Humans and Habitat (T1) Flashcards
long term population trends
population of the world has increased and a continuous growth since the Great Famine of 1315-17 and Black Death in 1350
future of the global population
un estimates
- 7.7 Bn
- 9.8 Bn
- 11.2 Bn
First agricultural revolution
known asNeolithic revolution marked the transformation of human societies from hunting and gathering to forming
happened between 10,000-2000 Bc, first in the Middle East.
factors underpinning the spread of first argricultural revolution
- development of complex languages
- development of highly effective hunting technologies
- impact of gathering on plant evolution and distributions
- impact of more efficient food gathering and storage on human population
- impact of larger populations on viability of other more specialist modes of subsistence
- impact of larger populations on rate of innovation
- impact of larger populations on co-evolution of disease and disease immunity
why the first agricultural revolution spread (Multiple feedback loops)
- evolution of agriculture
- environmental change
- larger population
- more technological innovation
- infeasbility of abandoning agriculture
- more cultural change
- environmental change
multiple irreversibitlies
biological, technological, cultural co-evelution
long term carbon dioxide trends
changes in the partial pressure of atmospheric carbon dioxide are largely credited for the evolution of global climates
what stimulated to drive the arigucultural revolution
poverty
opportunity
what was some of the consequences of the argricultural revolution
development of agricultural was never consciously intended to reduce human ecological footprint
global human ecological footprint subsequently increased many times
relationship between methane, carbon dioxide and sea levels
- carbon dioxide and methane rise so too has global sea level
- high surface albedo (reflectivity) has corresponded to high GHG levels
- observation of antarctic temperatures have generally matched calculated temperatures
Industrial revolution (1760-1840)
industrial revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes
began in Great Britain and so many of the technological innovations were of British origins
transition included going from hand production methods to machines, new chemical manufacturing and iron production processes, the increasing use of stream power, the development of machine tools
Jevon’s paradox
Jevons, the utility or value to a consumer of an additional unit of a product is inversely related to the number of units of that product he already owns (at least beyond some critical quality`)
the ‘rebound effect’ is sometimes referred to as ‘jevons paradox’ i.e. that increases in energy production efficiently leads to more not lead comsumption
what are the contributing factors to the industrial revolution?
environmental and economic
deforestation
cycles of ‘death’ (shortage) and ‘glut’ (excess)
limited availability of alternative non-biomass energy sources
what are the contributing factors to the industrial revolution?
cultural
spread of rational, scientific and empirical worldview based on observation and inductive reasoning
development of printing literacy and banking
what are the contributing factors to the industrial revolution?
resource enablers
easy availability of shallow coal, iron ore
what are the contributing factors to the industrial revolution?
technological enablers
development of casting and boring from 1300s onwards
transport systems ‘rivers, canals, coastal shipping’
techno-economic synergies in the industrial revolution
coal production = iron steel = steam power
continuous circle
use de-suphured coal (coke) for iron production decoupled iron and steel from woodland coppicing and imported biomass
failing coal prices reduced the cost of stream and iron
increased stream engine efficiency increases value of coal and reduces coat of coal mining and iron production
cheaper iron and steel reduce coats of coal mining
techno-economic- political synergies in the industrial revolution
circle
cheaper manufacturing improved international trading position increased military power ability to import and export food ability to sustain population growth
factors in the spread of first agricultural revolution
multiple irreversibility’s
multiple feedback loops
biological, technological, cultural co-evolution
poverty and opportunity as joint stimuli to innovation
factors in the spread of industrial revolution
multiple irreversibility’s
multiple feedback loops
biological, technological, cultural co-evolution
poverty and opportunity as joint stimuli to innovation
Repeal of the Corn laws
abolishing tariffs and restrictions on imported grains and food substances (1846) completed the coupling of the UK to overseas
Haber process
manufacture of ammonia and nitrogen fertilizer interconnected the carbon and nitogren cycles in a new way, coupling food production to the use of fossil fuels
keeling curve
Arrhenius equation led Charles keeling to conclude in (1961) that human-caused carbon dioxide emissions were risen and large enough to cause global warming
summary
40-fold increase in the efficiency of stream engines
supply side relation that triggered a series of demand-side transitions
massive macro-economic rebound
globalization
world population increased by 700% more
mean global temperature is warmer than at any point in the past 20000 years
conclusions
two centuries of globalisation have led to a point where we have more carbon dioxide that we ever have
widely accepted that we need to stablizied our carbon dioxide emission to avoid climate change that we can not change
- below 450 at 410 now
this would be exceeded in less than 15 years
Current world ecological footprint
impact of all human activities measured in terms of the area of biologically productive land and water required to produce the goods consumed
1.6 earths
how much time do we spend indoors?
