Abstract
The potential to reduce energy demand and thus carbon emissions from the built environment is considerable. As well as benefitting the environment, good energy efficient retrofits can reduce energy bills and improve thermal comfort; however, the discrepancy between expected and actual performance can mean the anticipated benefits are not fully realised. If thermal upgrades are to be accepted and adopted the retrofit solutions should be simple and effective and deliver the performance expected. This paper summarises part one of a two-stage Saint-Gobain funded research project which investigated the change in thermal performance resulting from a number of ‘off-the-shelf’ thermal upgrade measures applied to a circa 1900 solid wall end terrace house situated in an environmental chamber. The project involved a phased programme of upgrades to the thermal elements of the test house; thermal upgrades were applied either individually or in combination. Presented are the quantitative measurements of thermal performance at each test phase which are compared against baseline values measured while the test house was in its original condition. The heat loss coefficient (HLC) of the fully retrofitted dwelling was 63 % lower than the dwelling in its baseline condition. 72 % of the HLC reduction was attributable to the application of a hybrid solid wall insulation system. The fully retrofitted test house had a measured air permeability value that was 50 % lower than in its baseline condition. There was close agreement between the calculated upgrade U-value and that measured in situ for most thermal upgrade measures. The primary conclusion of the paper is that dwellings of this type, which represent a significant proportion of the UK housing stock, have the potential to be retrofitted using off-the-shelf thermal upgrade measures to a standard which meets design expectations and can significantly reduce their requirement for space heating and currently associated CO2 emissions.
Farmer, D., Gorse, C., Miles-Shenton, D. , Brook-Peat, M., and Cuttle, C. (2015) Off the shelf solutions to the retrofit challenge: thermal performance and comfort In; Gorse, C and Dastbaz, M (Eds.) International SEEDS Conference, 17–18 September 2015, Leeds Beckett University UK, Sustainable Ecological Engineering Design for Society.
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Notes
- 1.
This calculation uses the reduction in HLC of 84 W/K measured during the Solid wall 1 test phase which represents the condition of the external walls during the full retrofit test phases.
- 2.
Equivalent carbon dioxide.
- 3.
The baseline airtightness value for the ground floor upgrade measures was measured during the Full retrofit (original floor) test phase.
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Farmer, D., Gorse, C., Miles-Shenton, D., Brooke-Peat, M., Cuttle, C. (2016). Off-the-Shelf Solutions to the Retrofit Challenge: Thermal Performance. In: Dastbaz, M., Gorse, C. (eds) Sustainable Ecological Engineering Design. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32646-7_7
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