Sacha Silvester

Delft University of Technology | TU · Department of Industrial Design

Feedback systems with direct feedback have shown to be effective in stimulating households to change their energy consumption levels. This research is one of the first to explore the use of apps to influence household energy use. Compared to dedicated in-home displays, smartphone/tablet apps provide a low-cost and simple design solution for making...

A number of facade solutions have been developed in recent years to solve the problem of large-scale renovation of housing. In the Netherlands, housing associations have the ambition to achieve an energy-neutral renovation approach, and so, some aim at energy neutrality. However, few address the complexity of multi-family rental dwellings and more...

We present a participatory process in the context of networked collaboration in the field of construction, and offer the concept of participatory attitude as having a key facilitating role in it. The concept is developed through reflexive narratives from the first five months of a sustainable renovation process. Characteristics of the participatory...

According to the IPCC Climate Change projections by 2050 temperatures in southern Spain will have increased noticeably during the summer. Housing—in its current form—will not be able to provide a suitable response to this new climate scenario, and will in turn prompt an increase in cooling energy consumption and a series of problems relating to hea...

Users’ behaviour and indoor climate are two leading aspects that must be taken into account if we want the retrofitting of the housing stock to contribute to CO2 reduction, comfort improvement and reduction of living costs. The integrated facade module evaluated in this paper, which constitutes an approach to zero energy renovation, includes a prel...

Development of electric mobility and sustainable energy result in new technologies such as contactless electric vehicle charging and roadway energy harvesting methods, but also self-healing asphalt roads. By combining these technologies a new concept of Future Sustainable Roads for Electric Mobility is created and presented in the paper. This paper...

There are an estimated 170 active living labs across the globe. All have common elements but not all of them contribute to the delivery of sustainable living. Here we consider the business models of sustainability in living labs (SusLabs). Specifically we review four active living laboratories that are part of the SusLab North West Europe network....

To be able to develop and implement high-impact sustainable innovations in the built environment, researchers, product/-service developers and policymakers in the region of Rotterdam felt the necessity to work with users to prototype, test and validate potential solutions in real life situations. In collaboration with European partners initiatives,...

There are an estimated 170 active living labs across the globe. All have common elements but not all of them contribute to the delivery of sustainable living. Here we consider the business models of sustainability in living labs (SusLabs). Specifically we review four active living laboratories that are part of the SusLab North West Europe network....

The ambition to renovate the postwar building stock to an energy-neutral quality is getting a lot of attention from social housing corporations and other institutional owners, financial organizations, and users. An effective renovation plan must significantly improve the current energy performance of a target building towards nearly zero-energy lev...

Solar Home Systems (SHSs) can fulfil the basic energy needs of the globally unelectrified population. With costs as one of the biggest barriers for SHS uptake, optimizing the system size with energy needs is crucial. Where most solutions focus only on the present needs, this work also addresses the future energy needs. The methodology includes exte...

Large differences between the expected and actual energy consumption have been found in energy efficient dwellings. Research has shown that these differences are partially caused by occupant behaviour. The financing and payback periods of low carbon technologies are often uncertain because of the impact of the occupants on building performance. Thi...

The ambition to renovate the postwar building stock to an energy-neutral quality is getting a lot of attention in social housing association and other institutional owners, financial institutions and users. An effective renovation plan has to be long-term, target the deep transformation of the existing building stock, and to significantly improve i...

Developing technological solutions for the developing nations is more than simply re-sizing a prevalent solution from the developed world. Not only the environmental conditions, but also the technology usage varies greatly between the developing nations in sunnier latitudes around the world and the developed nations of north-western Europe. This pa...

Abstract: Developing technological solutions for the developing nations is more than simply re-sizing a prevalent solution from the developed world. Not only the environmental conditions, but also the technology usage varies greatly between the developing nations in sunnier latitudes around the world and the developed nations of north-western Europ...

Large differences between the expected and actual energy consumption have been found in energy efficient dwellings. Research has shown that these differences are partially caused by occupant behaviour. The financing and payback periods of low carbon technologies are often uncertain because of the impact of the occupant on building performance. This...

This paper deals with a green energy highway in the Netherlands. Here, the development of electric mobility and self- driving cars is introduced. The ideas of wireless power integration with green energy technologies - solar and wind is considered. In case of wind energy, conventional turbines and bladeless vortex are considered as options. Solaroa...

The paper analyses the economic and environmental benefits of charging electric vehicles (EV) at workplaces in the Netherlands using photovoltaic panels (PV). A 10kW EV-PV charging system is used to charge the electric cars directly from photovoltaic panels. The cost of using a gasoline vehicle is compared with that of an electric vehicle that is c...

This paper proposes an approach to monitor buildings that will undergo a renovation process. The objective is to inform the design process regarding energy and indoor conditions requirements of different households for building simulation and energy calculations. This approach is intended to be part of a renovation strategy in the Netherlands. The...

