Marcos Aurélio Vasconcelos de Freitas

The charcoal's production in Brazil — process efficiency and environmental effects

Analysis of the technical feasibility of implementing new methods of charcoal production in Brazil and the environmental impact related to land use.

Evaluation of Vulnerability to Extreme Climatic Events in the Brazilian Amazonia: Methodological Proposal to the Rio Acre Basin

The southern border of the Brazilian Amazon is one of the most sensitive areas to deforestation in Brazil. In addition to problems related to changes in land use, new issues are emerging, including climate change and its negative effects on the regional hydrological cycle. In recent years considerable research has been undertaken focusing on climate change and its effects on Amazon Biodiversity, carbon cycle, fire incidence and even on regional water resources, but there is very little research linking territorial planning and public policies to prospective planning scenarios and climate change and the necessary adaptation or mitigation actions to address climate vulnerability. This study examines issues pertaining to social, economic and environmental vulnerability, including new challenges posed by climate change. Examples of environmental problems related to climate dynamics of the Rio Acre Basin are floods and dry periods such as the major drought of 2005 and the 2009 flood. The use of methodology for integrated assessment of vulnerability to river basins in Amazon Region constitutes a valuable instrument for territorial planning, since it takes into account both the challenges of poverty and the environmental fragility, as well the possible aggravations of extreme climatic events in the future.

Management of plastic wastes at Brazilian ports and diagnosis of their generation

This study evaluated the management of plastic wastes at 20 Brazilian maritime ports, from three sources: vessels, leased and non-leased areas. The data were obtained from documents on port wastes organized in a relational database with defined protocols (closed form). Analysis of the spreadsheets prepared and field visits revealed that the main bottleneck in managing plastic wastes at ports is their segregation. In general, more material is segregated and sent for recycling from leased areas than non-leased ones (administered by the government). This relatively better performance in managing the wastes generated in leased areas is probably due to the need for private operators to comply with the international standards such as the Code of Environmental Practice to satisfy the international market.

SUSTAINABILITY IN CIVIL CONSTRUCTION: APPLICATION OF AN ENVIRONMENTAL CERTIFICATION PROCESS (LEED) DURING THE CONSTRUCTION PHASE OF A HOSPITAL ENTERPRISE - RIO DE JANEIRO/BRAZIL

World history tells us that construction has always existed to meet the immediate and basic needs of man, and, in this time of rapid growth, did not take into consideration construction techniques and environmental preservation. This paper aims to present investigation and diagnosis at the stage of site construction, exploring the environmental impacts caused by construction site, with exposure of some interventions to minimize this effect, integrating the concepts of sustainable construction. Given the historical background of continued environmental degradation caused by human needs, which resulted in serious risks to society, and knowing that more than 60% of solid wastes generated in urban centers are from the construction site, the need arises to develop techniques and solutions to mitigate these impacts. Structure of the research/approaches: The paper is structured in four parts: description of an evolutionary history regarding environmental concern, a sustainable construction issue approach, surveying interference at the stage of site construction, and a case study focusing on environmental sustainability during the site construction phase of an enterprise. Contributions: The characteristics of a sustainable building interfere directly in the relation between man/environment with issues that can be minimized when designing a project, which should be applied from the construction of a building to the end of its life cycle. A sustainable enterprise is not defi ned not only by environmental and social benefi ts in its use and operation but also in its construction.

Sustainability in civil construction applied in the construction site phase

This paper presents an analysis of the theme of sustainability applied to the construction site, showing some impacts that may be imposed on the environment during the construction phase of a building and presenting some solutions to alleviate these effects. World history shows us that buildings have always been constructed to meet the immediate and basic needs of humankind. At this time of rapid growth, scant care has been taken about construction techniques or environmental conservation. Indeed, increased environmental degradation has resulted in serious risks to society and, bearing in mind that over 60% of the solid waste generated in urban centers is from construction sites, the need arises to develop techniques and solutions to mitigate these impacts. This paper seeks to present a research study and diagnosis at the construction site stage into the process of sustainability of an undertaking, with the completion of a case study. The article is structured in four parts: presentation of a brief

An Analysis of Monthly Rainfall and Its Relationship to the Occurrence of Mass Movement and Flooding in Pedra Branca Massif in the City of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Mass movements and floods triggered by rainstorms are considered some of the most serious environmental problems and are quite often able to cause great disasters in large tropical cities. This has been occurring due to anthropic activities which change natural drainage and stability of slope in urban areas. However, lower monthly rainfalls which occur with high frequency can also cause mass movements and floods. The direct and indirect effects of less intense but continuous rainfall mainly affect less privileged communities, which occupy areas more sensitive to mass movements and flooding, such as locations along river margins, coastal lagoons, mangroves, and steep slopes. This manuscript highlights the important contribution of the lower monthly rainfall totals in triggering mass movements and floods on the east side of Pedra Branca Massif in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Geoprocessing was used to estimate the total monthly rainfall in rain gauges managed by the local authority; create surface interpolation and choropleth maps; and conduct a comparative analysis of histograms of the total monthly rainfall and flooding and mass movement records provided by the Citys Civil Defence. The results confirmed the direct relation between higher monthly rainfall totals and mass movements and floods, and also showed that lower monthly rainfall totals can trigger a significant occurrence of such events. Moreover, the monthly rainfall limit that could trigger mass movements and floods was confirmed on the east side of Pedra Branca Massif.

