Experimental Study of the Thermal Behavior of a Bioclimatic Building Prototype in a Sahelian Zone

Buildings constructed with modern materials (cement blocks, sheet metal, reinforced concrete, etc.) in the Sahelian zone often generate excessive electricity consumption and consequently very high electricity bills. This study is a contribution to the development of new building types based on the principle of bioclimatic construction. The aim is to find materials suited to the Sahelian climate and improve thermal comfort. To this end, an experimental study of the hygrothermal behavior of a bioclimatic building prototype with a domed roof is being carried out. Site meteorological data, air temperature and relative humidity of the building’s internal environment were measured for three climatic seasons in Burkina Faso. The data acquisition system consists of thermocouples, solarimeters and humidity meters, and the data are processed using Excel and Origin Pro software. The results show that, despite the high temperature values (between 36˚C and 39˚C) of the internal environment measured in the hot season, good thermal performance is achieved, in particular an average phase shift of 7.17 h and an average damping of 10.81˚C. The dome-roofed building could therefore contribute to limiting heat transmission to the building interior, improving thermal comfort all year round. Analysis of humidity profiles shows that indoor humidity varies between 66% and 80% for the September period, and between 44% and 69% for the January period. The high values of internal ambient humidity could be reduced by very good ventilation of the building. This study shows that the proposed bioclimatic building prototype with domed roof could be integrated into the Sahelian habitat.

A PRECEDENT IN SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE: BIOCLIMATIC DEVICES IN ALVAR AALTO’S SUMMER HOUSE

INTRODUCTION The problems discussed in forums such as that within the European Charter for Solar Energy in Architecture and Urban Planning are still up-to-date.1 The role architecture plays in energy consumption calls for a conceptual reorientation that ensures a responsible design approach to the environment and the use of renewable resources based on local conditions.In this sense,the Finnish architect Alvar Aalto(1898-1976)figures as a pioneering precedent of a sustainable architecture.The Nordic climate and the deeply nature-concerned culture within which he lived are factors that derived a conscious design method characterised by the exploration of environmental concepts.The contextual approach was developed since his early career and reached a peak in his own summer house erected in Finland in the year 1953.As Aalto himself comments,this building had the advantage of being the‘experimental game’of the architect,where he could freely work without worrying about the constraints of usual project requirements.2 The biography of Aalto shows that he used to help his father,who was a surveyor,by drawing plans from the Finnish territory.3 Aalto himself grew up in Jyväskylä,a town located on the same lake studied here,and worked there in the first years of his professional career.He was familiar with the landscape and knew well in advance the general features of the house’s surroundings.The Summer House is a well-known building that has drawn attention in the academic context.Aalto published a seminal,brief text when the construction of the main block was finished,where experiments concerning topographical adaptation,material durability,and solar heating passive systems are mentioned.4 After appearing in the complete work of the architect,5 the Summer House was briefly mentioned in critical literature,6 and in recent years has been the subject of numerous studies.7 This panorama has contributed important information about the site and the house,which were,nevertheless,considered mainly by aesthetical and typological means.The bioclimatic themes seem to have not been systematically explored yet.The present essay seeks to identify and explain some design strategies that can illustrate the bioclimatic structure of the building.8 The textual argumentation is supported by photographs,diagrams,and a physical model.An introduction to the house is given by describing its geographical and programmatic situation.The study is then developed through the following topics:site and program;placement;spatial organization;and exterior-interior relations.As a conclusion,the house is evaluated as a precedent of an environmentally-concerned architecture.

Phytolith Records in Vermicular Red Earth:Implications for Bioclimatic Variationsduring Pleistocene

Phytolith analysis is employed in bioclimatic research into vermicular red earth, especially into its form, assemblage and zonation. The phytolith assemblage is divided into 10 zones. The statistics and main factor analysis of phytolith show that the obtained main factor load curves could suggest a climate change. Combined with phytolith assemblage feature, the bioclimatic variation of vermicular red earth during its formation stage, consisting of 5 arid-cold stages, 4 warm-humid stages and 2 mild stages, is reconstructed in detail. The research results indicate that phytolith records are ideal paleoclimatic signals in vermicular red earth, and that abundant information on environmental evolution can be located.

