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This thesis report contains the development of a new ladder specifically designed for needs of the rooftop tent users. The project has been conducted by two students wor- king full time over the duration of twenty weeks with the start in mid-January and is a culmination of their education in industrial design engineering at Luleå university of technology. The thesis is a collaboration with Thule which is a Swedish compa- ny specializing in outdoor and transportation products for the active user. Thule’s largest user base are the occasional users, which uses their products once or twice a year. The current ladder used by Thule today is a telescopic solution that is mainly deri- ved from standards concerning contractable ladders and not specifically made for rooftop tent ladder. Thus, it has a lacking usability and is constructed from many dif- ferent parts which makes it unnecessarily complex and heavy. This has led to Thule wanting this project to explore the possibilities of creating a more weight optimized and cost-efficient ladder that can achieve several lengths ranging from 1,5 to 2,5 meters. This while also making it more user friendly and safe while incorporating the company values. Thus, the mission statement reads: “To create a safe, high quality, and easy to use rooftop tent ladder for the occasion- al, recreational user while reducing weight and complexity” The schedule has followed an iterative process influenced by the phases of design thinking, which is to emphasize, define, ideate, prototype, and finally test. This has helped to solve the complex problems by focusing on the users and their needs. To start this off, an extensive analysis of the market competition, users, Thule, and the current ladder was performed to be followed up with more creative methods as bra- instorming and different stages of sketching, aimed to solve the problems that was found. All of which later was constructed to a feasible concept with computer aided design, prototyping methods, and computer renderings. The result is a new rooftop tent ladder with a sliding design, fulfilling most of the project scope as well as solving other problems found in the first phases. The project has also provided Thule with a full-scale, functional mock-up to prove the concept, as well as some recommendations for future work. / <p>Product patent protected by Thule Sweden. Patent office: Germany. Reference number: DE102023100495.6</p>

Against the background of an aspired zero emission economy, residential decision making concerning low-carbon technologies (LCTs) has been researched widely to develop appropriate policy measures to foster adoption levels, however, adoption levels remain unexpectedly low. First, prevalent knowledge gaps are caused by the lacking accumulation of knowledge in the research domain, and second, the lacking common understanding of the decision process itself. Third, previous research has not sufficiently accounted for heterogeneity in the population, instead assuming similar drivers and barriers for adoption across consumer segments. Based on an extended Theory of Planned Behavior and previous research findings, a holistic decision framework for residential decision-making concerning LCTs is proposed in this doctoral thesis. A reduced framework could be confirmed for the example technology rooftop PV with a high-quality sample (n=1,800) using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling. It could be shown, that adoption intention and strength and influence of predictors vary across consumer segments, even between segments with the same broad social status and/or comparable values. Matching survey data with real-world data revealed, that stated adoption intentions of consumer segments are consistent with adoption behavior in Saxonian zip-codes only for two of five consumer segments. Moreover, it could be demonstrated that common variables used to explain adoption intentions (environmental concern and novelty seeking) are not related with adoption levels in Saxonian zip-codes. Similarly, common variables to explain adoption levels in zip-codes (city-type, share of (semi-) detached houses, population density, previous PV installations) are not related with adoption intentions among consumer segments. These results show that taking consumer heterogeneity into account is crucial to understanding drivers and barriers of residential adoption decisions, and that variables relating to intentions and actual behavior are not necessarily equivalent, providing initial insights into why political measures might not have been sufficiently successful yet.:Abstract iii Zusammenfassung v Publications ix Acknowledgments xi 1 Introductory Remarks 1 2 Residential low-carbon technology decision-making 23 3 Residential PV adoption intention 37 4 The decision towards a residential PV system 63 5 Heterogeneity in PV adoption intentions across consumer segments 83 6 Spatial and household characteristics relating to PV saturation 103 7 Spatial and household characteristics relating to PV adoption intention 121 Statement of Contribution xv Curriculum Vitae xvii Declaration of Authorship xix Bibliographic Description xxi

