ALBERT

Beschreibung: Publication date: Available online 3 May 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment Author(s): Kareem Mohamed Aldali, Wael Seddik Moustafa Taking into consideration the recent years in the economic status in Egypt, especially the investment sector will demonstrate the enormous increase in the residential buildings sector, which created massive energy consumption that never was in proportionality with the growth in the generated power in Egypt. As the residential sector consumes around 42.3% of the total energy used in Egypt, one of the main factors that waste that energy is artificial lighting and electric ventilation. Meanwhile, the architects who design those building never pay the enough attention to the energy in the design process. This paper tackles many strategies for the environmental control of building designs besides showing that now, it is essential to take into consideration energy performance efficiency and the compatibility of the building with the environment by optimizing the design of the building envelope elements such as a window to wall ratio (WWR), the glazing type. This paper will not cover the details of construction and structure, but it sheds light on many guidelines to help to raise the thermal and environmental quality of the envelope of the building. Using a computer-based simulation tool (Autodesk Ecotect) to measure a current building energy and lighting performance in one of the modern cities like Madenaty city. By the end of this study, some of the characteristics of the building envelope will be concluded like the window wall ratio in the aim to reduce the energy waste in the case study, as well as the different criteria of designing process for residential buildings in Egypt in the near future.

Beschreibung: Publication date: Available online 30 June 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment Author(s): Iman Khajehzadeh, Brenda Vale, Fatemeh Yavari For many years central court houses have been used in parts of Iran with different climates. Though initially there appear to be many similarities, some aspects of these houses vary from one climatic zone to another. Several studies have also suggested that users of these houses moved within them as they sought for better thermal situations. This article sets out how differing sizes, forms and dimensional ratios of central courts in two climate zones of Iran (Yazd, hot and dry, and Bushehr, hot and humid) can support this behaviour. In both places these central court forms can provide good situations for human comfort on various sides and levels of the court. Consequently, residents could move within the house with the seasons to get their desired level of thermal comfort but these traditional patterns of movement differ for each climate zone.

Beschreibung: Publication date: Available online 30 June 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment Author(s): Aziz. I. Abdulla, Hashim Abdul Razak, Yassen Ali Salih, Muataz Ibrahim Ali This study is an experimental investigation into the properties of adhesive before and after mixing with fine sand, and its behavior on reinforced concrete beams strengthened by CFRP to show the effects of modified adhesive on load-carrying capacity, ductility, stiffness and failure mode of the reinforced concrete beams. Compressive strength, flexural strength and the effect of high temperature on these properties were the focus of the current study in order to prove the efficiency of adding fine sand to improve adhesive properties and reduce cost. Based on the compressive and flexural tests, results indicated that the addition of sand to the adhesive improved its mechanical properties when sand is 50% of the total weight of the adhesive. However, its effect on the modulus of elasticity is minimal. Using adhesive with fine sand increased the ultimate load bearing capacity, ductility, stiffness and toughness of the reinforced concrete beams strengthened by CFRP. The ratio of the fine sand to the adhesive equal to 1 is considered the best in terms of the cost reduction, maintaining workability, as well as maintaining the mechanical properties. Lastly, the use of fine sand with adhesive ensured a significant reduction in the cost of the adhesive and increased the adhesive resistance to temperature.

Beschreibung: Publication date: Available online 30 June 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment Author(s): Adil Umer, Kasun Hewage, Husnain Haider, Rehan Sadiq Growing environmental and socioeconomic concerns due to rapid urbanization, population growth and climate change impacts have motivated decision-makers to incorporate sustainable best practices for transportation infrastructure development and management. A “sustainable” transportation infrastructure implies that all the sustainability objectives (i.e., mobility, safety, resource efficiency, economy, ecological protection, environmental quality) are adequately met during the infrastructure life cycle. State-of-the-art sustainability rating tools contain the best practices for the sustainability assessment of infrastructure projects. Generally, the existing rating tools are not well equipped to handle uncertainties associated with data limitations and expert opinion and cannot effectively adapt to site specific constraints for reliable sustainability assessment. This paper presents the development of a customizable tool, called “Green Proforma” for the sustainability assessment of roadway projects under uncertainties. For evaluating how well the project meets sustainability objectives, a hierarchical framework is used to develop the sustainability objective indices by aggregating the selected indicators with the help of fuzzy synthetic evaluation technique. These indices are further aggregated to attain an overall sustainability index for a roadway project. To facilitate the decision makers, a “Roadway Project Sustainometer” has been developed to illustrate how well the roadway project is meeting its sustainability objectives. By linking the sustainability objectives to measurable indicators, the “Green Proforma” paves the way for a practical approach in sustainable planning and management of roadway projects.

Beschreibung: Publication date: Available online 12 July 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment Author(s): Jnyanendra Kumar Prusty, Sanjaya Kumar Patro, S.S. Basarkar High demand of natural resources due to rapid urbanization and the disposal problem of agricultural wastes in developed countries have created opportunities for use of agro-waste in the construction industry. Many agricultural waste materials are already used in concrete as replacement alternatives for cement, fine aggregate, coarse aggregate and reinforcing materials. This paper reviews some of the agro-waste materials, which are used as a partial replacement of fine aggregate in concrete. Different properties of fresh and hardened concrete, their durability and thermal conductivity when admixed with agro-wastes are reviewed. Agro-waste used in self-compacting concrete and mortar are also reviewed and their properties are compared. It has been seen that the agro-waste concrete containing groundnut shell, oyster shell, cork, rice husk ash and tobacco waste showed better workability than their counterparts did. Agro-waste concrete containing bagasse ash, sawdust ash and oyster shell achieved their required strength by 20% of replacement as fine aggregate, which were maximum among all agro-waste type concrete. Close relations were predicted among compressive strength, flexural strength, tensile strength, ultrasonic pulse velocity and elastic modulus of agro-waste concrete. Addition of bagasse ash as fine aggregate in mortar increased the resistance of chloride penetration whereas inclusion of cork in mortar showed better thermal resistance and improved cyclic performance. After the review, it is of considerable finding that more research is deserved on all fine aggregates replacing agro-waste materials, which can give more certainty on their utilization in concrete.

Beschreibung: Publication date: Available online 5 July 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment Author(s): R. Nagaraj, D. Thirugnanamurthy, Manik Murthy Rajput, B.K. Panigrahi Water and energy are two inseparable commodities that govern the lives of humanity and promote civilization. Energy can be used to produce water in case of scarcity in water. Ironically most of the places that are water stressed are also energy stressed. The cost of extending grid power may be prohibitively high in those cases. Rural/remote locations like hills and islands multiply the problem to a larger magnitude. Use of renewable sources like solar, wind, biomass and other locally available energy sources is the only solution. But these renewable sources are of intermittent nature and have poor availability. Hence, it is practically difficult to produce water with a single source of energy. Naturally, combining two or more sources of energy, known as hybrid power system, is the next available option. This paper carries out a techno-economic analysis of various sizing combinations of systems with solar photo voltaic, wind energy and stored energy in batteries for production of drinking water from a brackish water source. The system can operate the RO plant whenever the power is available, produce drinking water and store in a tank. This paper analyses the model of the entire hybrid power system in MATLAB to simulate the performance of the hybrid power system for different combinations of capacities. Results of the analysis under various input conditions are analyzed.

