• Emergence in Landscape Architecture, by Rod Barnett
• Urban Ecosystems, by Robert A. Francis, Michael A. Chadwick
• Nature's Spectacle, by John Sheail (New in paperback)

• Principles of Structure, 5th Edition, by Ken Wyatt and Richard Hough
• Dealing with Difficult Demolition Wastes: A Guide, by Katherine Adams, Gilli Hobbs, Christopher Yapp
• Practical Guide to Inspection, Testing and Certification of Electrical Installations, 3rd Edition, by Christopher Kitcher
• Basic Electrical Installation Work, 7th Edition, by Trevor Linsley
• EGLR 2012 Set, edited by Hazel Marshall
• EGLR 2012 V3, edited by Hazel Marshall

Those of you who received our February newsletter will have a discount code for 20% off when you buy online. If you are not already registered you can sign up for future newsletters here.

With a new entry every fortnight, blog posts written by various Earthscan from Routledge authors will be displayed both on the Routledge website and on our Facebook page here. Each post within Facebook will be open to comments so please feel free to voice your thoughts!
 

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The Power of Reflection: Predicting the Value of Solar Thermal Systems

By Chris Laughton, author of Solar Domestic Water Heating.

In my book Solar Domestic Water Heating I highlighted the complexity of accurately predicting the performance of a solar assisted heating system. Whilst there are some useful rules-of-thumb for calculations, there are also many caveats involved in using them. Indeed, all simple calculation methods that are published for solar energy systems have notable margins of error that must also be considered.

To tighten up our prediction accuracy we would need to consider how to better measure-up prospective sites, and in particular how we assess them for annual solar radiation levels. The first step in this process is to begin with a reliable prediction of the raw solar radiation that is likely to fall to earth based on historical meteorological records. We then make mathematical allowances for the collector’s orientation. Whilst these characteristics are important, the aspect that site assessors can most readily improve is their shading assessments.

For example, one often-overlooked factor in shade analysis is the reflectance of solar radiation. Yet the simple act of reaching for our sunglasses to shade our eyes when looking at brightly-coloured objects shows how our own bodies already understand the magnitude of reflectance. The average of reflected radiation of the earth as seen from space, the albedo, is 0.2. In other words, 20% of incident radiation is reflected. Indeed, it is only because light is reflected that we perceive it to have a colour at all. Most performance figures assume the reflectance value as being present for inclined collectors, which increasingly benefit from reflected radiation as their pitch angle is steepened. However, it is where there is a strong difference in colour between the average green/brown/blue spectrum assumed in the average albedo that the predictions start to go awry. This can be by as much 20% in cases such as where a large brightly-coloured building is placed in front of a façade-mounted collector. Snow can also temporarily increase reflectance to similar values, although often the snow also covers the solar thermal collector entirely and so cancels such gains out. The reverse effect occurs where solar installations are situated near black surfaces such as bituminous tarmac that tend to reflect lower than the average albedo. For most installations, the effects of reflectance will only cause a small deviation from the assumed average value; but if we want to tighten the margins then this is an area we should not overlook.

Shading at first seems more clear-cut. Most people assume that if there is a percentage loss of sky above the horizon then this equates to a loss of solar radiation arriving at the collector. However, the quantity of radiation from each part of the sky varies with its compass direction (azimuth) and its height. To put it another way, the sunpath varies with the time of day and seasons and so different parts of the sky are valued differently. In general, the lowest parts of the sky give the weakest radiation contribution. These areas are conversely at the highest risk of shading from distant landscapes objects. Nevertheless, the effect is cumulative; and what is not always appreciated is that at every point in the UK mainland at least 2% of the sky is already obscured by the landmass that sits above sea-level. This reduction can be far greater than this minimum percentage due to additional landscape features such as hills and buildings above the horizon. It is shading objects near to an array that have the greatest effect, as these are most likely to cause hard shadows by blocking out the direct (beam) solar radiation.

It is no longer considered sufficient to record a simple silhouette outline of distant objects as the width and distance of nearby objects is also important. Objects can cause hard shadows even from over 100 metres away. The industry has now developed electronic and digital methods to capture such information quickly transferring the data into computer simulation software to accurately predict performance.
 

Massive Misuse of Fresh Water: Why isn’t the Problem Being Addressed?

By Arjen Y. Hoekstra, author of The Water Footprint of Modern Consumer Society

Water pollution is normal. In China and Bangladesh it happens that the colour of the river shows which dye is being used in the clothes manufacturing industry. In the US, atrazine concentrations in groundwater reach beyond acceptable levels due to overuse of the pesticide in agriculture. Overconsumption of water is normal as well. In several places on Earth, groundwater levels drop at alarming levels, in some cases, like in Yemen, by one metre per year. Several rivers run dry before they flow into the sea; think of the Yellow River in China or the Colorado in the US.

For many of us, freshwater scarcity is something that occurs ‘elsewhere’. The problems, however, are closer to us than we may think. Our daily consumer goods are often imported from water-scarce places. The water consumption and pollution in remote places is ours. Take the UK, for instance. About 75% of the water footprint of UK consumers lies abroad. It’s in our own interest to make water use sustainable, not only nearby, but also elsewhere, because we depend on it.