Die Verdunstung ist die Klimaanlage der Erde. Sie verbindet den globalen Wasserkreislauf mit dem Energiekreislauf. Die Komponenten des Wasser- und Energiekreislaufs stehen für jeden Standort in einem dynamischen Gleichgewicht. Mit der Ausführung von Bauvorhaben wird in das Gleichgewicht eingegriffen. Entscheidend für die Beurteilung der Folgen für die Umwelt sind die langfristigen Auswirkungen. Diese können durch den Vergleich langjähriger mittlerer Jahresbilanzen vor und nach der Bebauung aufgezeigt werden. Bei der Genehmigung neuer Baugebiete müssen diese Auswirkungen ein Entscheidungskriterium werden, wenn der Eingriff in den Naturhaushalt so gering wie möglich gehalten werden soll. Nur die Betrachtung von einzelnen Starkregenereignissen ist nicht ausreichen. Von der Versiegelung der Oberflächen ist die Verdunstung in der Jahresbilanz stärker als die anderen Komponenten des Wasserkreislaufs betroffen. Trotzdem werden bisher bei der Planung neuer Baugebiete hauptsächlich der Oberflächenabfluss und in zunehmendem Maße die Versickerung untersucht. Die Reduzierung der Verdunstung wird zumeist vernachlässigt. Ursache für diese Reduzierung ist die fehlende Zwischenspeicherung des Wassers. Das wirkt sich direkt auf den Energiekreislauf aus, da die nicht für den Verdunstungsprozess benötigte Energie in den bodennahen Schichten bleibt. Im ersten Teil werden die Einflussfaktoren auf die Verdunstung erläutert und ein Überblick über die Berechnungsmethoden gegeben. Im zweiten Teil werden die Oberflächen unbebauter und bebauter Gebiete systematisiert und in Landnutzungsarten unterteilt. Für diese werden die hydrologischen und energetischen Eigenschaften und deren Auswirkungen auf den Wasser- und Energiehaushalt erläutert und die mittleren Jahresbilanzen berechnet. Die tatsächliche Verdunstung wird auf der Basis der Gras-Referenzverdunstung und der Landnutzungsart ermittelt. Ausgangswerte sind langjährige meteorologische Jahresmittelwerte. Die Verdunstung von Wasserflächen wird mit dem Temperaturgleichgewichtsverfahren berechnet. Mit den vorgestellten Verfahren können Einzugsgebiete von Bebauungsplangröße untersucht werden. Es werden Lösungen zur Beibehaltung eines möglichst hohen Verdunstungsanteils in bebauten Gebieten vorgeschlagen. Ansatzpunkt ist dabei stets die Zwi-schenspeicherung des Regenwassers. Am wirkungsvollsten sind dabei Dachbegrünungen, Wasserflächen und Bäume. Das Verfahren wird an zwei Beispielen angewandt - die Erschließung eines Industriegebietes auf einer vorher land- und forstwirtschaftlich genutzten Fläche in Treuen im Vogtland und der Neubau einer Untergrundstation im Zentrum der schwedischen Großstadt Malmö. / Evapotranspiration could be called the air-conditioner of the earth. It is connecting the water and the energy cycle. The components of the water and energy cycle are related to each other in a dynamic system. Urban development is interfering with this system. Changes of the water and energy balance resulting from construction can be calculated on the basis of long-standing annual average balances and compared with the balance in the catchment area before construction. Before granting building permission, the impacts on the water and energy balance should be evaluated in order to minimize interference with nature. Causing long-term impacts must be considered beforehand in planning. Coping only with design storm events does not suffice. Evaporation is more intensely affected by the paving of streets and squares and by constructing buildings then the other components of the water cycle. However, up to now, in the process of design and planning permission of new development areas, the focus is on runoff and, increasingly, on infiltration of rainwater. The large reduction of evaporation is mostly neglected. The reason for the reduction is the lack of buffer storage for water. Thus directly affects the energy cycle. Energy which is not used for evaporation remains in the near-ground layers. In the first part, the factors influencing evaporation are explained and an overview over the methods of calculation is given. In the second part all surfaces of urban and natural areas are systematized and subdivided into types of land use. The hydrological and energy properties as well as their effects on the water and energy balance are elucidated for this types of land use and their average annual balances are calculated. Solutions are presented for retaining in urban areas an evaporation rate as high as possible. Starting point hereby is always the buffer storage of rainwater. Most effective measures are the installation of rooftop greening, open water surfaces and trees. The calculations are performed on the basis of the FAO reference evaporation and the types of land use. Starting values are long-stand average annual meteorologic values. The evaporation of water surfaces is calculated with the temperature balance model. The method is applied to two examples showing the impacts of land use change on water and energy balance: the development of agricultural and forest land in Saxony into an industrial development site, and the impact of the construction of an underground station in the centre of the City Malmö, Sweden.

