Showing papers by "Thomas Kvan published in 2019"
TL;DR: In this article, a quantity-quality-based optimization method of indoor thermal environment design that emphasizes entransy and exergy analysis was proposed, which contributes to identifying the most energy-efficient solution for attaining the same level of indoor temperature comfort for end users by quantifying the energy efficiency of active technologies.
11 citations
01 Jan 2019
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors start by stating the obvious: human activities have profound impacts on the environment, such as through pollutants and waste, and the impact of human settlements is more extensive yet less examined outcome.
Abstract: We start by stating the obvious: human activities have profound impacts on the environment. While there are more apparent and singularly evident mechanisms by which we harm the natural environment, such as through pollutants and waste, the impact of human settlements is more extensive yet less examined outcome. It has been widely noted that our human population is moving increasingly into urban or collocated settlements, concentrating our footprints into ever larger towns and cities. Such colocation brings economic and cultural benefits but concentrates environmental impacts. There is increasing work that recognizes that urban and natural ecosystems must be considered as continuities and that zoning regulations that prescribe areas for settlement do not delineate boundaries of these systems.