Books on the topic 'Embodied Energy'

It is nearly always the case that the energy used to make the materials dominates, whereas the energy used in shipping either the raw materials or the finished product is usually small in comparison. For most things that we use, the embodied energy is much less than the energy consumed in operational use. When considering energy generation, there are two energy costs that should be considered. There is the energy needed to build the system, which can be thought of as a ‘capital’ or investment energy, and the energy needed to provide the fuel. For fossil fuels, the energy needed to provide the fuel dominates; for renewables, the fuel is free, so there is only an investment energy. The investment energy for nuclear power is greater than the energy needed to make the fuel, but only by a factor of about 4.

This open access book develops a theory of 'vital curiosity' as a transdisciplinary force that activates ecological flows of connection across pedagogical spaces, disciplinary bodies, curricular structures, and institutional ontologies. Educational approaches and values are currently being rethought in light of global economic and environmental crises, posing fundamental questions about desire, access, responsibility, ethics, and relationality in teaching and learning. Cala Coats explores curiosity’s vital force as a critical learning disposition and creative process that activates movement and attraction through aesthetic disruptions and embodied connections, propelled through affective ruptures and durational commitments toward affirmative complexity. Chapters follow questions and connections that emerge from embodied encounters in schools, homes, public spaces, and the natural environment, illuminating residual patterns of colonization and commodification across bodies, territories, and knowledge. While this book is rooted in questions of schooling and education, it serves as a proposition to realize curiosity’s vital energy as an affirmative ethico-aesthetic force in any context. Drawing on new materialist and posthuman theories, the book puts forward an image of educational life, as it extends from curiosity, as a radical pedagogical practice. The open access edition of this book is available under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on www.bloomsburycollections.com.

Born and brought up on the overwhelmingly Protestant Rathcoole housing estate, Gary Mitchell explored the fragmentation of Ulster Loyalism during the era of the peace process in his key plays and continues to mine the disillusionment and travails of the Protestant working class across Northern Ireland. The Rathcoole focus highlights the dying embers of the Labour movement which carried on in Newtownabbey while the rest of the Northern Ireland Labour Party had faded away, a spirit embodied by the independent councillor Mark Langhammer. Though Mitchell was forced to leave Rathcoole in 2005, he continues to grapple with the strains of working-class Protestant communities in the form of policing tensions, identity questions, and a growing underclass (or ‘precariat’) which considers itself—like other white working-class groups—‘left behind’ by politicians and deindustrialization.

The use of energy in buildings is a complex problem, but it can be reduced and alleviated by making appropriate decisions. Therefore, architects face a major and responsible task of designing the built environment in such a way that its energy dependence will be reduced to a minimum, while at the same time being able to provide comfortable living conditions. Today, architects have many tools at their disposal, facilitating the design process and simultaneously ensuring proper assessment in the early stages of building design. The purpose of this book is to present ongoing research from the universities involved in the project Creating the Network of Knowledge Labs for Sustainable and Resilient Environments (KLABS). This book attempts to highlight the problem of energy use in buildings and propose certain solutions. It consists of nine chapters, organised in three parts. The gathering of chapters into parts serves to identify the different themes that the designer needs to consider, namely energy resources, energy use and comfort, and energy efficiency. Part 1, entitled “Sustainable and Resilient Energy Resources,” sets off by informing the reader about the basic principles of energy sources, production, and use. The chapters give an overview of all forms of energies and energy cycle from resources to end users and evaluate the resilience of renewable energy systems. This information is essential to realise that the building, as an energy consumer, is part of a greater system and the decisions can be made at different levels. Part 2, entitled “Energy and Comfort in the Built Environment”, explain the relationship between energy use and thermal comfort in buildings and how it is predicted. Buildings consume energy to meet the users’ needs and to provide comfort. The appropriate selection of materials has a direct impact on the thermal properties of a building. Moreover, comfort is affected by parameters such as temperature, humidity, air movement, air quality, lighting, and noise. Understanding and calculating those conditions are valuable skills for the designers. After the basics of energy use in buildings have been explained, Part 3, entitled “Energy Saving Strategies” aims to provide information and tools that enable an energy- and environmentally-conscious design. This part is the most extensive as it aims to cover different design aspects. Firstly, passive and active measures that the building design needs to include are explained. Those measures are seen from the perspective of heat flow and generation. The Passive House concept, which is explained in the second chapter of Part 3, is a design approach that successfully incorporates such measures, resulting in low energy use by the building. Other considerations that the following chapters cover are solar control, embodied energy and CO2 emissions, and finally economic evaluation. The energy saving strategies explained in this book, despite not being exhaustive, provide basic knowledge that the designer can use and build upon during the design of new buildings and existing building upgrades. In the context of sustainability and resilience of the built environment, the reduction of energy demand is crucial. This book aims to provide a basic understanding of the energy flows in buildings and the subsequent impact for the building’s operation and its occupants. Most importantly, it covers the principles that need to be taken into account in energy efficient building design and demonstrates their effectiveness. Designers are shaping the built environment and it is their task to make energy-conscious and informed decisions that result in comfortable and resilient buildings.