Beschreibung: Publication date: Available online 24 March 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment Author(s): Yunzhi Tan, Mozhen Hu, Dianqing Li Lateritic soil with high liquid-limits is commonly used for roadbed construction. However lateritic soil has properties that are sensitive to moisture, and therefore a common method of treating the soil is by adding lime to it. However, it is difficult to mix lime with lateritic soil homogeneously in the field as lateritic soil is prone to agglomeration. Therefore, agglomeration size is important and in this study, soil agglomerates are tested for their California bearing ratio (CBR). Lime (Ca(OH) 2 ) is added to one of the groups of soil samples and the other group is left untreated. The results show that soil that has been treated with lime both hardens and softens, which is related to the agglomerate size, whereas the untreated soil just hardens. The agglomerate size that corresponds to the maximum CBR value is not consistent with that of maximum dry density. Moreover, the CBR values of soil that has been treated with lime are higher than those of the untreated soil for an agglomerate size that ranges from 0.5 mm to 2 cm. Beyond this range, the addition of lime does not improve the lateritic soil. Compaction status and water intrusion are two important influential factors on CBR values. Therefore, it is necessary to take further measures to prevent moisture infiltration and migration of water.

Beschreibung: Publication date: Available online 9 April 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment Author(s): Suinyuy Derrick Ngoran, Xiong Zhi Xue, Presley K. Wesseh We adapt the transcendental logarithmic (translog) production model to examine the role of water resources consumption on economic growth in 38 Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. Labor, capital and energy are incorporated into the model to provide for omitted variable biased. Several findings have been documented from the investigation. First, the results suggest that economic growth in SSA is driven mainly by water and labor. Capital and energy were found not to significantly drive economic growth. Second, technical change in SSA is scale-biased and factor augmenting; suggesting that efficiency of water withdrawals and labor use would lead to technological progress in SSA. Third, substitution possibilities between water and labor exist indicating that restrictions on water withdrawals would lead to labor intensiveness and vice versa. Finally, a more general insight from the study is that efficient use of water resources promotes technological innovation and hence, critical for sustainable development.

Beschreibung: Publication date: Available online 9 April 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment Author(s): Rosaria Ciriminna, Mario Pagliaro, Francesco Meneguzzo, Mario Pecoraino Following first attempts in the early 1980s that provided useful information on the reliability of the photovoltaic energy generation, Sicily’s remote islands share a number of pioneering achievements in the utilization of solar energy. This study aims to assess progress and the remaining gaps in the large-scale adoption of renewable energy in said numerous islands. We identify the most advantageous technologies and suggest pragmatic actions, so as to allow new stakeholder commitment for further progress in the forthcoming transition from fossil to renewable energy.

Beschreibung: Publication date: Available online 31 March 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment Author(s): Shailza Singh A Class II level field survey is conducted in five naturally ventilated multi-storied apartments in the composite climatic zone of north India. A total of 984 data-sets were collected for the whole year, involving over 82 subjects and 55 apartment units. This paper highlighted the season-wise behavioural change in the usage pattern of controls and the resultant thermal response of the subjects. It is observed that at extreme weather conditions, subjects are switching to ‘seasonal controls’(i.e. fans, A/C’s and heaters/hot blowers) as oppose to the ‘designed controls’ (i.e. windows, balcony doors and blinds) or personal controls (i.e. changing ‘clo’ and ‘met’ levels).The study concludes that if designed controls are efficiently incorporated in the building the thermal perception of the residents and the resultant energy consumption can be improved.

Beschreibung: Publication date: Available online 1 April 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment Author(s): Yousef Al horr, Mohammed Arif, Martha Katafygiotou, Ahmed Mazroei, Amit Kaushik, Esam Elsarrag Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) and its effect on occupant well-being and comfort is an important area of study. This paper presents a state of the art study through extensive review of the literature, by establishing links between IEQs and occupant well-being and comfort. A range of issues such as sick building syndrome, indoor air quality thermal comfort, visual comfort and acoustic comfort are considered in this paper. The complexity of the relationship between occupant comfort and well-being parameters with IEQ are further exacerbated due to relationships that these parameters have with each other as well. Based on the review of literature in these areas it is established that design of buildings needs to consider occupant well-being parameters right at the beginning. Some good practices in all these different areas have also been highlighted and documented in this paper. The knowledge established as part of this paper would be helpful for researchers, designer, engineers and facilities maintenance engineers. This paper will also be of great benefit to researchers who endeavour to undertake research in this area and could act as a good starting point for them.

Beschreibung: Publication date: Available online 6 April 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment Author(s): Vandna Sharma, Bhanu M Marwaha, Hemant K Vinayak Low Durability and compressive strength of adobe blocks leads to frequent maintenance problem associated with rural house wall construction. This forms the main reason of abandonment of vernacular mud housing building technology in rural areas today. Present paper presents an attempt to improve upon the low durability of adobe blocks by addition of natural reinforcement of Grewia Optiva and Pinus Roxburghii which otherwise are treated as waste material in rural areas. Experimental investigations were carried out for cylindrical and cubical stabilized and unstabilized soil samples. Durability tests conducted included Wetting and Drying Test, Water absorption and expansion test, Sponge Water absorption test, Spray Test, Total absorption test, Water Strength Coefficient tests carried out as per Indian standards and international research. Results indicated that durability of stabilized soil samples increases by 72% and 68% for fibers of Grewia Optiva and Pinus Roxburghii as compared with unstabilized soil samples. The results recommend that fibers of Grewia Optiva and Pinus Roxburghii can be advantageously added in adobe blocks for improving durability. This would propagate durable mud housing on large scale thereby reducing housing shortage especially in developing countries, economizing use of natural resources, reducing energy consumption during manufacturing of modern construction materials and most importantly provide sustainable way of living.

Beschreibung: Publication date: Available online 1 June 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment Author(s): Pietro Picuno The recent increase in the sensitivity about the concept of sustainable development is stimulating the valorisation of the locally available material for agricultural construction, both for housing purpose and for some single components. This traditional building technique has indeed interesting consequences on the rural landscape perception - since the colour is similar to the countryside surroundings – as well as on the agricultural environment – this material being, at the end of its useful life, recyclable in the same context. Traditional material could be employed in other agricultural components, e.g. for food ageing, a technique used since Roman times, involving the use of earthenware amphorae, buried in the soil and used for storing wine and oil. In the present paper, the most diffused traditional building materials currently rediscovered are analysed, focusing on their utilization opportunities. One of the most interesting traditional construction material is the sun-dried earth brick, made of raw clay soil (so-called, “adobe”), often improved by the addition of fibers to control cracking while drying in the sun. After a general overview about the diffusion of earthen construction within agriculture, the results of experimental tests on adobe bricks reinforced with a natural fibre – Spanish Broom ( Spartium junceum L. ) – are reported.

