Andy van den Dobbelsteen, Siebe Broersma, Michiel Fremouw, Tess Blom, Jelle Sturkenboom and Craig Martin
City-zen is an EU-funded interdisciplinary project that aims to develop and demonstrate energy-efficient cities and to build methods and tools for cities, industries and citizens…
Abstract
Purpose
City-zen is an EU-funded interdisciplinary project that aims to develop and demonstrate energy-efficient cities and to build methods and tools for cities, industries and citizens to achieve ambitious sustainability targets. As part of the project, an Urban Energy Transition Methodology is developed, elaborated and used to create Roadmaps, which indicate the interventions needed to get from the current situation to the desired sustainable future state of a city. For one of the partner cities, Amsterdam, such a Roadmap was developed. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper discusses the approach and methodology behind the City-zen Urban Energy Transition Methodology, with its six steps from the initial energy analysis to the roadmap towards a desired future state. The paper will illustrate this by results from the Amsterdam Roadmap study, in numbers and figures.
Findings
The Roadmap study of Amsterdam revealed that the city can become energy neutral in its heat demand, but not in the production of sufficient electricity from renewables.
Research limitations/implications
Although as yet only applied to the City of Amsterdam, the methodology behind the roadmap can be applied by cities across the world.
Practical implications
An enormous effort is required in order to transform, renovate and adapt parts of the city. It was calculated, for instance, how many energy renovation projects, district heating pipes and photovoltaic panels will be annually needed in order to timely become carbon neutral, energy neutral and “fossil free”.
Social implications
The technical-spatial content of the Roadmap was presented to stakeholders of the Dutch capital city, such as politicians, energy companies, commercial enterprises, and not least citizens themselves. Although informed by scientific work, the Roadmap appealed too many, demonstrated by the extensive media coverage.
Originality/value
The City-zen Methodology builds upon earlier urban energy approaches such as REAP (Tillie et al., 2009), LES (Dobbelsteen et al., 2011) and Energy Potential Mapping (Broersma et al., 2013), but creates a stepped approach that has not been presented and applied to a city as a whole yet. As far as the authors know, so far, an energy transition roadmap has never been developed for an entire city.
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Phan Anh Nguyen, Regina Bokel and Andy van den Dobbelsteen
Refurbishing houses is considered a key measure to improve the energy efficiency of the built environment. However, little is known about the implementation and outcome of housing…
Abstract
Purpose
Refurbishing houses is considered a key measure to improve the energy efficiency of the built environment. However, little is known about the implementation and outcome of housing renovation for energy upgrades in the Vietnamese practice. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the energy performance of the current housing stock in Vietnam and the potential to reduce energy use in households.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on a survey with 153 respondents in three major climatic regions of Vietnam. The survey focusses on building characteristics, environmental performance, energy performance and refurbishment activities. Data collected from the survey were statistically analysed to give insight into the current performance of the housing stock and its energy saving potential.
Findings
This paper concludes that building design and construction, particularly the building envelope, have a significant influence on the occupants’ comfort. However, the energy consumption in houses is not statistically associated with building design and indoor environment. It is suggested that financial status and occupants’ behaviour currently have a strong influence on the household energy use. The survey also showed that refurbishment improves the housing performance, especially if improving the indoor environment was one of the drivers.
Originality/value
There are very few studies on energy use in households in Vietnam, especially with regards to actual energy consumption. This paper brings insights into the actual energy consumption and reveals the “performance gap” in Vietnamese housing stock.
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Andy van den Dobbelsteen, Martijn Arets and Ricardo Nunes
In order to establish sustainable development, there is a need to focus on solutions effectively improving environmental performance. Effectiveness is the product of significance…
Abstract
Purpose
In order to establish sustainable development, there is a need to focus on solutions effectively improving environmental performance. Effectiveness is the product of significance and improvement potential. For buildings, the supporting structure is the predominant environmental load by materials, hence significant. The purpose of the studies presented in this paper is to determine the improvement potential of the supporting structure of buildings and explore other sustainable solutions effectively enhancing environmental performance.
Design/methodology/approach
For the same office layout, various combinations of structural components at different spans were studied. The environmental load of these variants was determined by means of an life cycle analysis (LCA)‐based model.
Findings
The studies presented in the paper demonstrated an environmental difference by a factor of 5 between the solutions performing worst and best. The optimal combination is the uncommon solution of TT‐slabs with timber beams and columns, expecting to establish an improvement factor of 4 with respect to common practice.
Practical implications
The findings of the studies presented suggest another way of building, with common structural components but whose combination is not common at present.
