Energy use, indoor temperature and possible adaptation strategies for air-conditioned office buildings in face of global warming

This paper discusses and summarises a recent systematic study on the implication of global warming on air conditioned office buildings in Australia. Four areas are covered, including analysis of historical weather data, generation of future weather data for the impact study of global warming, projection of building performance under various global warming scenarios, and evaluation of various adaptation strategies under 2070 high global warming conditions. Overall, it is found that depending on the assumed future climate scenarios and the location considered, the increase of total building energy use for the sample Australian office building may range from 0.4 to 15.1%. When the increase of annual average outdoor temperature exceeds 2 °C, the risk of overheating will increase significantly. However, the potential overheating problem could be completely eliminated if internal load density is significantly reduced.

Heat reject recovery in solar air conditioning

This study demonstrates the possibility of using an absorption chiller to produce chilled water for air conditioning, and at the same time recover the rejected heat producing domestic hot water. The absorption chiller considered for this application has been sized to suit a standard household and uses a solution of ammonia and water running on hot water at a temperature ranging from 80 - 120°C produced by thermal solar panels. The system consists of five main components: generator, rectifier, condenser, evaporator and absorber, and is divided in two sections at two different pressures. The section at higher pressure includes the generator, rectifier and condenser whereas the section at lower pressure includes the evaporator and the absorber. Heat in this type of system is usually rejected to the environment from the condenser, rectifier and absorber through a cooling tower or air cooler exchanger. In this paper we describe how to recover this heat to create domestic hot water by providing a quantitative evaluation of the amount of energy recovered by the proposed system, if used in the Australian region.

Impact of global warming on the design and performance of air-conditioned office buildings in Australia

As global warming entails new conditions for the built environment, the thermal behavior of existing air conditioned office buildings, which are typically designed based on current weather data, may also change. Through building computer simulations, this paper evaluates the impact of global warming on the design and performance of air-conditioned office buildings in Australia, including the increased cooling loads imposed by potential global warming and probable indoor temperature increases due to possible undersized air-conditioning system, as well as the possible change in energy use and CO2 emission of Australian office buildings. It is found that the existing office buildings would generally be able to adapt to the increasing warmth of 2030 year Low and High scenarios projections and 2070 year Low scenario projection. However, for the 2070 year High scenario, the study indicates that the existing office buildings, in all capital cities except for Hobart, will suffer from overheating problems. If the energy source is assumed to be the electricity, it is found that in comparison with current weather scenario, the increased energy uses would translate into the increase of CO2 emissions by 0 to 34.6 kg CO2 equivalent/m2, varying with different future weather scenarios and with different locations.

Eco-crime and air pollution

This chapter applies emerging discourses of eco-crime and green criminology to issues of air pollution. Of course there are various forms of pollution, but this chapter will focus on the contamination and regulation of 'the air we breathe'.

Crime is in the air : air pollution and regulation in the UK

This latest briefing by Professor Reece Walters in the What is crime? series, draws attention to an area of harm that is often absent from criminological debate. He highlights the human costs of air pollution and failed attempts to adequately regulate and control such harm. Arguing for a cross disciplinary ‘eco-crime’ narrative, the author calls for greater understanding of the far-reaching consequences of air pollution which could set in train changes which may lead to a ‘more robust and meaningful system of justice’. Describing current arrangements in place to control and regulate air pollution, Walters draws attention to the lack of neutrality in current arrangements and the bias ‘towards the economic imperatives of free trade over and above the centrality of environmental protection’. While attention is often given to direct and individualised instances of ‘crime’, the serious consequences of air pollution are frequently neglected. The negative effects of pollution on health and well-being are often borne by people already experiencing a range of other disadvantages. In a global and national context, it is often the poor who are affected most. Ultimately, political and economic imperatives have historically helped to shape legal and regulatory regimes. Whether this is an inherent flaw in current systems or something that can be overcome in favour of dealing with more wide-ranging harms is an area that requires further discussion and debate.

Minimizing information leakage of tree-based RFID authentication protocols using alternate tree-walking

The privacy of efficient tree-based RFID authentication protocols is heavily dependent on the branching factor on the top layer. Indefinitely increasing the branching factor, however, is not a viable option. This paper proposes the alternate-tree walking scheme as well as two protocols to circumvent this problem. The privacy of the resulting protocols is shown to be comparable to that of linear-time protocols, where there is no leakage of information, whilst reducing the computational load of the database by one-third of what is required of tree-based protocols during authentication. We also identify and address a limitation in quantifying privacy in RFID protocols.

Is –110°C cold air cryotherapy effective in improving post-exercise recovery in sports people?

Whole body cryotherapy (WBC) involves repeatedly exposing an individual, dressed in minimal clothing, to extremely cold air (–100 to –130°C) for a short period. One specific claim that is often made is that WBC is effective in treating exercise-induced muscle soreness and damage. However, our results suggest that two bouts of WBC were ineffective in improving recovery from eccentric exercise when administered 24 hours after eccentric exercise.

