Authors’ Biography

Prof. Mohsen Aboulnaga

He is an expert on Sustainable Development, Sustainability, Built Environment and Green Building. Dr Aboulnaga is a Professor of Sustainable Built Environment. His areas of competency including: strategy planning, policy development and tools, strategic environmental assessment, low-carbon society and scenarios, eco-friendly cities, green building policies and guidelines, renewable energy and climate change. In 2009, he was appointed Strategy & Policy Advisor – Environment & Infrastructure at The Prime Minister’s Office of the UAE (February 2009 – March 2010). Prior to that, he held a position in the capacity of Strategy & Policy Advisor at The Executive Council, Government of Dubai from May 2007 to 2009. He was involved in developing Dubai Government Strategic Green Building Policy and Dubai Heat Island and Orthophoto Flyover Project in collaboration with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Dr Aboulnaga is author and co-author of more than 60 published int’l refereed journal and conference papers and holds a Ph.D. in sustainable building Environments from The University of Leeds, U.K.

Professor Khalid A Al-Sallal

Dr Al-Sallal received a Master of Environmental Planning from Arizona State University in 1988 and a PhD from Texas A&M University at College Station in 1995. He has been teaching architectural engineering at the UAE University since 1996 and currently holds a professor rank. His area of expertise is architectural design with emphasis on building energy. His research has focused on building performance and simulation, carbon-neutral design and zero energy buildings. He is member of several organizations and societies and editor of few journals in the area of architecture and environment and produced more than 40 publications in international refereed journals and specialized conferences. He designed several residential and public buildings including the Yemeni Ministry of Education in Sana’a and won architectural competition prizes for the design of the Yemen Kuwait Bank and the design of a commercial residential complex for the Yemeni Government in Sana’a. He received several awards for his work and design.

Arch Rahman Azari

He is a PhD candidate in Built Environment at the University of Washington. With a background in architecture, he has researched on various aspects of green buildings including green project delivery, energy-efficiency in buildings, environmental life-cycle assessments of buildings, etc. The outcomes of his research have been published as research papers in proceedings of many international conferences.

Professor George Baird

Dr George Baird is a Professor of Building Science at the School of Architecture, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand where he specialises in building environmental science and engineering services, building performance generally, and the energy efficient design and operation of buildings. At the Victoria University of Wellington School of Architecture he has been variously Director of Energy Research Group, Dean of Faculty of Architecture, Director of the Centre for Building Performance Research, and Associate Dean Research. He is currently a Fellow of the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (UK), the Institution of Professional Engineers (NZ) and of the Institute of Refrigerating Heating and Air Conditioning Engineers (NZ), and a Foundation Member of the Energy Management Association (NZ). He was recipient of the 1999 NZ Science and Technology Bronze Medal “For singular contribution to energy efficiency of New Zealand buildings and to building performance research....”; ‘Pioneers of WREN Chairman’s Award’ of the World Renewable Energy Network for ‘contribution to the world of renewable energy through publications, teaching and promotion of renewable energy’. Author and co-authors of innumerable technical papers and case studies.

Professor Dania González Couret

She is the Dean of Research, Faculty of Architecture, Havana, Cuba. Professor Couret she obtained her first degree in Architecture (ISPJAE, 1979); PhD (ISPJAE, 1994); Post-Doctoral Studies in Lund University (Sweden, 1997 and 1999); Doctor in Science (ISPJAE, 2007). Now, she is titular professor, and Vice Dean for Research and Postgraduate Education in the Faculty of Architecture in Havana. Prof Couret is President of the Academic Committee for PhD Program in Architecture and the Master Course in Social Housing. Vice President of the National Tribunal for PhD in Architecture and Urbanism, reviewer in Renewable Energy Journal and INVI (Housing Institute, University of Chile), and Member of the Jury in several international design competitions.