Beschreibung: Publication date: Available online 3 June 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment Author(s): Oduyemi Olufolahan, Michael Iheoma Okoroh Sustainability has become a significant aspect of real estate and has been integrated into the design, construction and operation of buildings. Now, emerging from the various initiatives around the world, the building information modelling (BIM) approach has been seen as a method that might deliver substantial gains in terms of designing and assessing the environmental cost of buildings. Various research methodologies have been adopted, including literature review exploring the benefits and challenges of BIM and of using a building performance modelling software (BPM) called ECOTECT for sustainable building design. Finally, it introduces a design tool analysis of a case study using Ecotect to evaluate various what if scenarios on a proposed multi-use building. The output revealed that BPM delivers information needed for enhanced design and building performance. Recommendations such as the establishment of proper mechanisms to monitor the performance of BPM related construction are suggested to allow for its continuous implementation. This research consolidates collective movements towards wider implementation of BPM and forms a base for developing a sound BIM strategy and guidance.

Beschreibung: Publication date: Available online 4 June 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment Author(s): Faiz Uddin Ahmed Shaikh This paper presents mechanical and durability properties of geopolymer concretes containing recycled coarse aggregate (RCA). The RCA is used as partial replacement of natural coarse aggregate (NCA) in geopolymer concretes at 15%, 30% and 50% by wt. which corresponds to second, third and fourth series, respectively. While the geopolymer concrete containing 100% NCA is control and is considered as the first series. Compressive strength, indirect tensile strength and elastic modulus of above geopolymer concretes are measured at 7 and 28 days, while sorptivity, immersed water absorption and volume of permeable voids of above geopolymer concretes are measured at 28 days. Results show that the compressive strength, indirect tensile strength and elastic modulus of geopolymer concretes decrease with increase in RCA contents, which is also true for both 7 and 28 days. The measured durability properties such as sorptivity, water absorption and volume of permeable voids of geopolymer concretes also adversely affected by the incorporation of RCA and these properties increase with increase in RCA contents.

Beschreibung: Publication date: Available online 2 June 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment Author(s): G.M. Sadiqul Islam, Sristi Das Gupta Plastic concrete is susceptible to develop cracks due to shrinkage in dry and windy conditions. Addition of fibers could reduce propagation of this crack. On the other hand, permeability determines the durability properties of concrete. This study evaluated strength, plastic shrinkage and permeability (gas and water) of concrete incorporating ‘polypropylene’ fiber (aspect ratio 300) in various proportions (viz. 0.10%, 0.15%, 0.2%, 0.25% and 0.3%) by volume of concrete. Plane concrete samples were also prepared and tested for reference purpose. Inclusion of 0.1% fiber gave minor reduction (2%) in compressive strength while the tensile strength increased by 39% with same fiber content compared to the plain concrete. A significant reduction in crack generation, appearance period of first crack and crack area between plane concrete and fiber reinforced concretes were found. The experimental result with inclusion of 0.1-0.3% fiber in concrete indicated that plastic shrinkage cracks were reduced by 50-99% compared to the plain concrete. For reference concrete (without fiber), test within the high temperature and controlled humidity chamber gave higher crack width than the acceptable limit (3 mm) specified by the ACI 224. With the inclusion of 0.1% fiber reduced the crack width down to 1 mm and the trend was continued with the addition of more fibers. However, results showed that with the addition of polypropylene fiber both water and gas permeability coefficient was increased. Therefore, it is concluded that the fiber reinforced concrete would work better for plastic shrinkage susceptible structural elements (flat elements such as slab); however, it requires careful judgement while applying to a water retaining structures.

Beschreibung: Publication date: Available online 2 June 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment Author(s): Susanne Bodach, Werner Lang It is predicted that the major increase of energy consumption and, thus, carbon emissions, will happen in the developing world. However, in most developing countries the knowledge about energy efficiency, particularly in the building sector, is quite low. Strategies developed for industrialised countries might not be suitable or must be adapted for the very different context of developing countries. This research aims to find energy-efficient and cost-effective building design options for the case of Nepal. Energy-efficient building design is a non-trivial issue involving a number of interdependent design criteria. Particularly, in composite climates, passive design strategies might conflict each other leading to an inefficient building design. This paper explores the energy conservation potential in hotel design for all bioclimatic zones of Nepal by using building energy simulation with parametric analysis. Based on an extensive field studies, reference models for typical hotel buildings ranging from small-scale resort hotels to large-scale multi-storey hotels were developed. These reference designs were optimised by varying design parameters such as window-to-wall ratio, glazing material, shading devices, glazing type and insulation levels. During the design optimisation, energy demand as well as cost effectiveness were evaluated. Finally, recommendations for energy-efficient and cost-effective hotel design solutions were suggested. In addition, the bioclimatic zoning for Nepal was consolidated leading to five elevation-based zones that can be used to introduce building energy regulations in the future.

Beschreibung: Publication date: Available online 2 June 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment Author(s): Omprakash Sahu Sugarcane is valuable crop of India and have major role for foreign exchange. The aim of research work is to investigate the reduction of chemical oxygen demand and color from sugarcane industry effluent by thermolysis and coagulation method. The complete study was done in batch mode to determine the effect of operating parameters. The result shows maximum 73% of chemical oxygen demand and 76% color removal with copper oxide catalyst at 5Kg/m 3 massloading, 85°C reacting temperature, 9hrs treatment time and pH 8. Combined study shown 97.6% chemical oxygen demand and 99.9% color removal at pH 6.5 and mass loading 8mM with copper sulphate salt. The settling and filtration was found to be good at 65°C and 75°C with copper oxide treated sugar industry wastewater.

Beschreibung: Publication date: Available online 31 August 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment Author(s): Indira Parajuli, Heekwan Lee, Krishna Raj Shrestha Cooking with open fire has been a crucial for occupants’ health due to poor Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) in most of the rural households. IAQ is affected by many factors, such as firewood moisture,stove type, ventilation, etc. A monitoring system has been developed to find the general IAQ with Improved Cooking Stove (ICS) and Traditional Cooking Stove (TCS). Decay curve technique is utilized to calculate the Carbon Monoxide (CO) decay time. A preliminary health survey is also carried out to evaluate the dweller’s health complaints. The study is carried out in two adjoining remote villages of Palpa District in Western Nepal. The mean CO and PM 2.5 concentration for ICS and TCS are 27.11ppm and 825.4μg/m3 (27.11±14.24ppm and 825.4±730.9μg/m3) with significant correlation (p〈0.0001) and 36.03ppm and 1336μg/m 3 (36.03±19.06 and 1336±952.8) with significant correlation (p〈0.0481), respectively. From the overall sample, the mean CO and PM2.5 concentration is reduced by 29.9% and 39%, respectively. The ventilation analysis result shows more than an 80 percentage deficit in ventilation as per the minimal rate of ventilation as prescribed by American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE). Moreover, the placement of chimney at a short vertical height of 1.2m adjoining to back window is the major cause of backflow. Therefore, the study has recommended a greater focus on ventilation to control IAQ of rural mountainous households.

