Nelson Brito

A project for the creation and implementation of a distance-learning course on Indoor Environmental Comfort in Buildings (IECB) is presented. This course resulted from a request by Ordem dos Engenheiros (Portu-guese engineering professional body) to the University of Coimbra. It was based on the Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) course of the Master in Energy for Sustainability and PhD in Sustainable Energy Systems of the University of Coimbra, coordinated by the first author. Jointly with the support of the Distance Education Service of the University of Coimbra, using as a starting point the existing contents of a formal discipline, the teaching methodologies and a set of activities were developed to implement a distance-learning course with a strong e-learning component by the students. Diversified strategies, using the existing platform running on Moodle, such as webinars, virtual laboratories, remote access labs, discussion forums and synchronous sessions, were tested to ensure a dynamic and interested engagement of the students along the course.

To meet the targets for a Low Carbon Economy in 2050, all new and existing buildings will have to significantly reduce their energy consumption, and/or progressively transition towards low carbon energy supplies. Although the EPBD-" recast " has set targets for new buildings and future definition of " cost effective thresholds " for existing ones, the work developed so far in IEA EBC Annex 56 shows that deep renovation actions still face significant barriers. Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) already evolved strategies and methodologies for their native hunting ground, industry and large scale service buildings, where high energy consumptions yield acceptable paybacks, decisions are centralized and risks known. Although these methods are still being perfected for assessment, design, validation and optimization, the competitor's population is growing and the fattest preys scarcer: this expected curve of growth and decline will surely hamper new investments, and...

Although a great majority of solar thermal systems is designed for new construction, assuming insulated boundaries and efficient acclimatization systems, the achievement of the Energy Performance for Buildings Directive goals is highly dependent of retrofitting actions in the existing buildings, 98% of the built area. In fact existing buildings in city centers, in particular those in “historical centers”, face great limitations that require active approaches to compensate the inherent impossibility to change buildings’ orientation and frequent difficulty to add insulation to the interior or exterior boundaries. In this paper an ongoing case study is used to identify the potential advantages of using solar cooling strategies to maximize solar collectors design for domestic hot water (DHW) production and eventual acclimatization purposes in winter. The evaluated system combines flat plate collectors with a small cooling adsorption unit to dissipate excess heat in summer and mid-season...

This article focuses on the historical background which lead to the implementation of an EUA programme in a European country; a programme designed for developing countries. To that end, we seek to discern, how 1980's Managing Energy and Resource Effcient Cities (MEREC) methodology has perpetuated in urban planning and architecture practice as well as in the discourses of its stakeholders. Guarda is a medieval border town (1050m) in the hinterland of Portugal, far away from the impact of metropolitan areas, such as Lisbon or Porto. Guarda kept a balanced urban growth over the years, but demography and key sectors of the economy changed profoundly after the Portuguese democratic revolution (1974). Serving as an early experience towards city resilience and sustained development, MEREC was a programme developed by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Inspired by the work of Richard Meier (1974), MEREC answered to the growing concerns triggered by the 1970s energy crisis and its consequences. Amid a rapid urbanisation and population growth, increased energy costs and pressure on natural resources, MEREC targeted cities in developing countries which could adopt preventive approaches towards resource effciency. However, instead of concentrating its efforts on metropolitan areas, MEREC aimed at the development of secondary cities, where most of the growth had yet to come. From 1983 to 1985, MEREC established a comprehensive planning process, involving Guarda Municipality, central and regional agencies and the know-how of Portuguese universities and private consultants. MEREC identiied the city's problems in water supply, urban waste, urban management, changes in local building materials used and scattered urbanisation. Several of these problems had been overcome with the project's completion, the development of Guarda's master plan, research technology, and awareness campaigns. USAID-MEREC advisors considered the results achieved in Guarda as rewarding. Architect Maria Castro (1989) points out the clarity achieved in the decision-making processes for urban planning and management during the MEREC programme. However, as she notes, discourses and institutional support changed after MEREC. MEREC's methodology was somehow thrown away, suggesting a lack of planning culture among local political powers, unwilling to redirect resources. MEREC happened ten years after Portugal's dictatorship had ended, when the country was committed to the world as a democratic country, facing political and economical instability until its accession to the European Economic Union (EEC), as well as, undergoing deep socio-cultural transformations and striving for development. From 1986 onwards, MEREC programme was hampered by a democratic setting that aimed for development in more immediate ways, regardless of the resource-effciency strategy proposed.