A top-down approach for setting climate targets for buildings: The case of a New Zealand detached house

Climate change mitigation requires the construction of low/zero-carbon buildings, and this is a challenge for designers. The use of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) provides useful information to support eco-efficiency improvements and therefore, to reduce the climate impacts of building designs. However, it does not provide information about whether a proposed design aligns with achieving the global climate target of limiting global warming to below 1.5C or 2C. This study, therefore, introduces an LCA-based top-down approach for setting climate targets for the whole life cycle of buildings in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. It involves assigning a share of the 2C global carbon budget for 2018-2050 to a country, to the construction sector of the country, and finally to a building. The approach includes a stock model that accounts for the projected growth in the number of buildings and associated climate impacts in a country up to 2050. The proposed approach was applied to a detached house in New Zealand, the most common residential building type in the country; it was found that the climate target of a New Zealand detached house over a 90-year lifetime is 71 tCO2eq. This modelling approach has potential to guide designers and other interested stakeholders in development of building designs enabling the building sector to operate within a selected global climate target (such as the 1.5C or 2C target).fals

Application of absolute sustainability assessment to new zealand residential dwellings

One approach to supporting the implementation of sustainable activities by industry sectors is the use of climate targets. Such climate targets have potential to be used in design and rating tools for buildings and to support government regulation for the building and construction sector. In this study, the climate targets for New Zealand residential dwellings were calculated based on assigning the global carbon budget (for limiting temperature increase to 1.5 or 2.0 °C during 2018-2050) to three building typologies: detached, medium-density housing and apartments. These budgets were assigned to the pre-existing and new-built dwellings using building stock projections for the nominated period. Separately, the climate impact of new-built dwellings in each of the three residential typologies were assessed using Life Cycle Assessment methodology. For New Zealand residential buildings, new-built dwellings exceed their 1.5 °C climate targets by a factor of 6.7, 6.8 and 10.9 for detached, medium-density housing, and apartments respectively. For the 2.0 °C climate target, these factors are 4.8, 4.8 and 7.7 for detached, medium-density housing, and apartments respectively. The results show that about two-thirds of the climate impact of residential dwellings for the period 2018-2050 is associated with preexisting dwellings rather than new-builds. The operational energy used for space heating, water heating, lighting and plug loads makes the biggest contribution to the climate impact for all typologies of pre-built residential dwellings. For new-built residential dwellings, both the operational energy and the construction materials/products contribute most of the climate impact.fals

Music Education Program Linked to Social-Emotional Advantage for Students Facing Economic Hardship

Purpose School success depends on the ability to regulate emotions, behavior, and attention in the service of learning. This study examines the impact of MacPhail’s Learning with Music Program on the development of self-regulatory skills for young children at risk via economic hardship. Design In Learning with Music, MacPhail music teachers visit partner preschool classrooms and model music integration for early childhood educators. We used a two-year, quasi-experimental waitlist control design to examine the impact of Learning with Music on children’s development of self-regulatory skills. In Year 1, both participating preschool programs received their preschool programming as usual, and in Year 2, both participating preschool programs additionally received Learning with Music. Method Ethical standards were followed, and all procedures were approved by the appropriate institutional review boards. The study included 234 preschool children, 104 of whom received Learning with Music and 130 of whom did not. All children were from families facing economic hardship, with income-to-needs ratios less than 2X the federal poverty threshold. Measures included a parent demographic interview and standardized child assessments of the inhibitory control aspect of self-regulation completed at the start, middle, and end of the year. Results Analyses involved latent growth curve modeling to examine initial status and growth in child inhibitory control as a function of receipt of the music program. Learning with Music was associated with greater growth in inhibitory control. The study highlights opportunities for using music to ameliorate negative effects of poverty and promote self-regulatory skill development for young children

The embodied carbon of building services systems in houses

This presentation outlines the challenges of documenting the embodied carbon of residential building services systems, the strengths, weaknesses, and pitfalls. It finds that a possible illusion of precision is underpinned by some very pragmatic decisions in calculating fundamental data and identifies major and minor carbon contributors. It also proposes reporting protocols that will make the information useful to designers who will ultimately be the most influential users of the information. Background Current embodied carbon tools Current progress This work Clearcut® Results - BRANZ Unitec comparisons Lessons learned EPDS For the futur

Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors Impair the Elimination of HIV-Infected Cells by Cytotoxic T-Lymphocytes

