This study investigates the possibilities of applying water generated from the atmosphere for agricultural processes, particularly hydroponic systems. A solar powered, off-grid greenhouse system is proposed as a theoretical solution to food production, in areas affected by water scarcity. Two experiments are conducted with the purpose of testing atmospheric water quality and how it performs in a hydroponic setting. The plausibility of powering said greenhouse system using solar energy is investigated, considering several available solar technologies. Ultimately, the footprint area required to install enough capacity to power the system is discussed, and the potential site of such a system is modelled and visualized. The experiments concluded that atmospheric water is likely suitable for hydroponic use. The study also found that the footprint area required for the greenhouse system probably can be considered reasonable for certain applications, but more research and advances within solar power technology would be beneficial / <p>2021-06-08</p>

Individual and societal desires for fossiluel independence are an increasingly popular goal. This research investigates residential geothermal space heating and cooling as a viable technical and financial alternative. The road to net-zero energy is then assessed, weighing the benefits and detriments to the consumer. First, the template for location-specific geothermal space heating and cooling is developed through a pilot analysis of a home in Memphis, Tennessee. A methodical process of soil investigation, prototype home characteristics, and financial incentives is designed. Expanding upon existing studies, accurate soil data is extracted from beneath the foundation of a specific address, rather than region-wide soil averages. This high level of precision allows the owner of a specific address to preview realistic results and develop truthful expectations. Payback period and system lifetimes savings are calculated using two methods. Second, the framework developed through the Memphis, Tennessee pilot home is used to investigate 11 additional cities across the continental United States. The increase in breadth uses a representative city from its respective climate zone. While each city within a single climate zone will vary from the representative city, a general climate performance can be determined. With each location’s soil properties and heating and cooling demands, the borefield design and heat pump system capacity is customized and applied for analysis. Using human interest surveys from previous energy projects, a climate is ultimately classified as viable or nonviable for geothermal heating and cooling. Finally, the increasingly popular net-zero energy building concept is explored through a complementary solar photovoltaic (PV) array to the geothermal system. An array capacity is sized and priced to offset the total facility energy use in each climate’s representative city. Once determined, the payback and lifetime savings values are calculated and the GHP + PV system results are compared to a baseline + PV system. From this, a system type is identified as the more viable option for each of the 12 climate zones. The final touch on this research is the introduction of the human perceptions toward environmentally friendly renewable energy in general and how it affects a consumer’s ultimate decision.

Knowledge on climate change in the city is an instrument which can help with the understanding of urban environmental questions as well as with decision making in cities planning. Therefore the present work characterizes the city of Maceió according to climatic principles, so that the information obtained can help with future architectural and urban interventions and that the climatic criteria is incorporated to the city planning, contributing to a better quality of life of its citizens. In this sense, topography, soil usage, soil occupation, buildings height and green areas maps were elaborated, allied to the analysis of bioclimatizing attributes of the urban form. The result of the analysis of the aforementioned attributes verifies the influence of the urban area on the thermal and dynamic characteristics of the place. In great part of Maceió the urban conformity is responsible for transformations on the thermal quality of its external spaces, due to the alterations caused by the excess of soil impermeabilization, increase of built-on surfaces and wind regime alteration. The portions located in lower quotas in relation to the sea level, like the coastal and lagoon plain, present potentially unfavorable building density and climate conditions if compared to higher parts of the city, for they hold its initial population nuclei , where urban conformity is at times marked by the low porosity of the urban grid. The diversity in soil use, the predominance of urban nuclei with uniform height edifications and bad distribution of green urban areas configure the urban scenario in Maceió. The production of the urban climate map and the establishment of climatically characterized zones in the city made it possible to identify which zones must be protected, preserved or improved under the climatic viewpoint. The comparison between the macrozoning established by the Director Plan of Maceió for soil use and occupation with the climate zoning proposed by the present