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A series of white papers are needed that compare and contrast:

1) actual responses by local authorities to storms, such as modifications to building codes and land use, or construction of protective infrastructure

2) technical literature on the appropriate risk mitigation measures for storms

Patrick Gurian

really smart people

12/15/2017

The United States has set a target of 83% reductions in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Drexel University will need to make reductions on this scale as its contribute to meeting this national goal. Drexel’s current plan to achieve these reductions relies greatly on the purchase of wind energy. Previous work by CAEE senior design students at Drexel has found that there are more cost-effective approaches available right on Drexel’s campus (CWEPH 2017). Examples of promising approaches to reduce carbon emissions include the generation of energy from renewables on campus, decentralized approaches to managing stormwater and treating wastewater, and incentivizing the use of public transit. The area with perhaps the greatest potential for cost-effectively reducing emissions is the retrofit of buildings on Drexel’s campus to make them more energy efficient. However, building retrofits require extensive capital investment, and engineering expertise is required to forecast which investments would realize sufficient savings in utility bills and emissions to be warranted.

During the 2016-17 academic year CWEPH (2017) compiled information on the layout and historical energy use of Drexel’s buildings. These datasets have been archived in an online repository and are available for use by a student group in the 2017-18 academic year. An analysis of Kelly Hall was also completed using the bin method during the past academic year. A senior design group selecting this topic would have a number of options to extend this work. Retrofits could be considered for many other buildings. Disque, MacAlister, and Stratton are all large old buildings that might benefit from retrofits. Development and calibration of a building energy simulation model, such as eQuest or EnergyPlus, would allow for a greater variety of energy conservation retrofits to be considered and would provide more detailed information on what the expected performance of the building would be after the retrofit.

The project includes options that could be pursued by non-architectural engineers. A civil engineer with a transportation focus could design a low-carbon transportation plan. In particular, Drexel students have expressed interest in electrification of shuttle buses and evaluating this option could be an element of this transportation plan. Environmental engineers might conduct a lifecycle impact assessment of suggested measures, or design regulatory structures, such as the sale of carbon offsets or distribution of tax benefits to donors that might incentivize lowering emissions on campus.

This project will provide students with a challenging problem informed by available data on Drexel’s campus. This combination of circumstances will enable the student group to produce an actionable plan for the university to undertake cost-effective emissions reduction measures.

References
CWEPH 2017. 80 x 50: Deep Reductions in Drexel’s Carbon Emissions, senior design final report, Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA.

Patrick Gurian

Architectural engineering

06/06/2018

Supporting the City of Philadelphia's recently released clean energy vision, Powering Our Future, and forthcoming transportation planning process, the Office of Sustainability is seeking support to understand how potential transportation policy interventions as selected by the City could help meet Mayor Kenney's commitment to cutting carbon emissions 80 percent by 2050.

Rich Freeh

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Transportation modeling, carbon accounting

06/01/2018

The Climate-Ready Home workshop will educate Philadelphians about the relationship between outdoor and indoor environments; how homes are part of the larger climate; and what Philadelphians can do to reduce CO2 loads while also keeping families safe and healthy. Many cities are catching onto the idea of being “climate-ready” by making existing infrastructure more sustainable, such as energy efficient and disaster proof. The proposed project will develop a model of the climate-ready home for Philadelphia specifically. This means making the home more energy efficient, addressing basic home repairs and mold, and developing an emergency preparedness plan for households in the event of severe weather.

The Climate-Ready Home workshop will be held in three different Philadelphia neighborhoods that are vulnerable to climate change due to old housing stock: Kensington, West Philadelphia, and Mayfair. Workshops will run approximately 2-2.5 hours and will include presentations on climate change science and local impacts; local energy systems and energy efficiency in the home; healthy home strategies and emergency preparedness. Workshop participants will receive resource folders, which will include information from all presentations, survey question answers, a climate change glossary, at-home activities, and information on local resources. During the workshops, we will facilitate interactive group discussion about relevant, community topics; run a demonstration on energy efficiency in the home (using the new climate kit from The Franklin Institute); and facilitate a mold identification activity. The workshops will be supported by pre- and post-workshop surveys that assess participants’ existing knowledge of climate change, energy literacy, home environments, and local resources. Drexel students will conduct participant observation at the workshops to document the findings of large and small group discussion.

In addition to educating Philadelphians about climate change impacts and resources to prepare for a warmer, wetter city, our project team is committed to hearing from Philadelphians about their knowledge of climate change and their experience with existing local resources. By documenting and analyzing community-based knowledge, data from our project will help our partners develop programs and resources for Philadelphians, and also contribute to broader social science research on public health projects that address urban climate change.

Alison Kenner

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We are looking for students who can conduct participant observation during workshops; process and analyze survey data; code interviews; and draft reports.

06/30/2019

Electrification of building energy use is often proposed as a means to achieve greenhouse gas emissions reductions. However building electrification poses potential practical problems as not all buildings are feasible for installation of heat pumps. This project will explore practical barriers to heat pump adoption. What types of buildings are suitable for heat pump retrofits and which ones are less suitable? What barriers exist and how costly are solutions to overcome these barriers?

Patrick Gurian

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Architectural engineering, building retrofit contracting

12/31/2020

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