Achieving Building Comfort By Natural Means

​Achieving Building Comfort by Natural Means explores examples of green building designs and methods that are currently being used around the world to achieve human comfort in buildings. The operation of buildings accounts for more than 40% of total energy use and is a major source of carbon emissions. It is imperative that this consumption be substantially decreased and that energy needed for building comfort is obtained from renewable and environmentally friendly sources. This book brings together a global group of contributors who look at factors such as location, climate, building materials, energy management, ventilation, thermal environmental conditions, shading, lighting, acoustics, and more that are critical for achieving buildings that are more sustainable. Thermal comfort and climatic potential of ventilative cooling in Italian climates is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

Towards Net Zero in the Building Industry looks at the contributions that the building and construction industry can (and must) make to help achieve net zero carbon emissions. The building industry accounts for close to 40% of global emissions and this book brings together a global group of contributors from 15 countries to examine ways in which the industry can help with overall CO2 reduction. Coverage includes factors such as building design strategy, materials selection, use of local materials with a low carbon imprint, renewable energy use, energy conservation, greenery and appropriate aesthetics, building size and scale, climate suitability, building functionality and comfort, material recycling, and adoption of green policies. Chapter 6 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

This book looks at the success and continuing potential of photovoltaic (PV) technology in combating climate change by harnessing solar energy through building-integrated (BIPV) and building-applied photovoltaics (BAPV). With PV global capacity soaring from 940 GW in 2021 to 1100 GW in 2022 and projected to reach 1456 GW by the end of 2023, the world is witnessing an unprecedented shift towards renewable energy solutions. Today, no single country exists without some form of PV installation, driven by reduced costs and abundant free sunshine. The book’s chapters delve into the advancements in PV technology, exploring its integration as an essential building material by examining 14 countries and regions – Brazil, The Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Argentina, Iran, Germany, Malaysia, Oman, Bahrain, India, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Egypt – and providing a comprehensive overview of their successful adoption of PV for electricity generation. Whether you’re an architect, builder, engineer, or climate advocate, this vital resource offers insights, international case studies, and a path to a greener future.

This book outlines, within the Italian national framework, the current and potential paths oriented towards a new concept of Architectural Heritage, through actions referring to Innovation and Experimentation and Protection and Transformation of the Architectural Heritage. The development of the themes is articulated in two sessions dealing with the aspects related to the analysis and mapping of Architectural Heritage to face the context of the current Climate Crisis and the development of projects and experimentations oriented to the Green and Digital Transition. The evolution of the concept of Heritage, as conceived by the United Nations 2030 Agenda and in the Green Deal and New European Bauhaus, aimed at constructing an inclusive and universally recognised definition to support supranational objectives of sustainable human development, gives rise to innovative strategies, methodologies and technologies that—in a direction of mitigation, contrast and adaptation to climate change—allow for the safeguard, renewed management and a hope for valorisation of Heritage on a national scale. In this direction, the understanding of Architectural Heritage as a 'non-renewable resource' determines the need to activate design experimentation laboratories oriented towards regeneration, articulated and complex, which require, in order to respond to the challenges posed by our era, a sensitive and dialogic multidisciplinary vision of a holistic type. In fact, on the one hand, it is necessary to redefine the usability and management methods of built heritage through the adoption of digital, mobility, energy, ecological, social, green and blue infrastructures; on the other hand, it is necessary to introduce new qualitative and quantitative parameters and performance indicators, adequate to verify the validity of the implemented strategies in a perspective of adaptation to climate change, able to clarify contents, processes and tools to contrast future risks. The pursuit of these objectives refers to the innovation of training paths, professionalising procedures, administrative regulations, and public policies that involve citizens and the private partnership towards a different project qualification and empowerment of stakeholders, inhabitants, professionals, and clients. The Technological Project makes it possible to activate different interventions aimed at acting, in an integrated manner, on assets, context and communities, according to an approach that reinterprets them on a common score, as proposed by the European Next Generation programme in three priority aspects: digitalisation and innovation, environmental transition, increased resilience and social sustainability of national economies. In this scenario, the interventions aimed at outlining sustainable development actions will have to place these concepts at the centre in a harmonious vision that starts from the recognition and enhancement of the Architectural Heritage, recognising it as a fundamental asset of the territories.

Energy use in buildings in the EU represents about 40% of the total annual energy consumption. With greater awareness of the need to reduce energy consumption comes a growth of interest in passive cooling, particularly as an alternative to air-conditioning. This book describes the fundamentals of passive cooling together with the principles and formulae necessary for its successful implementation. The material is comprised largely of information and results compiled under the SAVE European Research Programme.

This proposed book chapter is expected to provide the readers with wide aspects of green technologies for industrial waste remediation. The first chapter is dedicated to the introduction to the title of the book. The chapter discusses various green technologies for industrial waste remediation. After that, the second chapter emphasizes the different types of applications of microorganisms in industrial waste treatment. After that, chapters emphasize the specific area of the title, including the micro and nanofiltration technology for the treatment of industrial wastewater, methods for the recovery and removal of heavy metals from industrial effluents, algal photobioreactor technology for industrial wastewater treatment, carbon capture and energy recovery, bioremediation of radioactive wastes, membrane-based technologies for industrial waste management, valorization of agro-industrial wastes for biorefinery products, bioaccumulation and detoxification of metals through genetically engineered microorganism, application of biochar in waste remediation, constructed wetlands for industrial wastewater remediation, bioelectrochemical treatment of recalcitrant pollutants, microplastics, petrochemicals including BTEX, applications of biosorbents in industrial wastewater treatment, Microbial biofilm reactor for sustainable wastewater treatment, dye adsorption and degradation using microbial consortium, sustainable treatment of endocrine disruptive chemicals released from industries, biological nanomaterials for industrial wastewater management, vermifiltration as a natural, cost-effective and green technology for biomanagement of industrial wastewater, biocatalytic remediation of industrial pollutants, and green treatment of poly aromatic hydrocarbons released from industrial waste. All the chapters cover various aspects of sustainable management of industrial wastes covering relevant literature and data. Further, this book discusses the various advanced techniques/methods adopted for the enhancement of waste management, like the application of nanoparticles. This book discusses other related topics such as algal photobioreactors for carbon dioxide sequestration. Further, chapters are included to discuss about life cycle assessment of the wastewater treatment tools and commercialization aspects.

Advances in Building Energy Research (ABER) offers state-of-the-art information on the environmental science and performance of buildings, linking new technologies and methodologies with the latest research on systems, simulations and standards. As stringently reviewed as a journal but with the breadth of a book, this annual volume brings together invited contributions from the foremost international experts on energy efficiency and environmental quality of buildings. Spanning a broad range of technical subjects, this is a 'must have' reference on global developments in the field, suitable for architects and building engineers, environmental engineers, industry professionals, students, teachers and researchers in building science, technical libraries and laboratories.

This book comprises the proceedings of the International Conference on Green Buildings and Sustainable Engineering (GBSE 2019), which focused on the theme “Ecotechnological and Digital Solutions for Smart Cities”. The papers included address all aspects of green buildings and sustainability practices in civil engineering, and focus on ways and means of reducing pollution and degradation of the environment through efficient usage of energy and water. The book will prove a valuable reference resource for researchers, practitioners, and policy makers.