Graduate Research Symposium 2024
Sustainability and De-carbonisation
Time: 10:30AM – 12:30 PM
Venue: ER1, SDE4
Moderated by: Dr. Naomi Hanakata, Assistant Professor
Speakers:
Yixin Wu
Untangling the Causal Relationships Between Natural Ecosystem and Microclimate Factors and Carbon Dioxide Fluxes
Abstract: Carbon sequestration from the plant communities’ photosynthesis remains the primary nature-based climate solution on land before humans come out with more reliable and feasible technology, and it has a more significant long-term effect due to the carbon capture and storage technology. Their capacity, however, is spatially and temporally variant and faces challenges caused by local climate, ecosystem characteristics, and management, but we lack quantification of their causal impact. This research innovatively applies the Bayesian synthetic control method to explore the causal relationship between different environmental factors and carbon fluxes measured by the global eddy-covariance tower dataset FLUXNET2015, which directly measured land-atmosphere greenhouse gas exchanges with many ecosystem and climate data and pipeline processes to ensure comparability. The causal analysis finds a significant impact from factors like air temperature, photosynthetic photon flux density, and vapour-pressure deficit on the net carbon exchange on site. This research contributes to more efficient future modelling of carbon sequestration with primary factors. It also offers interpretable insights on improvement in planning, design, and management for policymakers, urban planners, and designers for better climate actions to enhance the carbon sequestration capacity.
Alakesh Dutta
Investigating Attributes of Architectural and Urban Form that influence of cities to produce Food-Energy-Water (FEW)
Abstract: Cities are epicenters of resource consumption. According to multiple studies, cities today consume up to 75% of all resources whilst occupying only 2% of earth’s land area (Venditti, 2022). Most important amongst these are Food-Energy-Water (FEW). This consumptive model of cities continues to increase the ecological burden on the planet.
The ‘green design’ movement that began in the 1990s as a response to these ecological impacts, demonstrated that resource consumption by buildings can be reduced by the way that we design (Lattimore, 2006) . However, this approach has largely remained limited to this. It has lacked attention to the question of how design can unlock the productive capacity of buildings and cities.
In my proposed research, I seek to find relationships between elements of urban and architectural form that enable them to produce FEW and seek patterns in these relationships that can be replicated across designs.
The research shall adopt the methodology of ‘research by design’, an often-used research tool in the design domain to tackle problems that involve organized complexity (Meadows, 2008). Design is a complex process where the architect/ planner juggles multiple parameters together while speculating on outcomes that can address a particular issue and satisfy multiple other factors. For example, a building designed to produce FEW must still be functional as an occupied space, be sympathetic to the local climate and culture and comply with statutory regulations. The process is therefore speculative, iterative, and intuitive. It does not produce one correct solution, but instead yields multiple possible outcomes that perform to varying degrees. (Roggema, 2016) .
Taken as an aggregate, such built forms can therefore increase the ability of cities to generate FEW resources and substantially reduce their ecological footprints. This shall in turn enable cities, and by extension countries, move closer to carbon neutrality, and create resilience against vulnerabilities emerging from climate related disruptions, wars etc.
Reetu Kumari
Rethinking spatial boundaries to untangle the energy nexus
Abstract: Energy use is fundamental to social and economic development. It is deeply embedded in the energy-intensive modern lifestyles we have built around us, which makes energy security an undeniable concern for countries. The use and abuse of fossil fuels has led to unprecedented climate change & environmental degradation shifting a global focus towards the urgent use of Renewable Energy (RE). This incessant need for clean energy transition, due to execrable climatic conditions can lead to severe exploitation of vast hinterlands and vulnerable society around it. These RE project’s economic and environmental sustainability are a much-explored topic, though the social implications on the energy production sites are still a wide gap. This study raises critical questions about the social and ecological footprints of the clean energy transition at these sites and examines the potentials and shortcomings of the existing regional planning theories in terms of RE. Furthermore, the study argues that the current definitions of spatial boundaries—urban, peri-urban, and rural—are inadequate to withstand future energy shocks. Hence, it focuses on the sustainability of energy transition looking into interconnected geographical RE processes consequently, untangling the energy nexus around the spatial boundaries, where most of the energy production, assemblage and main transmission happens to create a cohesive energy efficient and climate-responsible future. To achieve this, an extensive literature study, consultation meetings and a focussed ethnographic study at selected locations in Indonesia and India will be conducted. Only by recognizing the nuanced realities can we progress towards a just and inclusive energy transformation across all segments of society.
Mingqi Wang
Multi-Objective Optimization of 3E Model (Environment, Energy, Economy): Optimal Tree Arrangement in Residential Microclimate Design
Abstract: With the accelerated global urbanization and the increasing prominence of climate change, traditional building energy consumption models have gradually revealed the limitations of neglecting the impact of urban climate. Although recent years have seen a surge in review articles on urban climate and building energy consumption, most have focused on the coupled simulation of single factors within physical models, offering limited discussion on multi-scale and comprehensive energy consumption calculation methods. This study aims to systematically assess and summarize existing methods that incorporate urban climate factors into building energy consumption calculations. Bibliometric analysis, content evaluation, and qualitative assessment are used to review the relevant literature on urban climate and building energy consumption. Through an examination of existing research, this paper identifies several key methods for integrating urban climate into building energy consumption calculations, including Semi-Empirical method, Numerical methods, and data-driven methods. The advantages and disadvantages of each method, along with their applicable scenarios, are critically analyzed. Furthermore, the study highlights the current gaps in research and proposes potential for future directions. The goal of this review is to provide architects, urban planners, and researchers with a comprehensive reference, facilitating the incorporation of urban climate considerations into building energy consumption models, and ultimately enhancing building energy efficiency and adaptability.