Paul Münzner

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

My name is Paul Münzner and I'm founder and editor of ECOURBANHUB. I studied engineering and management at the University of Freiberg in Germany. Since my studies, I'm taken with the question how to shape and manage a more sustainable urban future. LinkedIn

Bubble-Based Water Sterilization Method Tested In Canberra

Sterilization With Heated Carbon Dioxide

25 March 2019 From Paul Münzner Filed Under: 2019, Featured, Water

Due to the World Health Organization (WHO), 4 percent of all deaths are caused by poor drinking-water access, unimproved sanitation, and poor hygiene practices. Around 80 percent of people in urban agglomerations have access to drinking water from the tap. 96 percent receive drinking water from improved sources.

Many waste disposal industries, like landfills, piggeries, waste-water treatment plants, bio-gas plants and coal power plants emit large amounts of CO₂. There is the potential for them to use these emissions in water treatment processes to sterilise water.

Dr. Adrian Garrido Sanchis

However, especially urban residents in developing countries struggle with diseases as a result of insufficient access to safe drinking water or improved sanitation. More than 500,000 diarrhoeal deaths are caused by contaminated drinking-water each year – estimated by WHO. The poor bacteriological quality of water can also cause cholera, dysentery or polio. Furthermore, viruses in water are still a challenge and limit the use of recycled water.

Water Sterilization With Un-pressurized Carbon Dioxide

Having said the above, we’re coming now to the positive developments – the efficient inactivation of viruses and bacteria. A research team at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) has tested an uncommon way of sterilizing water which could be more environmentally friendly as well as more cost-effective. Briefly: They found out that un-pressurized and heated bubbles – consisting of carbon dioxide – are able to inactivate viruses and bacteria effectively. As it is more efficient to heat gas than water, less energy is needed to exhaust the heated gas through the water than boiling it.

The specific thermal capacity of carbon dioxide with a temperature of 50°C is 0.864 kJ/(kg K). For the same temperature, water has a specific thermal capacity of 4.181 kJ/(kg K) which is more than 4,8 times higher than carbon dioxide. This is the reason why heating water needs many times more energy than heating carbon dioxide.

“The collision between the hot air bubbles and the viruses was the mechanism behind the inactivation. Then I tried to improve the inactivation effect with different solutions, with air at different temperatures and finally with different hot gases. This proved that hot carbon dioxide inactivated virus and bacteria faster than the other gases. Therefore, we decided to conduct a specific CO2 pathogen inactivation study,” said Dr. Adrian Garrido Sanchis, researcher at the UNSW Canberra.

Find the published research on Nature or read the pdf-version.

Europe’s Air Pollution Contributes to Cardiovascular Disease, Reduces Life Expectancy – Study

Mortality rate from ambient air pollution in Europe is 790,000

22 March 2019 From Paul Münzner Filed Under: 2019, Featured, SCIENCE & STUDIES

The European Heart Journal has published a study modeling the effect of air pollution in Europe on cardiovascular health. It finds that air pollution may have a greater effect on mortality from cardiovascular illness than previously believed, but notes that the hazard ratio used allows for a “high degree of uncertainty.”

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Non-Communicable Diseases the Leading Cause of Mortality

World Health Organization figures show that non-communicable diseases account for 71 percent of the world’s deaths. Of these, 31 percent of deaths were the result of cardiovascular disease while the rest can be attributed to cancer, diabetes and lung disease.

In Europe, 45 percent of deaths are caused by cardiovascular disease. We know that there are many risk factors involved, but the authors of the new study believe that environmental factors that contribute to heart disease, including air pollution, are being underestimated in current Global Burden of Disease (GED) estimates.

Medical Experts Warn of Particulate Pollution Hazard

The Lancet Commission on Pollution and Health estimates that nine million unnecessary deaths are caused by unhealthy environmental conditions and attributes half of the problem to air pollution.

Very fine particulate pollutants smaller than 2.5 µm in diameter are the primary concern as a mounting body of evidence points towards these pollutants as contributors to heart disease and death.