The problems are not of today. Nevertheless, we haven’t found ways yet to properly address them. In my new book The Water Footprint of Modern Consumer Society, I propose three principles of wise water use and allocation. First, it will be vital that governments agree on water footprint caps for all river basins in the world, in order to ensure sustainable water use within each basin. A water footprint cap sets a maximum to the water volume that can be allocated to the various human purposes, accounting for environmental water needs. It also sets a maximum to pollution given the assimilation capacity of the basin. The total volume of ‘water footprint permits’ to specific users in a basin should remain below the maximum sustainable level. Water use in itself is not the problem, but not returning the water or not returning it clean is the problem. The water footprint measures exactly that: the consumptive water use and the volume of water polluted.

Second, we need to establish water footprint benchmarks for the most important water-intensive products, for example for food and beverage products, cotton, flowers and biofuels. The benchmark for a product will depend on the maximum reasonable water consumption in each step of the product’s supply chain. In this way, producers that use water, governments that allocate water and manufacturers, retailers and final consumers in the lower end of the supply chain, share information about what are ‘reasonable water footprints’ for various process steps and end products. When granting certain water footprint permits to specific users, it makes sense for governments to take into account the relevant water footprint benchmarks for the different users. Furthermore, governments should force companies to create greater product transparency, so that we will know what’s on our plate.

Third, we need to ensure equitable water use across communities. We need some common understanding of what makes the water footprint of a community of consumers fair or reasonably acceptable, given the limited maximum sustainable water footprint per global citizen. Consumers in the US and Southern Europe use nearly two times more water than the global average. We need a political debate at the international level about fair sharing of the world’s freshwater resources. Given UN population projections, the average water footprint per capita will have to decrease from 1,385 cubic metres in 2000 to 835 cubic metres in 2100 if we want to make sure that the water footprint of humanity as a whole will not increase over the coming century. If we assume an equal water footprint share for all global citizens, the challenge for countries like China and India is to reduce the current water footprint per capita level by about 22.5 per cent over the coming century. For a country like the USA, it means a reduction of the average water footprint per capita by about 70 per cent. Improved technologies alone will not be sufficient to reach this goal. We need to reconsider our consumption pattern as well. Taking a shorter shower will not be sufficient. Eating less meat, one of the big water users in our diet, will be a more effective step.

Summarizing, there are many river basins in the world in which our water footprint needs to be reduced substantially. That can be achieved by setting a water footprint cap per river basin, setting water footprint reductions targets for specific products and by changing consumption patterns so that they become less water intensive.

- Guidelines for Landscape Visual Impact Assessment, 3rd edition which is filled with essential good practice information for assessing the impact of designs
- Place Attachment – a textbook exploring our emotional bonds to locations
- British Gardens as the third in our series of books on international garden history
- Landscape Architect’s Pocket Book, 2nd edition – an indispensable handy resource for landscape architects in the field.

To see the full range of our titles, please visit www.routledge.com/landscape. Also, don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and Facebook where you can see sample pages for forthcoming books and be the first to hear about offers and news.

As the list continues to expand - and our publishing for professionals, students and academics increases across the board - we’re always on the lookout for new, exciting projects and we’d be delighted to hear about any proposal ideas.

I hope to meet more of you on my campus and conference visits this year, and please do get in contact with any queries or if you’d like more information about any of our titles.

With best wishes,
Louise Fox
Associate Editor – Landscape

Louise.Fox@tandf.co.uk

The SIngapore Water Story, by Cecilia Tortajada, Yugal Joshi and Asit K. Biswas, is being launched at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore on World Water Day (22nd March 2013). For more information on this title please refer here.

Arjen Y. Hoekstra, author of new book The Water Footprint of Modern Consumer Society has written a special blog post for World Water Day. Read it now on Facebook or here on the Routledge website.

You can also access our journal articles along the themes of Water Education; Water Equality; Water Innovation; Water Policies and schemes; Water Quality; and Water Use FREE until the 31st March 2013 here.

For more information on World Water Day and information on how to take part please refer here.

Ecobuild Confernece Booklist Catalogue 2013

Hosted by Amanda Reynolds, the evening showcased some of the best examples of urban design work produced in the UK and beyond over the past 12 months.

Awards were presented in five categories by Janet Tibbalds on the behalf of the Francis Tibbalds Trust. The winners in the Practice, Public Sector and Student Award categories were selected by a vote of the Urban Design Group membership.

For more information about the book and to order a copy click here

• Architecture Follows Nature-Biomimetic Principles for Innovative Design by Ilaria Mazzoleni
• Emergence in Landscape Architecture by Rod Barnett
• This is Not Architecture: Media Constructions edited by Kester Rattenbury
• Architecture, Print Culture and the Public Sphere in Eighteenth-Century France by Richard Wittman (New in Paperback)
• Biographies & Space edited by Dana Arnold, Joanna Sofaer Derevenski (New in Paperback)
• Market Towns by Neil Powe, Trevor Hart, Tim Shaw
• The City Rehearsed: Object, Architecture, and Print in the Worlds of Hans Vredeman de Vries by Christopher Heuer (New in Paperback)
• Building the State: Architecture, Politics, and State Formation in Postwar Central Europe by Virag Molnar
• Design Education for a Sustainable Future by Rob Fleming

Every year in the January issue, Choice publishes a list of Outstanding Academic Titles that were reviewed during the previous calendar year. This prestigious list reflects the best in scholarly titles reviewed by Choice and brings with it the extraordinary recognition of the academic library community. Routledge would like to extend our congratulations to both Erich Hoyt, author of Marine Protected Areas for Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises and to John Roff and Mark Zacharias, authors of Marine Conservation Ecology. Please click here for the Choice review of Marine Protected Areas for Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises and here for the review of Marine Conservation Ecology.

For more information on Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles, please click here.

For more information about the book or to order your complementary exam copy click here