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Ground-breaking research in the field of Dynamic Insulation (DI) at Aberdeen University has contributed to international efforts to combat climate change through the reduction of the carbon emissions associated with the heating, ventilation and air conditioning of buildings. Through the establishment of a spin-out company and the development of the world's first modular DI product, jobs have been created and developers have been able to use the first commercially available DI products and systems to meet strict new environmental targets. The success of such projects has led to greater public awareness of the issues around global warming.
Research at Loughborough University during the period 2008-2013 in the areas of control, commissioning and design of advanced naturally-ventilated buildings has led to:
A subsequent KTP project with SE Controls has led to:
Research carried out at the University of Greenwich has explored issues surrounding sustainable living and climate change mitigation in existing buildings. The research identified the relationships between people and the built environment and developed a series of behavioural interventions to inform building users of the energy they were consuming and provide guidance on how this could be reduced. The socio-technical relationships were used in a public engagement programme to promote debate amongst the over-65s and the interventions by Registered Social Landlords to support behaviour change and reduce energy consumption in domestic buildings. The outputs have also been used to inform Social Housing policy development.
Research conducted by Professor Short in the use of natural ventilation and passive cooling in non-domestic buildings is altering policies and plans in the refurbishment of existing healthcare buildings and in new-build for acute and primary care, both within and outside the UK. Moreover, the massive demolition and replacement of healthcare building stock, presumed to be required to simultaneously adapt to the increased ambient temperatures due to climate change and mitigate carbon emissions through improved energy efficiency, has been shown to be unnecessary.
A development of six Creative Energy Homes (CEH) on the University of Nottingham campus provides a living test-site for leading firms, including E.ON, David Wilson Homes, BASF, Tarmac, Roger Bullivant and Igloo Blueprint to work with the University of Nottingham to investigate the integration of energy efficient technologies into houses. As a result of this work, Lovell homes has won a number of sustainable housing contracts, Roger Bullivant have developed and installed 30 SystemFirst™ foundation systems and Igloo Blueprint have built £7M worth of new homes. The research findings have informed the UK Government's "Green Deal" strategy, the Nottingham Community Climate Change Strategy and received widespread acclaim through a number of public engagement activities reaching out to over 5 million people.
Approximately 70% of the existing building stock will still be in use in 2050. A series of projects funded by EPSRC, FP7, Historic Scotland and English Heritage has changed the level of awareness on the impact of climate change on the thermal and moisture performance of traditional and historic buildings when considering improvements to their energy efficiency. This has helped set the agenda for the refurbishment of traditional buildings, for example advice on for the Green Deal has resulted in DECC commissioning further work, including a Responsible Retrofit Guidance Tool developed by the Sustainable Traditional Buildings Alliance.
Prof Kolokotroni's research confirming unusually high night-time temperatures in London due to the urban heat island effect, and her recommendations to mitigate this effect, have both industrial and political impacts. As 80% of current buildings are expected to be standing in 2050, her assessment of the environmental benefits of cool roof technologies (highly reflective, well-insulated roofs) have provided affordable and practical solutions for politicians and building engineers: in 2009, the European Cool Roofs Council was launched at Brunel, committing to advocating cool roof products for their impacts on mitigating climate change, reducing the urban heat island effect. In 2010, the Greater London Authority, in the `Climate Change Adaptation Strategy for London', committed to assessing and promoting cool roof technologies in London.
Professor Gupta, an internationally recognised expert on architecture and climate change, has developed an innovative software model for carbon counting (DECoRuM® model) and climate change adaptation (DECoRuM® adapt) of existing housing. The combination of Geographic Information System techniques, energy efficiency and climate change adaptation measures has enabled DECoRuM® model to provide a range of environmental, public policy and practice benefits to homeowners, communities, local authorities and architects. These benefits have been realised through refined global common carbon metrics promoted by UNEP, BSI standard and industry guidance, as well as achievement of real energy and CO2 emission reductions from low carbon refurbishment, leading to improved building energy performance.
The Environmental Building Group (EBG) is making an internationally-recognised impact on industry practice using building performance simulation research to look at the relationship between building use scenarios and building performance. In particular, research in building energy data analysis and the prediction of the impacts of climate change on UK building stock has enabled: C3Resources to increase turnover by 28%, double its workforce and win new international clients; Cornish Lime to develop a new product; RTP Surveyors to increase service provision; and Lend Lease and Wates Construction to change their strategies in relation to what/how they may build in the future.
This study presents the impact of research by Plymouth's Environmental Building Group (EBG) and Centre for Earthen Architecture (CEA) on industry and regulatory bodies. These interconnected groups research the manufacture, construction, preservation and performance (thermal, hygral and acoustic) of new and old buildings of diverse construction, including earth, straw-bale and hemp-lime. EBG/CEA research has impacted the energy consumption of 690+ homeowners (21st Century Living; DECC/Eden) and contributed to national standards for construction and conservation (BRE/DEBA/English Heritage). Industry partnerships/projects include: Zero Carbon House, Kevin McCabe Ltd; Carfrae Sustainable Design; Hukseflux; Cornish Lime Company.