The actual non-sustainable way of living has to be changed fundamentally. Despite all efforts to create a better environment, to improve building designs and to ameliorate existing buildings, often contradictory factors are faced which make it difficult to decide what the best solutions are.The discussion around the Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) house insulation is a typical example how complicated the relation between, energy efficiency, human comfort and health can be. Clearly positive effects like energy efficiency are sometimes associated with e.g. potential flaws in aesthetics caused by growth of algae, poor indoor climate, and health risks which can result in negative responses of residents when implementation of these measures is proposed. Therefore often substances are added which may cause implications with existing regulations if reused again. Smart and highly efficient products are often in contradiction with our aims to create a circular economy due to the fact that different materials are often treated with chemicals or put together in infrangible combinations. The aim of this paper is to highlight the balancing act being faced when trying to introduce new more sustainable materials and methods into the building process. Based on some examples the paper want to demonstrate that principally good intentions like improved energy savings can cause problems in other fields like environmental impact or limited re-use in a circular economy. Basic problems are described and potential approaches to minimize the risk of using building materials which might not meet the requirements for reuse in a second use phase are suggested.
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Smart home technologies are a large potential market for the construction and building services industry. This chapter discusses the topics consultants, installers, and suppliers of home automation systems encounter when working in the field. Improved communication skills and more flexible approaches to the design and installing of building services leads to many new opportunities for new products and services. There are a large number of requirements from the perspective of architectural design and building services engineering, which relate to the infrastructure that is needed for smart homes. An overview of these electrical engineering and ICT requirements is discussed. When working with clients, it is important to consider the additional set of rules of working in their homes. Clients may have additional needs in the field of home modifications that can also be addressed when doing retrofitting projects. An outline of steps to get stared and essential questions for professional care organization is given.
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In the housing market enormous challenges exist for the retrofitting of existing housing in combination with the ambition to realize new environmentally friendly and affordable dwellings. Bio-based building materials offer the possibility to use renewable resources in building and construction. The efficient use of bio-based building materials is desirable due to several potential advantages related to environmental and economic aspects e.g. CO2 fixation and additional value. The potential biodegradability of biomaterials however demands also in-novative solutions to avoid e.g. the use of environmental harmful substances. It is essential to use balanced technological solutions, which consider aspects like service life or technical per-formance as well as environmental aspects. Circular economy and biodiversity also play an im-portant role in these concepts and potential production chains. Other questions arise considering the interaction with other large biomass users e.g. food production. What will be the impact if we use more bio-based building materials with regard to biodiversity and resource availability? Does this create opportunities or risks for the increasing use of bio-based building materials or does intelligent use of biomass in building materials offer the possibility to apply still unused (bio) resources and use them as a carbon sink? Potential routes of intelligent usage of biomass as well as potential risks and disadvantages are highlighted and discussed in relation to resource efficiency and decoupling concept(s).
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The building and construction industry, which is responsible for 39% of global carbon emissions, is far off track in achieving its net-zero emission targets. Product-service system (PSS) business models are one of the instruments used by the industry in the transition toward reaching these targets. A PSS business model is designed around an end-of-life solution that minimizes material usage and maximizes energy efficiency. It is provided to customers as a marketable set of products and services, jointly capable of fulfilling a customer’s needs. There are signals from practice however, that suggest that the implementation of this type of business model is falling behind. This study investigates this and seeks to identify key challenges and opportunities for sustainable PSS business models in the built environment. Using a grounded theory approach, data from 13 semi-structured interviews across five companies is used to identify challenges and opportunities that suppliers are facing in selling their products through PSS business models. Our preliminary data analysis points to nine challenges and opportunities for PSS business models. We discuss these in the context of the current economic transition toward a sustainable and circular built environment and provide suggestions for further research that could help to overcome resistance toward the implementation of PSS business models. The contribution of this research to researchers and practitioners is that it provides insights into the adoption of new business models in fragmented and competitive business environments.
