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Sustainable developments and measurements are being taken all over the world, in all sorts and kinds. Still many steps need to be taken and conflicting interests need to be solved, but the awareness and care for our environment has never been in better shape than today. This is a very promising and challenging development that would only work much more efficient and effective, if it was coordinated worldwide. The UN Headquarters of Sustainability, or UN Environmental Council, will be the home- base for this worldwide coordination of sustainable measurements. The building can become an icon because of its appearance but also of its function. The design, can integrate a series of solutions and techniques that lead to reduced energy consumption from the grid. The building itself can become a tool for informing and inspiring visitors and businessmen working into it. It will have a model role for sustainability in different levels. ; SADD studio ; Architecture ; Architecture

The Marine Shoreline Design Guidelines is one of a series of guidance documents being developed by the Aquatic Habitat Guidelines (AHG) Program.Guidelines developed in the AHG program employ an integrated approach to marine, freshwater, and riparian habitat protection and restoration. That is, they seek to protect and restore the structure and function of whole ecosystems by striving to consider projects in their landscape and watershed contexts. Development of guidance documents and underlying scientific surveys has involved broad participation from academic, public, and private sector practitioners, planners, and regulators. This guideline contains: 1. the geomorphic setting of Puget Sound; 2. stewardship; 3. site assessment; 4. coastal processes assessment; 5. alternatives assessment; 6. passive management techniques; 7.1 beach nourishment; 7.2 large wood; 7.3 reslope-revegetation; 7.4 bulhead removal; 7.5 hard armour; 8. monitoring 9. research and development Case studies (25 cases)

(Provisional agenda item 2.2)

The issue of suburban sprawl in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTA) has been increasing the pressures of land consumption, infrastructure development, resource consumption, and population growth over the past 50 years. The same can be said for many peripheral regions of Canada’s urban areas. In 2011, two thirds of the population of Canada lived in some form of suburban neighbourhood, and for the GTA a larger percentage of 86%. Though this growth continues, the vast expansions of automobile-dependent neighbourhoods have shown to have prolonged effects on resource consumption, carbon emissions, ecosystem devastation, declining health rates, social segregation, and the destruction of available agricultural land in Ontario. Yet these problems are not new. Neither are the solutions. Suburbs have been the centre of angst for many contemporary urban planners in North America for over thirty years. This has been the motivation for theories such as New Urbanism, Smart Growth, and Sustainable Development, three ideologies which have already been integrated into Provincial and Municipal Policies in Ontario. Most of which are focused on general themes of traditional aesthetics and densities of suburban development and most of which have failed to change the form of suburban development in Ontario. In order to explore these issues, this project looked at the current consumption data through ecological footprint analysis. The largest contributors to consumption included housing (energy), mobility, food, and threats to ecosystem services. In order to explore sustainability in the region, these themes were broken down into indicators which would analyse the growth patterns of the city. In order to compare these findings to current and future growth, growth typologies were created and ranked on performance through the process. Based on the performance conclusions, strategies, scenarios, and future recommendations were developed for future growth planning in the region. ; Architecture, Urbanism and Building Sciences

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viii + 49 p. ; Residential heating with wood and coal is an important source of ambient (outdoor) air pollution; it can also cause substantial indoor air pollution through either direct exposure or infiltration from outside. Evidence links emissions from wood and coal heating to serious health effects such as respiratory and cardiovascular mortality and morbidity. Wood and coal burning also emit carcinogenic compounds. The results presented in the report indicate that it will be difficult to tackle outdoor air pollution problems in many parts of the world without addressing this source sector. A better understanding of the role of wood biomass heating as a major source of globally harmful outdoor air pollutants (especially fine particles) is needed among national,regional and local administrations, politicians and the public at large.

Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage (ATES) is a geothermal technique that is an important component in the transition towards renewable energy in the heating and cooling industry, which accounts for half of the world's energy consumption. However, the technology has not yet been implemented in many countries. The main reason is that extensive preparation and site-specific analysis are required for the implementation of ATES systems and many stakeholders need to be involved. These stakeholders are typically unfamiliar with the technology and unaware of the potential applicability. To stimulate stakeholders and the decision-making process within the ATES sector, several studies emphasise the necessity of examining the potential of ATES technology on a local level. Such potential studies support ATES decision-makers as they evaluate the technology, potential scale and its commercial viability. The objective of this research is therefore to develop a methodology to determine the technical and commercial potential of ATES while incorporating local characteristics. Until now, ATES feasibility studies have mainly been focused on large-scale ATES suitability. For generating more representative results, however, this new methodology also incorporates local geohydrological conditions and the interests of and restrictions imposed by its local ATES stakeholders. The methodology can be applied globally to every region that has available aquifers and moderate climate conditions. The developed methodology in this study is applied to the region of New York State (NYS). High expected energy savings and promising geothermal trends are among the main reasons for this geographic selection. Moreover, no commercial ATES project is yet in operation in the US, a country of which the potential energy savings are expected to be highest in the world. A successful introduction of the technology in NYS could therefore function as a valuable use-case for many other states in the US and also for other countries. Firstly, the stakeholders in NYS ...

Regional Committee for Africa, Sixty-fourth session, Provisional agenda item 18.4