Diffusion of microgeneration technologies, particularly rooftop photovoltaic (PV), represents a key option in reducing emissions in the residential sector. This thesis uses a uniquely rich dataset from the burgeoning residential PV market in Texas to study the nature of the consumer’s decision-making process in the adoption of these technologies. Focusing on the financial metrics and the information decision makers use to base their decisions upon, I study how the leasing and buying models affect individual choices and, thereby, the adoption of capital-intensive energy technologies. Overall, the leasing model is found to more effectively address consumers’ informational requirements. Contrary to previous studies, buyers and lessees of PV are not found to substantially differ along socio-demographic variables, though they do differ significantly along cash availability, levels of environmental concern, and relative importance of financial aspects. Instead, the leasing model has opened up the residential PV market to a new, and potentially very large, consumer segment—those with a tight cash flow situation. / text

Die Verdunstung ist die Klimaanlage der Erde. Sie verbindet den globalen Wasserkreislauf mit dem Energiekreislauf. Die Komponenten des Wasser- und Energiekreislaufs stehen für jeden Standort in einem dynamischen Gleichgewicht. Mit der Ausführung von Bauvorhaben wird in das Gleichgewicht eingegriffen. Entscheidend für die Beurteilung der Folgen für die Umwelt sind die langfristigen Auswirkungen. Diese können durch den Vergleich langjähriger mittlerer Jahresbilanzen vor und nach der Bebauung aufgezeigt werden. Bei der Genehmigung neuer Baugebiete müssen diese Auswirkungen ein Entscheidungskriterium werden, wenn der Eingriff in den Naturhaushalt so gering wie möglich gehalten werden soll. Nur die Betrachtung von einzelnen Starkregenereignissen ist nicht ausreichen. Von der Versiegelung der Oberflächen ist die Verdunstung in der Jahresbilanz stärker als die anderen Komponenten des Wasserkreislaufs betroffen. Trotzdem werden bisher bei der Planung neuer Baugebiete hauptsächlich der Oberflächenabfluss und in zunehmendem Maße die Versickerung untersucht. Die Reduzierung der Verdunstung wird zumeist vernachlässigt. Ursache für diese Reduzierung ist die fehlende Zwischenspeicherung des Wassers. Das wirkt sich direkt auf den Energiekreislauf aus, da die nicht für den Verdunstungsprozess benötigte Energie in den bodennahen Schichten bleibt. Im ersten Teil werden die Einflussfaktoren auf die Verdunstung erläutert und ein Überblick über die Berechnungsmethoden gegeben. Im zweiten Teil werden die Oberflächen unbebauter und bebauter Gebiete systematisiert und in Landnutzungsarten unterteilt. Für diese werden die hydrologischen und energetischen Eigenschaften und deren Auswirkungen auf den Wasser- und Energiehaushalt erläutert und die mittleren Jahresbilanzen berechnet. Die tatsächliche Verdunstung wird auf der Basis der Gras-Referenzverdunstung und der Landnutzungsart ermittelt. Ausgangswerte sind langjährige meteorologische Jahresmittelwerte. Die Verdunstung von Wasserflächen wird mit dem Temperaturgleichgewichtsverfahren berechnet. Mit den vorgestellten Verfahren können Einzugsgebiete von Bebauungsplangröße untersucht werden. Es werden Lösungen zur Beibehaltung eines möglichst hohen Verdunstungsanteils in bebauten Gebieten vorgeschlagen. Ansatzpunkt ist dabei stets die Zwi-schenspeicherung des Regenwassers. Am wirkungsvollsten sind dabei Dachbegrünungen, Wasserflächen und Bäume. Das Verfahren wird an zwei Beispielen angewandt - die Erschließung eines Industriegebietes auf einer vorher land- und forstwirtschaftlich genutzten Fläche in Treuen im Vogtland und der Neubau einer Untergrundstation im Zentrum der schwedischen Großstadt Malmö. / Evapotranspiration could be called the air-conditioner of the earth. It is connecting the water and the energy cycle. The components of the water and energy cycle are related to each other in a dynamic system. Urban development is interfering with this system. Changes of the water and energy balance resulting from construction can be calculated on the basis of long-standing annual average balances and compared with the balance in the catchment area before construction. Before granting building permission, the impacts on the water and energy balance should be evaluated in order to minimize interference with nature. Causing long-term impacts must be considered beforehand in planning. Coping only with design storm events does not suffice. Evaporation is more intensely affected by the paving of streets and squares and by constructing buildings then the other components of the water cycle. However, up to now, in the process of design and planning permission of new development areas, the focus is on runoff and, increasingly, on infiltration of rainwater. The large reduction of evaporation is mostly neglected. The reason for the reduction is the lack of buffer storage for water. Thus directly affects the energy cycle. Energy which is not used for evaporation remains in the near-ground layers. In the first part, the factors influencing evaporation are explained and an overview over the methods of calculation is given. In the second part all surfaces of urban and natural areas are systematized and subdivided into types of land use. The hydrological and energy properties as well as their effects on the water and energy balance are elucidated for this types of land use and their average annual balances are calculated. Solutions are presented for retaining in urban areas an evaporation rate as high as possible. Starting point hereby is always the buffer storage of rainwater. Most effective measures are the installation of rooftop greening, open water surfaces and trees. The calculations are performed on the basis of the FAO reference evaporation and the types of land use. Starting values are long-stand average annual meteorologic values. The evaporation of water surfaces is calculated with the temperature balance model. The method is applied to two examples showing the impacts of land use change on water and energy balance: the development of agricultural and forest land in Saxony into an industrial development site, and the impact of the construction of an underground station in the centre of the City Malmö, Sweden.

