Prêt-à-Loger: Zero-energy home with maximum living quality increase

At the Solar Decathlon Europe 2014 (SDE2014) competition (Versailles, France), the team from the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) took a stance by not constructing a new-built house but demonstrating the energy renovation of a typical Dutch terraced house. Around a quarter of Dutch housing consists of terraced houses built between 1946...

Higher education: Features, trends and needs in relation to sustainability

The progress of sustainability within higher education has steadily increased in focus over the last decade and has increasingly become a topic of academic research. With various scholars, journals and conferences exclusively dealing with the subject, a wealth of literature has been produced on best practices, suggestions, and assessments...

Energy potential mapping: Visualising energy characteristics for the exergetic optimisation of the built environment

It is difficult to fully satisfy the energy demand of today’s society with renewables. Nevertheless, most of the energy we use is lost as non-functional waste energy, whereas a large part of the built environment’s energy demand is only for low-quality energy, so the initial demand for primary, high-quality energy can be reduced by more...

A multidisciplinary challenge within the procedure of designing in a complex undefines domain

Modern architectural design may be generally appointed as complex. Hence, designing in an undefined domain within the field of architecture (e.g. From the urban to the building and down into the materialisation) is also a risky task. Hence, in some situation, such a design has to deal with one or more severe constraints, therefore such a design...

The Amsterdam guide to energetic urban planning

The City of Amsterdam has ambitious goals as to become climate neutral. This will only be possible through a structured approach to both new and existing neighbourhoods. Following steps from the New Stepped Strategy - as used in the Rotterdam Energy Approach and Planning (REAP) - and using the methodology of Energy Potential Mapping (EPM), the...

The Amsterdam guide to energetic urban planning

The City of Amsterdam has ambitious goals as to become climate neutral. This will only be possible through a structured approach to both new and existing neighbourhoods. Following steps from the New Stepped Strategy - as used in the Rotterdam Energy Approach and Planning (REAP) - and using the methodology of Energy Potential Mapping (EPM), the...

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...