· · · Institutional Repository

Contemporary cities, established largely around stable supplies of materials and plentiful access to energy sources, will be seriously affected by sudden changes in supply - particularly if technology cannot cater for consumption demands. This thesis explores energy consumption and energy dependency, framed in terms of urban density, using the Barcelona Metropolitan Area as a case study.

The ladder of influence by Arnstein (1969) shows steps from manipulation to citizen control. The level of interaction between citizens, authorities and institutions can be placed on this ladder. In the Netherlands new strategies for empowerment in the field of energy performance are emerging, for instance the Climate Festival, the mobile energy office, the ClimateSreet Party. Positive activities such as the IdeaBrewery focus on the quality of the public domain and show many social interactions, including interactions between the local authorities and citizens. Some of these processes aim at sustainable quality of cities, including household energy savings and signal new forms of local democracy. Studies on energy consumption in dwellings by Guerra Santin (2009) show that only part of the difference in energy consumption between households in similar houses can be explained by differences in behaviour, but her results present an important new picture of user influence on energy use. The National Dutch Tenant Association (Woonbond) follows bottom up processes in the field of CO2 reduction strategies, as part of the National Energy Covenant for the social housing sector. Top down processes that are managed by local authorities and housing associations are connected to bottom up processes by neighbourhood groups. This paper explains how behaviour in dwellings and participation in planning and maintenance are related

The energy required for space heating has been significantly reduced in recent decades by making use of insulation and more efficient heating and ventilation systems. Even so, wide variations in energy consumption are still observed between similar dwellings and between actual and predicted levels. It is thought that these variations stem from differences in occupant behaviour, the structural quality of the building, and a rebound effect. This paper statistically examines differences in occupant behaviour in relation to the building characteristics of the housing stock in the Netherlands and explores the possible existence of a rebound effect on the consumption of energy for space heating. Rebound effect can be defined as the increase on energy consumption in services for which improvements in energy efficiency reduce the costs. We found that although energy consumption is lower in energy efficient dwellings, analysis of the behaviour variables indicates their occupants tend to prefer higher indoor temperatures and to ventilate less. This finding might be related to a rebound effect on occupant behaviour. However, the improvement of thermal properties and systems efficiency still lead to a reduction on energy consumption for heating.

Governments have developed energy performance regulations in order to lower energy consumption in the housing stock. Most of these regulations are based on the thermal quality of the buildings. In the Netherlands, the energy efficiency for new buildings is expressed as the EPC (energy performance coefficient). Studies have indicated that energy regulations are successful in lowering the energy consumption in residential buildings. However, the actual energy consumption is usually different from the expected energy consumption. This paper explores the effectiveness of energy performance regulations in lowering the energy consumption of dwellings built in the Netherlands after 1996. The effect of the EPC and thermal characteristics on energy consumption was determined by statistical analyses of data on actual energy consumption. The results showed that energy reductions are seen in dwellings built after the introduction of energy performance regulations. However, results suggest that to effectively reduce energy consumption, the tightening of the EPC in not enough. Policies aimed at controlling the construction quality and changing occupant behaviour are also necessary to achieve further energy reductions.

In this project, the interactions between parents and their children, while performing daily activities were researched, as well as their opinions on energy saving and playing games together. Using these insights, a product had to be designed that fits within the current activities at Philips and that brings together parents and their children in their attempts to reduce their energy consumption. The focus for this product was on something fun that parents and children could do together. This design had to be evaluated, in order to assess its effectiveness to support behaviour change and family fun, but also to gain more insights in people’s needs and wishes towards sustainable family fun for future Philips projects.

Purpose- This paper focuses on the effect of courtyards, atria and sunspaces on indoor thermal comfort and energy consumption for heating and cooling. One of the most important purposes is to understand if certain transitional spaces can reduce the energy consumption of and improve thermal comfort in houses. Method of Research- To conduct this research, 4 building types were modelled and simulated in three different climates with DesignBuilder. From these simulations, the energy consumption of the dwellings is determined. Moreover, the indoor temperature data were plotted on adaptive temperature boundary charts. Findings- This paper shows that a courtyard is the least efficient dwelling type for the Netherlands, while an atrium has better energy efficiency and indoor thermal comfort. Moreover, a sunspace is not recommended for the hotter climates of Cairo and Barcelona since there is a risk of overheating in summer. The paper also reports that although a building type may not be energy-efficient (in comparison with other types), it may still provide a comfortable addition to a dwelling.