Bioclimatic Urbanism and Regional Design in Portugal： The Atlantic and the Mediterranean Contexts

The subject of the present work is the study of the relationship between the city shape and its geographical and climatic context. This is a very important feature of the Portuguese city. The Iberian Peninsula comprised by Spain and Portugal belongs to very different environments： the Atlantic and Mediterranean sea. This position is responsible for a series of highly contrasted regions. The external forces presented in each region, influence the shape, location and orientation, not only of individual buildings but of whole villages in such a way that we can identify pattems of construction in different natural regions. There is in fact, a remarkable correspondence between climate and urban type which is useful to identify for planning the different regions. The legacy of industrial city, as in other parts of the world, has changed this close connection between geography and architecture, with consequences not only in environment but especially for the identity of urban spaces. Bioclimatic urbanism is not just a question of sustainability or survival. It is also a question of local identity and variety. There is in fact a relationship between cultural process and environment responsive which we can learn from the structures of the past -- the pre-industrial city. We believe that the reinterpretation of the traditional city pattems forms a language which can be used as a design process for recovering urban landscape.

Data error propagation in stacked bioclimatic envelope models

Stacking is the process of overlaying inferred species potential distributions for multiple species based on outputs of bioclimatic envelope models(BEMs).The approach can be used to investigate patterns and processes of species richness.If data limitations on individual species distributions are inevitable,but how do they affect inferences of patterns and processes of species richness?We investigate the influence of different data sources on estimated species richness gradients in China.We fitted BEMs using species distributions data for 334 bird species obtained from(1)global range maps,(2)regional checklists,(3)museum records and surveys,and(4)citizen science data using presence-only(Mahalanobis distance),presence-background(MAXENT),and presence–absence(GAM and BRT)BEMs.Individual species predictions were stacked to generate species richness gradients.Here,we show that different data sources and BEMs can generate spatially varying gradients of species richness.The environmental predictors that best explained species distributions also differed between data sources.Models using citizen-based data had the highest accuracy,whereas those using range data had the lowest accuracy.Potential richness patterns estimated by GAM and BRT models were robust to data uncertainty.When multiple data sets exist for the same region and taxa,we advise that explicit treatments of uncertainty,such as sensitivity analyses of the input data,should be conducted during the process of modeling.

Estimation of bioclimatic variables of Mongolia derived from remote sensing data

Global maps of bioclimatic variables currently exist only at very coarse spatial resolution(e.g.WorldClim).For ecological studies requiring higher resolved information,this spatial resolution is often insufficient.The aim of this study is to estimate important bioclimatic variables of Mongolia from Earth Observation(EO)data at a higher spatial resolution of 1 km.The analysis used two different satellite time series data sets:land surface temperature(LST)from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer(MODIS),and precipitation(P)from Climate Hazards Group Infrared Precipitation with Stations(CHIRPS).Monthly maximum,mean,and minimum air temperature were estimated from Terra MODIS satellite(collection 6)LST time series product using the random forest(RF)regression model.Monthly total precipitation data were obtained from CHIRPS version 2.0.Based on this primary data,spatial maps of 19 bioclimatic variables at a spatial resolution of 1 km were generated,representing the period 2002-2017.We tested the relationship between estimated bioclimatic variables(SatClim)and WorldClim bioclimatic variables version 2.0(WorldClim)using determination coefficient(R^(2)),root mean square error(RMSE),and normalized root mean square error(nRMSE)and found overall good agreement.Among the set of 19 WorldClim bioclimatic variables,17 were estimated with a coefficient of determination(R^(2))higher than 0.7 and normalized RMSE(nRMSE)lower than 8%,confirming that the spatial pattern and value ranges can be retrieved from satellite data with much higher spatial resolution compared to WorldClim.Only the two bioclimatic variables related to temperature extremes(i.e.,annual mean diurnal range and isothermality)were modeled with only moderate accuracy(R^(2) of about 0.4 with nRMSE of about 11%).Generally,precipitation-related bioclimatic variables were closer correlated with WorldClim compared to temperature-related bioclimatic variables.The overall success of the modeling was attributed to the fact that satellite-derived data are well suited to generated spatial fields of precipitation and temperature variables,especially at high altitudes and high latitudes.As a consequence of the successful retrieval of the bioclimatic variables at 1 km spatial resolution,we are confident that the estimated 19 bioclimatic variables will be very useful for a range of applications,including species distribution modeling.

