Conservation
I am very struck that Section 4.1 on Climate Change in 'National Risk Assessment 2017' is focused on atmospheric pollution without only one brief mention of flooding. No mention is made of the vast impact that a permanent rise in sea levels will have on this country: this is surely one of the greatest 'locked-in' impacts of climate change.
I am very struck that Section 4.2 - 4.4 in 'National Risk Assessment 2017' refer to energy and infrastructure and housing but not to energy-efficiency & its complex relationship with heritage. The Irish Government's National Risk Assessment 2017 can be found here: <http://www.publicpolicy.ie/national-risk-assessment-2017/>. (As architect of Ireland's first certified super-low energy retrofit of a building (the Monkstown EnerPHit) and manager in a school of architecture (DIT) that is implementing cutting edg
The Irish Government's National Risk Assessment 2017 can be found here: <http://www.publicpolicy.ie/national-risk-assessment-2017/>. I believe shared, inclusive cultural values, a clear philosophical position, and an understanding of the past are essential societal 'tools' in countering future shocks. I found no reference to societal values in the 'National Risk Assessment 2017'.
In 2013 the Global Buildings Performance Network dug into the question of what should we call the super-low energy retrofit or renovations we need to carry out on our existing building stock in the Western World. GBPN knew North Americans favoured 'deep retrofit' and Europeans 'deep renovation' but was it just a name change or were there other definable differences? The conclusions can be downloaded here. (https://tinyurl.com/gvlf9ed).
A paper of my ex-colleague Benat Arregi and I was published just before Christmas in the 2016 edition of Sustainble Design in Applied Research SDAR* Journal (jointly published by DIT and CIBSE Ireland). The title of the paper is 'Hygrothermal Risk Evaluation for the Retrofit of a Typical Solid-walled Dwelling': it can be downloaded here: http://arrow.dit.ie/sdar/vol4/iss1/3/
The assembly that is most hygrothermally stressed is the only one which would be grant aided: cause for thought surely?
On Friday, 24 June 2016 the winners of 2016 RIAI Architecture Awards were announced at an awards ceremony in Royal Hospital Kilmainham. It was a great night and there was a stellar cast of buildings and architects presented. I'm proud to say that 'Technical Paper 15' received a commendation in the Best Research category.
“Technical Paper 15 - Assessing risks in insulation retrofits using hygrothermal software tools - Heat and moisture transport in internally insulated stone walls” originally commissioned by Historic Scotland (a branch of the Scottish Government, now restructured as Historic Environment Scotland) was launched in September 21st 2015 in Dublin. It is intended to be a significant support to building professionals and building fabric consultants engaging with the topics of:
1) Applied building physics relevant to solid wall construction;
2) Hygrothermal risk assessment;
ICOMOS Scientific Symposium
“Energy & Sustainability – Strive for sensible & Intelligent Energy Conservation”
Most Governments in the developed World signed up to the Kyoto Protocol and agreed to reduce their Energy Consumption and CO² emissions by 20% by 2020 based on 1990 levels. The majority of Governments have only recently commenced any meaningful initiatives to achieve these goals.
