The Design of New Prosperity and Better Livesa Workshop for a“Food-Shelter-Clothes” Birth to Birth System Cittadellarte, Biella, Italy (15-18 October 2010)

A Building Scientist’s Prospective

Dr Marcella UcciThe Bartlett School of Graduate Studies, Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment

University College London

Understanding, Challenging and Shaping the Built Environment

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My Background

• Architecture degree (Napoli, Italy);

• MSc in Environmental Design and Engineering, and PhD in Indoor Air Quality and Energy, from Bartlett (UCL);

• Lecturer for MSc in Facility and Environment Management, and in Environmental Design and Engineering, Bartlett School of Graduate Studies, UCL

Research Interests

• Research themes: interactions and tensions between sustainable building design/operation and occupants’ needs (comfort, health and wellbeing);

• Expertise: – Building monitoring and modelling, – Health impact of buildings (especially biological such as

dust mites), – Thermal comfort studies, – Operational aspect of buildings.

Shelter, Clothes and Built Environment

The contradictions of HVACs

Clothing and Thermal Comfort

Clothing, buildings and thermal comfort

Temperature Wars: Savings vs Comfort,

IFMA Survey, 2009

In 2005 the CoolBiz campaign was introduced in Japan:

•All the Government building could not be air-conditioned below 28 oC,

•Strongly encouraging a change in business dress code - mostly focused on menswear, with the removal of jacket and tie.

The Japanese Government has also introduced a WarmBiz campaign, with an upper limit of 20 oC and a move towards changes in business dress codes.

•In June 2007, China also established that Government buildings could not be air-conditioning below 26 oC.

•In some Swiss cantons the permission to install air cooling units is only given if thermal simulations show that the indoor temperature will be above 26 oC for a significant amount of time.

•Other countries have joined too, such as Spain and South Korea

CoolBiz in Japan

The Japan’s Ministry of the Environment estimated that

• In 2005 the campaign resulted in a 460,000-ton reduction in CO2 emission, the equivalent volume of CO2 emitted by about 1 million households for one month.

• The results for 2006 were even better, resulting in an estimated 1.14 million-ton reduction in CO2 emission, the equivalent to the CO2 emissions by about 2.5 million households for one month.

Workplace dress codes% wearing business/smart dress at work

% agree workplace/business attire makes you more productive

Reuters/Ipsos Workplace Attire Poll, July 2010

Dress codes

UK survey (DWG, 2010) found that:

• 29% of respondents relaxed their dress code in the summer months.

• However 34% of respondents reported having to deal with employees dressing inappropriately and

• 25% of respondents had also received complaints from other employees or third parties in relation to an employee's dress.

• 90% of respondents believed that there are clear benefits to having a dress code policy.

Example of Innovative Clothing Design

Air-Conditioned ClothingTwo small fans are fixed to the right and left sides of the jacket around the waist. This draws air into the jacket and causes sweat to vaporize, through which process heat is dissipated …

http://www.meadownics.co.jp/English%20HP/Eng_top.html

It’s potentially more efficient to cool/heat people, than cool/heat the air in a room!

Smart Textiles: Phase Change Materials

PCMs are materials that can absorb, store and release heat while the material changes from solid to liquid and back to solid. This is known as a phase change. Water changing from solid (ice) to liquid is an example of this phenomenon. During these phase changes large amounts of heat are absorbed or released.

Outlast® http://www.outlast.com/index.php?id=1&L=0

Energy and Fashion: Global Cool Campaigns

Heat stress: food and agriculture

Protecting Livelihoods: Heat Stress and Climate Change

“The potential health risks and worker productivity reductions due to climate change are substantial. The lack of attention until recently may well be due to the fact that this is mostly a problem in low and middle-income tropical countries where climate change impacts during this century will be prominent and air conditioning is not widely available, while in high-income countries air conditioning is already very common in workplaces.”

Kjellstrom T. et al., (2009), Workplace heat stress, health and productivity – an increasing challenge for low and middle income countries during climate change

Summary

• There is a close link between clothing and buildings. e.g. need for shelter, comfort and wellbeing.

• Greater synergies could be explored in the design/use of clothes and buildings, to: – Mitigate climate change (less energy for

heating/cooling). – Adapt to climate change (greater temperatures)– Protect the comfort, wellbeing, livelihoods and

social/personal identities of people in and around buildings.