Modeling the Potential Geographic Distribution of Black Pepper(Piper nigrum)in Asia Using GIS Tools

Known as the ＂king of spices＂,black pepper（Piper nigrum）,a perennial crop of the tropics,is economically the most important and the most widely used spice crop in the world.To understand its suitable bioclimatic distribution,maximum entropy based on ecological niche modeling was used to model the bioclimatic niches of the species in its Asian range.Based on known occurrences,bioclimatic areas with higher probabilities are mainly located in the eastern and western coasts of the Indian Peninsula,the east of Sumatra Island,some areas in the Malay Archipelago,and the southeast coastal areas of China.Some undocumented places were also predicted as suitable areas.According to the jackknife procedure,the minimum temperature of the coldest month,the mean monthly temperature range,and the precipitation of the wettest month were identified as highly effective factors in the distribution of black pepper and could possibly account for the crop＇s distribution pattern.Such climatic requirements inhibited this species from dispersing and gaining a larger geographical range.

GIS-based assessment of climate change impacts on forest habitable Aframomum corrorima(Braun)in Southwest Ethiopia coffee forest

Climate change is thought to have a greater impact on crops that require particular conditions for their productivity.Southwest Ethiopia is a region where important cash crops such as Coffea arabica and Aframomum corrorima(korerima)originate.These crops are known to require shade for their growth and productivity.This study was conducted to assess the impacts of climate change on an important but neglected cash crop of A.corrorima using GIS-based species distribution approaches.Local meteorological data and bioclimatic data from WorldClim were used to map past,present,and future distribution of the crop in the Coffee Forest System of Southwest Ethiopia.Moreover,96 key informants were interviewed and completed questionnaires to complement the distribution modeling.The key informants mapped the history and present occurrences of A.corrorima and based on this,ground-truthing survey was conducted.The interpolation method of the Inverse Distance Weighted was used in ArcGIS 10.5 to develop bioclimatic variables for modeling past and present distribution while data from IPCC(AR4)Emissions Scenarios was used for the future occurrence prediction using Principal Component Analysis.Eleven best bioclimatic variables were selected and MaxEnt was used to model past,present and future distribution of A.corrorima.The output of our model was validated using Area Under the Curve(AUC)approach.Temperature and precipitation are the most important environmental variable,then temperature increased by 1.3°C in the past(from 1988 to 2018)while it is predicted to increase further by at least 1.4°C before 2050.On the contrary,precipitation decreased by an average of 10.1 mm from the past while it is predicted to decrease further by 12.5 mm before 2050.Our model shows that the area suitable for korerima in 1988 was 20,638.2 ha and it was reduced by half and became 10,545.3 ha in 2018,similarly predicted to shrink into 3225.5 ha by 2050.The findings from the key informants confirm the model results whereby 89.1%of the respondent replied korerima producing area has been shifted into the mountains over the last 30 years(by 150 m a.s.l.from 1988 to 2018)and thus expected to be pushing up in the next 32 years(by 133 m before 2050).The community claims that the length of the rainy season of the area has been shortening from 9 months in the past to an average of 5.5 months recently which also coincides with increasing temperature.We conclude that with the changing climatic condition,the suitable habitat of korerima has already shrank by 48.9%(from 1988 to 2018)and the trend may lead to a shrink by 84.38%before 2050(from 1988 to 2050).Therefore,it is important to develop site-specific climate adaptation strategies for the region such as promoting alternative livelihoods and avoiding further coffee forest degradation and deforestation.