90%
what percentage of national energy consumption is consumed by buildings
33.3%
what is one of the main things that cause climate change
fossil fuel
climate change act 2008
aims to reduce emissions by 80% by 2050
which can not be do without radically cutting emissions from buildings
where is most of the energy used?
transportation 40%
domestic buildings 29%
industry 17%
code for sustainable homes scheme (part of BREEAM)
launched in 2007
trying to achieve zero carbon homes by 2016
scarped in 2014 as part of ‘bonfire of red tape’ de-graduation process
energy act 2011
green deal
designed to improve energy efficiency in homes at no ‘upfront’ coat to householders
scarped in 2015 for low uptake
zero carbon hub (2008)
public-private body to help with the construction industry to prepare for the introduction of the zero carbon homes standard
scrapped march 2016
Part L (conservation of fuel and power)
uk building regulation sets the only mandatory miniuminm legal energy efficiency standard for all new buildings
2010 energy performance of buildings directive (EPBD) and 2012 energy efficiency directive (EED)
EU main législation covering the reduction of the energy consumption of buildings
EPBD = all new buildings must be ‘nearly zero energy buildings’ by 2021
EED = must set minimum energy performance requirements for new buildings, for the major renovation of buildings and for the replacement or retrofit of building elements
Energy performance certificate (EPC)
required for all new buildings by EU law, including nay existing building that is subsequently rented out or sold
Energy survey
needed to produce an EPC performed by an assessor who examines key items.
The observations are input into a national compliance model (NCM) software program, which performs the energy efficiency calculations, and determines the A‐G scale rating.
what is performance?
the action or process of performing a task or function
- performance is about what someone or something does
- rather than what someone or something is
performance based building design
concerned with what a building is required to do for the users, not just what it looks like
involves the whole building life cycle
performance based contracting
imposes defined performance targets on the whole design team including the contractor to ensure the clients aspiration are delivered
what are the building sustainability performance indicators
energy consumption carbon emissions productivity acoustics visual comfort primary energy (PE) consumption space heating energy demand (SHED) Carbon dioxide equivalent emissions thermal comfort
performance targets
clearly specified and predicted and measured once the building is complete using key performance indicators metrics or with reference to compliance with mandatory or voluntary performance standards
what is energy
SI unit
Joule
equivalent to an object emitting 1 watt of power for one second
how many joules in one kWh?
3.6 million
energy use intensity (EUI)
divide the total energy consumption of the building by the internal floor area of the building to calculate the buildings’ energy intensity (EI)
Carbon use intensity (CUI)
equivalent amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
CUI of a building depends not only on the amount of energy used but the carbon intensity of the energy used
equivalent carbon dioxide emissions / internal floor area per year
the total annual energy consumed by the average Uk dwelling
18600 kWh or 240 Wh/m2.yr
average specific heating demand of a Uk dwelling
170 Wh/m2.yr
average annual heating demand of a certified passivhaus building
designed specific heating demand cannot exceed 15Wh/m2.yr
what is Trias Energetica
way of reducing energy demand
1- first aim to reduce energy demand to a minimum
2- secondly use renewable energy
3- use fossil fuels as efficiently as possible;
Building performance metrics
metrics used to evalute building perfromance must be clearly using SI units
used approved tools
sustainability framework
used to assess building sustainability and need to consider many different issues at different scales
- individual user
- global ecological impacts
building sustainability assessment criteria
low impact design and carbon emissions reduction
design durability and resilience
adaption to climate change
ecological value and biodiversity protection
global building sustainability ‘standards’
LEED ( leadership in energy and environmental design ) =US
BREEAM ( building research establishment environmental assessment methods) =UK
CASBEE (comprehensive assessment system fro building environmental efficiency )=Japan
NABERS (national Australian built environment rating system)
EPBD (energy performance of building directive ) EU
Passivhaus and EnterPHit standards = Germany
BREEAM
- voluntary certification scheme
- customer focused
- established 1990
what tools are used by BREEAM
standard assessment procedure (SAP) (domestic building)
simplified building energy model (SBEM) (commercial building)
BREEAM standard
looks at the whole life of a building
can be applied anywhere
5 levels of attainment
pass(30), good(45), very good(55), excellent(70) and outstanding(85)
BREEAM 8 categories
management energy water land use and ecology health and wellbeing transport materials pollutions
problems with BREEAM
gaining extra points in important areas can carry high costs therefore ‘cherry picking’‘easy’ BREEAM categories takes place
Passivhaus
detailed methodogly for achieving ultra low energy building and is assessed using the Passive house planning package software
Green bling
green bling
eco-bling
green-washing
derogatory terms which infrastructure and environmental initiatives that may look good but are not particularly useful and often mask poor design
