Two studies evaluated the effects of a group contingency on electricity conservation. In Study 1, residents of 166 apartment units in three towers held meetings and received biweekly payments of the value of electricity saved compared to predicted use. The group contingencies were initiated in each tower in a multiple-baseline design. The program produced substantial savings in one tower (11.2%...

The energy required to create a comfortable living environment in high-density cities in hot and humid climates usually demands a substantial electricity usage with an associated environmental burden. This paper describes an integrated passive design approach to reduce the cooling requirement for high-rise apartments through an improved building envelope design. The results show that a saving o...

Low frequency footfall noise ("thudding") is a common source of complaints in lightweight (timber) joistframed multifamily projects. Previous work by the authors has indicated that the low frequency impact sound pressure levels (LFISPL) from a standard ISO tapping machine are highly correlated with occupant reaction. It remains to translate the raw LFISPL data into a useful single number metric...

SETTING THE SCENE Children with bipolar disorder (BD) have considerable impairments in school, peer and family functioning and high rates of illness comorbidity. With age, their risk increases for suicide attempts, hospitalisation, substance abuse and medical complications. Pharmacotherapy is usually the first-line treatment for young people with BD, but paediatric patients may be less treatmen...

Residential domestic hot water (DHW) energy consumption represented 16% of the EU household heating demand in 2013. Due to the improvement of the building envelop, it is expected to increase significantly, with values between 20% to 32% in single family buildings, and between 35% to almost 50% in multifamily buildings. Currently, this energy is lost to the environment after its use, but it can ...