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Abstract This study demonstrates the possibility to use energy-cost optimal building designs based on life cycle approach. There is a lack of studies that cover the comprehensive assessment of both embodied energy (EE) and operational energy (OE) in a single optimization problem. The primary goal of the current study is to compare the optimized results of using OE+EE together and OE only. The optimization is performed on a case study building (townhouse) in Finland with three structural alternatives (i.e., reinforced concrete (RC); cross-laminated timber (CLT) and Steel). Different options for insulation thickness of external wall, roof, floor and window types were considered as decision variables as the scope of the present study is on building envelope. The objectives of the optimization are to minimize life cycle energy (LCE) and life cycle costs (LCC). The LCE difference between the most and least energy efficient solution on the pareto front is greater in case of the OE optimization, compared to OE+EE optimization. For all studied structures, the EE of the optimal solutions from OE+EE optimization ranges 16%–23% of LCE. Many of the non-dominated optimal solutions obtained from the OE+EE optimization shows a higher U-value for the building envelope components compared to the optimal solutions from the OE optimization. A relationship between both OE and EE with the overall thermal resistance of the building envelope is discussed to obtain a deeper understanding of such differences in U-value for the optimal solutions obtained from the OE+EE and OE optimization.

Cogeneration of heat and electricity is an important pillar of energy and climate policy. To plan the production and distribution system of combined heat and power (CHP) systems for residential heating, suitable methods for decision support are needed. For a comprehensive feasibility analysis, the integration of the location and capacity planning of the power plants, the choice of customers, and the network planning of the heating network into one optimization model are necessary. Thus, we develop an optimization model for electricity generation and heat supply. This mixed integer linear program (MILP) is based on graph theory for network flow problems. We apply the network location model for the optimization of district heating systems in the City of Osorno in Chile, which exhibits the “checkerboard layout” typically found in many South American cities. The network location model can support the strategic planning of investments in renewable energy projects because it permits the analysis of changing energy prices, calculation of break-even prices for heat and electricity, and estimation of greenhouse gas emission savings.

In an idealised industrial ecosystem (IE), firms and organisations utilise each other's material and energy flows including wastes and by-products to reduce the system's virgin material and energy input as well as the waste and emission output from the system as a whole, and contribute to sustainable development (SD). IE complements the more conventional individual flow, product, process, organisation, individual actor or sector-focused environmental management approaches and tools with network or systems level approaches. The first research objective of this paper is to construct indicators for IE. The second task is to test the use of these indicators with "what if?" material and energy flow scenarios for the energy and waste system of Satakunta region in Finland including 28 municipalities. Using literature analysis as a source, we arrive at environmental indicators of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalents, and at economic indicators of fuel, energy and waste management costs and revenues. The social indicators show the employment effects of the waste management system. The scenarios analyse the current situation (0-scenario) against alternative situations in the future. The future scenarios are developed according to the known and anticipated trends in international and national policy and legislation. The indicator application in the scenarios produces social, environmental and economic effects of waste management in four categories: direct negative, direct positive, indirect negative and indirect positive. Industrial ecosystem theory emphasises the utilisation of wastes as a resource with value alongside the objective of reducing waste. Therefore, the indirect positive effects of waste management are important, as well as the conventional focus of waste management, which has usually been on direct positive effects. The main difficulties in our argument are the system boundary definition, the qualitatively different nature of environmental, economic and social effects and indicators as well as the lack of qualitative or interview data on the preferences and interests of the actors involved.

Buildings in private and domestic use are responsible for about 30% of the global greenhouse gas emissions attributable mainly to their need for heating and cooling energy. This corresponds to about 40% of the global final energy consumption. Therefore, a viable implementation of building energy efficiency policies is inevitable to realize a transformation of the energy system to mitigate climate change. Within the building sector lies a huge potential for emission reduction consisting in the renovation of the existing building stock and climate-friendly building guidelines applicable to new constructions, both adapting CO2-neutral technology solutions. However, as there are several different pathways leading to a decarbonized energy system, there is always the question which political and technological solutions are most efficient, effective, and feasible. This paper aims to analyze building efficiency policy measures and instruments and the related technological solutions in two front-runner countries of the energy transition, possessing different structural conditions: Germany and Norway. We hence apply a comparative approach which allows us to present and assess the policies in place. The paper answers three research questions: (1) Which policies prevail in Germany and Norway to foster the deployment of energy efficient and decarbonized solutions for residential buildings? (2) How do these policies respond to country-specific barriers to the energy transition in the building sector, and (3) What effects do they have on the actual implementation of technological and societal solutions? This research provides a new insight to the highly relevant topic of energy efficiency in buildings in the context of international Intended Nationally Determined Contribution benchmarking and discusses some unsolved trade-offs in the translation of the global climate governance into the national building sector.