Sverige har som mål att år 2040 ha helt förnybar elproduktion och därmed utredsalternativ som till exempel vind- och solenergi till elförsörjning där främstsolenergin har potential för mindre och medelstora system för privatpersoner ochföretag. Som en del i denna utveckling har bostadsrättsföreningen Stenbär i Gävlebörjat intresserat sig för att installera solcellssystem, vilket blev grunden för dettaprojekt. Målet med den här utredningen var att utreda områdets potential för ensolcellsanläggning samt hur många kilowattimmar denna skulle kunna genereraper år.Inledningsvis var intentionen att utföra simuleringarna i IDA ICE 4.8, men underförberedelserna inför arbetet uppmärksammades ett webinar på Youtube där IDAICE 5.0 beta presenterades. Equa Simulations AB, vilka har utvecklatprogrammet, förklarade där uppdateringar och styrkor med den nya versionen. Iden nya versionen finns nu möjlighet att upprätta och simulera mer komplexasolcellsystem samt få ut mer korrekta och mer detaljerade resultat. På så vis bleväven en mindre analys av IDA ICE 5.0 beta en del av det här examensarbetet.Mätningar av husens höjd och längd samt avstånd till omkringliggande skogutfördes på plats och takens lutning beräknades till 14,5°. Ritningar över områdettilldelades av uppdragsgivaren och klimatdata återfanns i mjukvaran. En kartbildfrån Google maps behandlades i Photoshop till grund för modellering i IDA ICE.Byggnaderna delades sedan upp i två kategorier, sydlig och öst/västlig riktning.Inga moduler placerade i nordlig riktning simulerades då det inte förväntades varalönsamt. Solcellerna placerades i två lutningar, 14,5° som är takens lutning och45° vilken är den lutning som används av Energimyndigheten vid deras tester avsolcellssystem. Jämförelsen av taklutningarna visade dock endast en skillnad på2,5 %. Då all information om byggnaderna ej varit tillgänglig har områdetsenergibehov, utifrån schablonvärden, beräknats till 64 kWh/m2 och totalt522 MWh/år. Detta för att kunna ställa den i proportion mot solcellsystemetspotentiella elproduktion, vilken i simuleringsresultaten uppgick till 554 MWh/år.Systemkostnaden för det fullstora modellerade systemet landade på 10 600 kronorper installerad kilowattpeak respektive 2 025 kronor per installerad kvadratmetersolpanel. Om återbetalningstiden sätts till 10 år ger det en systemkostnad på 1.17kronor per producerad kilowattimme. Undersökningen visar att potential finns attproducera en stor mängd solel i området. Då systemet producerar ett överskottunder sommarhalvåret finns även möjlighet att sälja el. / Sweden’s energy policy objectives aim to have strictly renewable energyproduction by the year 2040. Alternatives such as wind- and solar power aretherefore implemented as alternatives to fossil fuel where solar power has thebiggest potential for small and medium sized systems for private houses andsmaller companies. As a part of this development homeowner’s association BRFStenbär i Gävle have considered installing PV-systems in their residential areaand that became the foundation for this master thesis. The goal with this projectwas to investigate the residential areas potential for solar powered electricityproduction and how much energy it may produce per year.The simulations were initially meant to be made in IDA ICE 4.8, but during thepreparations a webinar on Youtube was found where the beta version of IDA ICE5.0 was presented. In the presentation Equa Simulations AB, who are thedevelopers of the programme, explained the updates and new features with thenew version. The new version includes possibilities to model and build morecomplex PV-systems and receive more correct and detailed results. Hence, asmaller analysis of IDA ICE 5.0 beta became a part of this master thesis.Measurements of the building’s height and length and the distance to thesurrounding trees were made on site. Drawings of the residential area wereprovided by the client and the climate data were already installed in the software.A map of the area was downloaded from Google maps, modified in a pictureediting programme and used as a base for the modelling in IDA ICE. Thebuildings were divided into two categories, south and east/west orientation. NoPV-systems were placed and simulated in northern orientation since it was notexpected to be profitable.The solar panels were placed in two different angles, 14.5° which is the angle ofthe roofs, and 45° which is the angle used by the Swedish energy agency for theirtesting of PV-systems. The comparisons only showed a deviation of 2.5 %. Allinformation about the building’s energy needs were not available, so fromstandard values their needs were calculated to be 64 kWh/m2 and in total522 MWh/year. This was made to enable comparisons of their needs with thepotential energy production, which amounted to 554 MWh/year. The system costof the total PV-system amounted to 10 600 SEK/installed kWp and 2 025 SEK/m2installed PV-panel. If the repayment period is set to 10 year the system costbecomes 1.17 SEK/kWh. As the system produces more electricity during summerthan needed there is also a possibility to sell the excess to the grid.