Beschreibung: Publication date: Available online 31 August 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment Author(s): Sudha Panda, Manjari Chakraborty, SK Misra India has experienced rapid urbanization with the rate growing from 26 percent in the 1990-2000 decade, to 30 percent in the 2000-2010 decade putting massive pressure on basic infrastructure and services. The objective of this paper is to develop a social sustainable framework and a composite index which is tailor-made to assess the Indian cities. Since social sustainability cannot be developed in isolation this paper examines urban sustainability in an integrated manner with its four dimensions of social, economic, environmental and institutional and maps the criteria at three levels i.e. policy, theoretical, and practical levels. The three tiered hierarchical model is tested in the state of Odisha where the social sustainability can be put to test in the best context as the urbanization is growing at a stupendous speed and the infrastructure growth does not match up. Using the framework it is possible to obtain a composite index for urban social sustainability whose model can be applied to all Indian cities with contextual changes. The dimensional index score and thematic index score obtained from the model helps in benchmarking the cities and identifying gaps so that it can inform national policy and planning .The social sustainability index together with the indices on the other three dimensions would help in making well informed judgement in the allocation of resources.

Beschreibung: Publication date: Available online 10 May 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment Author(s): Manoj Kumar Dash, Sanjaya Kumar Patro, Ashoke Kumar Rath Utilization of industrial waste materials in concrete compensates the lack of natural resources, solving the disposal problem of waste and to find alternative technique to safeguard the nature. There are number of industrial wastes used as fully or partial replacement of coarse aggregate or fine aggregate. This review carries out a thorough assessment about industrial waste substances, which can be adequately utilized in concrete as fine aggregate substitution. This paper reviewed some of these industrial wastes like waste foundry sand, steel slag, copper slag, imperial smelting furnace slag (ISF slag), blast furnace slag, coal bottom ash, ferrochrome slag and palm oil clinker etc. Out of these materials, maximum number of experiments have been conducted by using waste foundry sand and copper slag as fine aggregate replacement, but still more examinations are required for other waste materials as replacement of sand in concrete. Different physical and mechanical properties of industrial waste as well as of industrial waste concrete, in which natural sand is substituted has been reviewed and comparison are made between them. Deflection and leaching study review are carried out additionally and compared. It can be observed that the concrete where sand is replaced by copper slag, imperial smelting furnace slag, class F fly ash exhibits improved strength and durability properties, but it’s slump increases as the rate of replacement increases in case of copper slag and the slump decreases in the case of class F fly ash. There is a less research work reported on ferrochrome slag and palm oil clinker used as sand substitution, so it is felt that further detailed investigations are required.

Beschreibung: Publication date: Available online 1 February 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment Author(s): Dermot Geraghty, Margaret O’Mahony Since the publication of the European Noise Directive in 2002, many European cities are required to quantify environmental noise levels and manage them. This requires measurement and noise mapping. The majority of local authorities conduct short term noise surveys and extrapolate the measurements to characterise long term noise levels. There is considerable support in the research literature for this approach. In this paper we examine the validity of this approach based on an analysis of a year-long data set from a permanent noise monitoring network located in the city of Dublin, Ireland. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) on more than 1.02 million LAeq measurements at five temporal levels - month, week, day and hour – are presented. The results demonstrate a large degree of statistically significant difference between periods, at all of the temporal scales examined, suggesting that caution needs to be taken when assuming that noise measurements taken over very short time periods can statistically capture or represent noise levels over longer periods. Our conclusion is that long term noise monitoring is necessary to accurately characterise long term indicators.

Beschreibung: Publication date: Available online 19 February 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment Author(s): Mei Liu, Xiaoming Huang, Guoqiang Xue Road traffic is the major noise source that impacts the largest numbers of city dwellers. Urban traffic noise control at the source typically involves providing quieter i.e. low noise pavement and regular maintenance. The aim of this paper is to propose a double-layer porous asphalt pavement for keeping the traffic noise at a low level with good durability. It contains the top layer of fine aggregates and bottom layer of course aggregates. The noise-absorption performance of this asphalt pavement is evaluated by adjusting the parameters of the pavement structure simulated in air-solid coupled numerical models. The reduction of noise by using the newly proposed asphalt pavement is compared with those of the traditional pavements such as the Thin Surfacing (TSF) with small aggregates and rubberized asphalt pavement (RAP). The results from the outdoor noise tests for the double-layer porous asphalt pavement verifies the virtual pavement models and noise reduction effects in practice. This asphalt pavement is designated to lower the noise level of urban road traffic and boost the living environments of the city dwellers.

Beschreibung: Publication date: Available online 3 February 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment Author(s): Scott H. Smith, Stephan A. Durham The plurality of life-cycle assessments for concrete pavements have used national or regional data to develop models to aid in decision related processes for designing concrete pavements. The findings of these studies effectively yield information in which global decisions can be made with respect to material selection and implementation. However, construction projects are dependent upon local supply and demand and require different levels of design complexity: freeze–thaw exposure, leaching potential, and alkali-silica reactivity. This paper presents a cradle-to-gate framework for design engineers and concrete ready-mix producers to implement in an effort to optimize mixture designs across economic, environmental, and mechanical performance criteria. The framework was assessed through the examination of a newly constructed highway in South Georgia. The case study proved that through the incorporation of 20% more Class F fly ash compared to the in-situ mixture design used on the pavement project site, all fresh and hardened concrete properties set by the Georgia Department of Transportation could still be exceeded, while the environmental efficiency would also increase by 23% with a total cost savings of 0.67 million dollars for the 11.52 linear miles (18.54 linear km) of pavement. Additionally, updated emission factors for input materials into concrete pavements, ranging from cement to aggregates, are presented using the most up-to-date data and techniques.

Beschreibung: Publication date: Available online 12 May 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment Author(s): Ndubisi Onwuanyi, Abiodun K. Oyetunji The bureaucratic approach to the management of the National Arts Theatre Complex (NATC) since inception has proved to be unsuitable and ineffective as indicated by its present maintenance status and public commentary over the years. Relying on observations made from a physical inspection of the NATC structure and its facilities, documented public commentary and information derived from questionnaire surveys, the moribund state of the complex is confirmed. Arguing that the complex is an investment in real estate and as well as a business property, this paper considers how it can be revitalized through the deployment of Facility Management (FM) service delivery which is a management concept suited to large facilities and multiple systems like the NATC. The findings are that the facility is in a moribund state as a result of which it has been unable for years now to serve the purpose for which it was established, that the mission-focused nature of FM service delivery has the potential to enhance its functionality as a centre for events and expositions as well as optimize its value as an investment property thereby serving to sustain this important component of Nigeria’s built heritage.

