Assessing impacts of summertime overheating: some adaptation strategies

Abstract

The UK is predicted to experience warmer summers in the future, but the domestic building stock in England was not designed to cope with this change. The Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) 2009 is used to assess the current state of the English building stock in terms of its vulnerability to overheating. The English Housing Survey 2009 provided data for 16 150 dwellings which are weighted to represent the housing stock. SAP predicts 82% of dwellings are currently at 'slight' risk of overheating and 41% at medium to high risk. If summer temperatures become 1.48 8 8 8 8C warmer, then 99% of properties are predicted to have a medium to high risk of overheating. Several potential adaptations to the housing stock were considered to reduce overheating. Although ventilation strategies had the largest positive effect, the use of solar shading and shutters which allow secure ventilation could reduce vulnerability to overheating in the current climate. In a warmer climate, although some dwellings would still be at slight risk, the results suggest that solar shading strategies could reduce the percentage of those at medium to high risk to 6%. Future energy efficiency programmes will need to include adaptation measures to prevent overheating.Keywords: adaptation, building stock, climate change, housing, overheating, ventilation, vulnerability Il est prévu que le Royaume-Uni connaisse à l'avenir des étés plus chauds, mais le parc bâ ti résidentiel en Angleterre n'a pas été conçu pour faire face à ce changement. La Procédure d'Evaluation Normalisée (SAP) 2009 est utilisée pour évaluer l'état actuel du parc bâ ti anglais quant à sa vulnérabilité à la surchauffe. L'Enquête 2009 sur le Logement en Angleterre a fourni des données concernant 16 150 logements qui sont pondérés de façon à représenter le parc de logements. La procédure SAP prévoit que 82 % des habitations courent actuellement un risque « léger » de surchauffe et que 41 % courent un risque moyen à élevé. Si les températures estivales devenaient plus chaudes de 1,4 8C, la prévision est que 99 % des biens immobiliers courraient alors un risque de surchauffe moyen à élevé. Plusieurs adaptations possibles du parc de logements ont été envisagées pour réduire la surchauffe. Bien que les stratégies d'aération aient eu l'effet positif le plus important, l'utilisation de dispositifs d'occultation solaire et de volets qui permettent une aération sécurisée pourrait réduire la vulnérabilité à la surchauffe dans le climat actuel. Dans un climat plus chaud, bien que certains logements courraient encore un léger risque, les résultats suggèrent que les stratégies d'occultation solaire pourraient réduire à 6 % le pourcentage de ceux présentant un risque moyen à élevé. Les futurs programmes d'efficacité énergétique devront inclure des mesures d'adaptation destinées à prévenir la surchauffe.

Summer Thermal Comfort and Self-Shading Geometries in Passivhaus Dwellings: A Pilot Study Using Future UK Climates

“…For instance, Orme, Palmer and Irving [7] concluded that night time purging was the most effective single intervention to reduce overheating. Tillson et al [8] showed that using a combination of window shutters or overhangs and ventilation can greatly reduce overheating. Mavrogianni et al [9] investigated the effectiveness of thermal mass and insulation in reducing overheating.…”

Overheating in vulnerable and non-vulnerable households

“…A plethora of studies have used dynamic thermal simulation in order to see how different energy refurbishments might affect building overheating in current and future weather scenarios (Mavrogianni et al, 2012;Tillson et al, 2013;Porritt et al, 2011;Porritt et al, 2012;McLeod et al, 2013;Oikonomou et al, 2012;Ji et al, 2014;Barbosa et al, 2015). However, most of these studies use simple statements of ventilation patterns, for example, ventilation commencing when the room operative temperature reaches an assumed threshold temperature (Mavrogianni et al, 2012;Tillson et al, 2013;Porritt et al, 2011;Porritt et al, 2012). This is not representative of how windows are used in reality by occupants in homes, since it is based on studies in offices.…”

Heat Decarbonisation Modelling Approaches in the UK: An Energy System Architecture Perspective

“…Barriers to uptake have led to an energy efficiency gap [87], which policy has not adequately addressed [88]. In addition to this range of non-cost factors, modelling needs to account for a range of other factors, such as rebound effects [89], the specificity of measures to building type, the degree of interaction with other aspects of the heating system, linkages with preventing winter mortality [90] and energy poverty [91], other risks such as over-heating [92,93], and broader supply chain issues relating to scaling up the deployment of energy efficiency measures. Appendix A.1.…”