Managing Air for Green Inner Cities

Completed

Energy Efficiency(Residential and commercial)
Energy Efficiency(Transport)
Other Cross-Cutting Technologies or Research(Environmental, social and economic impacts)

Basic and strategic applied research

SOCIAL SCIENCES (Economics and Econometrics)
ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (General Engineering and Mineral & Mining Engineering)
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES (Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences)

Systems Analysis related to energy R&D
Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Environmental dimensions)
Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Policy and regulation)
Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Other sociological economical and environmental impact of energy)

Professor PF Linden
Applied Maths and Theoretical Physics
University of Cambridge

Standard

EPSRC

15 December 2015

14 December 2021

72 months

£4,173,134

Civil eng. & built environment

East of England

NC : Engineering

Professor PF Linden, Applied Maths and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge

Professor H Apsimon, Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London
Dr E Aristodemou, School of Engineering, London South Bank University
Dr DM Birch, Mechanical, Medical, and Aerospace Engineering, University of Surrey
Dr A Boies, Engineering, University of Cambridge
Dr AG Buchan, Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London
Dr M Carpentieri, Mechanical Engineering Science, University of Surrey
Dr R Choudhary, Engineering, University of Cambridge
Professor D Crawford-Brown, Land Economy, University of Cambridge
Dr F Fang, Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London
Dr J Gorman, Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London
Professor Y Guo, Computing, Imperial College London
Professor PM Guthrie, Engineering, University of Cambridge
Dr M Herzog, Geography, University of Cambridge
Professor G Hunt, Engineering, University of Cambridge
Dr Y Jin, Architecture, University of Cambridge
Professor R Jones, Chemistry, University of Cambridge
Professor I Leslie, Computer Laboratory, University of Cambridge
Professor M Moatamedi, Materials, Imperial College London
Professor I Navon, Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London
Professor CC Pain, Department of Earth Sciences, Imperial College London
Professor JW Polak, Civil and Environmental Eng, Imperial College London
Professor A Robins, Mechanical, Medical, and Aerospace Engineering, University of Surrey
Professor CA Short, Architecture, University of Cambridge
Professor K Steemers, Architecture, University of Cambridge
Professor EM Yeatman, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Imperial College London
Dr A de Nazelle, Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London

Project Contact, Hertford Regional College
Project Contact, National Physical Laboratory (NPL)
Project Contact, Foster and Partners
Project Contact, Ove Arup & Partners Ltd
Project Contact, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Project Contact, University of Montana, USA
Project Contact, University of Reading
Project Contact, Breathing Buildings
Project Contact, Duvas Technologies Ltd
Project Contact, EC Harris LLP
Project Contact, Laing O'Rourke plc
Project Contact, Cambridge Environmental Research Consultants (CERC)
Project Contact, Zhejiang University, China

The challenge articulated in this proposal is: how to develop cities with no air pollution and no heat-island effect by 2050?It is difficult to predict with precision the future of cities, but there will be significant adaptations and changes by 2050, due to advances in technology, changing populations, social expectations and climate change. A roadmap is needed to ensure that decisions taken as the city evolves lead towards a sustainable future. Approximately half of the energy use, carbon dioxide emissions and exposure to air pollution in cities is due to either buildings or transportation, and this total energy use is increasing. Air pollution is projected to be the leading global cause of mortality by 2050. Therefore the question posed here in terms of air quality and temperature rise is important in its own right. However, these quantities together also provide, perhaps uniquely, specific measurable physical properties that cover an entire city and provide a metric for assessing the sustainability of system-wide decisions.Traditional approaches to urban environmental control rely on energy-consuming and carbon/toxics-producing heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. These traditional approaches produce an unsustainable cycle of increasing energy use with associated emissions of carbon dioxide and pollutants leading to rising temperatures implying, in turn, greater use of HVAC. Breaking this vicious cycle requires a completely different engineered solution, one that couples with natural systems and does not depend solely on mechanical systems. This project will develop a facility consisting of an integrated suite of models and an associated management and decision support system that together allow the city design and its operation to manage the air so that it becomes its own HVAC system, with clean, cool air providing low-energy solutions for health and comfort. This will be achieved by using natural ventilation in buildings to reduce demand for energy and ensuring air pollutants are diluted below levels that cause adverse health effects, coupled with increased albedo to reduce the heat island effect plus green (parks) and blue (water) spaces to provide both cooling and filtration of pollutants.We have brought together a trans-disciplinary research team to construct this facility. It will be comprised of three components: (i) a fully resolved air quality model that interacts with sensor data and provides detailed calculations of the air flow, pollutant and temperature distributions in complex city geometries and is fully coupled to naturally ventilated buildings, and green and blue spaces; (ii) reduced order models that allow rapid calculations for real time analysis and emergency response; and (iii) a cost-benefit model to assess the economic, social and environmental viability of options and decision.The scientific air quality component is a fully-resolved computational model that couples external and internal flowsin naturally ventilated buildings at the building, block and borough scales. It will be supported and validated by field measurements at selected sites and by wind tunnel and salt-bath laboratory studies. The reduced order models will be developed from the computational model and from laboratory process studies, and will be capable of producing gross features such as mean pollutant concentrations and temperatures. They will be used to provide capabilities for scoping studies, and real-time and emergency response. The cost-benefit model will provide the link between the scientific and engineering models and implementation advice. It will include modules for the built environment, public spaces and transportation, and provide estimates of the life-cycle costs and benefits of the various scenarios at the individual building, city block and borough scales. Eventually, it is envisaged that this will also include social and health effects.

07/10/16