Many of the materials used are ultimately derived from things extracted from the earth. There is always an energy-intensive step of converting the oxide as found in the earth’s crust to the element or metal. Since carbon in the form of coke is frequently used in this process, it is inevitable that CO2 is emitted. Another thing to consider is the scarcity of the compound from which the element will be derived—that is, the grade of the ore. A low grade of ore, with little of the element of interest, will mean more energy will need to be used to dig up a greater quantity of material. Practically everything has gone through some form of high-temperature processing that contributes to its embodied energy. The embodied energy can be very high if extreme purity is demanded or if a low-abundance isotope is needed.

Soulless Matter, Seats of Energy: Metals, Gems and Minerals in South Asian Traditions investigates the way in which Indian culture has represented inorganic matter and geological formations such as mountains and the earth itself. The volume is divided into four sections, each discussing from different angles the manifold dimensions occupied by minerals, gems and metals in traditions such as Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism. The various chapters offer a rigorous analysis of a variety of texts from different South Asian regions from a range of perspectives such as history, philology, philosophy, hermeneutics and ethnography. The themes discussed include literature (myth and epics), ritual, ethics, folklore, and sciences such as astrology, medicine, alchemy and cosmetics. The volume critically reflects on the concept of “inanimate world” and shows how Indian traditions have variously interpreted the concept of embodied life and lifelessness. Ranging from worldviews and disciplines which regard metals, minerals, gems as alive, sentient or inhabited by divine presences and powers to ideas which deny matter possesses life and sentience, the Indian Subcontinent proves to be a challenge for taxonomic investigations but at the same time provides historians of religions and philosophers with stimulating material.

Timber has the lowest embodied energy of any of the construction materials. Paper production from trees requires much more energy. There is some energy saving in recycling, as recycled paper substitutes for pulp derived from wood chips. Growing crops for food also requires energy. The energy required for plants to grow comes from the sun, but there are additional energy inputs from fertiliser and farm machinery to speed up the growth process and vastly improve crop yields. If grains are used as animal feed, then the energy inputs are much larger than the dietary energy output—the larger the animal and the longer it is fattened up before slaughter, the more inefficient the process. The use of crops to make fuel for electrical power generation or for processing into liquid fuels is horribly inefficient. The problem is simple—the plants do not grow fast enough!

It must be appreciated that no building surface is perfectly flat and that the best that can be expected is the appearance of flatness. Unfortunately, this appearance can easily be destroyed by the effect of glancing light, whether natural or artificial. Illumination and Decoration of Flat Surfaces shows the effect of different light sources on a variety of lining materials and paints so that best results can be achieved. Different types of building surfaces are investigated, including set plaster, fibrous plaster, hardboard and gypsum board with gloss and semi-gloss paint applied. This full-colour edition also discusses new building materials such as cement sheet, polystyrene and various composite panels, as well as new building practices, low embodied energy materials and higher energy efficiency of buildings. Illumination and Decoration of Flat Surfaces is a must-have for people involved in the building industry, both commercial and residential.

