Development of an integrated methodology for the energy needs of a major urban city: The case study of Athens, Greece

2012 ◽  
Vol 16 (9) ◽  
pp. 6705-6716 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Xydis
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ema Maria Bargh ◽  
SL Douglas ◽  
Annie Te One

In this article, we explore how Maori tribal organisations are responding to calls by other Indigenous peoples to become more sustainable in a time of climate change. From a close examination of tribal Environmental Management Plans, we move to a specific case study in the Bay of Plenty area, Ngati Kea/Ngati Tuara. Ultimately, we suggest that many tribal organisations are seeking to respond to climate change and transition to becoming producers of their own food and energy needs, and are often articulating these responses in relation to specific local resources and contexts. © 2014 New Zealand Geographical Society.


2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (s1) ◽  
pp. s45-s45
Author(s):  
Asta YT Man ◽  
Emily Ying Yang Chan ◽  
Holly CY Lam

Introduction:As a subtropical urbanized city in Southeast Asia, Hong Kong is prone to frequent typhoons. With an increasing number of severe typhoons, usual preparedness measures should be explored to assess their adequacy to safeguard health and wellbeing. Typhoon Mangkhut (2018) serves as an example of the successes and limitations of community preparedness for a severe typhoon.Aim:To explore how Hong Kong residents prepared for Typhoon Mangkhut and whether their usual preparedness measures provided enough protection.Methods:A population-based randomized telephone survey of Hong Kong residents (n=521) was conducted soon after Typhoon Mangkhut’s landing. Only residents aged 18 or above and understood Cantonese were included. Socio-demographic factors, types of typhoon and general preparedness, risk perception, and impacts from the typhoon were asked. Descriptive characteristics and univariate analysis were used to describe the patterns and associations.Results:8.6% of respondents felt their home was at high risk of danger during typhoons although 33.4% reported some form of impact from Mangkhut. Over 70% reported doing at least one typhoon specific preparedness measure. Among those who practiced at least one typhoon specific preparedness measure, 37.2% (p=0.002) were affected by the typhoon.Discussion:Despite the high adaptation of preparedness measures, warranted by the frequent typhoons, Hong Kong residents were not adequately prepared for a severe typhoon. While the early warning system and evacuation of flood-prone areas mitigated some of the impact, unexpected effects such as flying air conditioners, roadblocks affecting employment, swaying buildings, and loss of power supply were not accounted for. Future preparedness for natural disasters which will become more extreme due to climate change and needs to account for unforeseen risks.


2009 ◽  
Vol 106 (3) ◽  
pp. 361-381 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven M. Ortiz

This article presents a case study in how archaeological data assists in biblical interpretation. The author uses the recent excavations of Tel Gezer, along with recent archaeological research on the Shephelah in the eighth century BCE to reconstruct the political and historical period of Uzziah. The first part of the article reviews the current excavations of Beth Shemesh and Tel es-Safi along with recent articles on the eighth-century destructions in the Shephelah. An overview of city-planning in the eighth century is provided. The second part of the article is a presentation of the results of the recently renewed excavations of Gezer (2006–2009). The author proposes that Judah experienced greater city-planning and regional development under King Uzziah than the latter period of Hezekiah.


Biomimetics ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 14
Author(s):  
Miguel Chen Austin ◽  
Kevin Araque ◽  
Paola Palacios ◽  
Katherine Rodríguez Maure ◽  
Dafni Mora

Urban growth has increased the risk of over-heating both in the microclimate and inside buildings, affecting thermal comfort and energy efficiency. That is why this research aims to evaluate the energy performance of buildings in terms of thermal comfort (operative temperature (OP) levels, satisfied hours of natural ventilation SHNV, thermal lag), and energy efficiency (roof heat gains and surface temperatures) in an urban area in Panama City, using superficial-heat-dissipation biomimetic strategies. Two case studies, a base case and a proposed case, were evaluated using the Designbuilder software through dynamic simulation. The proposed case is based on a combined biomimetic strategy; the reflective characteristics of the Saharan ant applied as a coating on the roofs through a segmented pattern such as the Zebra’s stripes (one section with coating, and another without). Results showed that the OP decreased from 8 to 10 °C for the entire urban zone throughout the year. A reduction of 3.13% corresponding to 8790 kWh per year was achieved for cooling energy consumption. A difference of 5 °C in external surface temperature was obtained, having a lower temperature in which the biomimetic strategy was applied. Besides, it was evidenced that a contrasted-reflectivity-stripes pitched roof performed better than a fully reflective roof. Thus, the functionality of Zebra stripes, together with the reflective characteristics of the Saharan ant, provide better performance for buildings’ thermal regulation and energy needs for cooling.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 1160-1175
Author(s):  
Cecilia Conati Barbaro ◽  
Vanessa Forte ◽  
Italo Maria Muntoni ◽  
Giacomo Eramo

