Marita Wallhagen

University of Gävle · Department of Building Engineering, Energy Systems and Sustainability Science

Timber, a renewable resource with a low carbon footprint, has a giant potential to replace reinforced concrete (RC) structures in housing, which can decrease the environmental impact and lead to a healthier construction work environment. However, connections, as part of timber frames, are majorly made of steel and adhesives, which emit harmful poll...

This study adapted the mean age of air, a time scale widely utilized in evaluating indoor ventilation, to assess the impact of building layouts on urban ventilation capacity. To distinguish it from its applications in enclosed indoor environments, the adapted index was termed the effective mean age of air (Te). Based on an experimentally validated...

Cross-laminated timber (CLT) is one of the most sustainable, robust, and green building materials nowadays and is normally used for walls, floors, or roofs. The number of studies on CLT has increased significantly since 2010, which shows the acceptance and needs of CLT. Connection systems, rolling shear performance, and sustainability are the popul...

As a sustainable construction material, timber is more promoted than steel, concrete, and aluminum nowadays. The building industry benefits from using timber based on several perspectives, including decarbonization, improved energy efficiency, and easier recycling and disposal processes. The cross-laminated timber (CLT) panel is one of the widely u...

With concrete's key role in construction and infrastructure, the reduction of its carbon footprint is critical for addressing global carbon emissions. One strategy to reduce environmental impact from concrete production is to replace cement clinker or fine aggregates in concrete with industrial wastes. Mine tailings, being a high-volume under-utili...

Previous research has shown a lack of studies with comparisons between primary (virgin) and secondary (re-used) building materials, and their embodied emissions. The creation of different scenarios comparing the environmental impact of virgin vs. re-used materials is also motivated by the scarcity of raw materials in the world and the emergency of...

Open access chapters: https://www.intechopen.com/books/10811 This book assembles the latest knowledge linked to urban environments and urban socio-eco-technological systems including urban, energy, transport, material, and ecosystems. Urban environments and systems affect every person’s life in many ways and can have negative impacts on the local...

Achieving the targets of the Paris Agreement as an international treaty on climate change requires global climate actions by all sectors, including ensuring that buildings are more energy efficient. Today’s modern buildings employ a worldwide well-known and versatile usable building material which is a new type of green low-carbon engineered wood p...

Conventional concrete (CC) is for decades the most used construction material worldwide thanks to its good properties such as high strength, high thermal mass, low noise transmission, and high fire resistance. Cement is an important component of CC. The cement industry is a significant source of emissions and accounts for roughly 8% of the world’s...

Conventional concrete (CC) is for decades the most used construction material worldwide thanks to its good properties such as high strength, high thermal mass, low noise transmission, and high fire resistance. Cement is an important component of CC. The cement industry is a significant source of emissions and accounts for roughly 8% of the world’s...

Achieving the targets of the Paris Agreement as an international treaty on climate change requires global climate actions by all sectors, including ensuring that buildings are more energy efficient. Today's modern buildings employ a worldwide well-known and versatile usable building material which is a new type of green low-carbon engineered wood p...

The construction of timber buildings has increased in recent years, thanks to the excellent properties of the material. To achieve improved behaviour in terms of mechanical properties, energy and acoustic performance, fire resistance and durability, timber structures are sometimes integrated with other materials, such as concrete and steel, resulti...

Objective: Health care sector and its organizations are responsible for large environmental impacts. Therefore, it is of interest for the sectors key actors, the health care professionals, to act more pro-environmental. Environmental attitudes and values are underlying factors for pro-environmental behavior. However, little is known about these fac...

One of the today’s greatest challenges is to adjust our behavior so that we can avoid a major climate disaster. To do so, we must make sacrifices for the sake of the environment. The study reported here investigates how anchors (extrinsic motivational-free information) and normative messages (extrinsic motivational information) influence people’s t...

This study explored first-line managers’ leadership behavior profiles regarding their goals for utilizing the garden at residential care facilities for older people. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a convenience sample of first-line managers (n = 12) in Sweden. Data were analyzed using deductive content analysis theoretically guided...

Chapter available from: https://www.intechopen.com/online-first/79191 Production, management, use, and end-of-life of buildings has a large impact on climate change. Therefore, environmental targets are set to lower the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the building sector. To reach these targets building regulation and voluntary environmental as...

Miljökrav, Energianvändning och Klimatpåverkan – en studie av samband och möjligheter

Background Self-reported health status as measured by the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ) in patients with primary prevention implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) has mainly been reported from randomized trials. However, these studies are often limited to short follow-up and are subject to selection bias. The aim of this s...

Objectives Decisions regarding implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) must consider information about presumed health-related quality of life (HRQL). The purpose of the study was to assess HRQL in patients with ICD and compare it to a Swedish age-matched and sex-matched population. Design Cross-sectional observational trial. Setting Swedi...

The objective of this paper was to explore long-term costs for a single-family house in Sweden during its entire lifetime. In order to estimate the total costs, considering construction, replacement, operation, and end-of-life costs over the long term, the life cycle cost (LCC) method was applied. Different cost solutions were analysed including va...

Aims Implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) treatment has expanded due to its effectiveness. However, there are concerns about complications, and use in the most elderly has been questioned. There is scarce data on qualitative aspects regarding experiences of living with an ICD among patients above the age of 80 years. The aim of this study w...