Watershed Transposition Cycle with Irrigated Biomass

Brazil generates most of its electricity from hydroelectric plants. This makes the electricity sector vulnerable to annual climatic variations and permanent climate change, both of which are intensifying. This article discusses the consequences of the transposition of water from the Tocantins and Parana Rivers to the Sao Francisco River to increase biomass-irrigated plantations in the Sao Francisco Basin. It also suggests that part of the water vapor resulting from biomass transpiration would then return to the basins of the Tocantins and Parana Rivers with the strong trade winds, which blow in the opposite direction of the transposition the whole year around. The fact that the transposition and trade winds are in opposite direction, a partially close water cycle could be formed. This mechanism was named “Transposition Cycle” and is presented as an alternative to the sustainable development of Brazil, with the potential of increasing water availability for irrigated biomass and agriculture, and creating a climate change adaptation mechanism to control the climate of the Northeast, Southeast and Midwest regions of Brazil to reduce their vulnerability to climatic variations. It is estimated that the production of irrigated biomass with the capacity to generate 90 GW of electricity in the Sao Francisco Watershed would result in a 4000 m3/s of biomass transpired moisture. Part of this moisture may stay in the Sao Francisco Basin and parts may return to the Tocantins and Parana Basins. For future work a climate module would be required to estimate the dispersion of the moisture transpired and where it might precipitate.

Incorporation of bioclimatic conditions in architectural projects: a case study of the Solar Hemicycle building, Madrid, Spain

The concept of planning more sustainable cities is a global concern, facing current prominent environmental chaos. The construction industry is, among others, responsible for the destruction of the environment, due to the extraction of raw material for the manufacture of construction elements, debris generation during the process of construction and high energy consumption throughout the life cycle of the buildings. Thus, this paper aims to propose a possibility of low environmental impact construction, proposing the incorporation of bioclimatic conditions in architectural works, minimizing environmental impacts. This research intends to promote the increase of buildings with reduced environmental impact and healthier cities, by employing systems for natural lighting and natural ventilation, as simple and cheap solutions, often seen only by formal feature (project design), without the use of high-cost technologies and complexity. A case study was conducted regarding the Spanish building Solar Hemicycle, due to its contemporary bioclimatic design that meets the current needs of society. The case study based on the Solar Hemicycle demonstrates the good

Thermal Comfort In Sustainable Buildings:Case Study Cenpes/UFRJ-RJ/Brazil

The current paper presents the structure of the study designed to evaluate thermal comfort of the constructions that shelter the laboratories and the Central Building in the expansion of Cenpes (Research Center Leopoldo Miguez de Mello) at Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, and the considerations that arose from the interpretation of results. The assumptions of the project involved key aspects such as sustainability and eco-efficiency in design solutions and materials specification. This paper aims to develop an analysis of the studies for the development of the project in environments such as the Central Building and the laboratories of the expansion of Cenpes, focusing on the simulation of the designed environments regarding thermal comfort performance, using software such as Analysis CST and Analysis BIO. The article is structured in four parts: design features of the laboratories and Central Building, environmental comfort criteria adopted in their respective projects, simulation of thermal comfort in the study areas using the software Analysis CST and Analysis BIO and final considerations. This paper intends to provide subsidies to break paradigms that can lead to a new mark to the Brazilian construction industry by adopting rational systems, with reuse, use of natural energy resources and, when possible, reduction of the materials used. As a consequence, a construction that is cleaner, more efficient 3 4 Eco-Architecture IV 387 www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) WIT Transactions on Ecology and The Environment, Vol 165,

Conceptual Spatio-temporal Data ModellingAnd Land Use Change

Space and time are fundamental elements that enable us to understand the phenomena evolution. There are several applications and studies demands that require both concepts: the development and the evolution of areas, the occupation and land use, the search and research for elements and the geographic features modified by the landscape, landscape alterations caused by earthworks, rectification of the hydrography, city planning, etc. Space-time studies are essential to establish the understanding of such evident integration of these two terms, frequently analyzed in a disconnected and isolated way. Nowadays, most of the GIS – Geographic Information Systems – available consider the entities representation in only one instant of time, usually the present. The main subject on the association of geographical data with time is not due to its modification or update, but for the possibility to register past states. Moreover, specifically about GIS, to use it as a technological instrument for accomplishment of space-time analysis, and not only “space” as it is being used thoroughly. This kind of analysis is only possible within the implementation of spatio-temporal models that consider not only apparent entities and its geometrical shapes, but its processes and transformations. In this context, a bibliographic review in the scientific literature was made to establish the state of art on the temporal characteristics that allowed the structuring of a conceptual space-time model using geographical and historical data for structuring of a TGIS (Temporal GIS). TGIS will support studies aimed at understanding the changes of land use, transformations of public spaces in urban areas. This can be applied to a project which has been developed at the Military Institute of Engineering in a park called Campo de Santana (Guanabara Bay Basin), located on Republic Square, Sustainable Development and Planning V 109 www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 150,