In recent years, heat pumps have emerged as a promising new form of technology with a relatively low environmental impact. Moreover, they have presented householders with an opportunity to reduce their heating bills. Heat pumps can heat a building by 'pumping' heat from either the ground or the air outside: an intriguing process which utilizes principles that are somewhat analogous to those employed in the domestic refrigerator. Armed with the practical information contained in these pages, homeowners will have the necessary knowledge to take advantage of this potentially low-carbon technology to heat their properties. Now in an updated new edition, Heat Pumps for the Home describes what a heat pump is, how it works, the different methods of pumping heat and the importance of an appropriate and well-planned installation. It also provides you with the information that you need in order to make up your own mind about whether a heat pump might be appropriate to your own circumstances, and also demonstrates what you need to do to in order to make the system work efficiently.

Building Environmental Control Systems Illustrated provides students with an easy-to-use and highly visual guide to building environmental control systems. By coupling diagrams, drawings, and pictures with concise text, the book offers readers a digestible and simplified way to learn about cutting-edge technologies, standards, and tools within the discipline. Opening chapters explore thermodynamics, comfort, and climate; heat transfer; sun and shading; and passive heating and passive cooling. In additional chapters, students learn about light and lighting; heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems (HVAC); electricity and electrical systems; water and plumbing systems; and sound and architectural acoustics. Closing chapters address vertical transportation and fire safety/fire protection. Throughout the text, theoretical considerations are accompanied by real-world examples that help students connect key concepts with practice. The text also features end-of-chapter review problems and an appendix that contains the solutions to all of the review problems. Presenting students with an accessible and dynamic approach to the subject matter, Building Environmental Control Systems Illustrated is an ideal resource for courses and programs in architecture.

This book discusses essential strategies and approaches to creating mentally restorative environments for highly stressed and depressed workers at sweatshop factories. Drawing on the Foxconn factory in Longhua, China and an adjacent urban village as a sample site for research and design practice, the book employs a bottom-up and participatory process. The content is divided into two main parts, the first of which investigates economic, cultural, human rights, and environmental issues related to the electronic industry and urban village, providing in-depth research on various aspects, especially the working and living conditions for Foxconn workers. Based on these findings, the second part highlights potential landscape designs to address a range of issues, locations, and scales. The book's goals are to provide a set of original methods for research and design practice in a complex social and economic context, and to raise awareness regarding the health, dignity and freedom of millions of workers.

* A broad range of disciplines--energy conservation and air quality issues, construction and design, and the manufacture of temperature-sensitive products and materials--is covered in this comprehensive handbook

* Provide essential, up-to-date HVAC data, codes, standards, and guidelines, all conveniently located in one volume

* A definitive reference source on the design, selection and operation of A/C and refrigeration systems

Das vorliegende Buch zeigt baukonstruktive Loesungen fur eine zukunftsfahige Gebaudeertuchtigung vor dem Hintergrund des Klimawandels. Behandelt werden die klimatischen Einwirkungen Sommerhitze, UEberflutung, Starkregen, Hagel, Wind und Schnee. Deren Veranderungen infolge des Klimawandels beeinflussen die Verletzbarkeit bestehender Wohngebaude und Nichtwohngebaude. Auf Grundlage objektiver Analysemethoden werden die Auswirkungen des Klimawandels auf Bestandsgebaude beschrieben und detaillierte baukonstruktive Anpassungsmassnahmen erlautert.

This book highlights key recent developments in air conditioning technologies for cooling and dehumidification with the specific objectives to improve energy efficiency and to minimize environmental impact. Today, air conditioning, comprising cooling and dehumidification, is a necessity in commercial and residential buildings and even in many industrial processes. This book provides key update on recent developments in air conditioning systems, cooling cycles and innovative cooling/dehumidification technologies. Key technologies related to cooling include heat-driven absorption and adsorption cooling and water-based dew point evaporative cooling. Technologies connected with dehumidification involve new generations of adsorbent-desiccant dehumidifiers, liquid-based desiccants and membranes that sieve out water vapor from air. Losses in cooling cycles and thermo-economic analysis for a sustainable economy are also judiciously documented.

This book includes the most recent outcomes from research and professional practice in the ventilative cooling field, gathered by the selected panel of authors. It provides essential contents to face and reduce the rise of space cooling and ventilation energy uses in buildings by alternative ventilation and cooling solutions. The book is organised into three parts which include a detailed description of ventilative cooling boundaries and implications (working principles, KPIs, standards, comfort models, control techniques) and of principal techniques (night ventilation, controlled natural ventilation, hybrid solutions, PCM and mass activation, evaporative cooling, earth-to-air heat exchangers) along with an updated analysis of the background to the topic. Furthermore, the last part of the book defines a unique practical and theoretical framework to include ventilative cooling solutions in different building typologies along with their principal implications.