work, showed a clear difficulty concerning the articulation between urban legislations which determine the soil occupation in the city and its climate conditioners. In order to help with the decision making involved in urban planning, a few guidelines have been created. Those include aspects related to the climate quality in the urban space, as they are little explored in the urban legislation of Maceió. The research confirms the importance of incorporating climate information to the planning of Maceió, considering the possible damages that can be caused by the present model of soil occupation. In the same way, the results can be used in the occupation planning of new and old areas of the city, so that they answer positively to the local climate characteristics. / Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Alagoas / O conhecimento sobre as transformações climáticas da cidade são instrumentos que podem auxiliar no entendimento das questões ambientais urbanas e na tomada de decisões no planejamento das cidades. Diante disto o presente trabalho caracteriza a cidade de Maceió segundo princípios climáticos, a fim de que as informações obtidas possam auxiliar em futuras intervenções arquitetônicas e urbanísticas e que critérios climáticos sejam incorporados ao planejamento da cidade, contribuindo para a melhoria da qualidade de vida de seus citadinos. Nesse sentido, mapas de topografia, uso do solo, ocupação do solo, altura de edificações e de áreas verdes foram elaborados, aliado à análise dos atributos bioclimatizantes da forma urbana. O resultado das análises dos referidos atributos constatam a influência da área urbana sobre as características térmicas e dinâmicas do lugar. A conformação urbana é, em grande parte de Maceió, a responsável por transformações da qualidade térmica dos espaços externos, devido às alterações causadas pelo excesso de impermeabilização do solo, aumento de superfícies construídas e alteração do regime de ventos. As porções localizadas em cotas mais baixas em relação ao nível do mar, como a planície litorânea e lagunar, apresentam densidade de construções e condições climáticas potencialmente desfavoráveis se comparadas às áreas mais altas da cidade, pois abrigam os núcleos iniciais de povoação da cidade, no qual sua conformação urbana, por vezes, é marcada pela baixa porosidade da malha urbana. A diversidade de uso do solo, o predomínio de núcleos urbanos com edificações com alturas uniformes e a má distribuição das áreas verdes urbanas configuram o cenário urbano de Maceió. A produção do mapa climático urbano e o estabelecimento de zonas climaticamente caracterizadas na cidade possibilitaram identificar zonas que devem ser protegidas, preservadas ou melhoradas sob o ponto de vista climático. A comparação do macrozoneamento estabelecido pelo Plano Diretor de Maceió para o uso e ocupação do solo com o zoneamento climático proposto pelo presente trabalho, mostrou uma clara dificuldade de articulação entre as legislações urbanísticas determinantes da ocupação do solo do município com os condicionantes climáticos da cidade. A fim de auxiliar a tomada de decisões no planejamento urbano, são traçadas algumas diretrizes que incluem aspectos relacionados a qualidade climática do espaço urbano, visto que são pouco exploradas na legislação urbana de Maceió. A pesquisa comprova a importância de se incorporar informações climáticas para o planejamento de Maceió, tendo em vista possíveis danos que podem ser causados pelo modelo atual de ocupação do solo. Da mesma forma, os resultados podem ser aproveitados no planejamento da ocupação de novas e antigas áreas da cidade, a fim de que estas respondam positivamente as características climáticas locais.

Piura ha sido una de las regiones más afectadas por inundaciones a causa de los eventos de lluvias extremas. En los años de 1982-1983,1998 y 2017 se registraron innumerables pérdidas en infraestructura como consecuencias del fenómeno de "El Niño”, siendo este último producto del incremento inusual de la temperatura superficial del mar (TSM). El análisis de la asociación entre las anomalías de temperatura superficial del mar (ATSM) y las precipitaciones máximas (PPmáx) que ocurrieron en la zona norte del Perú (Región Piura) tiene como fin describir el comportamiento de ATSM en relación con las lluvias de gran escala. Para esto se utilizaron correlaciones cruzadas con aplicación de desfases temporales a fin de encontrar la intensidad en la que se asocian dichos parámetros. Para las PPmáx se extrajeron datos del producto grillado Piscop, el cual usa como base de información y calibración los registros de las estaciones meteorológicas. En tanto que, para las ATSM se extrajeron datos de ERA5-ECMWF calibrado mediante estaciones oceanográficas. Del análisis se observó que las precipitaciones máximas que se registran en la región Piura presentan mayor asociación y significancia menor o igual a 5% cuando se aplican desplazamientos temporales a las ATSM, de 1 mes para puntos ubicados en las regiones NIÑO 1 y NIÑO 2, y de 2 meses para puntos ubicados en las regiones NIÑO 3 y NIÑO 4. Finalmente, la mayor asociación se origina entre las variaciones inusuales de TSM producidas en el punto 3.3 y las PPmáx con desplazamientos temporales de 3 meses. / Piura has been one of the most affected regions by floods due to extreme rain events. In