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The built environment requires energy-flexible buildings to reduce energy peak loads and to maximize the use of (decentralized) renewable energy sources. The challenge is to arrive at smart control strategies that respond to the increasing variations in both the energy demand as well as the variable energy supply. This enables grid integration in existing energy networks with limited capacity and maximises use of decentralized sustainable generation. Buildings can play a key role in the optimization of the grid capacity by applying demand-side management control. To adjust the grid energy demand profile of a building without compromising the user requirements, the building should acquire some energy flexibility capacity. The main ambition of the Brains for Buildings Work Package 2 is to develop smart control strategies that use the operational flexibility of non-residential buildings to minimize energy costs, reduce emissions and avoid spikes in power network load, without compromising comfort levels. To realise this ambition the following key components will be developed within the B4B WP2: (A) Development of open-source HVAC and electric services models, (B) development of energy demand prediction models and (C) development of flexibility management control models. This report describes the developed first two key components, (A) and (B). This report presents different prediction models covering various building components. The models are from three different types: white box models, grey-box models, and black-box models. Each model developed is presented in a different chapter. The chapters start with the goal of the prediction model, followed by the description of the model and the results obtained when applied to a case study. The models developed are two approaches based on white box models (1) White box models based on Modelica libraries for energy prediction of a building and its components and (2) Hybrid predictive digital twin based on white box building models to predict the dynamic energy response of the building and its components. (3) Using CO₂ monitoring data to derive either ventilation flow rate or occupancy. (4) Prediction of the heating demand of a building. (5) Feedforward neural network model to predict the building energy usage and its uncertainty. (6) Prediction of PV solar production. The first model aims to predict the energy use and energy production pattern of different building configurations with open-source software, OpenModelica, and open-source libraries, IBPSA libraries. The white-box model simulation results are used to produce design and control advice for increasing the building energy flexibility. The use of the libraries for making a model has first been tested in a simple residential unit, and now is being tested in a non-residential unit, the Haagse Hogeschool building. The lessons learned show that it is possible to model a building by making use of a combination of libraries, however the development of the model is very time consuming. The test also highlighted the need for defining standard scenarios to test the energy flexibility and the need for a practical visualization if the simulation results are to be used to give advice about potential increase of the energy flexibility. The goal of the hybrid model, which is based on a white based model for the building and systems and a data driven model for user behaviour, is to predict the energy demand and energy supply of a building. The model's application focuses on the use case of the TNO building at Stieltjesweg in Delft during a summer period, with a specific emphasis on cooling demand. Preliminary analysis shows that the monitoring results of the building behaviour is in line with the simulation results. Currently, development is in progress to improve the model predictions by including the solar shading from surrounding buildings, models of automatic shading devices, and model calibration including the energy use of the chiller. The goal of the third model is to derive recent and current ventilation flow rate over time based on monitoring data on CO₂ concentration and occupancy, as well as deriving recent and current occupancy over time, based on monitoring data on CO₂ concentration and ventilation flow rate. The grey-box model used is based on the GEKKO python tool. The model was tested with the data of 6 Windesheim University of Applied Sciences office rooms. The model had low precision deriving the ventilation flow rate, especially at low CO2 concentration rates. The model had a good precision deriving occupancy from CO₂ concentration and ventilation flow rate. Further research is needed to determine if these findings apply in different situations, such as meeting spaces and classrooms. The goal of the fourth chapter is to compare the working of a simplified white box model and black-box model to predict the heating energy use of a building. The aim is to integrate these prediction models in the energy management system of SME buildings. The two models have been tested with data from a residential unit since at the time of the analysis the data of a SME building was not available. The prediction models developed have a low accuracy and in their current form cannot be integrated in an energy management system. In general, black-box model prediction obtained a higher accuracy than the white box model. The goal of the fifth model is to predict the energy use in a building using a black-box model and measure the uncertainty in the prediction. The black-box model is based on a feed-forward neural network. The model has been tested with the data of two buildings: educational and commercial buildings. The strength of the model is in the ensemble prediction and the realization that uncertainty is intrinsically present in the data as an absolute deviation. Using a rolling window technique, the model can predict energy use and uncertainty, incorporating possible building-use changes. The testing in two different cases demonstrates the applicability of the model for different types of buildings. The goal of the sixth and last model developed is to predict the energy production of PV panels in a building with the use of a black-box model. The choice for developing the model of the PV panels is based on the analysis of the main contributors of the peak energy demand and peak energy delivery in the case of the DWA office building. On a fault free test set, the model meets the requirements for a calibrated model according to the FEMP and ASHRAE criteria for the error metrics. According to the IPMVP criteria the model should be improved further. The results of the performance metrics agree in range with values as found in literature. For accurate peak prediction a year of training data is recommended in the given approach without lagged variables. This report presents the results and lessons learned from implementing white-box, grey-box and black-box models to predict energy use and energy production of buildings or of variables directly related to them. Each of the models has its advantages and disadvantages. Further research in this line is needed to develop the potential of this approach.