Common ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia L.) is a highly allergenic annual ruderal plant and native to Northern America, but now also spreading across Europe. Air pollution and climate change will not only affect plant growth, pollen production and duration of the whole pollen season, but also the amount of allergenic encoding transcripts and proteins of the pollen. The objective of this study was to get a better understanding of transcriptional changes in ragweed pollen upon NO2 and O3 fumigation. This will also contribute to a systems biology approach to understand the reaction of the allergenic pollen to air pollution and climate change. Ragweed plants were grown in climate chambers under controlled conditions and fumigated with enhanced levels of NO2 and O3. Illumina sequencing and de novo assembly revealed significant differentially expressed transcripts, belonging to different gene ontology (GO) terms that were grouped into biological process and molecular function. Transcript levels of the known Amb a ragweed encoding allergens were clearly up-regulated under elevated NO2, whereas the amount of allergen encoding transcripts was more variable under elevated O3 conditions. Moreover transcripts encoding allergen known from other plants could be identified. The transcriptional changes in ragweed pollen upon elevated NO2 fumigation indicates that air pollution will alter the transcriptome of the pollen. The changed levels of allergenic encoding transcripts may have an influence on the total allergenic potential of ragweed pollen.

Building facades are under permanent environmental influences, such as sun and acid rain, which age and can ultimately destroy them. Living wall systems can protect facades and offer similar benefits to those gained from installing a green roof. A view back in history shows that vegetated facades are not new technology but can offer multiple benefits as a component of current urban design. In the 19th century, in many European and some North American cities, woody climbers were frequently used as a cover for simple facades. In Central Europe in the 1980s a growing interest in environmental issues resulted in the vision to bring nature into cities. In many German cities incentive programmes were developed, including some that supported tenant initiatives for planting and maintaining climbers in their backyards and facades. Since the 1980s, research has been conducted on issues such as the insulating effects of plants on facades, the ability of plants to mitigate dust, plants’ evaporative cooling effects, and habitat creation for urban wildlife, including birds, spiders and beetles. The aim of this paper is to review research activities on the green wall and facade technology with a focus on Germany. The potential of green facades to improve urban microclimate and buildings’ ecological footprint is high, but they have not developed a widespread presence outside of Germany because they are not as well known as green roofs and there is a lack of implementation guidelines and incentive programs in other countries.

Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and mitigation of climate change are the main aims of the global climate policy. Increased use of renewable energy is a central measure in achieving these goals. However, mitigation of climate change through increased use of renewable energy also has negative environmental impacts. Focusing merely on greenhouse gas emissions may lead to overseeing these other negative environmental impacts and thereby in unwanted side-effects. The aim of this review was to assess the overall life cycle impacts related to the production and use of the different renewable energy sources. Impacts were assessed for unit processes and for the Finnish national renewable energy targets as a whole. The review points out that in order to comprehensively understand the overall environmental impacts of the different renewable energy sources, a thorough life cycle assessment with a unified framework would be needed. Presently there is only limited information available or the published results are not comparable with each another. However, assessment using the Finnish National Renewable Energy Targets for 2020 also indicates that under the present targets, the overall environmental impacts of the renewable energy use are likely to be low. Main impacts or risks of impacts relate to the use of forest energy.

This paper presents a study of the socio-technical ordering of time around wood-fuelled heating systems of detached houses. It analyses the sequences and rhythms that organize the work of domestic heating, its synchronization with other daily activities, and tempo as the subjective experience of time in these activities. The study is based on a large, pre-existing Finnish free-form diary collection. We suggest that domestic energy technologies become useable and useful through the gradual embedding that involves the temporal organization of everyday life. As a result, technologies that organize time are not only convenient in an invisible way but also act as taken-for-granted coordinates and rhythms of human pursuits in everyday life. In many countries, wood-fuelled heating systems remain a common renewable energy technology in detached houses and stand as one option to lower related carbon emissions. However, the broader use of wood is compromised by time and convenience.