• Energy Research

Empirical studies have shown that internal temperatures in refugee shelters are impacting morbidity, and possibly mortality. Within a displacement setting, solutions are often constrained by time, cost, material availability and local requirements. This often results in “deemed suitable” designs rather than optimal solutions. In this study, we ask which route is most appropriate to optimise thermal comfort: prototyping design improvements, which requires time but may not require significant domain expertise, or thermal modelling, which can be quickly carried out if there is expertise. In a unique experiment, a laboratory of 12 shelters, built in a desert refugee camp, was adapted by the refugees themselves with variants to improve thermal comfort. Thermal modelling and field results were compared. Prototyping, though requiring additional time, was found to offer several advantages over modelling: (a) it gives a more visceral answer, in that the agency staff and refugees can experience the improvement - this could be important as most people might not be able to relate to a numeric statement about temperature; (b) the difficulty of constructing variants can be compared; (c) the financial and time costs are identified accurately. This suggests that such prototyping experiments have great utility, conferring substantial advantages over computer-based modelling. Significantly, we show that simple adaptations can improve conditions by up to 6°C, and that the skills exist in camps to complete such improvements.

The disparity between disciplinary approaches to bioinspired innovation has created a cultural divide that is stifling to the overall advancement of the approach for sustainable societies. This paper aims to advance the effectiveness of bioinspired innovation processes for positive benefits through interdisciplinary communication by exploring the epistemological assumptions in various fields that contribute to the discipline. We propose that there is a shift in epistemological assumptions within bioinspired innovation processes at the points where biological models derived from reductionist approaches are interpreted as socially-constructed design principles, which are then realized in practical settings wrought with complexity and multiplicity. This epistemological shift from one position to another frequently leaves practitioners with erroneous assumptions due to a naturalistic fallacy. Drawing on examples in biology, we provide three recommendations to improve the clarity of the dialogue amongst interdisciplinary teams. (1) The deliberate articulation of epistemological perspectives amongst team members. (2) The application of a gradient orientation towards sustainability instead of a dichotomous orientation. (3) Ongoing dialogue and further research to develop novel epistemological approaches towards the topic. Adopting these recommendations could further advance the effectiveness of bioinspired innovation processes to positively impact social and ecological systems.

Abstract Buildings contribute a significant portion of global greenhouse gas emissions and have the potential for large-scale impact reductions. Reducing the whole-life impacts of buildings is critical for creating a net-zero carbon built environment. For this to be achieved, the whole-life carbon impacts of design decisions must be considered during the building design process. A systematic review of academic literature was conducted to assess how life cycle assessment (LCA) is incorporated at various stages of the building design process, and what improvements are needed to support net-zero carbon design. The review compiled 274 papers that were published up to the end of 2019, of which 108 were subject to detailed review following screening. The review found that LCA is generally used late in the design process, when it is too late to greatly influence the design. Incorporating LCA with either building information modelling or life cycle costing is seen to have the same challenges as undertaking a traditional LCA. Parametric methods show promise for design development, but tools and algorithms require further verification and regionalisation to be implemented throughout industry. The use of benchmarks, target values and other pre-populated information can be used to incorporate life-cycle thinking without the need to undertake a detailed LCA. The review has demonstrated that LCA continues to face barriers, in both methods and practice, preventing its ability to guide early-stage design decisions and have a large impact on the environmental performance of buildings.

Several regulations and standards have been developed to reduce the carbon footprint of buildings, but these have failed to provide a clear pathway to a net zero future. Hence, we recently introduced the Active Building Code (ABCode). This provides guidance on reducing the environmental impact of the next generation of buildings, termed Active Buildings (ABs), through their synergy with the grid. This paper aims to illuminate the regulatory landscape, justify our initial proposal for the ABCode, and reveal opportunities and challenges to the popularisation of ABs. Twelve online focus group discussions were conducted, with thirty stakeholders in total, all selected on the basis of their expertise. A grounded theory approach identified five core themes in such discussions. These strongly overlap with what is incorporated in the ABCode, suggesting the code successfully captures issues important to experts. Stakeholders defined ABs as responsive buildings and proposed both energy and carbon are considered in their assessment. They hence aligned with the definition and evaluation framework proposed by the ABCode. Finally, stakeholders considered people’s tendency to prioritise capital cost as the greatest challenge to the popularisation of ABs, and the increasing demand for healthy environments as its greatest opportunity.