On the oscillatory behavior of transient Rayleigh Benard convection of air for 2D channel flow at moderate Rayleigh numbers

Unsteady numerical simulation of Rayleigh Benard convection heat transfer from a 2D channel is performed. The oscillatory behavior is attributed to recirculation of ascending and descending flows towards the core of the channel producing organized rolled motions. Variation of the parameters such as Reynolds number, channel outlet flow area and inclination of the channel are considered. Increasing Reynolds number (for a fixed Rayleigh number), delays the generation of vortices. The reduction in the outflow area leads to the later and the less vortex generation. As the time progresses, more vortices are generated, but the reinforced mean velocity does not let the eddies to enter the core of the channel. Therefore, they attach to the wall and reduce the heat transfer area. The inclination of the channel (both positive and negative) induces the generated vortices to get closer to each other and make an enlarged vortex.

Particulate air pollution and cardiorespiratory hospital admissions in a temperate Australian city: A case-crossover analysis

Although ambient air pollution exposure has been linked with poor health in many parts of the world, no previous study has investigated the effect on morbidity in the city of Adelaide, South Australia. To explore the association between particulate matter (PM) and hospitalisations, including respiratory and cardiovascular admissions in Adelaide, South Australia. Methods: For the study period September 2001 to October 2007, daily counts of all-cause, cardiovascular and respiratory hospital admissions were collected, as well as daily air quality data including concentrations of particulates, ozone and nitrogen dioxide. Visibility codes for presentweather conditions identified dayswhen airborne dust or smoke was observed. The associations between PM and hospitalisations were estimated using timestratified case-crossover analyses controlling for covariates including temperature, relative humidity, other pollutants, day of the week and public holidays. Mean PM10 concentrations were higher in the warm season, whereas PM2.5 concentrations were higher in the cool season. Hospital admissions were associated with PM10 in the cool season and with PM2.5 in both seasons. No significant effect of PM on all-age respiratory admissions was detected, however cardiovascular admissions were associated with both PM2.5 and PM10 in the cool season with the highest effects for PM2.5 (4.48%, 95% CI: 0.74%, 8.36% increase per 10 μg/m3 increase in PM2.5). These findings suggest that despite the city's relatively low levels of air pollution, PMconcentrations are associated with increases in morbidity in Adelaide. Further studies are needed to investigate the sources of PM which may be contributing to the higher cool season effects.

The effect of very small air gaps on small field dosimetry

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of very small air gaps (less than 1 mm) on the dosimetry of small photon fields used for stereotactic treatments. Measurements were performed with optically stimulated luminescent dosimeters (OSLDs) for 6 MV photons on a Varian 21iX linear accelerator with a Brainlab μMLC attachment for square field sizes down to 6 mm × 6 mm. Monte Carlo simulations were performed using EGSnrc C++ user code cavity. It was found that the Monte Carlo model used in this study accurately simulated the OSLD measurements on the linear accelerator. For the 6 mm field size, the 0.5 mm air gap upstream to the active area of the OSLD caused a 5.3 % dose reduction relative to a Monte Carlo simulation with no air gap. A hypothetical 0.2 mm air gap caused a dose reduction > 2 %, emphasizing the fact that even the tiniest air gaps can cause a large reduction in measured dose. The negligible effect on an 18 mm field size illustrated that the electronic disequilibrium caused by such small air gaps only affects the dosimetry of the very small fields. When performing small field dosimetry, care must be taken to avoid any air gaps, as can be often present when inserting detectors into solid phantoms. It is recommended that very small field dosimetry is performed in liquid water. When using small photon fields, sub-millimetre air gaps can also affect patient dosimetry if they cannot be spatially resolved on a CT scan. However the effect on the patient is debatable as the dose reduction caused by a 1 mm air gap, starting out at 19% in the first 0.1 mm behind the air gap, decreases to < 5 % after just 2 mm, and electronic equilibrium is fully re-established after just 5 mm.

Smart grid-demand side response model for optimization air conditioning

The growing demand of air-conditioning is one of the largest contributors to Australia’s overall electricity consumption. This has started to create peak load supply problems for some electricity utilities particularly in Queensland. This research aimed to develop consumer demand side response model to assist electricity consumers to mitigate peak demand on the electrical network. The model developed demand side response model to allow consumers to manage and control air conditioning for every period, it is called intelligent control. This research investigates optimal response of end-user toward electricity price for several cases in the near future, such as: no spike, spike and probability spike price cases. The results indicate the potential of the scheme to achieve energy savings, reducing electricity bills (costs) to the consumer and targeting best economic performance for electrical generation distribution and transmission.

Impact of prescribed burning on urban air quality : a case study

For fuel management and/or ecological reasons prescribed burnings are conducted each year across Australia. Smoke from prescribed burnings could be the major source of air pollution in urban environment during the period of intensive prescribed burning. To investigate the impact of prescribed burning on air quality and the characteristics of prescribed burning particles, field measurements were conducted during the end period of a prescribed burning event in September 2011, Brisbane, Australia.

Monitoring charged particles in indoor air using a neutral cluster and air ion spectrometer

While there are sources of ions both outdoors and indoors, ventilation systems can introduce as well as remove ions from the air. As a result, indoor ion concentrations are not directly related to air exchange rates in buildings. In this study, we attempt to relate these quantities with the view of understanding how charged particles may be introduced into indoor spaces.