Universal Processor Architecture for Biomedical Implants: The SiMS Project

HEALTHCARE in the 21st century is changing rapidly. In advanced countries, in particular, healthcare is moving from a public to a more personalized nature. However, the costs of healthcare worldwide are increasing every year. Better use of technology can and should be used to get control of these costs. At the same time, implants have clearly...

Reducing domestic energy consumption: A user-centred design approach

Energy use within the UK domestic sector is on the increase, causing significant environmental and social stresses. This increase in energy consumption is not only due to the rising proliferation of technological devices within the home, but also to their context of use, and the behaviours and habits attributed to and enacted through their...

The secret success of the reduction in the Norwegian electricity consumption

Largely unnoticed by the media and the public, the electricity consumption of Norwegian households has stopped growing and even decreased since 1990. The project, financed by the Norwegian Research Council, aims at defining what factors that might explain this rather unanticipated development. This paper is, however, restricted to accounting for...

Exergy Efficient Application of LNG Cold

The worldwide demand for Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) is growing, which results in numerous LNG import terminals being under construction. In the interest of sustainable development, it is important to decide carefully upon which technology to apply for evaporating the LNG to natural gas. Three options for the evaporation of LNG have been...

Development of an environmental impact assessment and decision support system for seawater desalination plants

Seawater desalination is a rapidly growing coastal-based industry. The combined production capacity of all seawater desalination plants worldwide has increased by 30% over the last two years: from 28 million cubic meters per day in 2007—which is the equivalent of the average discharge of the River Seine at Paris—to more than 36 million cubic...

Safety Concepts in Structural Glass Engineering: Towards an Integrated Approach

This dissertation proposes the Integrated Approach to Structural Glass Safety, based on four clearly defined element safety properties, damage sensitivity, relative resistance, redundancy, and fracture mode. The Element Safety Diagram (ESD) is introduced to provide an easy-to-read graphical representation of these properties. The safety...

Towards a single European electricity market: A structured approach to regulatory mode decision-making

This study focuses on the processes through which the rules and regulations that govern European electricity markets - and inherently, their integration process - are established. So far, European policy makers have largely followed a 'trial-and-error' approach to finding an appropriate regulatory mode (process) for dealing effectively with...

Analysis of material and energy efficiency of Mexican, Peruvian and Dutch dwellings using the three-step-strategy

Buildings consume resources and produces emissions to the environment during their life cycle. They consume materials during their construction, maintenance and renovation activities, consume energy and water during their use, and produce waste at the end of their useful life. There are several sustainable building methods for environmental...

Certification of passive houses: A Western European overview

According to the popular definition, passive houses have to reach a target energy demand for heating less than 15 kWh per square meter and per year. This criterion is used as a basis for quality assurance procedures and certification of passive house projects. This paper identifies the experiences in several western European countries concerning...

Exergy efficient building design

Energy policy instruments and technical change in the residential building sector

The passing by the European Parliament of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) in 2003 obliges all European member states to implement energy regulations for buildings based on the concept of energy performance by the year 2009 ultimately. Given the importance of the development of innovations in energy technology, and a...

Treatment of source separated urine and its effects on wastewater systems

Abstract not available

Connecting reason to power: Assessments, learning, and environmental policy integration in Swedish energy policy

The purpose of this thesis is to contribute to understanding what makes a policymaking system better at integrating sustainability concerns into its processes. Three questions are in focus. First, how can policy integration be understood analytically and what is its actual status in sector policy? Second, what conditions have facilitated or...

Wave power

All over the world hundreds of thousands of initiatives are being developed to generate sustainable energy. The great majority of these are aimed at solar and wind energy, if only because they are available all over the world. Whats more, the initial investments required are relatively low and are often helped by government support, so even...

The Sustainable Office. An exploration of the potential for factor 20 environmental improvement of office accommodation

Sustainable development is the goal of a balance between economy and the environment, whilst establishing a better spread prosperity across the world. In order to make this possible, the environmental load of our commodities needs to be reduced by a factor of 20. This factor 20 can also be translated to the office market. The PhD research...