Thesis (Ph.D.)--Aberdeen University, 2009. / Title from web page (viewed on Oct. 5, 2009). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (MTech (Construction Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2017. / The study investigates the predominant factors responsible for increase in the cost of building materials and the effect of this cost increase on housing delivery in Western Cape, South Africa. Sustainable housing is buildings produced to meet the present housing needs of people without conceding the ability of the future generation to meet their future needs. However, a significant increase in the cost of building materials has been a major constraint to the delivery of sustainable housings, as made evident in the literature, leading to project cost and time overruns or even project abandonment. However, building materials consume up to 65% of the total cost of construction. This factor on cost has, over the years, threatened the ability of the construction industry to deliver projects within budgeted cost, at stipulated time, and at satisfactory quality. This prompted the need to proffer solutions to these factors identified which are causing increases in the cost of building materials towards sustainable housing delivery in Western Cape. Based on this research study, housing is termed to be sustainable when it is available and affordable for the masses timely and at quality expected. The research study adopted a mixed methodological approach, involving the use of semi-structured qualitative interviews and closed-ended quantitative questionnaires administered to construction stakeholders (architects, quantity surveyors, engineers, construction managers, project managers, site supervisors and material suppliers) in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. SPSS version 24 software was used for analysing the quantitative data collected and ‘content analysis’ method was used to analyse the information collected through the qualitative interviews. The findings revealed that the major factors responsible for increasing the cost of building materials are inflation, wastages of building materials by labourers, cost of transportation and distribution of labour, design changes, client contribution to design change and change in government policies and regulation. Moreover, the research showed that fluctuation in the cost of construction and high maintenance costs due to poor workmanship also impact the cost increase of building materials for housing delivery. In addition, research findings affirmed that for optimum materials usage for the enhancement of sustainable construction, the following criteria should be considered in the selection of building materials: maintenance cost, energy consumption and maintainability. The adoption of these findings by construction stakeholders in the South African construction industry would enhance the delivery of affordable housing at reduced cost, at the required time and at the expected quality. Therefore, an adequate implementation of the framework presented in this study will enhance sustainable housing delivery.

Based upon multi-locale research with people building environmentally-friendly off-grid homes called Earthships, this ethnography explores the nature of such activity.  It critically considers this architecture in terms of building, concentrating on the processes by which the builders are able to dwell.  Drawing upon fieldwork in a radically empirical manner it furthers anthropological discussions of human-environment relations, exchange and technology, creativity, and the local and the global.  The theorisation weaves a phenomenological analysis of dwelling around a neo-Marxist critique of work and consumerism in Earthship communities in Scotland and New Mexico and in wider Western society.  Earthships, it is argued, present an attempt to revitalize the architecture of the West and to avoid the alienation so often exacerbated by it.  The thesis suggests that builders attempt to do this by engaging in practical-critical activity, fuelled by a belief in the value of being able to do it yourself and by a philosophy which places people within a dynamic world of interdependent elements.  Earthship dwelling, it is suggested, is a spatially- and temporally-aware social project which both generates and requires monism or an engagement of the whole person.  Earthship building is a radical, connective art, carried out by people brought together by their critique of wider society and a belief in their ability to forge a better future.  As the builders make manifest their designs, this thesis notes that a low-tech and underproductive approach is chosen as well as there being prominent use of natural systems as models.  Earthships present an experimental and open-ended way of dwelling within the limits of a shared world.  Acknowledging these limits, builders strive to reuse materials and exploit only renewable energies.

No description available.

Earthships are buildings which are constructed almost entirely of recycled materials and are built to be almost totally self sufficient through the recycling of rain water, the recycling of solar energy into electrical energy, passive solar techniques and sometimes the recycling of wind through turbines, also into electrical energy. This thesis draws out and demonstrates the logic that Earthship architecture emerges from and generates amongst its inhabitants. This logic, it is argued, can be characterized as containing elements of the baroque and Neo-baroque. It is a logic of following and interfacing the elements (earth, sun, wind, rain) that folds them into itself. In such a space it is impossible to delineate any strict division between the inside and outside of a house. The inside becomes a node, interval, or point of passage of the outside and domestic life emerges from a complex and dynamic rhythmic arrangement with the outside. Such a space emerges from and generates a new sense of nature as cycles, flows, and interconnections which are fundamentally inseparable from architecture, technology or domestic life. This thesis also argues that to properly understand Earthships it is necessary to draw out the sense of historical and natural catastrophe that has impacted their origin and present incarnations.

Thesis (M.U.R.P.)--Ball State University, 2009. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on July 01, 2010). Creative project (M.U.R.P.), 3 hrs. Includes bibliographical references (p. 70-71).

This Thesis is aimed at evaluating the options of renovation for an existing residential building to make it more energy efficient. The various aspects in the basic structures of residential homes are discussed in order to help the user identify the areas of the house for which renovation is required to improve the energy efficiency of the building. These aspects include doors, roof and wall in addition to various systems of electrical wiring, mechanical systems of ventilation, heating and cooling and plumbing systems for the efficient flow of water throughout the house. The renovation options have been described in detail to provide as many possibilities to the user as possible. The building taken for renovation is a 1953 suburban home which has been awarded the honor of being the first building to be labeled as Zero Energy Home in its vicinity. This has made the home so efficient that its expenditure of energy has become equivalent to its energy generation, therefore, cancelling each other out and creating an estimate of zero energy.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Toronto, 2005.

Current regulatory and other policy trends in housing refurbishment relating to low-carbon performance standards tend to involve complex technologies and systems as well as innovative solutions to achieve 80% emissions reduction in line with the UK national target for 2050. Indicators of domestic energy performance tend to assume ideal performance of materials, complex systems and services, and that they are installed to high standards and under specific conditions, as well as rational occupant behaviour and interactions. Previous studies exploring the influence of socio-technical factors on the UK's domestic energy use highlight that one of the main reasons for under-performance of individual projects is the lack of understanding of how people interact with domestic technology. Considering this, and given that there is still little evidence on deep refurbishments that implement low-carbon 'whole house' approaches in the UK, this research explored occupants' interaction with heating and ventilation measures as these were designed, installed and operated. The main concern was to identify the type of interactions that occur between occupants (social housing tenants) and building systems (mainly low-carbon heating and ventilation systems), and how that influences actual energy use. Using a sample of 26 social housing properties involved in the Retrofit for the Future competition in the UK, the study employed an socio-technical mixed methods approach, in which qualitative and quantitative empirical data were explored together, cross-checking occupants' 'doings' and 'sayings'. A combination of theories was used to analyse the complex interrelated factors involved in users' interaction with building systems. The analysis identifies key factors that affect significantly occupants' everyday practices and their interactions with the new measures: thermal comfort and pastexperiences with measures and controls; knowledge and skills (of both occupants and those involved in the project); design of the technical interventions (systems/measures) and quality of their installation. The findings from this research showed that active measures (such as intelligent and conventional heating controls, MVHR boosters, etc.) fostered direct interaction with active users when there were no design or installation faults. On the contrary, low-carbon measures that are designed and installed to be passive (such as MVHR systems operation) tend, in practice, to involve indirect interactions with active users. The research findings provide an insight into the 'in-use' factors, demonstrating to policy makers and implementers of mass refurbishment programmes the need for a framework where critical combinations of different measures and design solutions are targeted on specific house types, locations and households, in order to achieve maximum savings. Higher standards in installation of the new measures and improved quality control are also found to be a key part of refurbishment policies.