Many colleagues in the field feel frustrated when trying to improve the materials performance of buildings: the lobbying and framing of materials is huge, blurring a real discussion on what materials with best performance and lowest impact should be applied.… Continue Reading
Currently we are deeply concerned with the energy transition. However, our main problem is not energy, but material. There is enough energy without us having to exhaust it or without having nasty side effects such as global warming. Think of… Continue Reading
The Trias Energetica is one of the generic guidelines that has a wide adoption in the Netherlands since the nineties: it states that, in order of importance: 1 reduce energy demand, 2 use renewable energy 3 use fossil fuels as… Continue Reading
In principle, its impossible to create a 0-embodied energy house, energy will always be needed. However, in the present time 0-embodied energy it is understandable as 0-fossil embodied energy, exa house exclusively based on renewable energy. 0-embodied energy, if that… Continue Reading
It is remarkable that the kg/m2 approach for buildings , as described in the previous article, is nearly completely absent. That is, nowadays. More then 100 years ago it was regularly used a a criterion in architectural competitions, the lower… Continue Reading
Strange, really, that calculating in kWh seems normal for everyone. Especially in this time, because kWh does say nothing about the origin of the energy, which can be anything, from labor, wind turbines, or coal to nuclear energy. Currently it… Continue Reading
(master-classes on this topic and others, see on the right) ” What is Circular Building really?” , a Dutch journalist twittered, being confused about the debates going on. Its not clear yet, apparently, so lets give it a try. The… Continue Reading
In the previous article, in which the energy and mass conversions are described at different moments in the flow of a cycle, the role of biomass as driving energy for a resource cycle was underexposed. But let me be clear… Continue Reading
Policies, (financial-) economy , technology, religion, and even science to some level, are all human thought up constructs, that are not grounded in physical reality, but in human perception of life and how to live it. There is no natural… Continue Reading
Last week, was a week with some Aha moments, and forced to rethink a few issues. Among these a continued discussion in The Netherlands with Jan Willem van de Groep, the passionate protagonist of Nill Onthe Meter retrofits (NOM). Nothing… Continue Reading