The increase in trade and economies of scale has influenced ports in respect to the growth and services they provide. Ports as trade commercial centres, in which international markets and national economies meet, must start considering how the impacts of extreme climate change influence their port management and operations. This particular study focuses on extreme changes in climate that may affect the development, operations and infrastructure of ports. In particular, research has been done into sustainable mitigation plans that have been implemented by port authorities in relation to GHG emissions, energy consumption, fuel consumption, sea level rise and extreme weather protection and ice coverage, with the goal to analyse the potential environmental adaptability of ports operations to climate change effects. This study was based on a survey and case studies that provided primary and secondary data for the development of a comparative analysis among 10 different ports. The information gathered identified the range of measures and policies that ports are developing with a view to responding to climate change impacts. The study also uses Multi-Criteria Analysis to examine the degree of integration and adaptability of ports to climate change challenges, and the positive externalities such adaptations can bring to ports. In general 40% of the ports investigated in this project have implemented not only GHG emissions and energy and fuel consumption mitigation plans but have also conducted research into the vulnerability of the port to sea level rise and extreme weather. The MCA results indicate that it is important for ports to start considering climate change impacts and developing sustainable mitigation and adaptation plans for their port operations in order to bring benefits to the port and the surrounding areas. This project is part of an Erasmus Mundus International Masters Programme in Coastal and Marine Engineering and Management (CoMEM). This programme is integrated by five universities, Delft University of Technology (TUDelft), Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), City University London, University of Southampton (SOTON) and Catalunya University of Technology (UPC) with the aim to allow students to gather global knowledge and experience in this field.

To date, the focus in the field of sustainable building has been on new building design. However, existing residential buildings inflict great environmental burden through three causes: continuous energy consumption, regular building maintenance and replacements. This publication analyses and compares these three causes of environmental burden and shows that material resources needed for replacements generally have a limited potential to reduce environmental impact. Reducing energy consumption for climate control and electrical appliances is much more effective. According to the author, sustainable measures should be tested for shifts in the kind of environmental impact caused due to the use of alternative types of energy resources and altered material quantities. The sustainability of the electricity supply is essential to decrease the total environmental impact of the residential building stock.

To date, the focus in the field of sustainable building has been on new building design. However, existing residential buildings inflict great environmental burden through three causes: continuous energy consumption, regular building maintenance and replacements. This publication analyses and compares these three causes of environmental burden and shows that material resources needed for replacements generally have a limited potential to reduce environmental impact. Reducing energy consumption for climate control and electrical appliances is much more effective. According to the author, sustainable measures should be tested for shifts in the kind of environmental impact caused due to the use of alternative types of energy resources and altered material quantities. The sustainability of the electricity supply is essential to decrease the total environmental impact of the residential building stock.

With an increasing use of distributed energy resources and intelligence in the electricity infrastructure, the possibilities for minimizing costs of household energy consumption increase. Technology is moving toward a situation in which households manage their own energy generation and consumption, possibly in cooperation with each other. As a first step, in this paper a decentralized controller based on model predictive control is proposed. For an individual household using a micro combined heat and power (muCHP) plant in combination with heat and electricity storages the controller determines what the actions are that minimize the operational costs of fulfilling residential electricity and heat requirements subject to operational constraints. Simulation studies illustrate the performance of the proposed control scheme, which is substantially more cost effective compared with a control approach that does not include predictions on the system it controls.

This paper reviews research into Home Energy Management Systems (HEMS). These are intermediary products that can visualize, manage, and/or monitor the energy use of other products or whole households. HEMS have lately received increasing attention for their possible role in conserving energy within households. However, an analysis of the problem areas within household energy consumption along with a review of case studies and commercially available HEMS reveals some research gaps. If HEMS are to become truly effective, future research needs to focus on improving longitudinal effects and studying the influence of design.

Energy is considered by the United Nations as central to sustainable development and poverty reduction affecting all its aspects - social, economic, and environmental - including livelihoods, access to water, agricultural productivity, health, population levels, education, and gender-related issues. As such, energy can be seen as a positive stimulus for sustainable development. However, it is expected that the world population will increase from 6 billion to 9 billion people in 2025. In parallel, a large part of the world population is moving from poverty to middle class. This combination of an increase of population and income may lead to a remarkable rise in purchase of consumer electronic products and consequently energy consumption. If changing efforts are not taken, the increase in residential energy consumption in emerging economies will bring the world to severe environmental and social problems such as greenhouse effect, lack of access to affordable energy resources and air pollution. If kept the usual track for growth, the environmental or economic crisis is still to come. To have a numerical reference, Lomborg (2007) states that the developing world that now responds annually for about 40% the global carbon emissions, is likely produce 75% by the end of the century. The main question addressed by this research project is “How to reduce the energy consumption of consumer products by residential consumers in emerging economies by means of product alterations (hardware) and change in consumer behaviour (software)”. From this perspective at first instance for BRICs, exemplified by Brazil and China (large emerging market economies), a literature research was carried out after the current and expected increase of residential energy consumption. In parallel, present actions to reduce energy consumption were mapped and critically analysed. The final outcome is a strategic conceptual framework that integrate the actors and drivers of consumption to design energy efficient products in promotion of energy efficient (hardware) and contextualized behaviour (software) in order to reduce residential electricity consumption in emerging economies.

Between 2008 and 2011, three different home energy management systems (HEMS)that give feedback on energy consumption were implemented in households in the Netherlands. Home energy management systems are defined as intermediary devices that can visualise, monitor and/or manage domestic gas and/or electricity consumption. Through a series of questionnaires, interviews, focus groups and usability tests, a wide range of knowledge was gathered on factors influencing the effectiveness of the three systems. The resulting insights were structured with the help of a conceptual model, which outlines the various interactions between users, energy monitors, and their social and physical environments. The insights provide a broad spectrum of factors to be considered for the successful design and implementation of home energy management systems. This paper aims to provoke an open discussion to ascertain the value of the different factors and further the development of effective and useful HEMS.