Resting memory CD4+ T-cells harboring latent HIV proviruses represent a critical barrier to viral eradication. Histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACis), such as suberanilohydroxamic acid (SAHA), romidepsin, and panobinostat have been shown to induce HIV expression in these resting cells. Recently, it has been demonstrated that the low levels of viral gene expression induced by a candidate HDACi may be insufficient to cause the death of infected cells by viral cytopathic effects, necessitating their elimination by immune effectors, such as cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTL). Here, we study the impact of three HDACis in clinical development on T-cell effector functions. We report two modes of HDACi-induced functional impairment: i) the rapid suppression of cytokine production from viable T-cells induced by all three HDACis ii) the selective death of activated T-cells occurring at later time-points following transient exposures to romidepsin or, to a lesser extent, panobinostat. As a net result of these factors, HDACis impaired CTL-mediated IFN-γ production, as well as the elimination of HIV-infected or peptide-pulsed target cells, both in liquid culture and in collagen matrices. Romidepsin exerted greater inhibition of antiviral function than SAHA or panobinostat over the dose ranges tested. These data suggest that treatment with HDACis to mobilize the latent reservoir could have unintended negative impacts on the effector functions of CTL. This could influence the effectiveness of HDACi-based eradication strategies, by impairing elimination of infected cells, and is a critical consideration for trials where therapeutic interruptions are being contemplated, given the importance of CTL in containing rebound viremia

Learning with Music: Early Childhood Program Associated with Advantage in Self-Regulation

Purpose School success depends on the ability to regulate emotions, behavior, and attention in the service of learning. This study examines the impact of MacPhail’s Learning with Music Program on the development of self-regulatory skills for young children at risk via economic hardship. Design In Learning with Music, MacPhail music teachers visit partner preschool classrooms and model music integration for early childhood educators. We used a two-year, quasi-experimental waitlist control design to examine the impact of Learning with Music on children’s development of self-regulatory skills. In Year 1, both participating preschool programs received their preschool programming as usual, and in Year 2, both participating preschool programs additionally received Learning with Music. Method Ethical standards were followed, and all procedures were approved by the appropriate institutional review boards. The study included 234 preschool children, 104 of whom received Learning with Music and 130 of whom did not. All children were from families facing economic hardship, with income-to-needs ratios less than 2X the federal poverty threshold. Measures included a parent demographic interview and standardized child assessments of the inhibitory control aspect of self-regulation completed at the start, middle, and end of the year. Results Analyses involved latent growth curve modeling to examine initial status and growth in child inhibitory control as a function of receipt of the music program. Learning with Music was associated with greater growth in inhibitory control. The study highlights opportunities for using music to ameliorate negative effects of poverty and promote self-regulatory skill development for young children

Policy implications of time-differentiated climate change analysis in life cycle assessment of building elements in Aotearoa New Zealand

Purpose: Climate change policies are increasingly including time-dependent carbon targets for different economic activities. However, current standards and guidelines for climate change assessment of buildings ignore these dynamic aspects and require use of static life cycle assessment (LCA). This research investigates how to better account for the timing of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and removals in LCAs of buildings and construction products, using a static and dynamic LCA case study of roofs, walls and floors in Aotearoa New Zealand residential dwellings. Methods: Static and dynamic LCA methods were used to assess the climate change impact of two assemblies each for external walls, ground floors and roofs used in stand-alone residential dwellings in Aotearoa New Zealand. Each assembly was modelled for a life cycle extending from material production, through to element construction, operational use, and final end-of-life treatment. Results were calculated as total GWP100 results for each life cycle stage, GWP100 results disaggregated into time periods, and as instantaneous and cumulative radiative forcing up to year 190. Sensitivity analysis was undertaken for the building reference service life, exposure zone, location, and end-of-life treatment. Results and discussion: Four time-related aspects were found to be particularly significant as regards their contribution to the final static LCA (sLCA) climate change results: -Inclusion versus exclusion of biogenic carbon storage in landfill -Modelling of end-of-life recycling activities using current versus future low or net zero carbon technologies (in module D) -Building reference service life (50 versus 90 years) -Choice of modelling parameters for landfilled timber and engineered wood products. Use of dynamic LCA (dLCA) enabled priorities to be identified for climate change mitigation actions in the shorter and longer term, and showed that half of the assemblies achieved net zero carbon by year 190 (timber wall, steel wall, timber floor). Conclusions: Timing of GHG emissions and removals should be included in LCAs to support decision-making in the context of achieving targets set in climate change policies. In particular, LCA results should show ongoing biogenic carbon storage in landfilled timber and engineered wood products. Carbon footprint standards, guidelines and calculation tools should be prescriptive about building and construction product reference service lives, the EofL fate for different materials/products, and modelling of forestry and landfill activities, to provide a level playing field for stakeholders.fals