A Cross-Sectional Study of Utilization of Green Building Rating Tools by Selected Professionals in the Zambian Building Industry

Green building rating tools used for planning and assessing the impact of buildings on the environment are continually revised in line with user needs. The appropriateness of tools for the Zambian building industry depends on whether the tools adequately meet minimum green buildings standards and the country’s environmental aspirations. The utilization of green building rating tools is important if Zambia is to achieve the real benefits of green buildings, however very little is known about the levels of utilization in Zambia. A cross-sectional study of 115 professionals from the building industry in Zambia was undertaken using a sequential mixed method approach, to investigate the level of utilization, preferred criteria and, the barriers and drivers to the utilization of tools. The significance of the study was that it demonstrated the association between utilization of green building rating tools and environmental, technological, economic, and social green buildings practices by selected professionals in the Zambian building industry. There is a need to use materials and practices that are locally based and promote the local economy. The technical needs were met in tools, that were considered easy to use, interesting and comprehensive. Some of the green building rating tools were considered unsuitable due to the absence of appropriate criteria and the main economic challenge was the high cost of certification. The association was significant between utilization and those involved in a variety of projects than those who were involved in only residential buildings. Barriers to utilization were a lack of government regulations on green buildings designs and the high cost of certification. The drivers were environmental benefits, the interest of developers in green buildings, and having technical skills. The study recommends a review of the current building regulations to include green buildings practices and materials and adaptation of appropriate rating tools.

Improving energy utilization efficiency of electrical discharge milling in titanium alloys machining

Electrical discharge milling(ED-milling) can be a good choice for titanium alloys machining and it was proven that its machining efficiency can be improved to compete with mechanical cutting. In order to improve energy utilization efficiency of ED-milling process, unstable arc discharge and stable arc discharge combined with normal discharge were implemented for material removal by adjusting servo control strategy. The influence of electrode rotating speed and dielectric flushing pressure on machining performance was investigated by experiments. It was found that the rotating of electrode could move the position of discharge plasma channel, and high pressure flushing could wash melted debris out the discharge gap effectively. Both electrode rotating motion and high pressure flushing are contributed to the improvement of machining efficiency.

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.

AT WHAT COST? AN ANALYSIS OF THE GREEN COST PREMIUM TO ACHIEVE 6-HOMESTAR IN NEW ZEALAND

In the green building industry there is an implicit understanding that the use of a green building rating tool will attract additional capital cost.This phenomenon has been well studied in commercial buildings,with mixed results,but has received little focus in the residential,single family context.In New Zealand the local green building council advises the market that they have reduced the time and cost to implement their green building rating tool,Homestar,through modifications to version 4 of the rating tool,which include the use of a new 6-Homestar checklist.This research investigates this claim using a comparative cost methodology to determine the potential additional capital cost commitment that would be required to achieve a 6-Homestar certification,utilising ten standalone and terraced house designs from the Hobsonville Point development in Auckland,NZ.This research determines that there is an additional cost to achieve 6-Homestar of 3-5%.This is nearly double compared to previous research into Homestar and also finds that,for the houses reviewed,the use of the 6-Homestar checklist is less cost effective than other options.Therefore,in this instance the advice and guidance of the green building council is erroneous and misleading to the market.

Web Resources for Microbial Data

There are multitudes of web resources that are quite useful for the microbial scientific research community. Here, we provide a brief introduction on some of the most notable microbial web resources and an evaluation of them based upon our own user experience.