Product lifetime, energy efficiency and climate change: A case study of air conditioners in Japan

2016 ◽  
Vol 181 ◽  
pp. 582-589 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daisuke Nishijima
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dinh Manh Nguyen ◽  
Grace Ding ◽  
Göran Runeson

Over many decades, buildings have been recognised as a significant area contributing to the negative impacts on the environment over their lifecycle, accelerating climate change. In return, climate change also impacts on buildings with extreme heatwaves occurring more frequently and raising the earth’s temperature. The operation phase is the most extended period over a building’s lifespan. In this period, office buildings consume most energy and emit the highest amount of greenhouse gas pollution into the environment. Building upgrading to improve energy efficiency seems to be the best way to cut pollution as the existing building stock is massive. The paper presents an economic analysis of energy efficiency upgrade of buildings with a focus of office buildings. The paper identifies upgrading activities that are commonly undertaken to upgrade energy efficiency of office buildings and a case study of three office buildings in Sydney, Australia has been used to analyse the results. The upgrading activities can improve the energy performance of the case study buildings from 3 stars to 5 stars NABERS energy rating in compliance with the mandatory requirement in the Australian government’s energy policy. With the potential increase in energy price, energy efficiency upgrading will become more affordable, but currently, most of them, except solar panels and motion sensors show a negative return and would not be undertaken if they did not also contribute to higher rental income and an increased life span of the building. The upgrading discussed in the paper represent a potentially attractive alternative to demolition and building anew.


Author(s):  
Jorge Israel Anchundia-Santana ◽  
Julieta Evangelina Sánchez-Cano ◽  
Washington Garcia-Quilachamin ◽  
Evelyn Isabel Santana-Mantuano

The constant growth of the world’s population has generated various changes in the use of the diversity of the resources provided to us by the planet. Considering that by properly managing energy in air conditioning systems correctly, it collaborates in the fight against climate change, reducing the excessive use of fossil fuels and, therefore, the emission of CO2 and other greenhouse gases, creating an environment of comfort in industrial sectors, businesses, companies, homes, among others. The objective of this research is to validate the instrument considering the information obtained about smart devices applied in air conditioning systems and their improvement in energy efficiency. The methodology applied consisted of a field study conducted through an online survey that was directed at 226 students and professionals from three provinces of the Republic of Ecuador. To validate the data obtained in the instrument, the exploratory factor analysis was performed also of the principal components in the last phase it was obtained in factor transformation matrix (0.986), which demonstrates the validity of the study. To apply the KMO test and Bartlett’s sphericity, the following ranges (≥0.6) y (<0.05) were considered respectively.


Author(s):  
Siti Fatihah Salleh ◽  
Aishah Mohd Isa ◽  
Mohd Eqwan Roslan ◽  
Tuan Ab Rashid Tuan Abdullah

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-35
Author(s):  
Kwabena Abrokwa Gyimah

The world today is faced with climate change issues and due to the activities man has been involved in over the years. Worldleaders have become very concerned with this and lot of measures are been laid down to mitigate this. The built environmentis a major contributor since its construction process, materials used and even the daily operation uses a lot energy which is amajor concern. Architects are therefore challenged with creating a balance between their traditional aesthetics of buildingsand energy efficiency. This research therefore seeks to find out how this balance can be achieved in the tropics through theuse of different window pane properties. The study therefore sought to identify developments of windows with regards to theirpane properties to see how both aesthetics and energy efficiency can be achieved. Literature was reviewed to find out thecurrent situation and then a case study building analysed for results. The case study buildings were then modified to see theeffect of each modification. Comparative analysis was done with the original buildings and the modified buildings and it wasfound that reflection was a key to achieve both aesthetics and energy efficiency. Other factors had impact and influence onthe aesthetics and energy efficiency but reflection stood out of the lot.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Robyn Gulliver ◽  
Kelly S. Fielding ◽  
Winnifred Louis

Climate change is a global problem requiring a collective response. Grassroots advocacy has been an important element in propelling this collective response, often through the mechanism of campaigns. However, it is not clear whether the climate change campaigns organized by the environmental advocacy groups are successful in achieving their goals, nor the degree to which other benefits may accrue to groups who run them. To investigate this further, we report a case study of the Australian climate change advocacy sector. Three methods were used to gather data to inform this case study: content analysis of climate change organizations’ websites, analysis of website text relating to campaign outcomes, and interviews with climate change campaigners. Findings demonstrate that climate change advocacy is diverse and achieving substantial successes such as the development of climate change-related legislation and divestment commitments from a range of organizations. The data also highlights additional benefits of campaigning such as gaining access to political power and increasing groups’ financial and volunteer resources. The successful outcomes of campaigns were influenced by the ability of groups to sustain strong personal support networks, use skills and resources available across the wider environmental advocacy network, and form consensus around shared strategic values. Communicating the successes of climate change advocacy could help mobilize collective action to address climate change. As such, this case study of the Australian climate change movement is relevant for both academics focusing on social movements and collective action and advocacy-focused practitioners, philanthropists, and non-governmental organizations.


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