The building skin has evolved enormously over the past decades. The energy performance and environmental quality of both the interior and exterior of buildings are primarily determined by the building envelope. The façade has experienced a change in its role as an adaptive climate control system that leverages the synergies between form, material, mechanical and energy systems towards an architectural integration of energy generation. The PowerSKIN Conference aims to address the role of building skins to accomplish a carbonneutral building stock. The focus of the PowerSKIN issue 2021 deals with the question of whether simplicity and robustness stay in contradiction to good performance of buildings skins or whether they even complement each other: simplicity vs performance? As an international scientific event - usually held at the BAU trade fair in Munich - the PowerSKIN Conference builds a bridge between science and practice, between research and construction, and between the latest developments and innovations for the façade of the future. Topics such as building operation, embodied energy, energy generation and storage in the context of the three conference sessions envelope, energy and environment are considered: – Envelope: The building envelope as an interface for the interaction between indoor and outdoor environment. This topic is focused on function, technical development and material properties. – Energy: New concepts, accomplished projects, and visions for the interaction between building structure, envelope and energy technologies. – Environment: Façades or elements of façades, which aim to provide highly comfortable surroundings where environmental control strategies as well as energy generation and/or storage are an integrated part of an active skin. The Technical University of Munich, TU Darmstadt, and TU Delft are signing responsible for the organisation of the conference. It is the third event of a biennial series: April 9th 2021, architects, engineers, and scientists present their latest developments and research projects for public discussion and reflection. For the first time, the conference will be a virtual event. On the one hand, this is a pity, as conferences are also about meeting people and social interaction; on the other hand, it offers the possibility that we can reach more people who connect from all over the world.

This chapter examines traditional concepts of security and insecurity in the realm of international politics. It first considers Thomas Hobbes's account of the state of nature and the emergence of the power politics approach to security as worked out by Hans Morgenthau and his successors. It then discusses the evolution of security thinking through to the end of the Cold War, ideas about collective security as embodied in the United Nations and the nature of security cooperation in Europe through NATO. It also explores some pressing security challenges in the post-Cold War period and the broadening of the security agenda to encompass more recent concerns ranging from environmental security to energy security and the notions of ‘human security’ and ‘responsibility to protect’. Finally, it analyses the ‘global war on terror’ and especially how the 9/11 attacks affected the discourse on security and insecurity.

This fresh examination of Carter’s presidency (1977-1981), the first in over twenty years, sheds new light on his time in office, reflecting on his domestic record, his key policies on the economy, civil rights, and energy, and challenging misconceptions about his character and leadership. The success of Jimmy Carter’s post-presidential career and the scandals of his successors, have begun to generate a nostalgic view of Carter’s time in the White House. This book looks at his presidency during a time of ideological conflict in the US political landscape, between liberalism and rising conservatism, embodied respectively by Kennedy and Reagan, Carter’s efforts to hold the centre or non-ideological, moral position, and the impact of his character, particularly his faith, on how he exercised power in Washington. In doing so, it reveals new interpretations of his leadership style, and its impact on his time in office.

This important new book argues that at the root of the contemporary crisis of climate, energy, food, inequality, and meaning is a certain core presupposition that structures the ways in which we live, think, act and design: the assumption of dualism, or the fundamental separateness of things. The authors contend that the key to constructing livable worlds lies in the cultivation of ways of knowing and acting based on a profound awareness of the fundamental interdependence of everything that exists – what they refer to as relationality. This shift in paradigm is necessary for healing our bodies, ecosystems, cities, and the planet at large. The book follows two interwoven threads of argumentation: on the one hand, it explains and exemplifies the modes of operation and the dire consequences of non-relational living; on the other, it elucidates the nature of relationality and explores how it is embodied in transformative practices in multiple spheres of life. The authors provide an instructive account of the philosophical, scientific, social, and political sources of relational theory and action, with the aim of illuminating the transition from living within seemingly ineluctable ‘toxic loops’ of unrelational living (based on ontological dualism), to living within ‘relational weaves’ which we might co-create with multiple human and nonhuman others.

