‘One of the most effective ways
of doing this is through insulation,’
said Loveday. ‘If you look at the
typical UK home, the biggest
energy demands we will have
is space heating and water
heating.’
Experts from Ulster and Warwick
are looking at the potential to
reduce heat loss through advanced
insulation, for example in the form
of vacuum panels and vacuum
glazing.
Oxford and Nottingham
researchers will also study techniques
using nanocomposite
materials such as Aerogel, which
combines insulation with heat storage
within the surface to make
houses more comfortable.
To reduce carbon emissions
from the supply side, an Ulster
team will investigate efficient electric
heat pumps and Warwick will
look at gas-fired ones, with the aim
of integrating them into existing
buildings.
Alongside reducing demand for
energy and decarbonising the
supply, the third element of
CALEBRE will be managing and
controlling the heating of the
building, such as through ventilation
heat recovery. This is being
investigated at Herriot-Watt,
which will also develop the
software tool.
A key element to the project is
to introduce technologies that
will appeal to the consumer with
minimal inconvenience, and Loughborough
researchers will focus on
user-centred aspects, informed by
a panel of 200 householders. These
modified technologies will be
tested first in the laboratory, then
trialled in an occupied 1930s-style
test house built on the Nottingham
campus.
The test house is heavily instrumented
to take measurements of
temperature, air speed and environmental
variables, and to track
the occupants to measure the
energy implications of their activities.
The research will also use a
heated, breathing thermal mannequin
to measure the heat
emission as it would occur from a
human and provide information
about the sensation of thermal
comfort.
After adjustments are made to
the technologies, Nottingham will
also look at the manufacturing
aspects, ensuring their economic
viability.
By the end of the project in
2012, the team expects to have a
validated package of measures
and technologies available for
installation, and to be able to
inform the government about
designing policies with financial
incentives.
A separate EPSRC project led
by Dr David Shipworth at Reading
University is investigating systems
to monitor and control home heating
energy usage while keeping a
comfortable environment for the
occupants.
Berenice Baker
FOR THE LATEST NEWS GO TO www.theengineer.co.uk
the EnGIneeR 30 JUNE–13 JULY 2008 7
Building works
Household cuts ‘beat chic technologies’, says study
APPLYING energy-saving technologies to buildings would bring the
biggest single reduction in the CO 2 emissions of major cities, while
slashing hundreds of millions of pounds from energy bills, according to
a major new study focusing on London.
A research project carried out for engineering giant Siemens
suggests that transforming the energy efficiency of domestic and
commercial premises dramatically outstrips higher profile technologies
such as wind power in terms of the benefits versus costs involved.
Measures such as insulation, energy-efficient lighting and boilers,
and sophisticated building automation systems could between
them reduce London’s emissions by one third by 2025 according to
consultant McKinsey, which compiled the report.
At the same time as they are cutting greenhouse gases, the energy
saving measures would more than pay for themselves by delivering
significant cost reductions. The study claims energy-efficient lighting
alone would cut around £135m a year from the UK capital’s energy bill
by 2025.
Unveiling the findings, McKinsey director Jeremy Oppenheim said
the figures show how relatively straightforward measures can put
‘fashionable but expensive’ technologies in the shade — at least when
applied to major conurbations.
‘Our numbers suggest that various forms of solar, for example, are
very expensive,’ said Oppenheim. ‘Many of the most cost-effective
measures are technologies we know about. There’s no need to invent
a trip to Mars.’
Despite labelling the environmental and cost benefits on offer a ‘no
brainer’, the study warns that take-up of the technologies is often fraught
with difficulties.
It highlights the lack of clear information to consumers about the
choices available and how they can go about implementing them (see
opposite page). Retro-fitting energy-efficient systems to old buildings is
a particular challenge for major cities such as London, which also
has a large rented sector in which the person expected to make the
investment, the landlord, will not initially be the one to benefit from lower
fuel bills.
Oppenheim said the 75,000 homes renovated each year in London
should be a particular target. ‘Over the next 18 years we have the
chance to upgrade 50 per cent of London households to the highest
standards of energy efficiency.’
Andrew Lee
Energy-efficient lighting is a simple way to cut emissions, claims the report
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