Dr. Ruxandra Crutescu

Born in Bucharest, Romania, Ruxandra Crutescu is a University Lecturer at the Faculty of Architecture, “Spiru Haret” University, Bucharest, and is the Head of the Research-Development-Innovation Department at Passivehaus Institut, Bragadiru, whose founder she is. Her contribution to the scientific activity consists of approx. 80 articles published in various scientific magazines or on the occasion of national and international scientific conferences and a number of books having as main subject the ecological architecture, the durable development in architectural matters, the use of renewable energies in buildings and architecture, in order to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions and protect nature. As member of Architects’ Order of Romania. Active participant to the life of the Romanian and the international scientific community, she is Reviewer and Associate Editor for different Romanian and international publications.

Dr. Nada El-Zein

Nada is a naturalized US citizen who was born and raised in Beirut, Lebanon. She received her BS, MS, and PhD from the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, IL and received the highest honors possible. While at U of I she was among a very select group of PhD candidates to study under the direct mentorship of Dr Nick Holonyak, the inventor of the LED. Nada subsequently worked at Motorola for 7 years where she was the R&D Manager for nanotechnologies. After Motorola she joined EpiWorks where she led the overall R&D effort for this epitaxial wafer manufacturer which produces HBTs/FETs (compound semi-conductor transistors for wireless applications), and high-power lasers and detectors for telecom and military applications. After EpiWorks she left the R&D world and joined the international company AkzoNobel, In 2007 Nada left AkzoNobel to start LED Light Energy LLC, in the USA and is now heavily involved in the design, specification and installation of LED fixtures in various projects.

Prof. Dr. Manuel Correia Guedes

Dept of Civil Engineering & Architecture Instituto Superior Tecnico, Lisbon, Portugal. Professor, Director of the Architectural Research Centre (ICIST-N8), Portugal. He is Director of the Architectural Research Centre of the Instituto Superior Tecnico (ICIST-Group 8). He is Responsible for several Disciplines of the courses of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Territorial Engineering. He is supervising several PhD and MSc students.

Participation in various research projects: Chief Coordinator of a COOPENER E.U. project (SUREAFRICA), National Coordinator of an ASIA-LINK project, Dr Guedes, participated in various international and national conferences, seminars and workshops. Published many papers and books. Since 1985 he participated in various projects, namely the Portuguese Pavilion in Seville’s EXPO 92, two residential buildings in Vila Real, the competition for the National Assembly building, and the building of the Agronomy Faculty (UTL). He worked as an architect in several Portuguese architectural companies. He published many articles and papers in the fields of bioclimatic architecture and the built environment.

Dr. Neveen Hamza

Dr Hamza first degree was in Architecture and a PhD in Building Science. She has been involved in teaching and researching building environmental design since 1997. Her research transcends the fictitious barriers between building performance as a science, and its socio-cultural values which should ideally fuse to express its architecture. She published several papers in conferences and journals on environmental simulation of buildings including the thermal performance double skin facades in hot arid areas, as well as researching pragmatic issues of how building regulations affect the design team and setting policy for energy conservation in the mature built environments in the UK. She is a scientific reviewer in scientific journals including Energy, and Renewable Energy and also contributes on a number of scientific conference committees.

Ms. Shawna Henderson

Shawna Henderson, CEO of Bfreehomes, has been working in the field of energy-efficiency and housing since 1992. Her experience with the R-2000 and EnerGuide for Houses (ecoENERGY) programs, coupled with research carried out for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) and Natural Resources Canada, provides the backbone of Bfreehomes consulting services. Shawna has worked successfully with eight to fifteen home design clients each year since 1992, on such widely varied projects as load-bearing straw bale homes, double-wall new construction, standard stick framing and gut rehabs of older houses. In addition, she worked using renewable energy in buildings. In 2010, Shawna participated on the Information Subcommittee of the Ener Guide for Houses Rating Service Upgrade Process. In 2007, she participated on the Selection Committee for CMHC’s EQuilibrium House Initiative. Shawna has published books...