[Husbyggaren, Nr 1, 2021] Samhällsbyggnadssektorn i Sverige står för en betydande andel av landets utsläpp av växthusgaser. I ett led att styra branschen mot en mer hållbar riktning har Boverket fått i uppdrag att underlätta införandet av klimatdeklaration vid nybyggnation. Redan i januari nästa år, 2022, föreslås att nya krav på redovisning av kl...

The way by which various sources of external information interact in their effects on judgment is rarely investigated. Here, we report two experiments that examine how two sources of external information—an anchor (a reference price) and an eco-label—influence judgments of an objective fact (product price) and a subjective preference (willingness-t...

Naxos disease is a rare entity that manifests with woolly hair, keratosis of extremities, and cardiac manifestations that resemble arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy. It is inherited in an autosomal recessive pattern and mutations affecting plakoglobin and desmoplakin have been identified. There is an increased risk of arrhythmias, inc...

Background The decision to implant an ICD integrates presumed health-related quality of life (HRQL). Purpose To assess HRQL in ICD patients using the questionnaire SF-36, and compare it to a Swedish age- and sex-matched population. Methods SF-36 of ICD patients 2007-2017 (response rate 77.2%) were analysed using the Mann-Whitney U-test and effect s...

Limited exposure to direct nature experiences is a worrying sign of urbanization, particularly for children. Experiencing nature during childhood shapes aspects of a personal relationship with nature, crucial for sustainable decision-making processes in adulthood. Scholars often stress the need to 'reconnect' urban dwellers with nature; however, fe...

This paper focuses on the need for a widened definition of the notion of technology within the smart city discourse, with a particular focus on the "built environment". The first part of the paper describes how current tendencies in urban design and architecture are inclined to prioritize high tech-solutions at the expense of low-tech functionaliti...

Key Clinical Message Peripartum cardiomyopathy is challenging to diagnose as it mimics symptoms present in normal pregnancy. The clinical course and prognosis are various. In selected cases, a cardioverter implantable defibrillator with/without cardiac resynchronization therapy, mechanical ventricular assist device treatment, and transplantation is...

The Nordic countries have shown great interest in using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in the building sector compared to the past years. Sweden has set up an objective to be carbon neutral (no greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere) by 2045. This paper presents a case study of a single-family house “Dalarnas Villa” in the region Dalarna, Sweden w...

S-ICD

Urban design professionals are key actors in early design phases and have the possibility to influence urban development and direct it in a more sustainable direction. Therefore, gender differences in environmental perspectives among urban design professionals may have a marked effect on urban development and the environment. This study identified...

Husbyggaren Nr 1 2018: Kom ihåg byggnadsmaterialens klimatpåverkan

Husbyggaren

https://arkitekten.se/debatt/gummiasfalt-ar-daligt-manniskor-och-miljo/

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate implantable loop recorders (ILRs) in an unselected cohort in order to determine diagnostic yield, time to pacemaker/implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) implantation, predictors thereof, safety issues, and syncope management including usage of preceding diagnostic tools. Methods: Patients...

The built environment is responsible for a large proportion of the global use of energy, natural resources, and emissions. Architects and other urban design professionals are key actors in the building process whose behavior and decisions will influence these impacts. Because environmental attitudes are linked to pro-environmental behavior, this st...

Globally, wind power is growing fast and in Sweden alone more than 3000 turbines have been installed since the mid-1990s. Although the number of decommissioned turbines so far is few, the high installation rate suggests that a similarly high decommissioning rate can be expected at some point in the future. If the waste material from these turbines...

This thesis explores Neighbourhood and Building Environmental Assessment Tools’ (NBEATs) function as assessment tools and decision support, and their relation to environment, architecture and architects. This is done by analysing, testing, and discussing a number of NBEATs (LEED-NC, Code for Sustainable Homes, EcoEffect, LEED-ND, BREEAM-C, and ENSL...

In early design phases, architects, landscape architects and urban planners are key actors whose decisions determine the environmental impact of planning and building projects. Environmental and sustainability assessment tools for buildings and neighbourhoods have been developed to promote sustainable building, but their usage has not been thorough...

Certification systems for sustainable neighbourhoods started to emerge around a decade ago. This study analysed the content, structure, weighting and indicators of two established certification systems for sustainable urban development – BREEAM Communities and LEED for Neighborhood Development. Several limitations of these systems were identified:...

Understanding how Building Environmental Assessments Tools (BEATs) measure and define "environmental" building is of great interest to many stakeholders, but it is difficult to understand how BEATs relate to each other, as well as to make detailed and systematic tool comparisons. A framework for comparing BEATs is presented in the following which f...

This study examined whether simplified life cycle-based calculations of climate change contributions can provide better decision support for building design. Contributions to climate change from a newly built office building in Gävle, Sweden, were studied from a life cycle perspective as a basis for improvements. A basic climate and energy calculat...

Environmental assessment tools for buildings are emerging rapidly in many countries. Do different assessment tools influence the design process and also guide ‘green’ building projects in different directions? Three assessment tools, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for New Construction (LEED-NC), Code for Sustainable Homes (CSH) and E...

This licentiate thesis examines environmental assessment tools for buildings. This is done by investigating, analysing, comparing and testing how different environmental assessment tools measure the environmental performance of buildings and examining the consequences this may have on architectural design. The study begins by analysing three enviro...

Marita Walhagen, Mauritz Glaumann and Ulla Westerberg Tools for assessing building sustainability. Transnational comparison Environmental assessment tools for buildings are rapidly being developed in many countries. They all claim to assess the environmental quality or the sustainability of buildings, according to rating systems that award a maximu...