The post-war apartments in the Netherlands account for 1/3 of the residential stock. To increase the renovation rate, the product-/service propositions have to change radically. This paper presents the 2ndSkin refurbishment concept – a business opportunity driven research and development projects – that results in zero energy use of dwellings, whil...

Building simulations are often used to predict energy demand and to determine the financial feasibility of the low-carbon projects. However, recent research has documented large differences between actual and predicted energy consumption. In retrofit projects, this difference creates uncertainty about the payback periods and, as a consequence, owne...

Although refurbishment is a necessary step to reach the ambitious energy and decarbonisation targets for 2020 and 2050, which require an eventual reduction up to 90% in CO2 emissions, the rate of renovation is still relatively low. There is an increasing demand to upgrade both the physical condition and the performance of the building, with the min...

A number of second skin solutions have been developed in recent years to solve the problem of large scale renovation of housing. The 2ndSkin approach presented in this paper is currently under development by a consortium of academic and industry partners in the Netherlands. The objective of the 2ndSkin project is to develop a strategy for an integr...

Against the background of prognosticated rising levels of global resource consumption it is an indispensable challenge in the 21st century to achieve sustainable development, meaning that society's welfare generation has to happen within the natural system's boundaries. To do so, transition processes need to be designed to leave this currently unsu...

Operational police work can be characterized by the continuous switching between surveillance, responding to incidents, and office activities. Transitions between these activities are initiated by radio contact, messages on a mobile data terminal, or personal observations. The " information environment " emerging from these channels may cause cogni...

The Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab – REIL – is a multidisciplinary think tank/design studio to accelerate sustainable urban innovation in the city of Rotterdam, which was running from 2010 to 2013. At REIL, more than 130 design and engineering students from the Delft University of Technology have developed and co-designed innovative solutions to solv...

Introduction Background Mobility and Design Role and Importance of Energy Light Urban Mobility Conclusions References

J.Z.); j.c.brezet@tudelft.nl (H.B.); s.silvester@tudelft.nl (S.S.) Abstract: In this paper, results are reported of a technology assessment of the use and integration of decentralized energy systems and storage devices in an urban renewal area. First the general context of a different approach based on 'rethinking' and the incorporation of ongoing...

Long-term relationships between original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and stakeholders in their supply chain and end-of-life process can be designed, while considering uncertainty in future environmental legislation changes. This study proposes a method to analyze the capability of OEMs to reconfigure their supply chain and end-of-life operations...

De scootmobiel is een handig vervoermiddel voor mensen die slecht ter been zijn. De scootmo-biel heeft een lage instap, een goede zitting, en je kunt er zowel buiten als binnen mee rijden. Het nadeel is echter dat deze door de beperkte capaciteit van de accu, de lage snelheid en het gebrek aan comfort niet geschikt is voor lange afstanden.

In this paper, results are reported of a technology assessment of use of electrical vehicles for energy storage (of renewable sources), their integration in the built environment and attached required power and charging systems for the Netherlands. This was done as part of the DIEMIGO project on integration of electrical mobility in the built envir...

Emerging technologies are potentially interesting for sustainable innovation in high-technology firms and for 'techno-starters'. This article provides an innovation tool for sustainable technology-oriented innovation, as there are hardly any of these kinds of methods available. The Technology Window tool helps to find valuable applications and help...

Littering is a packaging-related problem where the environmental, social and economic aspects of sustainability meet. Litter is likely to be harmful for wildlife, looks untidy and is expensive to clean up. Research into reducing litter has focused primarily on the litterer and on the surroundings in which the littering occurs, but the influence of...

A product service system (PSS) is a function-oriented business model aimed at providing sustainability of both consumption and production. A PSS is defined as a marketable set of products and services capable of jointly fulfilling user needs. In theory PSSs are normally shown realized with smart products. The first PSS were largely motivated by the...

The introduction of electric mobility is one of the promising options to create a more sustainable mobility system for the future. Electric vehicles offer the promise of major reductions in local CO2, NOX and particulate emissions. In addition, electric vehicles are silent, easy to service and have high 'well-to-wheel' energy efficiency. However, t...

Executive Summary A large-scale introduction of electric vehicles into Dutch society has a variety of benefits, including higher ‘Well-to-Wheel’ efficiencies, the mitigation of local greenhouse gas emissions, particulate pollution, and noise, and an increased need for the production of renewable energy. The batteries of electric vehicles could also...

No matter how efficient the embodied impact of a product is made, the ultimate determinant is in how and how much it is used. It is therefore crucial to consider user behaviour when developing innovative and efficient domestic technologies. This paper describes the conceptual development of a novel research infrastructure for Living Lab, an EU fund...

Electric vehicle (EV) motor has past of nearly 160 years. EVs were never matured when compared to internal combustion engines. EVs were always there but in their own limited capacity. Issues such as insufficient infrastructure and lack of support from auto industry delayed the EV penetration for too long. The present situation of congestion and emi...

