Terry Williamson

Understanding sustainable architecture

1. Sustainability 2. Images 3. Ethics 4. Objectives 5. Systems 6. Green Houses 7. Cohesion. Bibliography

Health Risk Assessment and Vapor Intrusion: A Review and Australian Perspective

ABSTRACT Soil contamination by volatile hydrocarbons is of public health importance due to vapor intrusion and indoor inhalation exposures. These are assessed using measurement or predictive modeling and need to consider the key areas of subsurface partitioning and transport, dwelling ventilation, and receptor inhalation dosimetry. While subsurface partitioning and transport have been subject to intensive international investigation, limited consideration has been given to the latter. Building ventilation research has developed multi-zone airflow and contaminant dispersal models including AccuRate, an Australian model that examines natural ventilation modeling, roof and sub-floor ventilation, and identifies the importance of geometry and thermal factors on ventilation (the most sensitive variable) and indoor pollutant concentrations. Inhalation dosimetry has received recent attention due to concerns over child inhalation susceptibility and dose metrics. Research using coupled computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and physiologically based pharmaco-kinetic (PBPK) models has reported variance from previous animal models’ extrapolation while CFD modeling of transient lung vapor absorption suggests the significance of transient versus steady-state evaluation of volatiles absorption into tissue and blood. The transient nature of sub-surface fate and transport, ventilation, and inhalation uptake thus warrants integrated exploration and application in order to realize improvements in vapor intrusion assessments. These perspectives and Australian modeling initiatives are presented in this article.

Looking Down the Wrong End of the Telescope

Can decision makers, including students, operate effectively if they gain their basic knowledge in the traditional, separate disciplcnes and then apply it to the problem in question? Or is problem-focused education preferable? Using examples relating to energy requirements in the built environment, the authors will show how the discipline-based approach can result in knowledge being defined and organized in very different ways from those that follow from a problem-focused approach. Examples show how the notion of appropriate rigor in analysis of problems can lead to organization of the knowledge base in ways that facilitate effective application.

Concepts of solar energy use for climate control in buildings

Abstract With emphasis on application in the built environment, this paper analyses meanings of the term ‘solar energy use’. It shows that failure to address the inherently vague and context dependent nature of the concept leads to much confusion, especially when attempts at absolute quantification are made. The paper argues that meaningful absolute quantification of solar energy use is impossible, and that misplaced attempts at this quantification have serious implications, especially in relation to decisions at the level of government policy. To avoid confusion, solar energy should not be considered as a component of conservation, energy-efficiency, or renewables, and definition and quantification of solar energy use should be qualified regarding purpose of quantification, type of energy, definition of use, baselines and context.