TOWARDS A FOURTH ECOLOGY: Social and Environmental Sustainability with Architecture and Urban Design

The architect has always been interested in the social and cultural dimensions while creating architecture for people to last,with the help of building science and technology.Science could solve some problems,but is yet to solve many of the problems of urbanization in human history.Perhaps many of the problems can only be solved with careful understanding of human behavior,social intercourse,and economics in relation to the urban environments and organizations,and the natural environment simultaneously.There seemed to be a divide between the way an engineer and an architect think and practice in making a building and a piece of architecture,where the former is highly mathematical,and the latter deals with cultural poetics and a whole range of social and technical issues of which the physics of the environment is but one dimension(Bay and Ong 2006).It may appear natural in this age of environmental crisis and rapid urban development in many cities that the current Ecologically Sustainable Design(ESD)system,which is mainly based on science of the physical world,would be readily accepted by the architect in practice and education.Many of the current ESD guidelines can contribute to the avoidance of a further decay of the earth,thus preventing droughts and floods,etc.,and hope to maintain the status quo of the environment for all the“business as usual”social-economic activities.With more world leaders of the developed world agreeing in principle on the need to address climate change,perhaps a lot more will be done based on the engineering models for ecologically friendly planning,commerce,industry,and design.There could be a cognitive bias3 of overconfidence and systemic error that the predominantly engineering focus to keep climate change at bay will solve the problem of sustainability in various parts of the world.The current limited concept of“ecological”or the“green”design does contribute to sustainability,but is quite limited and not the whole picture of sustainability.The concept of sustainability involves the dynamic and complex balance of environmental(man-made and natural),economic and social dimensions,from many earlier sources including the theory of the Third Ecology(Chermayeff and Tzonis 1971)about social ecology directly related to the man-made urban fabric,and recently,the much accepted pervasive framework of the Brundtland Commission Report 1987:Our Common Future,which included more discussions about the interrelatedness with economic equity and the natural environment.Foremost and ultimately it is about promoting and ensuring social quality of living now and sustaining that into the future,for all nations,the rich and the poor,through solving the matrix of social,economic,and environmental problems.From the perspective of the theory and practice of architecture,this paper discusses the following issues:1.Belief in science,disenchantment,symbol of failure of modern architecture-Pruitt Igoe;2.An anti-thesis to Pruitt Igoe-Bedok Court;3.The cultural concerns and preparametric design thinking process of the architect;4.Architecture,social science,cultural value,social capital,behavior,and ESD;5.A Fourth Ecology,multi-disciplinary research by architects,social scientists,and engineers.

Modeling of cold-temperate tree Pinus koraiensis (Pinaceae) distribution in the Asia-Pacific region: Climate change impact

Background:Pinus koraiensis Siebold&Zucc.(Korean pine)is a key species of the mixed cold temperate forests of Northeast Asia.Current climate change can significantly worsen the quality of P.koraiensis habitats and therefore lead to a large-scale structural and functional transformation of the East Asian mixed forests.We built a species distribution model(SDM)for P.koraiensis using the random forest classifier–a versatile machine learning al-gorithm,to discover overlap areas of potential species occurrence in the climate condition of the Last Glacial Maximum(~21,000 year before present)and in the projected future climates(2070 year),from which possible permanent refugia for P.koraiensis were identified.Results:Using the random forest supervised learning algorithm,we developed models of the modern distribution of P.koraiensis in accordance with the five selected bioclimatic variables(Kira’s warmth and coldness indices,the index of continentality,the rain precipitation index,and the snow precipitation index).In addition to current climatic conditions,we performed this analysis for the climate of the Last Glacial Maximum and for the future projected climate(2070)under scenarios RCP2.6 and RCP8.5.Among the predictors,the rain index appears to be the most significant.The land area estimates with high suitability for P.koraiensis was 303,785 km 2 under current climatic conditions,586,499 km 2 for the Last Glacial Maximum,and 337,573 km^(2) for the future(2070)period under the RCP2.6 scenario,and 397,764 km^(2) under the RCP8.5 scenario.Conclusions:Most of the potential range of P.koraiensis during the Last Glacial Maximum was located outside the current distribution area of the species.The climatically suitable P.koraiensis habitats will likely disappear in the western part of its modern range.In the southern part of the range,which includes glacial refugia,the areas of continuous distribution of the P.koraiensis populations since the end of the Pleistocene are expected to be frag-mented,but some localities in the north of the Korean Peninsula,northeast China,southern Primorye(Russia),and central Honshu(Japan)with suitable climatic conditions for the species will support the existence of populations.