Beschreibung: Publication date: Available online 12 May 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment Author(s): Md. Ashiq Ur Rahman, Md. Zakir Hossain, Md. Enamul Kabir In developing countries, cities are experiencing rapid urbanization with increasing informality affecting urban poor to live in slums and squatters subject to eviction. Abating the issue, current participatory planning and collaborative actions is becoming popular. The major challenge in contemporary pro-poor housing practices is to explore the best practices of community participation, is well-discussed after the withdrawal of government intervention in housing and relying heavily on housing market. This study attempted to explore different forms of community participation to identify options introducing community-led housing in Bangkok and Mumbai for urban poor. The SWOT analyses of the ongoing projects in Bangkok and Mumbai identified scope and operational methodology of community-led housing. Results revealed that different forms of participatory practices are still considering urban poor as beneficiaries in expert-designed pre-determined projects and programmes. Community-led housing process has emerged as a different thought of action which is impulsive, inclusive and initiated by the community. We identified the elements of community-led housing are noticeable through representative networking, collective savings and blended financing, participatory designing, collective ownership, and participatory monitoring and evaluation. Although the community-led housing practice is becoming successful by enabling urban poor in five aspects, yet issue of scaling-up and institutionalization remains unsolved.

Beschreibung: Publication date: Available online 12 May 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment Author(s): D. Duah, M. Syal Despite the well-established benefits of home energy retrofits (HER), its adoption has faced huge challenges. Though homeowners typically depend on energy practitioners for HER advice, previous work by the researchers has identified the inadequateness of such information as a barrier. Using an earlier developed information model, an energy retrofit intelligent decision support system (ERIDSS), that integrates expert knowledge with quantitative information to provide homeowners with accurate information for decision-making, was developed. This paper identifies the key components of the proposed ERIDSS, develops rules for relevant energy retrofit expert knowledge to be employed in the knowledge-based system of the proposed ERIDSS, develops the ERIDSS for decision-making for home energy retrofits, and demonstrates the application of the ERIDSS using a pilot system on two test homes. The quantitative information was obtained from published sources and the U.S. Department of Energy’s cost database, and the expert knowledge was obtained through the application of the modified Delphi technique and job shadowing of energy auditors and retrofit contractors. The research contributes to improving the adoption of energy retrofits by homeowners, assisting industry practitioners with the corroboration of knowledge/information they provide to homeowners in order to reduce homeowner bias, providing a good understanding of available implicit domain knowledge through the development of six knowledge-based modules, and the development of a system and approach that may be replicated in other domains.

Beschreibung: Publication date: June 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment, Volume 5, Issue 1

Beschreibung: Publication date: Available online 17 March 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment Author(s): Aziz Ibrahim Abdulla This study is an experimental investigation about the thermal properties of adhesive before and after the mixing with fine sand. The results show that such an addition significantly improves the thermal characteristics, such as: reducing the initial and the final shrinkage, reducing the heat of the reaction, coefficient of linear expansion, and the coefficient of the thermal conductivity. Also, such an addition leads to a reduction in the adhesive cost and a small increase in the compressive strength and the modulus of rupture. The ratio of the fine sand to the adhesive equal to 1 is considered the best in terms of the cost reduction, maintaining workability, as well as maintaining the mechanical properties.

Beschreibung: Publication date: Available online 17 March 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment Author(s): Ingy I. El-Darwish, Amany A. Ragheb, Sherif Ahmed Lately, unexpectedly developing urban regions have been observed worldwide. This boom has an instantaneous impact on the microclimate and for this reason on human comfort, as a result negatively affecting international climate and power consumption degrees. Urban design selections together with road geometry and orientation, sidewalk widths, shading structures, materials, landscaping, building heights and air drift are key elements for pedestrian thermal comfort. This evaluate covers the built environment’s moderation components impact at the weather; with the purpose for optimizing the thermal comfort degree in out of doors urban area. The literature covers using simulation equipment to be expecting out of doors environmental situations with specific knowledge on Envi-met as a simulation device for comparing outside thermal comfort. Sooner or later, the paper expects to spotlight the microclimatic enhancement approaches, and the usage of simulation as a device in the field of urban layout. The paper focuses on the importance of air temperature, relative humidity, air motion, and suggests radiant temperature in city canyons in addition to in open public spaces for the sake of human thermal comfort. As at the micro-scale, an old historical district south Kom Al Shoqafah by Al Mahmoudiya canal in Alexandria has been studied. The consequences deliver some initial proof of the wonderful urban microclimate with the aid of the use of simulation strategies that may influence the city area design and the planning procedure. This study proved that the microclimatic conditions in a critical historic region are in a near relationship among human consolation and urban design. The study is for evaluating the opportunity of changing the microclimate through distinct design parameters that have strongly impact the microclimate.

Beschreibung: Publication date: Available online 3 May 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment Author(s): Krishna Kumar Lawania, Wahidul K. Biswas The rapid growth of Western Australia’s population and economy will affect the sustainability of its building sector. The energy consumption of all processes during mining to material production, transportation, construction plant and tools, and operation (heating, cooling, lighting, hot water and home appliances) stages cause high greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and embodied energy (EE) consumption. The literature review to date have confirmed that the building envelope consisting of exterior walls, windows, external doors, roof, and floor could significantly affect the energy consumption during operation stage. Australian construction industry could thus enhance the energy efficiency of the building envelope in order to achieve its GHG emissions reduction targets. This paper has assessed the GHG emissions and EE consumption associated with the construction and use of a typical house in Perth for sixty building envelope options using a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach. The results show that the building envelope consisting of cast in-situ sandwich wall with polyethylene terephthalate (PET) foam core, double glazed windows, and concrete roof tiles has the lowest life cycle GHG emissions and embodied energy consumption.

Beschreibung: Publication date: Available online 2 May 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment Author(s): Allen Khin Kiet Lau, Elias Salleh, Chin Haw Lim, Mohamad Yusof Sulaiman Rapid growing of energy use has raised critical concerns over energy supply difficulties and negative environmental impacts globally and among ASEAN countries. Malaysia is experiencing a high average annual energy demand growth rate of approximately 2.3% which large portion of that energy is used by office buildings. Under the hot-humid climatic conditions in Malaysia, high-rise office buildings with large or fully glazed façades are facing a major problem of overheating due to high solar radiation through the glazed façades. This has caused high cooling energy requirements. The aim of this study is to investigate the potential of three types of shading devices on cooling energy savings when applied at different façade orientations. The aim also extends to investigations on different cooling energy savings when shading devices are applied on façade glazing with different configurations and thermal performances. This was done through a case study of a high-rise office building in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia using IES (VE) building thermal simulation software. Twenty simulation building models were applied with different shading devices at different façade orientations and with high and low performance façade glazing. The simulation results indicate that high-rise office buildings in Malaysia use approximately 45.9% of total building energy for cooling purposes. The results also suggest that use of various shading devices on low-e double glazed façades will result between 1.0% to 3.4% annual cooling energy savings, depending on the types of shading devices and façade orientations. The estimated annual cooling energy savings increase to between 5.0% and 9.9% when the shading devices are applied to all orientations of low-e double glazed façades. The estimated annual cooling energy savings further increase to between 5.6% and 10.4% when the façade glazing are replaced by single clear glazing. This study recommends prioritizing shading devices on the East and West façades for optimized annual cooling energy savings. The simulation results show that egg-crate shadings are able to produce the highest annual cooling energy savings compared to vertical shadings and horizontal shadings. It is recommended to use shading devices on low performance glazing compared to high performance glazing since the energy savings are more significant when shading devices are used on low performance glazing. In conclusion, the use of shading devices is more effective in achieving cooling energy savings compared to the use of high performance glazing under the hot-humid climate of Malaysia.