In this work, various topics regarding (urban) boundary simulations for a city situated in the alps will be discussed. First of all, we will present novel parameterization adopted to take into account the effect of mitigation strategies, such as rooftop Photovoltaic Panels and Green Roofs, on the urban environment, and their effect on average temperature and energy consumption by buildings. Secondly, a new turbulence closure, that adopts a diagnostic equation for dissipation rate, and then independent on mixing length scales, will be introduced. The new turbulence closure, implemented into the WRF model, has been coupled with multi-layer urban parameterization schemes and compared with high-resolution CFD and LES simulations.

Agent-based simulation models are an important tool to study the effectiveness of policy interventions on the uptake of residential photovoltaic systems by households, a cornerstone of sustainable energy system transition. In order for these models to be trustworthy, they require rigorous validation. However, the canonical approach of validating emulation models through calibration with parameters that minimize the difference of model results and reference data fails when the model is subject to many stochastic influences. The residential photovoltaic diffusion model PVact features numerous stochastic influences that prevent straightforward optimization-driven calibration. From the analysis of the results of a case-study on the cities Dresden and Leipzig (Germany) based on three error metrics (mean average error, root mean square error and cumulative average error), this research identifies a parameter range where stochastic fluctuations exceed differences between results of different parameterization and a minimization-based calibration approach fails. Based on this observation, an approach is developed that aggregates model behavior across multiple simulation runs and parameter combinations to compare results between scenarios representing different future developments or policy interventions of interest.

The Apollo Project investigates the recent establishment of numerous private educational institutions in the inner city of Pretoria. It identifies the need for adequate urban educational facilities and explores the use of existing buildings as schools. An existing educational cluster is identified at the eastern edge of the inner city, defined by Church, Du Toit and Pretorius Streets, and Nelson Mandela Drive. This city block and the ones surrounding it contain numerous primary, secondary and tertiary educational institutions in a predominant industrial/automotive precinct. An urban design framework is proposed for the precinct. It is envisioned that the precinct may be developed as a mixed-use urban educational campus. Within the existing city block and the urban framework proposal, the Apollo Centre, located on the corner of Church-and Du Toit Street, is selected for an adaptive re-use intervention. The proposed use is an urban primary school. The Apollo project investigates current pedagogical trends, which informed a concept that is largely defined by the idea of contextual learning within a vertical structure. Transparency and integration of education with the urban environment is at the core of the proposal. The traditional notion of horizontal education is explored in a vertical manner. The existing structure is analyzed and a position taken regarding the adaptive re-use process that informs the design. Precedent Studies include existing schools within the inner city of Pretoria as well as local and international schools. The process of converting the Apollo Centre into a primary educational facility, that shares its resources on a cross-programming basis, is explored in a series of proposals. The numerous explorations are considered in their various aspects, as well as their relationship to the whole, which then leads to a final design proposal. Key areas of the proposed Apollo Primary School will finally be resolved technically. A conclusion summarizes the author’s thoughts on the result of the project. / Mini Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Architecture / unrestricted