Northern Geotechnical Group
We are the principal association for geotechnical engineers in the United Kingdom.
- Date
- 23 April 2024
- Time
This event has now ended
Overview
Global Warming is resulting in extreme heat in large cities such as Lisbon. The current widespread use of air-conditioning units is a major drain on power consumption, and is unsustainable. Scientists and engineers from the UK and Portugal are currently working together and sharing knowledge in the field of low-carbon ground energy systems, predominantly to cool buildings in hot cities.
Whilst the UK does not have the same cooling demand as Lisbon, nevertheless there is expertise in the ground energy cooling of large buildings such as hospitals and data centres, with particular expertise in the integration of energy sources to produce hybrid systems. In Portugal, there are many buildings with ground source energy systems, for which ground source heat pumps are used to both heat and cool buildings.
However, integrating with other low-carbon energy sources is a new field, such as the capture and storage of cold winter night air to cool the ground, with the cool ground used to reduce the temperature of buildings in the summer.
This presentation will present the concepts developed to date, including the drilling work recently completed in Lisbon to measure ambient ground temperatures at depths below ground level.
Speakers
Dr Ana Vieira
LNEC (National Laboratory for Civil Engineering)
senior researcher
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Dr Ana Vieira
Senior researcher at LNEC (National Laboratory for Civil Engineering) Geotechnics Department.
Ana holds a PhD in civil engineering (Geotechnics and Foundations Branch) from the Faculty of Sciences and Technology, University of Coimbra (2007). She participates in and coordinates research projects at LNEC, together with externally funded projects & contract research.
Ana is a specialist technical consultant, and has been president of the Portuguese Committee of Environmental Geotechnics since 2020.
She has been co-editor of the Soils and Rocks journal, since 2021, secretary-general of the Portuguese Society of Geotechnics (2016-2020) and is guest lecturer at the Departments of Civil Engineering and Earth Sciences, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, Nova University of Lisbon (2010-2014).
She was awarded with Manuel Rocha Prize of the Portuguese Geotechnical Society for PhD thesis for the quadrennium 2004-2007.
Dr Cláudia Pinto
Lisbon City Council
project director
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Dr Cláudia Pinto
Cláudia has a degree in applied and environmental geology (Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon);
MSc degree in environment, geological risks and spatial planning and a PhD in geotechnics from the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon.
As part of her academic activity, she is the author/co-author of numerous publications in international and national journals, and in the proceedings of scientific meetings. She participates, by invitation in the teaching of the subject of spatial planning and environmental impact at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon; vice-president of the Portuguese Commission for Environmental Geotechnics of the Portuguese Geotechnical Society.
She joined Lisbon City Council in 2005 and is currently project director, coordinating the ReSist Program, which aims to promote seismic resilience to public and private buildings and urban infrastructures, and other projects in the area of geological and geotechnical risk management in urban context.
Professor José Lapa
University of Aveiro
project engineer
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Professor José Lapa
José has been an associate professor at the University of Aveiro since 1999.
He graduated in civil engineering from the University of Coimbra and holds an MSc degree in structural engineering from the University of Porto.
He post-graduated in Progressive Collapse of Structures at University College London and has been the general director of Ferreira Lapa Limited in Aveiro, since 2013, a private company dedicated to the management of urban & touristic development, projects of engineering & rehabilitation of heritage.
José has been a member of the national association of professional engineers since 1981 and is currently researching surface geothermal techniques for building air conditioning, especially in heat-activated structures.
Dr Stephen Thomas
OGI Groundwater Specialists Ltd
project consultant
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Dr Stephen Thomas
Stephen Thomas is the founder and eirector of OGI Groundwater Specialists Ltd.
Starting his civil engineering career in 1976, he has completed over 300 geotechnical, water and groundwater projects over 36 years working in the construction, water, and environmental industries. Supported by 10 years of university education in Swansea, Durham, and Oxford, Stephen delights in developing innovative solutions to overcome major engineering challenges.
After three years working in the United States, then six years at Oxford University, Stephen founded OGI in 1989 to provide specialist services in the field of groundwater engineering and management.
His projects have been delivered predominantly in the UK to the infrastructure industry, but he has also worked on many international projects, including his favourite of working for the Native American Navajo Tribe in New Mexico, defending their holy River Jemez from over-abstraction of groundwater by industry.
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