the years of 1982-1983, 1998, and 2017 innumerable losses in infrastructure were registered as a consequence of the "El Niño" effect, the latter being considered as a product of the unusual increase in sea surface temperature. Analysis of the association between sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTA) and extreme rainfall (ER) which occurred in the north of Peru (Piura región) to describe the behavior of SSTA in relation to large-scale rainfalls. For this, cross-correlations with the application of time lags were used in order to find the intensity in which SSTA and ER are associated. For ER, data were extracted from the Piscop grilled product, which is based on information and calibration of records of meteorological stations. While data for the SSTA was extracted from ERA5-ECMWF calibrated by oceanographic stations. From the analysis was observed that maximum precipitations that are recorded in the Piura region present a greater association and significance less than or equal to 5% when time-lag are applied to SSTA, for 1 month for points ubicated in the regions NIÑO 1 and NIÑO 2, and for 2 months points ubicated in the regions NIÑO 3 and NIÑO 4. Finally, the greatest association originates between the unusual variation of SST produced in the 3.3 SSTA point and the ER whit time-lag of 3 months. / Trabajo de investigación

The topic of climate adaptation has gained momentum in the last decade as a response to the increasing rate at which global climate is changing. There are two leading discourses to climate adaptation, Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) perspectives, which focuses on adapting to specific climate hazards and scenarios, and Vulnerability Centred Adaptation (VCA), which focuses on the socio-economic and environmental factors that compound climate impacts. However, despite global inclusivity efforts to adaptation, the CCA approach is predominant in developing economies. This empirical study attempts to close this gap by using the VCA approach to a climate risk, impact, and vulnerability assessment of the Malmö Lund Region, Sweden, and to showcase the relevance of including a VCA approach within developing economies. The primary data comes from using a semi-structured interview method of twelve international women who have moved to the region in the last decade. Simultaneously, semi-structured interviews were also conducted with a secondary sample group which consisted of six urban professionals who either worked with environmental issues, planning, or social vulnerability. The latter climate and vulnerability conversations were used to situate the IW’s perspective in the discussion. The results demonstrated that: 1. Climate risk depended on the duration, intensity of temperature, wind, light levels, and precipitation, or climate barriers, and the women’s ability to protect themselves. 2. The barriers negatively impacted them socially, physically, and emotionally, but also allowed them to experience new climate-related experiences and activities. 3. Finally, their adaptive capacity depended on the socio-economic and cultural circumstances which enhanced their vulnerability, while their adaptive capacity relied on their ability to apply micro-adaptations, reach out to community support, and use their previous climate experience. The findings confirm the need for an intersectional and bottom-up approach to climate adaptation, as it showcased how climate did impact the women and influenced their adaptation process in region despite it not being a primary cause of concern for these women. Secondly, it raises awareness of the non-climate predispositions of these women to climate vulnerability. Thirdly, the findings also show that variations in climate assessments do not only depend on long-term climate data in relation to climate hazards and risks, but also the women’s past climate experience, their current life circumstances, and the time spent in the host country. Finally, this research calls for urban climate adaptation strategies to account for a vulnerability perspective within their initial risk, vulnerability, and impact assessment and use these valuable insights to inform the planning stages of climate adaptation process for urban citizen.

Byggprocesser och produktionen av byggmaterial orsakar stora delar av världens och Sveriges växthusgasutsläpp. För att uppnå en hållbar utveckling är det av stor vikt att minska klimatpåverkan från byggnadskonstruktioner. Genom att göra klimat- och livscykelanalyser av byggnader i tidiga designskeden ökar möjligheten att påverka design, material- och produktval för att minska klimatpåverkan. I denna studie undersöktes hur byggnadsinformationsmodeller (BIM) och BIM-metodik kan användas för ökade möjligheter att effektivt utföra klimat- och livscykelanalyser av ingående byggnadsmaterial iterativt under projekteringsprocessen. Två 3D-modeller importerades till två verktyg för klimat- och livscykelanalyser, Bidcon och One Click LCA. Mängdavtagningen från objekten i modellen till båda LCA-verktygen fungerade automatiskt medan kopplingen mellan objekten och databaser med miljöpåverkansdata för byggobjekt och material innebar mycket handpåläggningsarbete. Processerna förutsätter att modellerna innehåller någon information om de ingående materialen i modellens objekt, vilket därför bör kravställas under projekteringen. För att kopplingen mellan materialbeskrivningar och databaser i LCA-programmen ska ske mer automatiskt bör materialen eller objekten benämnas standardiserat, till exempel med BSAB-koder, ett klassifikationssystem från Svensk Byggtjänst. Benämningarna bör sedan kunna kopplas automatiskt till poster i databaser för effektivare klimat- och livscykelanalyser.  