Retrofit for the future - Building Excellence Award
The UK government has pledged an 80% reduction in carbon emissions by 2050 and since our domestic buildings account for approximately 27% of overall emissions in the UK, tackling energy inefficiency at home seems a good place to start.
Housing Energy Advisor website describes a zero carbon home as “one whose net carbon dioxide emissions, taking account of emissions associated with all energy use in the home, is equal to zero or negative across the year.” By 2016 all new homes will be built this way - clearly good progress - but realistically, existing housing (the ones in which most of us will continue to live) cannot be left out of the equation.
CREST has been working on a cooperative TSB project called ‘Retrofit for Future’ which has been focusing on the refurbishment of an elderly couple’s 1950s home in Bedfordshire to achieve ‘Zero Carbon’ energy performance standards using solar thermal, photovoltaic and heat pump technologies.
They are on the right track because their work has just been declared the winner at the LABC* Central Building Excellence Awards in the category Best Domestic Conversion or Extension .
Dr Paul Rowley, the Primary Investigator (PI) on the project said, ‘It’s always nice to be recognised for the quality of our team’s work via an award. However, the real value of this academic/industry collaboration is in finding out, as a team, how renewable energy and low carbon technologies work together in practice, and how their performance can be improved.
“A key aspect of the work is in assessing how running costs of the property can be minimised for the residents, and how comfort levels can be optimised by implementing improved integrated control approaches. Plaudits must also go to Adam Thirkill, the PhD researcher on the project, who as part of his PhD research is producing very high quality regular performance reports for the industry team.’
The award presentation took place on 8th July at the Council Chamber in the Civic Offices of Milton Keynes Council and means that the team are in the running for a national award later this year.
For more information on the Retrofit for the Future project contact Dr Paul Rowley.
*LABC – Local Authority Building Control