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A social media architect is an appealing new profession that entails crossovers between communication and IT & Design. There are no study programmes for this job. Important questions are how to interest secondary school pupils for such a new job, and how to prepare them for these jobs or jobs that do not even exist today? This research aims to set an example by presenting a realistic job profile of a social media architect by linking the ‘21st century skills’ to the context in which he/she operates.
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Tom van Weert argues that economic, societal and cultural developments in indus-trialized countries push for educational innovation. He sees Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as enabling factor of this innovation. His line of reasoning is the following. Knowledge intensive economies have a need for modern professionals with new qualifications. These professionals have to be able to produce concrete business results, but need also to contribute to essential business knowledge, needed to survive in a highly competitive and changing environment. Knowledge creation is becoming part of working and is therefore not anymore the exclusive right of research institutions. In this light, universities as breeding place of modern professionals, need to redefine their role in much more fundamental ways than simply continuing old practices by modern ICT means. A new educational paradigm is needed, integrating learning, working and knowledge creation. Situation based learning environments may be the materialization of this new paradigm.
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The importance of teaching engineering students innovation development is commonly clearly understood. It is essential to achieve products which are attractive and profitable in the market. To achieve this, an institute of engineering education has to provide students with needed knowledge, skills and attitudes including both technical and business orientation. This is important especially for SME’s. Traditionally, education of engineering provides students with basic understanding how to solve common technical problems. However companies need wider view to achieve new products. Universities of applied Sciences in Oulu and Eindhoven want to research what is the today’s educational situation for this aim, to find criteria to improve the content of the educational system, and to improve the educational system. Important stakeholders are teachers and students within the institute but also key-persons in companies. The research is realized by questionnaires and interviews from which a current situation can be found. The research will also include the opinion of management who give possibilities to change the curriculum. By this research more insight will be presented about how to re-design a current curriculum. The research will act as basis for this discussion in SEFI-conference about formulating a curriculum that includes elements for wide-ranging knowledge and skills to achieve innovations especially in SME’s.
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The importance of teaching engineering students innovation development is commonly clearly understood. It is essential to achieve products which are attractive and profitable in the market. To achieve this, an institute of engineering education has to provide students with needed knowledge, skills and attitudes including both technical and business orientation. This is important especially for SME’s. Traditionally, education of engineering provides students with basic understanding how to solve common technical problems. However companies need wider view to achieve new products. Universities of applied Sciences in Oulu and Eindhoven want to research what is the today’s educational situation for this aim, to find criteria to improve the content of the educational system, and to improve the educational system. Important stakeholders are teachers and students within the institute but also key-persons in companies. The research is realized by questionnaires and interviews from which a current situation can be found. The research will also include the opinion of management who give possibilities to change the curriculum. By this research more insight will be presented about how to re-design a current curriculum. The research will act as basis for this discussion in SEFI-conference about formulating a curriculum that includes elements for wide-ranging knowledge and skills to achieve innovations especially in SME’s.
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