smart derivatives to reach a harmony in the systematic integration of energy efficient building design solutions, a gap that is missed in the extant literature and that this book aims to fill. This approach will inform a vision for future and provide a framework to shape and respond to our built environment and how it transforms the way we design and build. By considering the balance of BIM, AI and energy efficient outcomes, the future development of buildings will be regenerated in a direction that is sustainable in the long run. This book is essential reading for those in the AEC industry as well as computer scientists.




Sustainable Built Environment - Volume I


Book Description

Sustainable Built Environment is a component of Encyclopedia of Technology, Information, and Systems Management Resources in the global Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), which is an integrated compendium of twenty one Encyclopedias. Environmental conservation and technological innovation are two principal forces that drive the building industry toward the future. Technological innovation offers many opportunities to make buildings more dynamic and comfortable, and occupants more comfortable and productive. The necessity of environmental conservation, on the other hand, compels all types of developments and human activities to be environmentally responsive. The content of the Theme on Sustainable Built Environment is organized with state-of-the-art presentations covering several topics: Urban Design ; Emerging Issues in Building Design; Environment, Energy and Health in Housing Design; Culture, Management Strategies, and Policy Issues in the Sustainable Built Environment; Using Technology to Improve the Quality of City Life; Urban and Regional Transportation, which are then expanded into multiple subtopics, each as a chapter. These two volumes are aimed at the following five major target audiences: University and College students Educators, Professional practitioners, Research personnel and Policy analysts, managers, and decision makers and NGOs.




Building Futures


Book Description

A reduction in the energy demand of buildings can make a major contribution to achieving national and international carbon reduction goals, in addition to addressing the interlinked issues of sustainable development, fuel poverty and fuel security. Despite improvements in thermal efficiency, the energy demand of buildings stubbornly remains unchanged, or is only declining slowly, due to the challenges posed by growing populations, the expectations of larger, more comfortable and better equipped living spaces, and an expanding commercial sector. Building Futures offers an interdisciplinary approach to explore this lack of progress, combining technical and social insights into the challenges of designing, constructing and operating new low energy buildings, as well as improving the existing, inefficient, building stock. The twin roles of energy efficiency, which is predominantly concerned with technological solutions, and energy conservation which involves changing peoples’ behaviour, are both explored. The book includes a broad geographical range and scale of case studies from the UK, Europe and further afield, including Passivhaus in Germany and the UK, Dongtan Eco City in China and retrofit houses in Denmark. This book is a valuable resource for students and academics of environmental science and energy-based subjects as well as construction and building management professionals.




Housing the Poor on the African Continent


Book Description

This book explores the circumstances surrounding state-provided, low-cost housing for people at the lower end of the housing market in Africa. It deploys Ubuntu philosophy to unpack the provision of housing security to citizens, arguing that interpreting housing rights within Ubuntu philosophy recognises the spirit of reciprocity and collective solidarity as fundamental to meeting the housing needs of low-income groups. In essence, the volume reflects on the values of Ubuntu and informs both policy and practice by guiding policymakers, researchers, and practitioners with the episteme of basic human rights and the Ubuntu philosophy. It pointedly grapples with issues that resonate with efforts by African governments to protect vulnerable citizens from multidimensional poverty, homelessness, gender-neutral policies, and self-help housing schemes. The book’s insights raise red flags concerning the realisation of Ubuntu as a vehicle earmarked to deliver adequate and sustainable housing delivery outcomes. The volume is a must-read for academics, researchers, practitioners, government officials, and leaders from various sectors.




Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Sustainable Built Environment


Book Description

This book highlights the latest knowledge and innovations in the fields of civil engineering and construction industry striving for a sustainable built environment. This book consists of high-quality innovative research findings selected from the proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Sustainable Built Environment (ICSBE 2023) under the themes of Sustainable construction, urban green infrastructure and planning, rainwater harvesting and water conservation, high-performance concrete, indoor environmental quality and indoor plants, wind and hydro-power energy, waste and wastewater management for enhanced sustainability, impacts of climate change, carbon footprint, global climate model and landscaping, material flows and industrial ecology, sustainable materials, etc.




ECPPM 2022 - eWork and eBusiness in Architecture, Engineering and Construction 2022


Book Description

ECPPM 2022 - eWork and eBusiness in Architecture, Engineering and Construction contains the papers presented at the 14th European Conference on Product & Process Modelling (ECPPM 2022, Trondheim, Norway, 14-16 September 2022), and builds on a long-standing history of excellence in product and process modelling in the construction industry, which is currently known as Building Information Modelling (BIM). The following topics and applications are given special attention: Sustainable and Circular Driven Digitalisation: Data Driven Design and/or Decision Support Assessment and Documentation of Sustainability Information lifecycle Data Management: Collection, Processing and Presentation of Environmental Product Documentation (EPD) and Product Data Templates (PDT) Digital Enabled Collaboration: Integrated and Multi-Disciplinary Processes Virtual Design and Construction (VDC): Production Metrics, Integrated Concurrent Engineering, Lean Construction and Information Integration Automation of Processes: Automation of Design and Engineering Processes, Parametric Modelling and Robotic Process Automation Expert Systems: BIM based model and compliance checking Enabling Technologies: Machine Learning, Big Data, Artificial and Augmented Intelligence, Digital Twins, Semantic Technology Sensors and IoT Production with Autonomous Machinery, Robotics and Combinations of Existing and New Technical Solutions Frameworks for Implementation: International Information Management Series (ISO 19650), and Other International Standards (ISO), European (CEN) and National Standards, Digital Platforms and Ecosystems Human Factors in Digital Application: Digital Innovation, Economy of Digitalisation, Client, Organisational, Team and/or Individual Perspectives Over the past 25 years, the biennial ECPPM conference proceedings series has provided researchers and practitioners with a unique platform to present and discuss the latest developments regarding emerging BIM technologies and complementary issues for their adoption in the AEC/FM industry.




Solar Energy Conversion Systems in the Built Environment


Book Description

This book focuses on solar energy conversion systems that can be implemented in the built environment, at building or at community level. The quest for developing a sustainable built environment asks for specific solutions to provide clean energy based on renewable sources, and solar energy is considered one of the cleanest available energy on Earth. The specific issues raised by the implementation location are discussed, including the climatic profile distorted by the buildings, the available surface on the buildings for implementation, etc. This book also discusses the seasonal and diurnal variability of the solar energy resource in parallel with the variability of the electrical and thermal energy demand in the built environment (particularly focusing on the residential buildings). Solutions are proposed to match these variabilities, including the development of energy mixes with other renewables (e.g. geothermal or biomass, for thermal energy production). Specific solutions, including case studies of systems implemented on buildings all over the world, are presented and analyzed for electrical and for thermal energy production and the main differences in the systems design are outlined. The conversion efficiency (thus the output) and the main causes of energy losses are considered in both cases. The architectural constraints are additionally considered and novel solar energy convertors with different shapes and colors are presented and discussed. The durability of the solar energy conversion systems is analyzed considering the specific issues that occur when these systems are implemented in the built environment; based on practical examples, general conclusions are formulated and specific aspects are discussed in relation to experimental results and literature data. With renewables implemented in the built environment likely to expand in the near future, this book represents welcome and timely material for all professionals and researchers that are aiming to provide efficient and feasible solutions for the sustainable built environment.