Potential Distribution Modeling of Useful Brazilian Trees with Economic Importance

Brazil is one of the countries with the greatest biodiversity, being covered by diverse ecosystems. Native trees commercially planted generate numerous benefits for communities, providing cultural, recreational, tourism riches, as well as ecological benefits, such as nutrient regulation and carbon sequestration. Thus, this work aimed to generate potential distribution modeling for the Brazilian forest species, to provide information that will serve as a strategy for conservation, restoration and commercial plantation of them, that is, encouraging the use of legal native species in the forest sector. Eleven tree species and 19 bioclimatic variables were selected. The software Maxent 3.3.3 was applied in the generation of the distribution models and the area under the curve of receiver operating characteristic （AUC） was used to analyze the model. The Jackknife test contributed to identify which bioclimatic variables are most important or influential in the model. The models showed AUC values ranged from 0.857 to 0.983. The species with higher AUC values were Araucaria angustifolia, Mimosa scabrella and Euterpe edulis, respectively. The maximum temperature of warmest month showed the highest influence for the most species, followed by the mean diurnal range and annual precipitation. It was observed that for some species, there were restricted areas of environmental suitability, such as Araucaria angustifolia, Ilex paraguariensis and Mimosa scabrella. The models used could trace the potential distribution areas using the environmental variables, and these models contribute significantly to sustainable forest management.

Assessing the Suitability of the WorldClim Dataset for Ecological Studies in Southern Kenya

There have been numerous efforts to generate freely available climatic datasets for use in species distribution models, the most popular being the global climatic dataset known as WorldClim. The availability of such datasets is invaluable to scientists as many studies are performed in remote areas where no weather stations are found. However, many users do not critically assess the suitability of these datasets for their applications, and errors associated with global datasets are often assumed to be negligible. Understanding what a climate dataset can or cannot deliver requires the user to have a working knowledge of what the basic spatial climate-forcing factors are at the scale of his/her study, and to have a good understanding of the uncertainty in the dataset. In geographic studies, uncertainty is often described by the degree of error (uncertainty), or degree of accuracy (certainty) in data, and thematic uncertainty refers to the uncertainty in measures made for each variable, whereas temporal uncertainty refers to the uncertainty in time period represented by each variable. Here, we used climatic data from weather stations to investigate the climate-forcing factors in southern Kenya, and then used this weather station data to investigate the uncertainty in the WorldClim dataset. Results indicated that the nineteen core Worldclim variables, known as bioclimatic variables, accurately depicted the local variations in climate in the study area. However, whereas the monthly and seasonal temperature variables represented the same time period in different locations, the same was not true for the monthly and seasonal precipitation variables. The onset of rains is a key biological indicator, and scientists studying phenomena tied to the onset of rains need to keep in mind the temporal variations represented in the WorldClim dataset.

Oribatid Use as Bioindicateur of Environment： Case of Galumna sp. and Scheloribates sp. （Acari： Oribatida）

Environmental characteristics are often the factors that determine the distribution of species in nature. However, species response vis-A-vis these factors differs. For a better understanding of the phenomenon, we have conducted this study which consists of following the spatio-temporal evolution of two species of Oribatida （Scheloribates sp. and Galumna sp.）. The sites which have been the subject of this study, are situated in different bioclimatic zones presenting a very different climatic, edaphic, nutritional, and altitudinal characteristics. The variability of ecological factors showed that the behavior of two species differs. Indeed, Scheloribates sp. is present in all sites except in Biskra whereas Galumna sp. is present only in sites belonging to humid and sub humid bioclimatic zones. Moreover, Scheloribates sp. appears more tolerant of environmental changes while Galumna sp. is more stringent and its presence is marked only in the sites where ecological conditions are better. Thus, it can be noted that the spatial and temporal distribution of oribatid is not only conditioned solely by environmental factors but also by intrinsic factors specific to each species. The specific behavior of Galumna sp. and the tolerance of Scheloribates sp. are interesting and can be the subject of bioindicator species that can inform us about the changes that effect whether natural or anthropogenic environment.

