scholarly journals Retrofitting Rural Dwellings in Delta Region to Enhance Climate Change Mitigation in Egypt

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 136-150
Author(s):  
Ahmed Abouaiana

Abstract The current rural dwelling pattern in the Delta in Egypt consumes much energy to achieve dwellers’ thermal comfort, increasing greenhouse gas emissions contributing to climate change threatening the region’s coastal parts. Therefore, this study highlights the potential of retrofitting the existing rural house utilizing pervasive construction technologies in diminishing energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions as a climate change mitigation strategy. The current modern rural house and the construction typologies were characterized. This study selected a typical modern rural dwelling located in Al-Gharbia Governorate in the Delta region. The suggested retrofitting strategies were applied to the external building envelope. The impact on the annual energy consumption of cooling and heating loads was evaluated using an Energy Performance Assessment Tool (Design Builder). An optimal envelope configuration was suggested, then an economic assessment and an investigation to the local acceptance were provided. The results showed that using the commonly used construction techniques as a retrofitting strategy can plummet the energy consumption and CO2 emissions by one-third worthy of mentioning that the locals have shown a lack of interest in the investment in retrofitting their buildings as well as the economic model showed that the investment is not profitable. Further studies can be made by the author considering investigating different building typologies and engaging other stakeholders.

2020 ◽  
pp. 50-64
Author(s):  
Kuladeep Kumar Sadevi ◽  
Avlokita Agrawal

With the rise in awareness of energy efficient buildings and adoption of mandatory energy conservation codes across the globe, significant change is being observed in the way the buildings are designed. With the launch of Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) in India, climate responsive designs and passive cooling techniques are being explored increasingly in building designs. Of all the building envelope components, roof surface has been identified as the most significant with respect to the heat gain due to the incident solar radiation on buildings, especially in tropical climatic conditions. Since ECBC specifies stringent U-Values for roof assembly, use of insulating materials is becoming popular. Along with insulation, the shading of the roof is also observed to be an important strategy for improving thermal performance of the building, especially in Warm and humid climatic conditions. This study intends to assess the impact of roof shading on building’s energy performance in comparison to that of exposed roof with insulation. A typical office building with specific geometry and schedules has been identified as base case model for this study. This building is simulated using energy modelling software ‘Design Builder’ with base case parameters as prescribed in ECBC. Further, the same building has been simulated parametrically adjusting the amount of roof insulation and roof shading simultaneously. The overall energy consumption and the envelope performance of the top floor are extracted for analysis. The results indicate that the roof shading is an effective passive cooling strategy for both naturally ventilated and air conditioned buildings in Warm and humid climates of India. It is also observed that a fully shaded roof outperforms the insulated roof as per ECBC prescription. Provision of shading over roof reduces the annual energy consumption of building in case of both insulated and uninsulated roofs. However, the impact is higher for uninsulated roofs (U-Value of 3.933 W/m2K), being 4.18% as compared to 0.59% for insulated roofs (U-Value of 0.33 W/m2K).While the general assumption is that roof insulation helps in reducing the energy consumption in tropical buildings, it is observed to be the other way when insulation is provided with roof shading. It is due to restricted heat loss during night.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (9) ◽  
pp. 2455
Author(s):  
Antonín Lupíšek ◽  
Tomáš Trubačík ◽  
Petr Holub

One of the major anthropogenic sources of greenhouse gases is the operation of building stock. Improving its energy efficiency has the potential to significantly contribute to achieving climate change mitigation targets. The purpose of this study was to roughly estimate such potential for the operation of the national building stock of Czechia to steer the national debate on the development of related national plans. The estimation is based on a simplified energy model of the Czech building stock that consists of sub-models of residential and nonresidential building stocks, for which their future energy consumptions, shares of energy carriers and sources, and emission factors were modeled in four scenarios. Uncertainties from the approximation of the emission factors were investigated in a sensitivity analysis. The results showed that the operation of the Czech building stock in 2016 totaled 36.9 Mt CO2, which represented 34.6% of the total national carbon dioxide emissions. The four building stock scenarios could produce reductions in the carbon dioxide emissions of between 28% and 93% by 2050, when also considering on-side production from photovoltaics. The implementation of the most ambitious scenario would represent a drop in national CO2 yearly emissions by 43.2% by 2050 (compared to 2016).


Author(s):  
Komukama Grace

It is undisputable that tourism has grown since the last decades and is the main source of foreign exchange for most developing countries. This growth is partially attributable to technological advancements in the aviation industry which has eased transportation from one region to another. However tourism contribution to carbon dioxide emissions through air transport is alarming with the sector contributing 40% of the overall carbon print and therefore if immediate remedies are not undertaken the earth system may go in a state where it may never recover. The aim of the paper therefore is to point out how behavioral change is the immediate solution for reduction in climate change emissions especially those originating from the aviation industry, since reliance on the technological advancement is mythical. Content analysis was used to conduct the study by using the crucial keywords in three online databases and 17,966 results were analyzed. Findings indicate that behavioral change is the immediate remedy for climate change mitigation. This is coupled with the fact that most air customers are living in denial and yet governments and the aviation industry lack commitment to controlling climate change. Therefore, if any tangible reduction is to be achieved in climate change emanating from aviation industry, there is need for realistic measures from both the governments and the aviation sector in order to encourage individual behavioral changes.