A solar powered wireless computer mouse (SPM) was chosen to serve as a case study for the evaluation and optimization of industrial design processes of photovoltaic (PV) powered consumer systems. As the design process requires expert knowledge in various technical fields, we assessed and compared the following: appropriate selection of integrated P...

This paper describes the Technology Front End (TFE) method, which applies Technology Windows as a new approach to the front-end of technology-oriented innovation. The development of the TFE- method started with a review of the relevant literature, an analysis of technology-oriented innovation projects and semi-structured interviews with ten experts...

The concept and design of a solar powered wireless computer mouse has been completed, and 15 prototypes have been successfully assembled. After necessary cutting, the crystalline silicon cells show satisfactory efficiency: up to 14% when implemented into the mouse device. The implemented voltage conversion unit that is needed to increase the solar...

The goal of this paper is to point out the challenges of integrating sustainability issues in a regular industrial design curriculum, and to provide insights how this is addressed at Delft University of Technology. It also aims at stimulating the discussion on the issue of offering sustainability education separately from or integrated in regular c...

The paper proposes a method to examine multi-objective reconfigurability of an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) supply chain to flexibly adopt dynamically changing environmental restrictions and market situations. A discrete event simulation technique is applied to evaluate economic, environmental and delivery performance of a supply chain. Mu...

Product Service System (PSS) concept aims at minimization of environmental impacts with alternative form of product utilizations and services, while maintaining enterprises economical performance and service quality for users. In this study, a methodology to analyze PSSs with life cycle simulation is proposed. This approach enables the authors to s...

the SYN-ENERGY program aims to help the designer of solar powered consumer products through the development of data, tools and methods. This paper describes the development of a solar powered wireless computer mouse, which is carried out as a test case within the SYN-ENERGY project. The project is carried out with a "real" commercial environment in...

Littering is a social and environmental problem. Numerous studies have been performed trying to understand littering behavior and to find ways to influence it successfully. Various litter-reduction strategies have been applied with changing success. These have either focused on directly influencing the attitudes of the litterer or on manipulating t...

A large number of possible PV-powered products should be able to operate under indoor lighting conditions. In order to make good product designs of indoor operated PV-devices (ipv), a more extended dataset of PV characteristics than just standard test condition (STC) parameters is required. Within the SYN-Energy project framework, which aims to imp...

Within the SYN-Energy project the aim is to improve the design of solar-powered products by improving scientific understanding on basic issues that affect the performance of solar power supplies and by assessing environmental and user issues in an early stage of product design. In the paper we show how an informed product selection can be made base...

After a focus on eco(re-)design methodology the Design for Sustainability (DfS-) program of the Delft University of Technology today aims at renewable energy and entrepreneurship for sustainable product innovation. Emerging technologies in the field of renewable energy, such as flexible photo-voltaic solar cells and human power techniques are promi...

This paper introduces ‘SYN-ENERGY’ a novel Sustainable Product Design (SPD) concept. SYN-ENERGY is the synergy obtained by smart integration of energy conversion and storage media into one functional unit. To demonstrate the validity of this concept, an analysis is presented of the ‘Smart Photo Voltaic (PV) Battery’ design. This Smart PV Battery co...

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EXTENDED ABSTRACT The authors are engaged in a research project on Product-Oriented Environmental Management Systems based on the assumption that such systems have the potential to systematically integrate EcoDesign and life cycle thinking in companies' strategies and practices. In this context, a theoretical model for POEMS has been developed by D...

Because of the complicated structure of the built environment, it is frequently difficult to obtain good results on sustainable development projects. In The Netherlands, the Dutch government have used a range of new steering instruments which have cleverly enabled innovation to take place within a market economy. This imaginative governmental proce...

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This paper proposes a life cycle simulation technique to analyze multiple-objective performances of supply chains of products in a competitive market. This approach addresses structural reconfigurability of supply chains, in which OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) adjust the production by changing the completion level of supplied products. A...

The introduction of electric mobility is one of the promising options to create a more sustainable mobility system for the future. Electric vehicles offer the promise of major reductions in local CO2, NOX and particulate emissions. In addition, electric vehicles are silent, easy to service and have high ‘well-to-wheel’ energy efficiency. However, t...

Dit is het eindrapport van het bewonersonderzoek minimum-energie woningen (MEW) te Schiedam-Woudhoek Noord. Het betreft hier een sociaal-wetenschappelijke deelstudie in het kader van het evaluatieonderzoek naar een praktijkexperiment met 184 minimum-energie woningen, waarvan ook technische studies onderdeel hebben uitgemaakt. Deze laatste hebben o....

Introduction In the last decade mobility issues are becoming a big topic. The great benefits of transportation systems are nullified by negative externalities. The main undesirable effects are well known: vehicles' emissions, noise, land use, virtual intrusion and congestion. The phenomenon has been studied from different angles and on different le...