Beschreibung: Publication date: Available online 25 March 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment Author(s): Emilia Conte, Valeria Monno In this paper we focus on crucial issues concerning the effectiveness of evaluation of sustainability in the built environment. The paper argues that we need to rethink the evaluation of urban-building sustainability from an integrative perspective. It advances a theoretical and methodological model based on the regenerative approach, which opens up a new way to deal with the sustainability of the built environment. An enlarged definition of urban metabolism is used to carry out the integrated evaluation. Central in it is the concept of reliability , which expresses the ability of products and processes in the built environment to be adaptive, resilient and regenerative. We use reliability in a transversal manner through the process of making the built environment sustainable, referring it both to buildings and the regenerative process triggered by sustainable actions addressed to buildings. Holistic indicators allow assessing it quantitatively or qualitatively. Through reliability we bring regenerative thinking from a theoretical to an operational level. When referred to buildings, reliability allows considering sustainable performances not usually assessed in current evaluations. When referred to processes, it helps to understand directions of change in relation to sustainability of the built environment. Our method can be easily associated to current evaluation systems exceeding their boundaries.

Beschreibung: Publication date: Available online 16 April 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment Author(s): Jonathan Wright, Ali Alajmi The main aim of this paper is to find the appropriate set of Genetic Algorithm (GA), control parameters that attain the optimum, or near optimum solutions, in a reasonable computational time for constrained building optimization problem. Eight different combinations of control parameter of binary coded GA were tested in a hypothetical building problem by changing 80 variables. The results showed that GA performance was insensitive to some GA control parameter values such as crossover probability and mutation rate. However, population size was the most influential control parameter on the GA performance. In particular, the population sizes (15 individuals) require less computational time to reach the optimum solution. In particular, a binary encoded GA with relatively small population sizes can be used to solve constrained building optimization problems within 750 building simulation calls.

Beschreibung: Publication date: Available online 1 September 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment Author(s): Manu Thimmaiah, T.K. Chandrashekar The growth of Lithium Bromide-Water (LiBr-H 2 O) absorption based heat pump is encouraged for the necessity of extracting high heat from the electronic chips. This paper presents a simulation study of single-stage Libr-H 2 O vapour absorption heat pump for chip cooling. In this study, a detailed thermodynamic analysis of the single-stage LiBr-H 2 O vapour absorption heat pump for chip cooling in the nonexistence of solution heat exchanger was performed and a user-friendly graphical user interface (GUI) package including visual components was developed by using MATlab (2008b). The influence of chip temperature on COP (Coefficient of Performance), flow rates and conductance were examined by using the developed package. The model is validated by using the values available in the literature and indicates that there is a greater reduction in the absorber load. The influence of chip temperature on the performance and thermal loads of individual components were studied and concluded that, COP increases from 0.7145 to 0.8421 with increase in chip temperature.

Beschreibung: Publication date: Available online 4 September 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment Author(s): Zaw Min, Paula Morgenstern, Ljiljana Marjanovic-Halburd Existing non-domestic buildings tend to use more energy than expected. This paper investigates how the operational strategies of facilities management can contribute to reducing building energy use. A longitudinal case study of a higher education (HE) campus which was conceptualised with the objective of being environmental friendly and energy efficient is presented. The paper reflects on the energy performance of the campus since its operation in 2001, based on 14 years of energy data and a detailed record of all initiatives undertaken by the campus’s facilities management (FM) team in order to optimise energy performance. The integrated FM strategy composed of low- and no-cost strategies, continuous improvements, ongoing commissioning and retrofits succeeded in reducing campus energy intensity from 174 to 87 kWh/(m2∗yr), now outperforming most relevant benchmarks. This finding highlights the importance of operations and maintenance in reducing the energy usage of existing buildings. This presented findings draw on a single case only, which excels through a very detailed longitudinal dataset. Going forward, the analysis of further cases is recommended to corroborate the findings. The presented results suggest that proactive operations and maintenance strategies in existing buildings can contribute towards significantly improving energy performance. The profile and competency level of facilities management personnel should consequently be raised strategically at the organisational and national/industrial policy level, while integrated design processes should be further expanded to include FM’s operational control and management in a holistically fashion.

Beschreibung: Publication date: Available online 1 October 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment Author(s): Sangam Shrestha, Worapong Lohpaisankrit Climate change is expected to increase both the magnitude and frequency of extreme precipitation events, which may lead to more intense and frequent river flooding. This study aims to assess the flood hazard potential under climate change scenarios in Yang River Basin of Thailand. A physically-based distributed hydrological model, Block-wise use of TOPMODEL using Muskingum-Cunge flow routing (BTOPMC) and hydraulic model, HEC-RAS was used to simulate the floods under future climate scenarios. Future climate scenarios were constructed from the bias corrected outputs of three General Circulation Models (GCMs) for 2020s, 2050s and 2080s. Results show that basin will get warmer and wetter in future. Both the minimum and maximum temperature of the basin is projected to increase in future. Similarly average annual rainfall is also projected to increase in future, higher in near future and lower in far future. The extreme runoff pattern and synthetic inflow hydrographs for 25, 50 and 100 year return flood were derived from an extreme flood of 2007 which were then fed into HEC-RAS model to generate the flood inundation maps in the basin. The intensity of annual floods is expected increase for both RCP 4.5 and 8.5 scenarios. Compared to the baseline period, an additional 60 km 2 area of basin is projected to be flooded with the return period of 100 years. The results of this study will be helpful to formulate adaptation strategies to offset the negative impacts of flooding on different land use activities in Yang River Basin.

Beschreibung: Publication date: December 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment, Volume 5, Issue 2

Beschreibung: Publication date: Available online 29 October 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment Author(s): Nnaemeka Madumere Significant changes in the conventional weather pattern experienced globally has sparked enormous concerns to environmental stakeholders. Having been established that the main driver of change in our Climate is as a result of anthropogenic activities which contributes to the global increase in concentration of Green House Gases (GHG), there is therefore need for effective sensitization and public awareness regarding our actions and how they contribute to the issue of Climate Change experienced globally. For this reason an effective framework needs to be designed for this purpose, hence the objective of this research. As an effective model for public enlightenment should be one that will: enable all stakeholders gain easy access to each other to achieve efficient dissemination of information; take into consideration the geopolitical and socioeconomic nature of the region in concern; sustainable; flexible and adaptable, this research adopted the Integrative Literature Based Research Methodology by analysing articles of renowned authors and organisations published between 1995 to 2016 to gain supportive ideas that are vital towards the design of an effective model for Public enlightenment and participation in resolving Climate Change. A model fulfilling the afore mentioned qualities was designed and evaluated for its practicability and effectiveness.