Även intervjuer utfördes, i syfte att undersöka hur metodiken för integrering av BIM och LCA kan tillämpas i byggprojekt. Möjligheten att tillämpa detta i konsultföretag beror på beställarens krav samt i vilka skeden och discipliner konsulterna arbetar. Integreringsprocesser av BIM- och LCA-verktyg borde kombineras med interdisciplinära möten för bättre resultat. Detta tillsammans med ökad efterfrågan på klimat- och livscykelanalyser, exempelvis för att uppnå miljöcertifieringar, kan öka motivationen att använda metodiken. På så sätt kan byggnadsinformationsmodellering användas för effektivare klimat- och livscykelanalyser vilket bidrar till minskad klimatpåverkan från byggnadskonstruktioner. / Construction processes and the production of building material cause a large part of the emissions of greenhouse gases around the world. To achieve a sustainable development it is of great importance to reduce emissions from construction projects. Doing climate analyses and life cycle assessments of building materials during early design phases could enable more sustainable design and material choices. This thesis focuses on Swedish conditions. During this study it was investigated how Building Information Modeling/Management (BIM) can be used to improve possibilities of doing efficient life cycle assessments (LCA) of buildings and included materials, during the whole design phase. Two 3D building models were transferred to two software tools, Bidcon and One Click LCA, for climate analysis and life cycle assessment of the building components. Quantity take-off from the model objects to the tools worked automatically while the connection between the material descriptions and databases inside the tools had to be done manually. The process requires information about the materials in the model to work. To make the connections more automatic, material descriptions need to be more standardized and connect to entries in the databases. Moreover interviews were held to investigate how the methods of integrating BIM with LCA can be used in construction projects. For consulting firms this depends on the demands from the client and which stages of the project the consultants work in. LCA-methods based on BIM should be combined with interdisciplinary meetings for better results. This together with an expanding demand for LCA could increase the motivation to use these methods, which enables reduction of climate impact from buildings.

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No. of bitstreams: 1 65080100017.pdf: 1653646 bytes, checksum: 591a900108a719efc6f0b4e7f276e49d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-11-09 / Após a entrada em vigor do Protocolo de Kyoto em 2005 e a divulgação dos relatórios do IPCC sobre as mudanças climáticas, em 2007, muitos países passaram a buscar formas de produzir fontes alternativas de energia na tentativa de diminuir suas emissões de gases de efeito estufa. Por outro lado, a tentativa de alguns países de serem menos dependentes do petróleo e consolidarem políticas de segurança energética foi também um fator que contribuiu significativamente para a produção e consumo de fontes renováveis. Assim, a produção e a demanda de biocombustíveis apresentam-se como alternativa para o cumprimento de ambos os objetivos: redução de emissões e segurança energética. Quando analisamos custo de produção, produção por hectare, balanço energético e redução na emissão de gases de efeito estufa, a cana-de-açúcar apresenta-se como a matéria-prima mais competitiva para a produção de etanol. Entretanto, nem todos os países possuem tecnologia, condições agroclimáticas, estabilidade política para a produção dessa cultura. Este trabalho tem o objetivo de identificar as condições climáticas, socioeconômicas e políticas de países e sub-regiões localizados na zona intertropical, de modo a facilitar a disseminação da produção de etanol por meio da cooperação internacional. No entanto, havendo condições agroclimáticas em um país, isso seria suficiente para implementar sistemas de produção de cana-de-açúcar? Conforme veremos na hipótese apresentada, uma análise política e socioeconômica é necessária a fim de avaliar a situação do Estado de Direito dos Estados pretendentes à produção de cana. Para aqueles países em condições do seu cultivo, a pesquisa demonstra cooperação internacional como um dos meios para adquirir assistência técnica, transferência de tecnologia e disseminar os benefícios socioeconômicos e ambientais do etanol em outros países. Tornar o etanol uma commodity também é uma das maneiras de difundir o mercado do produto no mundo. Entretanto, como veremos, a commoditização do etanol está, adicionalmente, sujeita a fatores técnicos, políticos e econômicos. Por fim, pretende-se demonstrar que a disseminação global do etanol não depende apenas da produção em diversos países e da commoditização do produto, mas também da eliminação de barreiras tarifárias e não tarifárias impostas no comércio internacional. / After