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The European RTD project REVIS, Daylighting products with redirecting visual properties (contract JOE3- CT98-0096), started in October 1998 and was completed by the end of 2000. The project was coordinated by TNO. The presentation highlights the objectives, means and some of the main results.

The energy consumption of consumer electronics is steadily increasing. In the 1992-1996 period its energy consumption has increased by roughly 50%. Along with this, we are observing an intense development of new products along with new functionality getting the best out of the intelligence embedded in products and their communication functions.

During the design process of heating systems, the designer must analyse various factors in order to determine the best design options. Therefore, the environmental aspects of a product should be included in the analysis and selection of design options if an environmentally - aware design is to be produced. If one wishes to assess a products environmental impact, its whole life cycle must be studied. The Life Cycle Assessment (or LCA) methodology is an example of one kind of environmental analysis which included the entire life-cycle of a product. However, this method has some limitations.

The paper deals with a complete procedure for the calculation of material embodied energy inthe building sector using a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach; the calculation of embodied energy for building material and components during the design phase takes into account both material durability and frequency of maintenance interventions. As a case study an evaluation of embodied energy for three different types of external walls is reported: external insulation coated, single stratum and multi strata.

Since the wall insulation of buildings and the quality of glazing improve more and more, the window frame becomes the weak point in the facade from a thermal perspective. This paper discusses a new frameless window construction. Results in this paper show that the best position of the glass is in the middle of the insulation. This new junction has an almost 40 % lower energy loss compared to a traditional junction. Computer simulations as well as experimental measurements of a full-scale prototype have proven this.

In effective use of solar energy and calculation of the heat load of buildings for energy conservation, the actualstate meteorological data are indispensable. It is necessary to propose a sky radiance distribution model, which can correspond to all sky conditions from clear sky to overcast sky. To compose such a model, there should be some index to presume the sky radiance distribution according to the sky condition. In this paper, normalized global irradiance and cloudless index are defined on the basis of measurements as the indices to classify the sky radiance distributions.

The main purpose of the present study is to define places in the major Athens area where the heat island effect occurs. Several important climatic parameters are examined in combination with the application of various statistical tests. From this research it is mainly observed that the central and the west industrialized parts of the city of Athens develop intensely the urban heat island effect.

The White Paper on renewable Energy proposes market measures for fair access to the electricitymarket, fiscal and financing measures, a bio-energy initiative and improved building regulations. Thebuilding's sector represents 20 to 45% of the total energy consumption in the various European countries. A project called RESSET has been undertaken with the aim to study and propose globalstrategies, tools and guidelines that will promote the efficient and cost effective global implementation of Renewable Energy Sources systems and techniques in new-build settlements in Europe.

Acoustics research is thriving and allowed significant progress in the improvement of living conditions.However, a gap has been noted between research and practical applications in situ. This awareness has encouraged laboratories to investigate the urban sonic environment from different perspectives. Thus the following :1) The sound signal is not a single element, it is always the result of a propagation in a built space and the circumstances that bring about its reception : position and mobility of the listener.

The purpose of this paper is to validate Kittler-Perez model of classification of sky luminance distribution about the IDMP data in Kyoto Japan. Data were classified by the nearest centroid sorting method on the combination of nine indices of insolation condition. The indices are, 1) cloud ratio, 2) sky clearness index, 3) ratio of zenith luminance to diffuse illuminance, 4) standardized diffuse illuminance, 5) brightness, 6) standardized global illuminance, 7) standardized direct illuminance, 8) permeability, and 9) turbidity.