Review on the European Strategies for Energy-Efficient Buildings
Reduction of the energy consumption in the building stock is an essential part of the sustainability strategies of the European Union on economy, environment and Climate Change. Operation and use of the residential and tertiary sector buildings are responsible for roughly 40% of the total final energy consumed in its Member States. This demand is supplied mainly from the imported fossil fuels. Energy-efficiency of buildings has grown to one of the main mechanisms in pursuits to alter the negative trends of growing consumption that would lead to an increase of the import dependence and increase of greenhouse gas emissions. In recent years, the European policy has shown signs of success but the targets seem to have been set as too ambitious. A review on the energy-efficiency strategies is presented in this paper in order to propose an explanation for the delay. It has been identified as insufficient links between statistics on the energy supply and the energy demand in various parts of the existing building...
Cost optimality and net-zero energy in the renovation of Portuguese residential building stock – Rainha Dona Leonor neighbourhood case study
Cost optimality and nearly-zero energy buildings are two fundamental concepts within the current European Union policy related to the energy performance of buildings and consequently related to climate change mitigation and non-renewable resources consumption. While cost optimality is mainly focused on costs, nearly-zero energy buildings are focused on low energy consumption levels and on-site renewables harvesting.Using a residential building from a social housing neighbourhood, this study investigates the most cost-effective packages of renovation measures to achieve a zero energy balance building and compares these packages with those resulting from the calculation of cost-optimal levels. The investigation on the trade-offs between both approaches is relevant to achieve a smooth transition from cost-optimal levels to nearly-zero energy buildings.The results show that the measures that lead to the cost-optimal levels are very similar to the ones needed to achieve the zero energy balance and the results ...
Just Wars: From Cicero to Iraq
Preface and Acknowledgements. Introduction -. PART I: MAPPING THE JUST WAR TRADITION. Chapter 1: Antiquity -. Chapter 2: The Middle Ages -. Chapter 3: Renaissance and Reformation -. Chapter 4: From Holy War to Enlightenment -. Chapter 5: Modernity and Beyond -. PART II: CONTEMPORARY ISSUES. Chapter 6: The Just War Tradition Today -. Chapter 7: Terrorism -. Chapter 8: Pre-emption -. Chapter 9: Aerial Bombing -. Chapter 10: Humanitarian Intervention -. Conclusion. Bibliography -. Index