Ronald Rovers

Urban Harvest + Approach for 0-impact Built Environments, Case Kerkrade West

The need to restructure our society into a sustainable society has been recognised by many, though a clear direction and ambition in this process usually fails. At the Research Institute for the Built Environment of Tomorrow, RiBuilT, the definition of a sustainable society has been summarised as the ‘Concept of O’: O for a circular approach of resource management, and 0 (zero) for 0-impacts of our activities; 0-energy, 0-materials, 0-water, 0-landuse and 0-air (pollution). In order to apply this approach to existing urban environments, the Urban Harvestplus approach was developed. This paper will analyse the first test results of the actual implementation of this approach on the Dutch district of Kerkrade West. The pilot on Kerkrade West shows that even when the production of resources is maximised and the demand for them will be drastically reduced, it will still be hard to achieve the 0-impact state. We need new and more innovative solutions to actually make it happen. However, the Urban Harvestplus ap...

Real Life Lab BIPV field testing in the Netherlands

Integration of PV in the Building Envelope (BIPV) is one of the four key developments necessary for large market PV penetration, together with PV efficiency improvement, price decrease and electricity storage [1]. In the course of BIPV development, Real-Life Lab demonstration projects are realized worldwide to contribute to this goal. In the BIPV Real Life Lab in Heerlen, three different BIPV field tests are realized and monitored, rooftop as well as façade. In the field tests different aspects related to BIPV are covered such as backstring ventilation, condensation and colouring.

Resources are not equal: Exploring ranking not weighting

What happens if resources get scarce? People are very fast changing to local and reliable solutions. Look at Greece today: Jobless people are moving out of Athens, to start living with parents or family in the countryside: Its the best option to save money and have the most important resource secured: water and food. It shows energy is not their most urgent problem, in fact you could say CO2 emissions are no issue anymore, but food and water are the most precious resources. In this paper we explore the importance of resources relative to each other, to be able to evaluate the findings and develop a set of priorities and rules to deal with in restructuring our resource use. Examples in the paper show that there is a strong relation between different resources and uses of these in order of importance. This leads to a proposal for a new approach in assessing resources: ranking instead of weighting. In times of stress, either in income or availability of goods or resources, choice protocols will have to chan...

Material-Neutral Building: Closed Cycle Accounting for Buildings Construction A new practical way to measure improvements in creating a balanced resource use for construction

The attention paid to climate change due to energy consumption from fossil fuels leaves unaddressed other issues that might even be more threatening to global welfare. First of all we have the global depletion of fossil fuels. This, and the related economic effects, can put the world in direct disorder and leave many areas and cities without (a distribution of) resources (energy but also food). The second issue is that of materials. Many materials also face shortages or depletion and a transition to renewable source materials is just as urgently needed as are renewable energy sources. In both cases, depletion is the issue that must be tackled and which automatically will require us to develop a resource management structure that can be maintained in future. Such an approach will require the treatment of resources in a closed loop related to the time frame of use. The questions that should be addressed in this context are: How would a closed loop approach for the building sector look like? How could we ass...

Drivers for Advancing Sustainable Building Curriculum in Higher Education

The purpose of the discussion is to enhance the understanding of importance of sustainable development in the industry and to expand the international relation on the technology of sustainable architecture. The theme of SB10 SEOUL conference, “Sustainable Building Assessment Technology and Strategies for Higher Education” is selected to expand the knowledge of the current condition and the direction of sustainable building assessment technology in the future.

Towards 0-impact Buildings and Built Environments: Review of the SB10 Conference Western Europe

The SB10 Conference Western Europe chose a challenging theme: towards 0–impact buildings and built environments. Looking back at the event which took place from the 11th up to the 13th of October in Maastricht, Heusden–Zolder, Liege and Aachen, we can conclude that this has been taken up very well by the 190 participants. The limits and ambitions were pushed, both by keynote speakers and paper authors. Most papers included the 0– ambition in their paper, and the authors explored the consequences of such ambition. Sometimes leading to lively discussions during and after presentations. The organization of the conference by Zuyd university, Cedubo, Haute Ecole de la Province de Liege and Fachhochschule Aachen was an inspiration to organize the conference itself in the four different cities in the Euregion.

Drivers for Advancing Sustainable Building Curriculum in Higher Education: SB10 SEOUL Symposium Panel Discussion February 24, 2010 Hanyang University, ERICA Campus, Korea

The purpose of the discussion is to enhance the understanding of importance of sustainable development in the industry and to expand the international relation on the technology of sustainable architecture. The theme of SB10 SEOUL conference, “Sustainable Building Assessment Technology and Strategies for Higher Education” is selected to expand the knowledge of the current condition and the direction of sustainable building assessment technology in the future.