Beschreibung: Publication date: Available online 2 November 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment Author(s): Alaa M. Rashad, Dina M. Sadek Ground granulated blast-furnace slag (designated as GGBS) has been utilized as building material due to the environmental, economic and technical benefits. In this study, the possibility of improving compressive strength of high-volume GGBS (HVS) paste before and after being exposed to elevated temperatures using metakaolin (MK) in micro-size (mMK) has been investigated. Portland cement (PC) has been partially substituted with GGBS at level of 70%, by weight, to produce HVS paste. Afterword, GGBS was partially substituted with mMK at levels ranging from 2% to 10% with an increment of 2%, by weight. After curing, the specimens were subjected to elevated temperatures ranging from 400 °C to 1000 °C with an interval of 200 °C for 2 h. Weight and compressive strength before and after being exposed to elevated temperatures have been thoroughly explored. The various decomposition phases formed were identified using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and thermogravimetric (TGA) analyses. The morphology of the formed hydrates was studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results showed that the compressive strength before and after being exposed to elevated temperatures increased with increasing mMK content. For all mixtures, the residual compressive strength at 400 °C reached its maximum peak value.

Beschreibung: Publication date: Available online 24 October 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment Author(s): Laura Estévez-Mauriz, Jimeno A. Fonseca, Claudiu Forgaci, Nils Björling Cities can be seen as systems of organized complexity formed by interrelated and highly dynamic sub-systems. This paper reflects on the interactions and tensions between socio-ecological and/or socio-technical sub-systems in cities and their capacity to either improve or block urban processes. In this context, spatial heterogeneity could enhance or hinder the performance and resilience of critical urban sub-systems such as transport and energy. The consequence of this interaction might be detrimental to environmental quality (air and acoustic) and the livability of urban areas. This rationale may improve political and expert decision-making processes toward sustainable, resilient and livable cities.

Beschreibung: Publication date: Available online 14 September 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment Author(s): Ranjith A, K. Balaji Rao, K. Manjunath The structural degradation of concrete structures due to reinforcement corrosion is major durability issue all over the world, primarily when the rebar in the concrete is exposed to the marine or aggressive environment. In the present work, an attempt has been made in predicting the service life of RC structures taking into account well known corrosion models. Parametric studies are completed on Bazant’s model, Morinaga’s model, Wang and Zhao’s model and IRC model to study the impact of cover thickness, corrosion rate, increase in diameter of the bar, perimeter of the bar etc. This paper shows the consequences of the parametric investigation of the input parameters for four chose consumption corrosion damage models. The adequacy of the models in predicting the service life is shown through four functional contextual analysis illustrations.

Beschreibung: Publication date: Available online 19 September 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment Author(s): Mani Dhingra, Subrata Chattopadhyay

Beschreibung: Publication date: Available online 19 September 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment Author(s): B.D. Madurapperuma, K.A.J.M. Kuruppuarachchi This study examines vegetation, carbon sequestration, and spatial and temporal changes of green space at the premises of the Open University of Sri Lanka (OUSL). The primary objective of this study is to examine floral diversity of the OUSL premises that was rehabilitated from a landfill site and to determine suitable trees for landfill sites based on growth performance and biomass carbon stocks. The girth and height of plants ⩾5 cm dbh were measured to estimate biomass carbon stocks of each individual tree. GPS coordinates of each individual tree were taken for spatial mapping. Urban green spaces were extracted from Satellite view of Google Earth for a decade using screen digitizing techniques. A total of 722 individuals, comprising 95 plant species belonging to 75 genera and 33 families, were recorded. Of the total species 45% were native species. The above-ground and below- ground biomass were estimated to be 50 (t C/ha) and 10 (t C/ha) respectively. These results are comparable with above-ground biomass and below-ground biomass in the dry zone forest (60 and 17 (t C/ha) respectively). The study recognized that Terminalia catappa , Filicium decipiens , Mangifera indica , Cassia bacillaris and Tabebuia rosea species grow well in such landfill with effective carbon accumulation, and the species list presented in this paper will provide useful information that will help city planners to maximize biomass carbon sequestration by choosing optimal plants for landscaping in landfill sites.

Beschreibung: Publication date: Available online 21 September 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment Author(s): Peter Wangai, Benjamin Burkhard, Felix Mueller Assessments of ecosystem services (ES) are vital for Africa’s sustainability. ES supply and demand take place in distinctive patterns in Africa due to the continent’s characteristic spatial heterogeneity, rich biodiversity, demographic developments, resource endowment, resource management conflicts, and fragile political landscapes, along with current industrialization and urbanization processes. Ignorance of the dynamism of these parameters could diminish the capacity of the different ecosystem service providing units (SPU) to satisfy the demands in the ecosystem service benefiting areas (SBA) in Africa. The main aim of this review article is to assess the extent to which ES studies have been conducted and applied in Africa. This review analyses those articles accessible online via the ISI Web of Science and open access journals. The online search yielded 52 ES-related studies, which were used for the review. Results indicate that most studies were conducted in South Africa, Kenya and Tanzania, and focused on services provided by watersheds and catchment ecosystems. Crucially, most of the studies focused on more than one ES category. Provisioning ES dominated across all the ES categories. However, ES tradeoffs and synergies were barely addressed. Economic valuation of ES and ES mapping comprised more than three-quarters of all the studies, and a quarter referred to biophysical quantification or qualification of ES. There are emerging alternative, non-monetary valuation methods for ES, which could pave a new way of capturing value of non-monetized ES in Africa. Moreover, there is an urgent need to extend ES studies to the entire continent, in order to capture spatial and socio-economic uniqueness of various countries and focus more on local-scale assessments of multiple ES, as a means for addressing ES tradeoffs, synergies and SPU-SBA relations in Africa.

Beschreibung: Publication date: Available online 17 September 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment Author(s): A. Mortensen, P. Heiselberg, M. Knudstrup In Denmark, around Europe and in the rest of the world there is a challenge of motivating homeowners to conduct private energy renovations despite a number of benefits. A particular great energy saving potential is present in the Danish single-family houses erected 1960-1979, but the potential is not utilized for various reasons. However, survey results show that improvements in comfort, indoor environment and architecture combined with a reasonable project economy can motivate the average homeowner of these buildings. The objective of this paper is to further process the survey data from 883 homeowners and determine if all homeowners can be assumed as one homogeneous group in terms of motivation factors or if significant differences occur, what causes the differences and how does this affect the future motivation strategy. The conclusion is that the homeowners cannot be assumed as one group, but must be addressed as individuals. The key parameters for determining the motivation factors are related to the homeowner’s current position in life: age, presence and age of children, time of ownership, occupation and income. Most likely to be motivated to perform energy renovation is the younger generation of homeowners The older generation is hard to motivate, but results nonetheless show that it is possible with the right instruments.

