Energy and architecture — An overview

Abstract

Summary. -This paper aims to provide a short overview on the complex aspects and growing concern about energy in architecture by gradually zooming into it, starting from a macro-scale analysis of building contribution in the total EU energy consumption, related policies, user behaviour's impacts and vernacular architecture techniques; then looking at the meso scale of building energy performance during its use, dynamic simulations of heat transfer and insights from a whole life cycle analysis of the energy involved during construction and disposal phases; finally, at the building element micro-scale, describing local heat transfer and human thermal comfort measurements. Conclusions gather recommendations and further scenarios where different stakeholders and techniques can play their part for a wiser and more sustainable energy use, and a better built environment for us and those to come.

Education for Sustainability in Practice: A Review of Current Strategies within Italian Universities

“…Higher education institutions (HEIs) often manage large scale portions of cities (e.g., buildings, laboratories, dormitories), in which sustainability principles could be "practised after preached". In this sense, the contribution of HEIs to SDGs implementation goes well beyond the curricula development, and HEIs can be considered as learning communities, in which a variety of practices, discourses and policies coalesce, leading to the elaboration of complex and changing representations and practices of sustainability, and even more difficult to grasp behavioural changes [6][7][8].…”