6. DISCUSSION
6.4 Health related quality of life in Dual Diagnosis: clinical correlates
2.1 Introduction
The main research question as defined within the introductory chapter is to find the best wall material and construction that will minimise internal overheating, and thus reduce or eliminate cooling energy loads. This first chapter sets the problem of the research question by defining its context comprised of both the geographic and climatic aspects of Lebanon as well as how local organizations are dealing with the issue. The chapter starts with a short description of Lebanon’s rugged geography that gives way to four climatic zones. The coastal area being the research location is further defined within the overall warm temperate climate, where summers are long, hot and humid, but with no precipitation, while winters are short with mild precipitation. While reviewing proposed climatic responsive strategies, the chapter highlights that, within the combined summer high humidity and low diurnal temperature difference, heavyweight construction is not expected to have a major role in improving summer internal comfort. The chapter carries on showing the long-term unreliability of energy supply where shortage of electricity is a chronic, common problem with private electricity generator compensate the lack of power. What follows is the description of the built environment in terms of typology and heavyweight material used before moving onto showing that summer comfort heavily relies on mechanical cooling. In the last part, the chapter reviews the different institutional, public and private energy conservation awareness campaigns and more specifically their controversial publications each recommending different construction in terms of envelope U-values.
2.2 Geographical Description
Lebanon is situated on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea (fig. 2.1; 2.2). Its geography is best described as two parallel mountain ranges running average 25o Eastern, north/south direction, parallel to the Mediterranean coast line to the west at a total length of 200Km. Squeezed within those two mountain ranges is an expanse of inland; elevated, narrow plateau. The remaining coastal zone is narrow (fig. 2.3) with some sporadic mountains dropping directly into the sea. The western mountain range culminates in its northern part at 3066m above sea level, whereas the eastern range culminates in its southern part at 2800m. The inland plateau has an average altitude of 900m. The maximum width of all the above does not exceed 80km (fig. 2.4), yet this topography gives way to four distinct climatic zones.
Figure 2.1 Eastern Mediterranean basin and Lebanon (after Google Earth 7.1.5).
Figure 2.2 Lebanon Map (Source: Google Earth 7.1.5).
Figure 2.3 Typical Urban View of Lebanon (City and Bay of Jounieh) showing the narrow coastal zone lying
just below the mountains/hills
Figure 2.4 Schematic diagram explaining the topography and division of Lebanon
2.3 Climatic Classification and Analysis
The characteristics of Lebanon’s climate are described in three complementary local publications:
The Climatic Zoning for Buildings in Lebanon (Republic of Lebanon, 2005), Passive Design Strategies in Lebanon (Republic of Lebanon, 2005), and Thermal Standard for Building in Lebanon (Order of Engineers, 2010). Within these, four climatic zones are defined according to the altitude
(fig. 2.5), as well as their heating and cooling degree day threshold brackets (table 2.1; 2.2): (1) the coastal zone, (2) the medium altitude on western mountain slopes, (3) the high mountains and (4) the inland plateau. Furthermore, the coastal zone is divided into two sub zones: the lower part (zone 1A) reaching up to 400m in elevation and the higher part (zone 1B) above 400m. The winter in zone 1A is described as warm and short whereas zone 1B as cold and its lengths increasing with altitude. Summer in both zones is hot and humid, but the maximum daily temperature for the higher part (zone 1B) is slightly lower. The daily gap between day and night temperatures is small all year round for both zones. The current research is located within climatic zone 1A.
Figure 2.5 Map of Lebanon with the different climatic zones based on altitude. Also corresponding cross section showing the different climatic zones within the attitudes. Source: after Climatic Zoning for Building in Lebanon (2005)
Table 2.1 The four climatic zones of Lebanon based on altitude and Heating Degree Day (HDD) and Cooling Degree Day (CDD). Source: Climatic Zoning for Buildings in Lebanon (2005).
Table 2.2 The different characteristics of the four climatic zones in Lebanon. Source:
Thermal Standard for Building in Lebanon (2010).
Besides the local sources, two more sources are used to define the Beirut Climate: (1) the Koppen-Geiger and (2) ASHRAE.
According to the Koppen-Geiger world climate classification and the specific coordinates (Kottek et al; 2006), Lebanon falls into the Csa & Csb zones, as explained in the table 2.3 below and the explanatory notes which are based on the Homepage of Encyclopædia Britannica Online:
Mediterranean climate.
Table 2.3 Characteristics of the Koppen‐Geiger Climate classification applied to Lebanon
Main Climates Precipitations Temperature Notes
C
Warm TemperateWarmest Month >= 10oC Coldest Month ‐3<T<18oC
s
Summer DryDriest Month <30mm
& <1/3 wettest month
a
Hot Summer Warmest Month >=22oCb
Warm Summerfour warmest months >10oC or Warmest Month <22oC
ASHRAE does not specifically classify Beirut in its international listing of climate. To find Beirut’s climate based on ASHRAE, two short studies are done: comparison to neighbouring cities and zone extrapolation from the available bracket given for cooling degree days.
In the first case, displayed in figure 2.6, neighbouring and regional cities are shown with two prevailing climates: Zone number 2 or the Hot and Humid, and Zone number 3 the warm and humid. Beirut should fall within these two zones.
Figure 2.6 Different climatic cities on the Mediterranean Basin based on ASHRAE classification, with the exception of Beirut (Source: after Google 7.1.5).
For the second case study based on ASHRAE 90.1 (2007), thermal criteria for zone definition based on the Cooling Degree Day (CDD) and climate for zone 2 falls within:
3500<CDD10oC<5000
Using the available climate file for Beirut (meteonorm 7), the calculated value is 4047; best-fitting for Zone 2.
Figure 2.7 Beirut Monthly mean standard temperature, relative humidity, global and diffuse radiations, as well as comfort band, cooling and heating mode. Source: based on data from meteonorm 7.
For this research, the weather file data (meteonorm 7) is shown in figures 2.8, 2.9 and 2.10.
These data are based on a standard average year calculated for the temperatures between the years 2000-2009 and for the solar radiation between the years 1991-2010, collected at the Beirut Airport. The latter’s location is described by Oke (2006) and repeated in the World Meteorological Organization (2008) as open fields with data expected to be different from urban zone; in addition to that, the airport is located directly on the sea.
Figure 2.7 shows the monthly values of solar radiation, temperatures and humidity, while figure 2.8 traces the hourly and daily values of the above for the entire year comprised of short and mild winters, and long warm and sunny summers, with high humidity throughout the year. Figure 2.9 adds to these previous monthly data the wind velocity, the diurnal difference, the rain falls, and the hours of sunshine.
Figure 2.8 Beirut hourly and daily temperatures, relative humidity and solar radiations, in addition to a combined
Figure 2.9 Combined weather graphs for Beirut.
(Source: based on data from meteonorm 7).