Originality/value
So far, sustainable building has not focused enough on effective solutions and has had little means to do so. Approaching the supporting structure of buildings rather than small, ineffective adaptations will significantly improve environmental building performance. An elaborate LCA of supporting structures had never been done before. The paper, on the one hand, rationalises sustainable building and, on the other hand, supports effective sustainable design.
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Minyoung Kwon, Hilde Remøy and Andy Van Den Dobbelsteen
This paper highlights the importance of user satisfaction in office renovation. A user-focussed renovation approach can enhance user satisfaction in offices and their functional…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper highlights the importance of user satisfaction in office renovation. A user-focussed renovation approach can enhance user satisfaction in offices and their functional quality while meeting energy performance goals. The purpose of this paper is to investigate users’ needs and the physical and psychological factors affecting user satisfaction, as input to office renovation projects.
Design/methodology/approach
The selected articles are collected from Scopus, ScienceDirect and Google Scholar. Searching was limited to the main key terms of office, work environment, and user satisfaction and comfort. The important factors were searched through empirical-based international literature mainly. Based hereupon, a guide will be developed for the analysis and evaluation of user satisfaction in office renovations.
Findings
From a comprehensive overview, the findings present ten main factors to increase user satisfaction in office renovation. These are associated with physical and psychological satisfaction and comfort. In addition, the influential factors were categorised into three levels based on needs theories to organise the hierarchy of priorities.
Practical implications
This research adds to the body of knowledge about which factors are important for user satisfaction, based on what previous research has found in that field. This is important to improve the sustainability in use.
Originality/value
User satisfaction is often studied through separate aspects: health and indoor climate vs functionality and productivity. This paper examines overall user satisfaction of workplaces by integrating the perspectives of physical and psychological conditions, and by providing insight into the priority of satisfaction factors.
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Rob Roggema, Pavel Kabat and Andy van den Dobbelsteen
The purpose of this paper is to build a bridge between climate change adaptation and spatial planning and design. It aims to develop a spatial planning framework in which the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to build a bridge between climate change adaptation and spatial planning and design. It aims to develop a spatial planning framework in which the properties of climate adaptation and spatial planning are unified.
Design/methodology/approach
Adaptive and dynamical approaches in spatial planning literature are studied and climate adaptation properties are defined in a way they can be used in a spatial planning framework. The climate adaptation properties and spatial planning features are aggregated in coherent groups and used to construct the spatial planning framework, which subsequently has been tested to design a climate adaptive region.
Findings
The paper concludes that the majority of spatial planning methods do not include adaptive or dynamic strategies derived from complex adaptive systems theory, such as adaptive capacity or vulnerability. If these complex adaptive systems properties are spatially defined and aggregated in a coherent set of spatial groups, they can form a spatial planning framework for climate adaptation. Each of these groups has a specific time dimension and can be linked to a specific spatial planning “layer”. The set of (five) layers form the spatial planning framework, which can be used as a methodology to design a climate adaptive region.
Originality/value
Previous research did not connect the complex issue of climate change with spatial planning. Many frameworks are developed in climate change research but are generally not aiming to meet the needs of spatial planning. This article forms the first attempt to develop a spatial planning framework, in which non‐linear and dynamical processes, such as climate adaptation, is included.
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L. Kleerekoper, A.A.J.F. van den Dobbelsteen, G.J. Hordijk, M.J. van Dorst and C.L. Martin
Due to the predicted global temperature rise and local expansion and densification of cities, Urban Heat Islands (UHI) are likely to increase in the Netherlands. As spatial…
Abstract
Purpose
Due to the predicted global temperature rise and local expansion and densification of cities, Urban Heat Islands (UHI) are likely to increase in the Netherlands. As spatial characteristics of a city influence its climate, urban design could be deployed to mitigate the combined effects of climate change and UHIs. Although cities are already experiencing problems during warm-weather periods, no clear spatial means or strategies are available for urban designers to alleviate heat stress. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
There is a lack of knowledge on cooling effects that can be achieved through urban design in Dutch neighbourhoods. In this paper, the cooling effects of various design measures are compared on the level of urban blocks and neighbourhoods, with a focus on a 1960s neighbourhood in Amsterdam-West. The cooling effects are simulated by means of the microclimate model ENVI-met, here the effects on air temperature and physiological equivalent temperature will be evaluated.
Findings
The use of green, and a higher roof albedo in particular, seem to perform well as cooling measures. Combinations of cooling measures do not necessarily result in better performance and might even counteract other cooling effects. However, combinations of measures that lead to an increase in the environmental temperature show the largest heating.
Research limitations/implications
Effects of green roofs and facades are beyond the scope of this study, though future suggestions for this research will be included.
Originality/value
The results add to the body of knowledge in the area of climate design enabling policy makers and designers to estimate the effect of simulated measures in comparable neighbourhoods and thus improve thermal comfort in outdoor spaces.