The book introduces the basic concepts of the finite element method in the static and dynamic analysis of beam, plate, shell and solid structures, discussing how the method works, the characteristics of a finite element approximation and how to avoid the pitfalls of finite element modeling. Presenting the finite element theory as simply as possible, the book allows readers to gain the knowledge required when applying powerful FEA software tools. Further, it describes modeling procedures, especially for reinforced concrete structures, as well as structural dynamics methods, with a particular focus on the seismic analysis of buildings, and explores the modeling of dynamic systems. Featuring numerous illustrative examples, the book allows readers to easily grasp the fundamentals of the finite element theory and to apply the finite element method proficiently.

People who work in an office spend at least a third of their lifetime in these spaces. The planning of office and administration buildings can therefore contribute a great deal to the satisfaction and well-being of future users. The book looks at the health-relevant factors that affect people in office and administration buildings and therefore deserve special attention in the planning process. In doing so, the authors are guided by a concept of health as defined by the World Health Organization: Accordingly, health encompasses mental as well as social and physical well-being and thus goes far beyond the factors laid down in legal norms and guidelines. In this volume, architects and designers, physicians and ergonomists deal with all aspects of interior design seen from a health perspective: What role does colour design play, what significance do light, air and noise have? What does a demand-oriented building technology look like and how is the office furniture adequately designed? Which medical and hygienic aspects have to be considered? How can offices be designed in terms of work-life balance and how will the office change in the course of digitalisation? The book serves as a guideline that can be applied chapter by chapter in the planning of health-promoting office spaces - depending on the interests of the reader. Problems that arise are discussed using examples, and checklists help you with planning and implementation. The guide is aimed at building owners, architects, engineers, but also at lawyers, psychologists and doctors as well as university members in the field of economics and engineering.

This book is the result of recent research that deals with the built environment and innovative materials, carried out by specialists working in universities and centers of research in different professional fields architecture, engineering, physics and in an area that that spans from the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf, and from South Eastern Europe to the Middle East. This book takes the necessity of re-shaping the concept of building design in order to transform buildings from large scale energy consumers to energy savers and producers into consideration. The book is organized in two parts: theory and case studies. For the theoretical part, we chose from the wide range of sources that provide energy efficient materials and systems the two that seem to be endless: the sun and vegetation. Their use in building products represents a tool for specialists in the architectural design concept. The case-studies presented analyze different architectural programs, in different climates, from new buildings to rehabilitation approaches and from residential architecture to hospitals and sports arenas; each case emphasizes the interdisciplinarity of the building design activity in order to help readers gain a better understanding of the complex approach needed for energy efficient building design

The Intuitive Guide to Energy Efficiency and Building Improvements Energy Audits and Improvements for Commercial Buildings provides a comprehensive guide to delivering deep and measurable energy savings and carbon emission reductions in buildings. Author Ian M. Shapiro has prepared, supervised, and reviewed over 1,000 energy audits in all types of commercial facilities, and led energy improvement projects for many more. In this book, he merges real-world experience with the latest standards and practices to help energy managers and energy auditors transform energy use in the buildings they serve, and indeed to transform their buildings. * Set and reach energy reduction goals, carbon reduction goals, and sustainability goals * Dramatically improve efficiency of heating, cooling, lighting, ventilation, water and other building systems * Include the building envelope as a major factor in energy use and improvements * Use the latest tools for more thorough analysis and reporting, while avoiding common mistakes * Get up to date on current improvements and best practices, including management of energy improvements, from single buildings to large building portfolios, as well as government and utility programs Photographs and drawings throughout illustrate essential procedures and improvement opportunities. For any professional interested in efficient commercial buildings large and small, Energy Audits and Improvements for Commercial Buildings provides an accessible, complete, improvement-focused reference.

This book is the result of recent research that deals with the built environment and innovative materials, carried out by specialists working in universities and centers of research in different professional fields architecture, engineering, physics and in an area that that spans from the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf, and from South Eastern Europe to the Middle East. This book takes the necessity of re-shaping the concept of building design in order to transform buildings from large scale energy consumers to energy savers and producers into consideration. The book is organized in two parts: theory and case studies. For the theoretical part, we chose from the wide range of sources that provide energy efficient materials and systems the two that seem to be endless: the sun and vegetation. Their use in building products represents a tool for specialists in the architectural design concept. The case-studies presented analyze different architectural programs, in different climates, from new buildings to rehabilitation approaches and from residential architecture to hospitals and sports arenas; each case emphasizes the interdisciplinarity of the building design activity in order to help readers gain a better understanding of the complex approach needed for energy efficient building design