It is common in construction to normalize per m2 floor: such as e.g. energy, material, ventilation needs, or even costs and investments. But when it comes to the national requirements for housing in fact you should not calculate per m2… Continue Reading
In the agricultural project that I described in my previous contribution [1], which was initially about the EROI, the energy return on energy investment, I subsequently calculated the effects back to land’input’. But then the thought soon arised: would is… Continue Reading
Storage (binding) of CO2 in wood/timber is a hot issue at the moment*. But how should that be calculated really? Before I go into more detail, a few preliminary remarks: (the part on ‘calculating’ has been later added, and ‘CO2’… Continue Reading
Life has an end, but is there also an ‘end of life’, for products and buildings? Which is frequently used in science, like in building evaluations calculating with a maximum life span, but seems weird. It is understandable in trade,… Continue Reading
Researchers and other involved parties are regularly at odds with each other: does buying an electric car compared with a fuel driven car reduce CO2 emissions or not. A few weeks ago, another such investigation was in the news. [1]… Continue Reading
When can we expect a real CO2 lockdown, some wondered, after reading my previous comtributions. Good question. Months ago, someone also asked how I saw the future in 20 years, following an article about predictions from 20 years ago[1]. That… Continue Reading
Nitrogen levels are too high, as are levels of particulate matter, too much manure, CO2 emissions continue to rise, as does methane emissions, biodiversity drops dramatically, the agricultural land is exhausted, natural gas fields collapsing, heat waves of 40 degrees,… Continue Reading
This is an extended version of a previous post on linked in, which had a lot of reactions.. {april 2019} When it comes to Embodied Energy, we are used to normalize this over the lifespan of a building (… Continue Reading
Since it looks as if we are going to introduce the climate measures for buildings mainly via municipalities or cities, I have recovered some of my older research material about urban sustainability, developed when I worked at Wageningen University. The… Continue Reading
The Tetra Materia (see previous article) approach might be useful for practice, its not the whole story. It guides direction, but does not set targets. And our system has an overall limit as well. Materials, even renewables, come exclusively from… Continue Reading