Alex Serrano

Esta investigación, hace una revisión bibliográfica sobre la eficiencia energética en las edificaciones residenciales, en el que se considera el consumo energético, políticas y estrategias de eficiencia energética, normativa internacional y métodos de evaluación sustentable más influyentes, que han surgido con el fin de mitigar el impacto ambiental y reducir el consumo energético, manteniendo las condiciones óptimas de confort. En base a la categoría " Energía " de los métodos Leed, Breeam, Verde, Casbee y Qualitel, este trabajo tiene por objeto identificar los requerimientos de evaluación que mayor incidencia presentan en el consumo energético de las edificaciones residenciales, a fin de que se pueda analizar su desempeño. Los requerimientos identificados podrán aplicarse en diferentes localidades previo un análisis de los parámetros geográficos, culturales, económicos y sociales. Palabras Clave: Eficiencia energética, energía, certificación energética, confort térmico, viviendas sustentables. Abstract: This investigation is a review on the state of art about worldwide energy consumption in residential buildings and analyzes policies, energy efficiency strategies and the most influential sustainable methods of evaluation as: Leed, Breeam, Verde, Casbee and Qualitel, that have emerged in order to mitigate the environmental impact and reduce energy consumption maintaining optimum comfort conditions. Based on the category " Energy " certification methods, it has been identified the variables that have the greatest impact on housing energy consumption, so that it can be assessed the energy performance in every aspect. Among the most important we have: thermal envelope, lighting, water heating, appliances, HVAC, renewable energy, and others.

Novelty seeking, the willingness to explore novel stimuli, can have important fitness consequences. The neurotransmitter dopamine has been linked to this behavior in studies on lab animals including rodents and fish; however, few studies have investigated this association in individuals from natural populations. Trinidadian guppies (Poecilia reticulata) show variation in willingness to explore novel objects and environments, and females tend to show a preference for novel males. In this study, we asked whether we could enhance interest in several types of novel stimuli in lab-reared, female Trinidadian guppies by administering methylphenidate hydrochloride, a stimulant known to increase dopamine levels. We scored their responses to three different types of novelty: novel environments, objects, and males. Treated females showed enhanced exploratory behavior: they traversed relatively more inner squares of the novel environment (open-field test); they spent more time inspecting a novel object; and they showed greater interest in the second male guppy to which they were exposed than control fish. We also found a positive association between our metrics of exploration in the open field and novel object tests. Our other assays suggest that these differences were not the result of increased activity or reduced levels of stress. Therefore, our results suggest that dopamine plays a role in the responsiveness of guppies to novelty; this opens the door to studies of behavioral mechanisms in natural populations.