Beschreibung: Publication date: Available online 5 November 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment Author(s): Ritu Ahuja, Anil Sawhney, Mohammed Arif Driven by a plethora of external and internal influences, the construction industry has independently embraced lean principles and green initiatives. Prima facie significant synergies have been reported between these two paradigms. It is foreseen that when tapped and adopted in unison, these paradigms may yield additional benefits for the construction projects. This synergy is investigated in this research. Further this study identifies and proposes Building Information Modelling (BIM) as an enabler for gaining lean and green project outcomes. The study uses crisp set qualitative comparative analysis (csQCA) method for exploring the causal combinations of different BIM capabilities and asserts that causal combinations of four BIM capabilities: MEP system modelling, energy and environment analysis, constructability analysis and structural analysis, when implemented on construction projects can lead to lean and green outcomes. With the help of sixteen cases it is shown that adoption of BIM leads to improved project outcomes especially ones targeting lean and green aspects.

Beschreibung: Publication date: Available online 9 November 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment Author(s): Niragi Dave, Anil Kumar Misra, Amit Srivastava, S.K. Kaushik This paper presents three pozzolanic materials that were used to make quaternary binders, Granulated blast furnace slag, fly ash (PFA), metakaolin, and silica fume as partial replacement in quaternary binders with Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) to investigate the effect of standard consistency, initial and final setting times of quaternary paste. Experiments demonstrate that SF has greater influence on the standard consistency of the OPC–FA–SF–GGBS paste, as compare to FA and GGBs. Water requirement in the paste escalates, with increase in SF percentage level within the paste, owing to the high surface area. In case of GGBS, around 3–5% of reduction in water/binder ratio was recorded, whereas for SF, it was 10–12%. In quaternary OPC–FA–SF–GGBS pastes, increases in initial and final setting times at 5%, 7.5%, 10%, and 15% replacement of SF and GGBS were observed, whereas OPC–FA–SF–MK paste setting time shows an increase at 5% replacement of SF and MK with 20% and 70% replacement of FA and OPC, however, it starts decreasing between 7.5% and 15% replacement of SF and MK. The consistency of the quaternary binders increases with an increase in percentage of SF and MK. In general the effect of FA, SF, GGBS and MK reflects in the behavior of quaternary binders even though the performance of all three pozzolans behaves completely independent of each other.

Beschreibung: Publication date: Available online 3 October 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment Author(s): Abdol Aziz Shahraki This paper is to study the unauthorized urban neighborhoods, which cause critical multifaceted difficulties. It explores the reasons that have resulted in the unauthorized urban neighborhoods generally and in Chabahar city particularly. This paper has performed a case study to analyze the socioeconomic, spatial, skeletal, and functional effects of the illegal neighborhoods in the Chabahar city with the help of academic methods and field observations. It reviews various theoretical ideas and experiences could assist the rehabilitation and reconstructing of the unauthorized urban districts. It discusses optimal strategic regional/urban revitalization planning procedures to solve the problems in Chabahar. Finally, this paper suggests a renewal/rebuilding possible development program, including eight mother projects. The results of the renewal program will be substituted with the present informal and eroded neighborhoods in the city. The renewal program made progress in both physical features of the city and urban life quality indicators simultaneously. The model suggested by this paper will be feasible in similar regions everywhere.

Beschreibung: Publication date: Available online 22 September 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment Author(s): Edoardo Bertone, Oz Sahin, Rodney A. Stewart, Patrick Zou, Morshed Alam, Evan Blair Governments occupy a significant proportion of building stock and their associated annual water and energy costs can be substantive. Research has shown that significant reductions in energy and water consumption as well as carbon emissions can be achieved through retrofitting public buildings. However, in most countries the current retrofitting rate is very low due to a number of barriers, including a lack of supportive legislation, regulations, guidelines, industry capacity and financial mechanisms. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the barriers as well as the best international practices covering numerous aspects of public building retrofits. Among others, the most important barriers identified were a lack of consideration of the water-energy nexus, and the limited availability of effective financing mechanisms. With a particular focus on the Australian context, a strategic roadmap, as well as a number of recommendations, such as the use of revolving loan fund financing and energy performance procurement, have been developed that aim to foster a greater rate of implementation of energy and water retrofit projects for public buildings. Achievement of such an aim will not only reduce ongoing operational costs of public buildings, but also lower their environmental impact and generate new employment opportunities.

Beschreibung: Publication date: Available online 28 September 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment Author(s): Faezehossadat Khademi, Sayed Mohammadmehdi Jamal, Neela Deshpande, Shreenivas Londhe Compressive strength of concrete, recognized as one of the most significant mechanical properties of concrete, is identified as one of the most essential factors for the quality assurance of concrete. In the current study, three different data-driven models, i.e., Artificial Neural Network (ANN), Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS), and Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) were used to predict the 28 days compressive strength of recycled aggregate concrete (RAC). Recycled aggregate is the current need of the hour owing to its environmental pleasant aspect of re-using the wastes due to construction. 14 different input parameters, including both dimensional and non-dimensional parameters, were used in this study for predicting the 28 days compressive strength of concrete. The present study concluded that estimation of 28 days compressive strength of recycled aggregate concrete was performed better by ANN and ANFIS in comparison to MLR. In other words, comparing the test step of all the three models, it can be concluded that MLR model is better to be utilized for preliminary mix design of concrete, and ANN and ANFIS models are suggested to be used in the mix design optimization and in the case of higher accuracy necessities. In addition, the performance of data-driven models with and without the non-dimensional parameters is explored. It was observed that the data-driven models show better accuracy when the non-dimensional parameters were used as additional input parameters. Furthermore, the effect of each non-dimensional parameter on the performance of each data-driven model is investigated. Finally, the effect of number of input parameters on 28 days compressive strength of concrete is examined.

Beschreibung: Publication date: Available online 16 November 2016 Source: International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment Author(s): G.M. Sadiqul Islam, M.H. Rahman, Nayem Kazi Million tons of waste glass is being generated annually all over the world. Once the glass becomes a waste it is disposed as landfills, which is unsustainable as this does not decompose in the environment. Glass is principally composed of silica. Use of milled (ground) waste glass in concrete as partial replacement of cement could be an important step toward development of sustainable (environmentally friendly, energy-efficient and economical) infrastructure systems. When waste glass is milled down to micro size particles, it is expected to undergo pozzolanic reactions with cement hydrates, forming secondary Calcium Silicate Hydrate (C–S–H). In this research chemical properties of both clear and colored glass were evaluated. Chemical analysis of glass and cement samples was determined using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) technique and found minor differences in composition between clear and colored glasses. Flow and compressive strength tests on mortar and concrete were carried out by adding 0–25% ground glass in which water to binder (cement + glass) ratio is kept the same for all replacement levels. With increase in glass addition mortar flow was slightly increased while a minor effect on concrete workability was noted. To evaluate the packing and pozzolanic effects, further tests were also conducted with same mix details and 1% super plasticizing admixture dose (by weight of cement) and generally found an increase in compressive strength of mortars with admixture. As with mortar, concrete cube samples were prepared and tested for strength (until 1 year curing). The compressive strength test results indicated that recycled glass mortar and concrete gave better strength compared to control samples. A 20% replacement of cement with waste glass was found convincing considering cost and the environment.