Abstract The introduction of agricultural practices fostered the development of specific technologies for the new subsistence practices and the production of new artefacts. Pyrotechnological structures such as ovens are part of the Neolithic equipment and accompanied the spread of agriculture from the Near East across Europe and the Mediterranean Sea. Ovens located within settlements – mainly domed, above-ground structures – have been traditionally linked to cooking and baking. The function is usually deduced from techno-morphological traits, although experimental approaches or ethnoarchaeological observations have often been used. This article aims to demonstrate the effectiveness of the multidisciplinary approach to understand the function of fire structures. An integrated methodology that combines archaeological analysis, archaeometry, and experimental archaeology has been applied to study the underground ovens of the Early Neolithic site of Portonovo (Marche, Italy) dated to the sixth millennium BCE. Samples of hardened sediment of archaeological ovens’ inner surface and selected pottery fragments were analysed through X-ray powder diffraction to estimate the temperature reached. A life-size replica of an underground oven was then created to perform firing experiments, including pottery firing. Samples of the oven’s walls and experimental vessels were analysed with the same method, and the values were compared. Our results indicate that the Portonovo ovens are potentially multifunctional structures, built for about 700 years, always with the same technique exploiting the natural soil’s insulating properties.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (19) ◽  
pp. 10490
Author(s):  
Caterina Caramuta ◽  
Giovanni Longo ◽  
Teresa Montrone ◽  
Carlo Poloni

The relevant pressure exerted on ports following the advent of globalization and containerization has contributed to transform the role of such intermodal transport facilities, increasing their complexity with reference to both performed activities and involved actors. The potential of solid hinterland connections in enhancing port competitiveness has sustained the larger embracement of the railway mode, which has proved to be a financially and environmentally sustainable solution, especially on long hauls. However, the limited residual capacity currently characterizing several railway network and nodes may threaten the accommodation of additional future traffic volumes and, thus, it requires the adoption of a coordinated strategy to more efficiently manage existing railway infrastructures, other than the realization of some new ones. In this regard, an integrated methodology has been developed to specifically model, simulate and optimize port railway processes, as part of a more complex system, imposing the maximization of capacity with the concurrent minimization of used shunting locomotives, to varying of infrastructural and operational conditions. This combination of techniques has been applied to the case study of the Port of Trieste, Italy, showing the greater influence of tracks availability over changes in the operational conditions, in terms of a shorter duration of specific administrative tasks and the employment of more shunting locomotives.


Author(s):  
Tunca Beril Basaran ◽  
◽  
Christina Krampokouki ◽  
Simon Warne ◽  
Rosa Catalina Pintos Hanhausen

This paper investigates the oil infrastructures, as intersections of trans-territorial networks systems of power and their exchange with local practices: the journey of Jet A1 aviation fuel that facilitates thebudget air traveling in Berlin's airports, from crude oil extraction in Russia, distillation in Schwedt -Eastern Germany, to refueling off the aircraft by tanker truck sits source to its point of use. A case study focuses on the urbanism dynamics of Schwedt as an attempt to trace part of the planetary urbanism corresponding to Berlin's growing tourist industry's use of jet fuel. The first part of the research centers on oil landscapes' networks -the industrial footprint of oil: its transformation, storage, and transportation. Further provides a depiction of 'what constitutes aviation fuel and its production network' to view the actors involved in the process, the links between them, and the spatial implications. The second part addresses how aviation fuel has impacted Berlin and Brandenburg's hinterland: primarily, Schwedt, a shrinking city despite Berlin's recent boom, where the size of the traditional urban "city" form is diminutive in scale compared to the adjacent PCK oil refinery's "non-city" form of urbanization. The study's findings present new ways of interpreting and mapping the metabolic vehicles of planetary urbanization in both architectural and urban scales.


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