Since renewable energy resource is universally accepted as a promising method to solve the global energy problem, optimal planning and utilization of various distributed generators (DG) and energy storage (ES) devices deserve special concern. ES devices possess various characteristics in power density, energy density, response speed (switching speed) and lifetime. Besides, as different load typ...

Advantages of urbanization such as access to clean water, health, and overall easier life in cities, as well as the disadvantages or its negative effects on environment cannot be ignored. Today, there are numerous environmental problems due to the reduction in ecologically valuable places within urban areas. Bringing nature to the cities appears to be essential to enhance urban environment and ...

This study is motivated by the need to increase energy efficiency in existing buildings. Around 33% of the energy used in the world is consumed in the buildings. Identifying and investing in the right energy saving technologies within a given budget helps the adoption of energy efficiency measures in existing buildings. We present a mathematical programming approach to select the right energy e...

The most important meteorological parameter affecting the human energy balance during sunny weather conditions is the mean radiant temperature T(mrt). It considers the uniform temperature of a surrounding surface giving off blackbody radiation, which results in the same energy gain of a human body given the prevailing radiation fluxes. This energy gain usually varies considerably in open space ...

Land cover changes affect local surface energy balances by changing the amount of solar energy reflected, the magnitude and duration over which absorbed energy is released as heat, and the amount of energy that is diverted to non-heating fluxes through evaporation. However, such local influences often are only crudely included in climate modeling exercises, if at all. A better understanding of ...

Mass hauling operations play central roles in construction projects. They typically use many haulers that consume large amounts of energy and emit significant quantities of CO2. However, practical methods for estimating the energy consumption and CO2 emissions of such operations during the project planning stage are scarce, while most of the previous methods focus on construction stage or after...

Environmental targets are often used in planning for sustainable agricultural landscapes but their impacts are rarely known. In this paper we introduce landscape futures analysis as a method which combines linear programming optimisation with scenario analysis in quantifying the environmental, economic, and social impacts associated with achieving environmental targets, on a landscape scale. We...

Mass hauling operations play central roles in construction projects. They typically use many haulers that consume large amounts of energy and emit significant quantities of CO2. However, practical methods for estimating the energy consumption and CO2 emissions of such operations during the project planning stage are scarce, while most of the previous methods focus on construction stage or after...

The major planning theories provide a theoretical foundation for environmental planning. This study extends the major planning theories and develops a robust conceptual framework to measure the key factors influencing local environmental-plan quality. A random sample of forty Californian local comprehensive land-use plans and associated planning processes is analyzed to identify the critical fa...