Residential density,social overload,and social withdrawal

The effects of residential density were examined in the following study through a comparison of experiences of tenants living in 14-story apartment buildings and those in three-story walkups within the same low-income housing project. It was hypothesized that tenants in the high-rise buildings would come into contact with large numbers of others in the public spaces of their buildings. As these contacts exceeded residents' interaction capacity or ability to process relevant incoming social stimuli tenants would experience social overload. This experience would be manifested by tenants' perceptions of crowding in the building, feelings of less control, safety, and privacy in the immediate residential environment, problematic social relationships among tenants and alienation and dissatisfaction with the residential environment generally. These experiences were not expected to occur for tenants in the low-rise walkups. Interview data supported these hypotheses and revealed, in addition, that high-rise apartment residents were less socially active beyond their building and felt a greater sense of powerlessness in effecting management decisions. Correlational analyses provided further evidence of the vast differences between residents' experiences of the two building types.     

Life cycle assessment of electrical and thermal energy systems for commercial buildings

Background, Aim and Scope The objective of this life cycle assessment (LCA) study is to develop LCA models for energy systems in order to assess the potential environmental impacts that might result from meeting energy demands in buildings. The scope of the study includes LCA models of the average electricity generation mix in the USA, a natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) power plant, a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) cogeneration system; a microturbine (MT) cogeneration system; an internal combustion engine (ICE) cogeneration system; and a gas boiler. Methods LCA is used to model energy systems and obtain the life cycle environmental indicators that might result when these systems are used to generate a unit energy output. The intended use of the LCA analysis is to investigate the operational characteristics of these systems while considering their potential environmental impacts to improve building design using a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) optimization model. Results The environmental impact categories chosen to assess the performance of the energy systems are global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential (AP), tropospheric ozone precursor potential (TOPP), and primary energy consumption (PE). These factors are obtained for the average electricity generation mix, the NGCC, the gas boiler, as well as for the cogeneration systems at different part load operation. The contribution of the major emissions to the emission factors is discussed. Discussion The analysis of the life cycle impact categories indicates that the electrical to thermal energy production ratio has a direct influence on the value of the life cycle PE consumption factors. Energy systems with high electrical to thermal ratios (such as the SOFC cogeneration systems and the NGCC power plant) have low PE consumption factors, whereas those with low electrical to thermal ratios (such as the MT cogeneration system) have high PE consumption factors. In the case of GWP, the values of the life cycle GWP obtained from the energy systems do not only depend on the efficiencies of the systems but also on the origins of emissions contributing to GWP. When evaluating the life cycle AP and TOPP, the types of fuel as well as the combustion characteristics of the energy systems are the main factors that influence the values of AP and TOPP. Conclusions An LCA study is performed to eraluate the life cycle emission factors of energy systems that can be used to meet the energy demand of buildings. Cogeneration systems produce utilizable thermal energy when used to meet a certain electrical demand which can make them an attractive alternative to conventional systems. The life cycle GWP, AP, TOPP and PE consumption factors are obtained for utility systems as well as cogeneration systems at different part load operation levels for the production of one kWh of energy output. Recommendations and Perspectives Although the emission factors vary for the different energy systems, they are not the only factors that influence the selection of the optimal system for building operations. The total efficiencies of the system play a significant part in the selection of the desirable technology. Other factors, such as the demand characteristics of a particular building, influence the selection of energy systems. The emission factors obtained from this LCA study are used as coefficients of decision variables in the formulation of an MILP to optimize the selection of energy systems based on environmental criteria by taking into consideration the system efficiencies, emission characteristics, part load operation, and building energy demands. Therefore, the emission factors should not be regarded as the only criteria for choosing the technology that could result in lower environmental impacts, but rather one of several factors that determine the selection of the optimum energy system. ESS-Submission Editor: Arpad Horvath (horvath@ce.berkeley.edu)     

High-resolution mapping of 33 years of material stock and population growth in Germany using Earth Observation data

Global societal material stock in buildings and infrastructure have accumulated rapidly within the last decades, along with population growth. Recently, an approach for nation-wide mapping of material stock at 10 m spatial resolution, using freely available and globally consistent Earth Observation (EO) imagery, has been introduced as an alternative to cost-intensive cadastral data or broad-scale but thematically limited nighttime light-based mapping. This study assessed the potential of EO data archives to create spatially explicit time series data of material stock dynamics and their relation to population in Germany, at a spatial resolution of 30 m. We used Landsat imagery with a change-aftereffect-trend analysis to derive yearly masks of land surface change from 1985 onward. Those served as an input to an annual reverse calculation of six material stock types and building volume-based annual gridded population, based on maps for 2018. Material stocks and population in Germany grew by 13% and 4%, respectively, showing highly variable spatial patterns. We found a minimum building stock of ca. 180 t/cap across all municipalities and growth processes characterized by sprawl. A rapid growth of stocks per capita occurred in East Germany after the reunification in 1990, with increased building activity but population decline. Possible over- or underestimations of stock growth cannot be ruled out due to methodological assumptions, requiring further research.     

北京市域乡村人居林树冠覆盖及其区域差异分析

乡村人居林建设是落实新农村建设、实施乡村振兴战略和振兴农村生态文明的重要举措。以北京市为对象，基于北京市域2017年0.5m分辨率航空影像与2017年1：10万土地利用（LUCC）图等基础资源，在全市范围内随机选择260个行政村，从研究区域内乡村人居林树冠覆盖率、功能类型、斑块等级和景观格局特征四个层面展开区域差异特征分析。研究结果显示，北京市整体乡村人居林树冠覆盖率为18.32%，其中平原区和山区分别为18.40%和17.83%。在平原区范围内，乡村人居林树冠覆盖率呈近郊区（21.70%） > 远郊区（13.87%） > 延庆盆地区域（16.34%）；在山区内部，乡村人居林树冠覆盖率呈现低山区（24.45%） > 浅山区（16.55%） > 深山区（12.41%），太行山区（20.98%） > 燕山区（14.11%）。在乡村人居林功能类型分布中，片林为各分区最主要类型，在平原区和山区中分别占比55.75%和57.15%。在斑块等级结构方面，乡村人居林斑块总体呈现小而分散的特点，其中小斑块数目在区域中占比达93.03%，而各等级斑块在规模大小方面呈现"平分秋色"的特点。就景观格局指数特点而言，平原区内近郊区，山区内的深山区和燕山区乡村人居林斑块复杂程度、受人为干扰强度和多样性更高。综上特征，究其动因，农村居民点聚落规模、集聚形式和建设类型以及森林资源本底是影响乡村人居林建设条件的重要原因。