Author(s):  
Hung Ho ◽  
Sawaid Abbas ◽  
Jinxin Yang ◽  
Rui Zhu ◽  
Man Wong

Climate variability has been documented as being key to influencing human wellbeing across cities as it is linked to mortality and illness due to changes in the perceived weather cycle. Many studies have investigated the impact of summer temperature on human health and have proposed mitigation strategies for summer heat waves. However, sub-tropical cities are still experiencing winter temperature variations. Increasing winter perceived temperature through the decades may soon affect city wellbeing, due to a larger temperature change between normal winter days and extreme cold events, which may cause higher health risk due to lack of adaptation and self-preparedness. Therefore, winter perceived temperature should also be considered and integrated in urban sustainable planning. This study has integrated the increasing winter perceived temperature as a factor for developing spatiotemporal protocols for mitigating the adverse impact of climate change. Land surface temperature (LST) derived from satellite images and building data extracted from aerial photographs were used to simulate the adjusted wind chill equivalent temperature (AWCET) particularly for sub-tropical scenarios between 1990 and 2010 of the Kowloon Peninsula, Hong Kong. Compared with perceived temperature based on the representative station located at the headquarters of the Hong Kong Observatory, the temperature of half the study area in the Kowloon Peninsula has raised by 1.5 °C. The areas with less green space and less public open space in 2010 show higher relative temperatures. Socioeconomically deprived areas (e.g., areas with lower median monthly income) may suffer more from this scenario, but not all types of socioeconomic disparities are associated with poor sustainable planning. Based on our results and the “no-one left behind” guideline from the United Nations, climate change mitigation should be conducted by targeting socioeconomic neighborhoods more than just aging communities.


Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 529
Author(s):  
Asta Mikalauskiene ◽  
Justas Štreimikis ◽  
Ignas Mikalauskas ◽  
Gintarė Stankūnienė ◽  
Rimantas Dapkus

The paper performed comparative assessment of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission trends and climate change mitigation policies in the fuel combustion sector of selected EU member states with similar economic development levels and historical pasts, and implementing main EU energy and climate change mitigation policies, having achieved different success in GHG emission reduction. The impact of climate change mitigation policies on GHG emission reduction was assessed based on analysis of countries’ reports to UNFCCC by identifying the key areas of GHG emission reduction, their GHG emission reduction potential, and the driving forces behind them. The study revealed that climate change mitigation policies that have been implemented so far in Bulgaria are less efficient than in Lithuania, as Bulgaria places priorities not on energy efficiency improvement and penetration of renewable energy sources, but on switching from coal to natural gas. The policy implications for strengthening GHG emissions reduction efforts are provided based on analysis conducted.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Feizi ◽  
Bahar Razavi

<p>Climate change represents a key challenge to the sustainability of global ecosystems and human prosperity in the twenty-first century. The impacts of climate change combined with natural climate variability are predominantly adverse, and often exacerbate other environmental challenges such as degradation of ecosystems, loss of biodiversity, and air, water and land pollution. Besides, rapid industrialization and increasing adaption of agrochemical based crop production practices since green revolution have considerably increased the heavy metal contaminations in the environment.</p><p>Assessing the impacts of climate change on our planet and addressing risks and opportunities is essential for taking decisions that will remain robust under future conditions, when many climate change impacts are expected to become more significant.</p><p>Here, we established a review survey to assess the impact of biochar amendment and agroforstry system on CO<sub>2</sub> sequestration and methaloid remediation.</p><p>Our data base showed that Agroforestry-based solutions for carbon dioxide capture and sequestration for climate change mitigation and adaptation in long-term is more practical and realistic options for a sustainable ecosystem and decreasing negative effect of climate change. This was more supported in arid and semi-arid regions as well as area with saline and alkaline soil (20%).</p><p>From a soil remediation standpoint, the general trend has been shifting from reduction of the total concentration to reduction of the physic-chemically and/or biologically available fractions of metals. This regulatory shift represents a tremendous saving in remediation cost. While metals are not degradable, their speciation and binding with soil through biochar amending reduced their solubility, mobility, and bioavailability. While agroforestry showed high efficiency in C sequestration (32%), biochar amendment raveled significant mitigation in heavymetals bioavailability (42%). However, studies which coupled both approaches are limited. Thus, we conclude that combined Agroforestry and biochar amendment regulates C sequestration and metalloids remediation more efficiently.</p>


2016 ◽  
Vol 184 ◽  
pp. 737-741 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhu Liu ◽  
Kuishuang Feng ◽  
Steven J. Davis ◽  
Dabo Guan ◽  
Bin Chen ◽  
...  

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