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Using statistical models, the new research points towards cardiovascular disease caused by air pollution as reducing average life expectancy in Europe by as much as two years. This would mean that in total, air pollution contributes to approximately 790,000 people in Europe annually.

The study estimates that of these, mortality will be as a result of:

Lung cancer: 7 percent
COPD: 6 percent
Pneumonia: 7 percent
Stroke: 8 percent
Ischemic heart disease: 40 percent
Other non-communicable diseases: 37 percent

Air Quality Standards Inadequate

The study’s authors note that EU air quality standards call for an average air quality limit of 25 µg/m³ – more than double the 10 µg/m³ level suggested by the World Health Organization – and even this figure will not reduce the hazard ratio below 1.

In fact, the EU air quality standard promulgated in 2015 is far laxer than that of the US, where the annual average limit is 12 µg/m³ and Australia and Canada, which both have standards in line with, or more stringent than, the 10 µg/m³ WHO recommendation. Both countries also have concrete plans to improve air quality still further.

In addition, there are areas in Europe where pollution levels exceed the already-lax air quality standard significantly. Europe, says the report, must urgently prioritize clean air for the sake of human health.

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Cleaner Air in the EU is Achievable

The goal of cleaner air will not be impossible to reach. Europe is already moving away from fossil fuels, and although it’s no panacea, cutting out their use would increase average life expectancy by 1 to 1.4 years.

Thus, moving to renewable energy will have immense health benefits and may even have a greater impact on reduced mortality than the reduction in cigarettes smoking achieved in recent decades.

Maybe Artificial Muscles Power Tomorrows Air Conditioners

US Department of Energy and the EU Commission have declared the new technology to have great promise as a more sustainable alternative to current refrigeration techniques

21 March 2019 From Paul Münzner Filed Under: 2019, Energy, Featured

A Saarland University research team has revealed a prototype device that can be used to heat or cool air or liquids using artificial nickel-titanium (nitinol) “muscles.” The device takes advantage of nitinol’s memory material ability to absorb or release heat depending on whether it is moving towards a superelastic “relaxed” state or returning to a “loaded” state.

The Saarbrücken researchers report that their prototype is environmentally friendly and has twice to three times the efficiency of conventional heating or cooling equipment. Already, the US Department of Energy and the EU Commission have declared the new technology to have great promise as a more sustainable alternative to current refrigeration techniques.

The most significant difference between the new technology and the old, is that refrigerants used in air conditioning are known to be harmful to the environment. The new method can achieve the same effect using less energy and without the harmful gases. As an added bonus, the same principle can be used for heating.

Professor Stephan Seeleke of Saarland University (Germany) explains that when pre-stressed nitinol wires are unloaded, they will cool dramatically, with a 20 degree drop in temperature having been observed. When the wires are loaded up again, the rise in temperature is similar.

Just as muscles fibers work in bundles, so the new cooling method consists of bundles of fibers that load an unload in concert, ensuring efficient heat transference. When air is blown through the mechanical muscles, two separate chambers house the resulting heated and cooled air, allowing the operator to choose between heated or refrigerated output.

However, the theory is a lot simpler than the implementation as the researchers have found during an ongoing project in which various problems had to be overcome. For example, calibrating the wires’ loading so that they produced a desired level of cooling presented challenges and the team had to determine how many wires to include in each bundle to get the necessary surface-area for heating and cooling.

Now, exact parameters have been captured and the team has developed software that will allow for precise tuning of the device’s heating and cooling.

The efficiency of the novel technology is unquestionable. It can produce as much as thirty times more cooling or heating power than the mechanical energy it takes to load the wires.

Nevertheless, the researchers believe that there is room for improvement. They are currently working on improving the device still further so that the phase transition’s energy will almost exclusively be used for heating or cooling.

CobBauge – Ancient Building Method Updated to Meet Modern Energy Efficiency Standards

Thermally Efficient CobBauge Will Have Extra Environmental Benefits

18 March 2019 From Paul Münzner Filed Under: 2019, Featured, Green Building

Traditional cob houses are part of the country landscape in many parts of England and France. The traditional building method produces houses with a unique character – but they aren’t in line with modern energy efficiency standards.