the Kyoto Protocol entered into force in 2005 and, in 2007, the disclosure of the IPCC’s reports on climate change, many countries started to seek ways to produce energy from alternative sources, trying to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Another factor that contributes significantly to the production and consumption of renewable resources is the try, of some countries, to be less dependent on oil and strengthen energy security policies. The production and demand for biofuels is a contribution to the achievement of both objectives: mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and strengthening energy security. When analyzed the cost of production, yield per hectare, energy balance and reduction of greenhouse gases emissions, the sugarcane is the most competitive feedstock for ethanol production. However, not all countries have technology, climate conditions and political stability for the production of this crop. The objective of this work is to identify the climatic, socioeconomics and political conditions of the countries and sub-regions located in the intertropical zone, in order to facilitate the spread of ethanol production through international cooperation. Meanwhile, considering a country with good climate conditions for sugarcane, it would be enough to implement production systems of this crop? The presented hypothesis demonstrates the policy analysis is needed to evaluate the State of Right of those countries which are applicants to the sugarcane production. For those countries able to produce sugarcane, this research demonstrates international cooperation as a mean to acquire technical assistance, technology transfer and the dissemination of the socio-economic and environmental benefits of ethanol in other countries. Another way of diffusion of ethanol in the world market is to transform it into a commodity. However, as this paper demonstrates, the commoditization of ethanol is, additionally, subject to technical, political and economic factors. Finally, this study intends to present that the global dissemination of ethanol depends not only on production in many countries and the commoditization of the product, but also of the elimination of the tariff and non-tariff barriers imposed on the international trade.

La costa norte del Perú es una de las regiones con más impacto negativo por las inundaciones a causa de los eventos de lluvias extremas. El fenómeno del Niño de los años de 1982 – 1983, 1998 y 2017 ocasionaron innumerables pérdidas en infraestructura, se considera que este evento es producto del incremento inusual de la temperatura superficial del mar (TSM). El análisis de la teleconexión entre las anomalías de temperatura superficial del mar (ATSM) y las precipitaciones máximas (PPmáx) que ocurrieron en la costa norte del Perú (Tumbes, Piura y Lambayeque) tiene como objetivo describir la tendencia del comportamiento de las ATSM en relación con las lluvias de gran escala. Para esto se utilizaron correlaciones cruzadas con aplicación de desfases temporales a fin de encontrar la intensidad en la que se asocian las ATSM y las PPmáx. Los datos para la obtención de las PPmáx se extrajeron del producto grillado Piscop, el cual usa como base de información y calibración los registros de las estaciones meteorológicas. En tanto que, para la obtención de las ATSM se extrajeron datos de ERA5-ECMWF calibrado mediante estaciones oceanográficas. Del análisis se observó que las precipitaciones máximas que se registran en la región norte del Perú presentan mayor asociación y significancia menor o igual a 5% cuando se aplican desplazamientos temporales a las ATSM, de 1 mes para puntos ubicados en las regiones NIÑO 1 y NIÑO 2, y de 3 meses para puntos ubicados en las regiones NIÑO 3 y NIÑO 4. Finalmente, la mayor asociación se origina entre las variaciones inusuales de TSM producidas en el Punto de ATSM 3.3 y las PPmáx con desplazamientos temporales de 3 meses. / The north coast of Peru is one of the most negative impact regions by floods due to extreme rain events. "El Niño" effect in 1982-1983, 1998, and 2017 years was caused innumerable losses in infrastructure, that event is considered as a product of an unusual increase in sea surface temperature. Analysis of teleconnection between sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTA) and extreme rainfall (ER) which occurred on the north coast of Peru (Tumbes, Piura y Lambayeque) to describe tren of the behavior of SSTA to large-scale rainfalls. For that reason, cross-correlations with an application of time lags were used to find the intensity in which SSTA and ER are associated. The data for obtaining ER were extracted from the Piscop grilled product, which is based on information and calibration of records of meteorological stations. While obtaining SSTA was extracted from ERA5- ECMWF calibrated by oceanographic stations. From the analysis was observed that maximum precipitations that are recorded on the north coast of Peru present a greater association and significance less than or equal to 5% when time-lag is applied to SSTA, for 1 month for points ubicated in regions NIÑO 1 and NIÑO 2, and for 3 months points ubicated in regions NIÑO 3 and NIÑO 4. Finally, the greatest association originates between an unusual variation of SST produced in 3.3 SSTA point and ER whit a time-lag of 3 months. / Tesis