The First Natural Ventilation Assessment in Building Design in Djibouti

With a sustained period of economic growth, rapidly growing populations and with more diversified economies Africa need sustainable development; hence the greater need for massive investments in energy. Sub-Saharan countries such as Djibouti have the potential and ability to harness their natural ventilation as a passive cooling system for designing new houses. The rapid expansion of the Djibouti city is affecting negatively the environment and the safety and comfort of its inhabitants. Proper atmospheric urban planning and management are key to making cities environmentally friendly and sustainable. Based on energy consumption, climate conditions in Djibouti and numerical analysis using Computational Fluid Dynamics （CFD）, it is apparent that the natural ventilation creates a thermally comfortable indoor environment in buildings during the cool season of the year. Measured wind data from two measurement systems are presented and discussed. Statistical analyses, wind rose, Weibull distribution were carried out to understand the natural ventilation characteristic, which is used for evolving the basic criteria for economic viability of building in the semi-arid climate of Djibouti. The study found that it is possible to benefit from natural ventilation in buildings during the cool season of the year.

Relieving a Tropical Vernacular Habitat Typology as a Source for Contemporary Social Housing Designs

This work presents an analysis for the rural vernacular dwelling （Culata Yovai）, sited in the South America Guarani region, basin of Paraguay and Paraná rivers. Outdoor climate has conducted man to build along the time a habitat climatic responsive. Nowadays, studies in progress try to show how this vernacular typology can support new low-income house designs. The intent is to guarantee for new projects the socio-cultural image that people, coming from countryside to live in city outskirts, are accostumed. Also, to provide material improvements and functional adequation for a quality and healthiness. Natural ventilation is the main bioclimatic strategy during summer for thermal comfort, which influences the house characteristics. This is proven by calculation, and simulation with the CFX-ANSYS software. Thus, the analysis performed shows the real possibity to reconcile bioclimatism with the symbolic-cultural value represented by this vernacular architecture form. It is hopped that this study can be considered as a methodological contributition for new sustainable projects （materials, technics and services） of low-incoming houses in this Latin American region.

Thermal Behaviour in Buildings with Green Covers Combined with Natural Ventilation, Green Facades and Green Roofs

The main aim of this paper was to study the influence of ventilation during a typical experimental day, in the internal air temperature as well as in internal surface temperatures under the conditions of the outer environment, using an experimental method which allows a comparison of the thermal performance between four cell tests： a prototype called control （no vegetation） and three with different combinations of vegetation （roofs and facades） installed in a region of tropical climate. The experiments were developed in four test cells with dimensions 2.0 m × 2.50 m × 2.7 m. Measurements of internal surface temperatures and internal air temperatures were collected with the use of specific equipment, a data logger （CR1000, Campbell Scientific Inc.）, connected with two multiplexers 32 channels （416AM Campbell Scientific Inc.）. Data were recorded over a year and a typical heat day was selected, which was September 24, 2015. The results show that ventilation affects the internal temperature of the air, so that this gets even surpass the external temperature. Regarding surface temperatures, increased temperature, except those which are provided with vegetation, namely, the surfaces which have green walls and green roofs file the lower temperatures. Therefore, we can confirm the ability of vegetation to maintain more pleasant internal conditions compared to the test cells built with conventional materials, thus it can reduce cooling load efficiency.

Sustainability of Vernacular Architecture as a Basis for New Popular Housing Projects in Arequipa, Peru

The aim of this work is to present an analysis about three vernacular houses （Churaj6n, Moral, and Chicha） from remarkable architectonic periods of the Arequipa city in Peru： Pre-Spanish, Colonial, and Republican. Some historic facts related with the region are presented in order to furnish a general panorama. This city is an oasis on the border of the Atacama Desert, and aside there are three volcanoes. Also, at the last 40th years, this region has suffered eight earthquakes. The bio-environmental equilibrium is fragile. Nowadays, due to the urban spread and the increase of the land price, the poor people go to live in the city periphery inside uncomfortable and fragile houses. Also, it is observed an intense occupation of the meadow areas which are crucial to maintain the regional climate, food production, and the ecosystem. Fundamentals of social sustainability and bioclimatic architectures are employed in the analysis in order to create conditions to empower poor people and an environment protection.