French and British researchers under the leadership of Professor Steve Goodhew of the University of Plymouth, have developed a more energy-efficient form of cob that will use local materials, meet energy efficiency and structural standards, and be made using a more efficient, lower-cost process.

Project partners include the Ecole Superieure D’ingenieur des Travaux de la Construction de Caen (ESITC), Syndicat Mixte du Parc naturel régional des Marais du Cotentin et du Bessin (PnrMCB), Earth Building UK and Ireland (EBUKI) and the Université Caen-Normandie (UCn).

Successful Culmination of First Phase

During the first phase of the CobBauge project, 12 different soils and 6 different natural fiber varieties were combined to make 20 different formulations for evaluation. Two optimized mixtures – one for each of the two participating countries, was selected.

We had a very successful event in December to celebrate the end of Phase 1 of the CobBauge project. With a huge attendance of individuals from all areas of interest. The presentations from this event are now available from our website:https://t.co/dCm7dQSVS2 @Channel_Manche #cob pic.twitter.com/Krmv7D2sab
— CobBauge Project (@CobBaugeProject) January 3, 2019

Then, innovative building methods were developed with the criterion for evaluation being a comparison between CobBauge and conventional building. The team aimed to keep costs and time needed in line with, or lower than those of a regular construction.

As the team approaches the March 2019 culmination of its first phase, it reports that it has developed the methods and materials that could be used to build hundreds of houses across England and France in the next ten years. The new way of building has been dubbed CobBauge – a combination of the English and French words for cob.

Thermally Efficient CobBauge Will Have Extra Environmental Benefits

To make cob more thermally efficient, researchers found that a dual-layered construction was better able to retain heat than traditional cob. It consists of a lightweight cob for insulation coated with a denser, stronger form that bonds the walls together. The University says that much of the work involved the analysis and measurement of different local soils’ and fibers’ thermal properties.

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Apart from helping to raise energy-efficiency, the new type of cob buildings will reduce CO2 emissions in other ways. Firstly, the researchers chose materials based on local availability, reducing the need for road transportation of building materials. Secondly, the straw or hemp fibers in the cob have sequestrated carbon from the air, and by limiting the use of cement, a major source of emissions is avoided. The CobBauge construction process will produce 40 percent less emissions than would be produced in the construction of a conventional masonry building.

The research team says that its updated version of a traditional building material will not only allow for authentic restoration of landmark cob buildings, but also present the construction industry with a high-tech, cost-effective material it can rely on for energy efficiency.

In conventional construction, a great deal of waste is generated. The waste goes to landfills, placing further pressure on the environment and incurring significant costs. A CobBauge building will produce 16 tons less rubble per residential property saving an estimated €2115 in landfill costs.

What’s Next for CobBauge?

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Future work on CobBauge will be subject to further funding being secured, but there are plans to build two CobBauge houses, one in England and the other in France. They will serve as test subjects for research that will analyze the interior environment in CobBauge buildings. Thermal performance under real-life conditions will naturally be of interest, but researchers will also measure interior air quality including humidity, the presence of particulate pollutants, and levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

Researchers hope that CobBauge buildings will do well in these tests when compared to conventional building materials adding the attraction of healthier living to the advantages of CobBauge.

Apart from spreading the word about the new type of cob, researchers will continue looking at new cob formulations using non-traditional fibers from recycled materials. The team will investigate whether such fibers could result in a viable CobBauge mix.

The practical guidelines for building with the newly-developed cob materials will also be published, and it is hoped that construction industry professionals interested in the new technique will be able to receive training. There are hopes that this second phase of the CobBauge project will result in the construction of up to 1,500 buildings in England and France over the next decade.

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Urban Wetland in Bogota – Santa Barbara Business Center

Part of Santa Barbara Business Center Designed by Obraestudio - Awarded By The Colombian Architects Society

15 March 2019 From Paul Münzner Filed Under: 2019, Featured, GREEN SPACE

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