With its dynamic choreographies and booming drumbeats, taiko has gained worldwide popularity since its emergence in 1950s Japan. Harnessed by Japanese Americans in the late 1960s, taiko’s sonic largesse and buoyant energy challenged stereotypical images of Asians in America as either model minorities or sinister foreigners. While the majority of North American taiko players are Asian American, more than four hundred groups now exist across the United States and Canada, and these groups are comprised of people from a variety of racial and ethnic identities. Using ethnographic and historical approaches combined with performance description and analysis, this book explores the connections between taiko and Asian American cultural politics at the intersections of race, gender, and sexuality. Based on original and archival interviews, as well as the author’s extensive experience as a taiko player, this book highlights not only the West Coast but also the Midwest as a site for Asian American cultural production and makes embodied experience central to inquiries about identity. The book builds on insights from the fields of dance studies, ethnomusicology, performance studies, and Asian American studies to argue that taiko players from a variety of identity positions “perform Asian America” on stage, as well as in rehearsals, festivals, and schools and through interactions with audiences. While many taiko drummers play simply for the love of the form’s dynamism and physicality, this book demonstrates that politics is built into even the most mundane aspects of rehearsing and performing.

Practical Feelings develops and applies a theory of emotion practice to the domains of work, leisure, social media, and politics. Chapter 1 theorizes an emotion practice approach by synthesizing symbolic interactionist and poststructural approaches to emotion using their shared lineage of pragmatism. Within this approach, the concepts of emotional capital, habitus, and social location together help us examine emotion as effort, energy, and embodied resource. Chapters 2 through 5 apply an emotion practice approach to the social arenas of work, leisure, social media, and politics. The empirical chapters move from the intimate sphere of nursing to the sphere of public health threats while illustrating the strengths of an emotion practice approach. Audio diaries from nurses capture how they use and conserve emotional resources within hierarchies of social class and race. In examining sports fans, we see how they use and invest in the emotional power of sports symbols, but a hierarchy of racial inequality underlies this economy of emotion that connects communities and corporations. Social media users connect with others during health threats by relying on engrained digital habits of frivolity and humor. Turning to the political sphere, rhetoric from leaders reinforces a view of emotions as irrational, converting their emotional capital of stoicism into political capital during public health threats (Ebola and COVID-19). The final chapter develops the relevance of homophily for connecting emotions with social inequality and theorizes mechanisms for social change.

Drawing on extensive fieldwork, this book investigates aesthetic, symbolic, metaphorical, literary, mathematical, and philosophical meanings of the kōlam, the popular Tamil women’s daily ephemeral practice, a ritual art tradition performed with rice flour on the thresholds of houses in southern India. They range from concepts such as auspiciousness, inauspiciousness, ritual purity, and ritual pollution. Several divinities, too, play a significant role: Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, good luck, well-being, and a quickening energy; Mūdevi, the goddess of poverty, bad luck, illness, and laziness; Bhūdevi, the goddess of the soils, the earth, and the fields; and the god Ganesh, the remover of obstacles. Braiding art history, aesthetics, and design, this book analyzes the presence of the kōlam in medieval Tamil literature, focusing on the saint-poet Āṇṭāḷ. The author shows that the kōlam embodies mathematical principles such as symmetry, fractals, array grammars, picture languages, and infinity. Three types of kōlam competitions are described. The kinship between Bhūdevi and the kōlam is discussed as the author delves into the topics of “embedded ecologies” and “intermittent sacrality.” The author explores the history of the phrase “feeding a thousand souls,” tracing it back to ancient Sanskrit literature, where it was connected to Indian notions of hospitality, karma, and strangers. Its relationship to the theory of karma is represented by its connection to the five ancient sacrifices. This ritual is distinguished as one of the many “rituals of generosity” in Tamil Nadu.