Francisco Sierra – författare

of solutions to achieve zero carbon in the field of building and construction. This book provides an update on new technologies and emerging approaches that can support and promote the energy transition and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the built environment, both in individual buildings and groups of buildings. This book presents real-world case studies and expert insights on how to apply a wide range of cutting-edge digital technologies, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, blockchain, genetic algorithms, and computer vision, as well as energy-efficient devices like heat pumps, energy storage systems, adsorption chillers and dehumidification systems, liquid-flow windows, solar and wind power systems, green roofs, cogeneration systems, and internet of things. It also explores emerging concepts such as plus energy building, positive energy block, integrated building information systems and life cycle assessment, integrated demand and supply side management, peer-to-peer energy sharing and embodied carbon reduction, which are already beginning to emerge as solutions for achieving a zero-carbon built environment in the near future.

Offers thorough guidelines for the use of new technologies in designing net zero buildings and retrofitting older buildings to meet zero-carbon emissions standards.Reviews the state of the art as well as emerging solutions to encourage their adoption at scale, supporting the need for the construction sector to achieve challenging climate change-offsetting goals.Features real-world case studies and implementation insights (motivations, limitations, challenges) in each chapter, providing valuable, actionable recommendations for different types of building.Presents future research pathways into other cost-effective and economically productive decarbonization efforts for buildings.

Recent changes in the economic and political world scenario have been dominated by an increasing globalising process and a constant capital mobilisation. This process has left a significant mark on nation-based economies and cultural systems, giving a prominent role to the economic agencies and sectors involved in information and communication industries. The influence and side-effects of this new scenario for public policies in southern countries are just uncertain.The present volume provides the analytical and conceptual framework from which to explore the issue of political economy of communication. The chapters introduce the reader to the knowledge of the features, inner contradictions and the dialectics of regional alternative communication versus information control. By doing this, different questions are addressed: from the ideological perspectives implied in the ethnocentric reproduction of prevalent cultural paradigms (and the persistence of cultural inequalities), to central issues concerning the “digital revolution” and its impact on the political economy of communication and culture worldwide, with a special emphasis on Latin America.