Abstract As the 2003 Paris heatwave showed, elevated temperatures in buildings can cause thousands of deaths. This makes the assessment of overheating risk a critical exercise. Unfortunately current methods of creating example weather time series for the assessment of overheating are based on a single weather variable, and hence on only one driver of discomfort or mortality. In this study, two alternative approaches for the development of current and future weather files are presented: one (pHSY-1) is based on Weighted Cooling Degree Hours (WCDH), the other (pHSY-2) is based on Physiologically Equivalent Temperature (PET). pHSY-1 and pHSY-2 files were produced for fourteen locations. These were then compared with the existing probabilistic future Design Summer Year (pDSY) and the probabilistic future Test Reference Year. It was found that both pHSY-1 and pHSY-2 are more robust than the pDSY. It is suggested that pHSY-1 could be used for assessing the severity and occurrence of overheating, while pHSY-2 could be used for evaluating thermal discomfort or heat stress. The results also highlight an important limitation in using different metrics to compare overheating years. If the weather year is created by a ranking of a single environmental variable, to ensure consistent results assessment of the building should be with a similar single metric (e.g. hours >28 °C or WCDH), if however the weather year is based upon several environmental variables then a composite metric (e.g. PET or Fanger’s PMV) should be used. This has important implications for the suitability of weather files for thermal comfort analysis.

To allow building scientists and engineers to investigate how their building designs fare in future climates there is the need for future weather files on an hourly timescale, which are representative of possible future climates. With the publication of the most recent UK Climate Projections (UKCP09) such data can be created for future years up to the end of the 21st century and for various predictions of climate change by one of two methods: mathematical transformations of observed weather (morphing), or the use of a synthetic weather generator. Here current and future weather is created by both of these methods for three locations within the UK and their statistical signatures discussed. Although the potential to use both products to investigate the effects of climate change is clear, it is found that the use of UKCP09 climate change anomalies within the morphing procedure give an unrealistic representations of future temperatures both mathematically and physically, limiting its use.

Abstract Archive film stores aim to preserve the cultural heritage of countries by protecting their photographic record from degrading. This is however challenging for many countries in the global south due to the construction and running costs of suitable, low-temperature facilities. Additional complications arise from aggressive climates, intermittent electricity grids and the need to minimise carbon emissions. Given the lack of relevant studies, this paper examines the engineering of film stores in the global south, in order to identify solutions that can help maintain the required internal conditions, deal with power outages and minimise energy use (and therefore operational cost and carbon). The insulating concrete form and phase change material option was found to be more resilient than thermal mass in all three locations, as it maintained lower temperatures after 2.5 days without power, with the largest difference being observed in Sri Lanka (2 °C). It also led to a lower annual energy use, with the largest difference being again detected in Sri Lanka (32 kWh·m−2). The high renewable energy production of the store resulted in a negative annual net energy in Mongolia and Yemen (around −155 kWh·m−2 and −190 kWh·m−2, respectively). However, this was not possible in Sri Lanka because of its hot and humid climate, which triggered a high annual energy use (around 400 kWh·m−2).

Decarbonising the built environment is at the heart of many nations' route to net zero. This leads to policies that target specific technologies. Within such policies, there is a natural instinct to combine the need to reduce carbon emissions with solving other issues, such as fuel poverty. Here, we examine for the first time if, from a carbon perspective, this is optimal. By assembling energy performance certificates and household economic deprivation data, we use fuzzy matching techniques to produce a single statistically robust dataset of 44,300 households. Then, through secondary data analysis, we closely examine the carbon impact and cost of energy retrofits. Overall, upgrading to band C is the most viable strategy. However, the results demonstrate that households belonging to the least deprived 20% present more than double the carbon saving potential compared to those in the most deprived 20% (2.7 and 1.2tCO2/yr, respectively), and offer the best return in CO2 savings on money spent. This highlights the need for retrofitting policy to be cognisant of both building stock and deprivation and the disproportionate role in climate change played by the more affluent. The results offer important new insights for governments and suggest a rethinking of retrofit initiatives. Practical Application: This study is the first to employ such data to identify retrofit strategies for governments and offers three key practical applications. (i) It shows how by combining such data one can start to develop policy that is tuned to the demographics and stock, and that by disaggregating the data a lot can be learnt prior to the development of local or national policy. (ii) It clearly puts to bed the idea that attacking fuel poverty is the most effective way towards carbon reductions. (iii) It suggests a new way of thinking about targeted interventions that optimise carbon reduction in a cost-effective way.