Thermal Response to Heat in Buildings with Green Covers for Tropical Climate： Green Facades and Green Roofs

The main aims of this paper were to study and demonstrate the benefits the plant systems can provide indoors in a critical heat day. This study proposed an experimental method to try to understand the thermal response to heat of four different systems： a prototype called control （no vegetation） and three with different combinations of vegetation （green roofs and green facades） installed in a tropical climate region. The experiments were developed in four test cells with dimensions 2.0 m × 2.50 m× 2.71 m. Measurements of internal surface temperatures and internal air temperatures were collected with the use of specific equipment, a data logger （CR1000, Campbell Scientific Inc.）, connected with two multiplexers 32 channels （416AM Campbell Scientific Inc.）. Data were recorded over a year and a critical day heat was selected, which was September 24, 2015.The results show that the use of plant systems in buildings establishes a passive technique in reducing energy consumption because of the high incidence of summer solar radiation which is reduced and simultaneously, it maintains thermal internal conditions more pleasant than external ones, because of the best thermal behaviour, which was observed in the test cell with vegetation on both roofs and facades. The biggest difference between maximum internal air temperatures registered was 2 ℃.

Vernacular Wisdom as a Path Toward Low-energy Ecologically Sustainable Housing and Settlements: Participatory Design and Building to Rehabilitate Local Adobe Bricks in El Salvador

Globalized cultures,imaginaries,and economies are often matched to the standardization of building approaches.However,solutions that are not tailored for a specific context tend to entail environmental,economic,and social issues.Throughout human history,vernacular wisdom has produced interesting low-energy and climate-responsive architectures all around the globe:These can be seen as interesting examples in an era of global warming and overall uncertainty;at the same time,they represent accessible sustainable solutions in deprived areas of the world as well as in wealthier areas.The experience of participatory design and building process is here presented,carried on in a rural area of El Salvador,Central America.A sanitary facility for a school is designed and realized after the collectively desired recovery and improvement of one of the fruits of local vernacular wisdom in building design,i.e.,the adobe earth brick.Some potentials and limits of such experience as well as of the used technology are reviewed in the perspective of affordable and ecologically sustainable housing and settlements in the area.

Modelling the Current and Future Spatial Distribution Area of Shea Tree (<i>Vittelaria paradoxa</i>C. F. Gaertn) in the Context of Climate Change in Benin

In Benin, Shea tree (Vitellaria paradoxa) is one of the agroforestry species of great socio-economic importance for local populations. Given the actual variation in the climate parameters, it is necessary to anticipate the future spatial distribution of Shea trees as an adaptation strategy and for designing relevant conservation strategies. The aim of the present research was to evaluate the influence of climate change on the distribution areas of Shea trees in Benin. Occurrence data consisting of geographic coordinates of Shea trees in Benin as well as bioclimatic variables were recorded. Furthemore, additional presence points were collected from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility database website. Current and future environmental data for the study area were obtained from the Africlim website. Bioclimatic variables (moisture and temperature), monthly maximum and minimum temperatures and annual rainfall were collected from Worldclim synoptic stations website for the period 1970-2000. The aridity index was created from the potential evapotranspiration (PET) and annual rainfall, using spatial analysis tools of ArcGIS. The impact of current and future environmental conditions on favourable Shea trees’ growing area was assessed following the maximum entropy (MaxEnt) approach under two climate scenarios (RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5). Under the current climate conditions, 80% of Benin territory and 79% of the protected areas were highly favourable for Shea trees growing and conservation. However, all climate scenarios projected the significant decrease of 14% to 19% of the distribution of favourable for Shea tree growing area and 26% to 30% of the protected areas by 2055 in favour of non-favourable for the trees’ distribution. The protection of habitats favourable for the species development, coupled with a quick restoration of the species through the use of appropriate vegetative propagation techniques are required to sustain the species’ conservation in Benin and maintain farmers’ livelihood.