Transcript Slide 1

The Design of New Prosperity and Better Lives
a Workshop for a
“Food-Shelter-Clothes” Birth to Birth System
Cittadellarte, Biella, Italy (15-18 October 2010)
A Building Scientist’s Prospective
Dr Marcella Ucci
The Bartlett School of Graduate Studies, Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment
University College London
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Understanding, Challenging and Shaping the Built Environment
My Background
• Architecture degree (Napoli, Italy);
• MSc in Environmental Design and Engineering,
and PhD in Indoor Air Quality and Energy, from
Bartlett (UCL);
• Lecturer for MSc in Facility and Environment
Management, and in Environmental Design and
Engineering, Bartlett School of Graduate Studies,
UCL
Research Interests
• Research themes: interactions and tensions
between sustainable building design/operation
and occupants’ needs (comfort, health and
wellbeing);
• Expertise:
– Building monitoring and modelling,
– Health impact of buildings (especially biological such as
dust mites),
– Thermal comfort studies,
– Operational aspect of buildings.
Shelter, Clothes and Built Environment
The contradictions of HVACs
Clothing and Thermal Comfort
Clothing, buildings and thermal comfort
Temperature Wars: Savings vs Comfort,
IFMA Survey, 2009
In 2005 the CoolBiz campaign was introduced in Japan:
•All the Government building could not be airconditioned below 28 oC,
•Strongly encouraging a change in business dress
code - mostly focused on menswear, with the removal
of jacket and tie.
The Japanese Government has also introduced a
WarmBiz campaign, with an upper limit of 20 oC and a
move towards changes in business dress codes.
•In June 2007, China also established that Government buildings
could not be air-conditioning below 26 oC.
•In some Swiss cantons the permission to install air cooling units
is only given if thermal simulations show that the indoor
temperature will be above 26 oC for a significant amount of time.
•Other countries have joined too, such as Spain and South Korea
CoolBiz in Japan
The Japan’s Ministry of the Environment estimated
that
• In 2005 the campaign resulted in a 460,000-ton
reduction in CO2 emission, the equivalent volume
of CO2 emitted by about 1 million households for
one month.
• The results for 2006 were even better, resulting in
an estimated 1.14 million-ton reduction in CO2
emission, the equivalent to the CO2 emissions by
about 2.5 million households for one month.
Workplace dress codes
% wearing business/smart dress at
work
% agree workplace/business attire
makes you more productive
Reuters/Ipsos Workplace Attire Poll, July 2010
Dress codes
UK survey (DWG, 2010) found that:
• 29% of respondents relaxed their dress code in
the summer months.
• However 34% of respondents reported having to
deal with employees dressing inappropriately and
• 25% of respondents had also received complaints
from other employees or third parties in relation to
an employee's dress.
• 90% of respondents believed that there are clear
benefits to having a dress code policy.
Example of Innovative Clothing Design
Air-Conditioned Clothing
Two small fans are fixed to the right and left
sides of the jacket around the waist. This draws
air into the jacket and causes sweat to vaporize,
through which process heat is dissipated …
http://www.meadownics.co.jp/English%20HP/Eng_top.html
It’s potentially more efficient to cool/heat people, than cool/heat the air in a room!
Smart Textiles: Phase Change Materials
PCMs are materials that can absorb, store
and release heat while the material
changes from solid to liquid and back to
solid. This is known as a phase change.
Water changing from solid (ice) to liquid is
an example of this phenomenon. During
these phase changes large amounts of
Outlast® http://www.outlast.com/index.php?id=1&L=0
heat are absorbed or released.
Energy and Fashion: Global Cool Campaigns
Heat stress: food and agriculture
Protecting Livelihoods: Heat Stress and
Climate Change
“The potential health risks and worker productivity reductions due to climate change
are substantial. The lack of attention until recently may well be due to the fact
that this is mostly a problem in low and middle-income tropical countries where
climate change impacts during this century will be prominent and air
conditioning is not widely available, while in high-income countries air
conditioning is already very common in workplaces.”
Kjellstrom T. et al., (2009), Workplace heat stress, health and productivity – an increasing
challenge for low and middle income countries during climate change
Summary
• There is a close link between clothing and
buildings. e.g. need for shelter, comfort and
wellbeing.
• Greater synergies could be explored in the
design/use of clothes and buildings, to:
– Mitigate climate change (less energy for
heating/cooling).
– Adapt to climate change (greater temperatures)
– Protect the comfort, wellbeing, livelihoods and
social/personal identities of people in and around
buildings.