Did ARBED I Save Energy in Wales’ Deprived Dwellings

Karani

et al. 2019

This paper discusses a methodology for gathering empirical data on occupant views that live in dwellings retrofitted under the Arbed two scheme in wales, UK, and also the views of stakeholder's that delivered and managed the retrofit scheme between 2012 and 2014. The analysis of this data is being used to develop guidance for managing government funded dwelling retrofit schemes, contributing to occupant quality of life. The methodology used consists of Causal Loop Diagrams, Theory of Change and IDEFØ mapping to systematically map out relationships between activities extracted from the findings of two case studies, demonstrating key issues for investigation. This multi-tool process has been critical within the process of developing key clusters. The key clusters are fed into the IDEFØ mapping system, from analysing the complex tacit knowledge data in order to produce guidance documents to be used in government funded residential retrofit schemes. This paper will be useful for academics, landlords of housing stock undergoing retrofit measures, scheme managers undertaking large scale residential energy and retrofit upgrades, and government agencies funding retrofit upgrades to dwellings.

Section: Case Study Two Results Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developing Management Guidance for Government Funded Dwelling Retrofit Schemes to Improve Occupant Quality of Life

Jahic

Karani

et al. 2019

“…Hence, the resulting thermal image provides a two-dimensional map of temperature difference over the surface of the object. Thermography is an established technique within the construction industry for checking the continuity of insulation, identifying sources of air leakage, thermal bridging, workmanship, detecting and mapping moisture in a building [22]. The output when using an IR thermal camera is a thermogram, which illustrates hot and cold areas as different colours [23].…”

Section: Building Performance Assessment (Bpa) Protocolin-constructionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Building Performance Assessment Protocol for Timber Dwellings—Conducting Thermography Tests on Live Construction Sites

Waldron

Newman³

et al. 2019

This paper introduces the pan Wales (UK) Home Grown Homes (HGH) project (2018 and 2020) which focusses on three areas of improvement for delivering high performance, affordable and healthy homes. The HGH project is funded by Powys County Council, through the European Regional Development Fund's Agricultural Stream. The HGH project is being delivered by Woodknowledge Wales in a consortium with Cardiff Metropolitan University (CMU), TRADA and Coed Cymru, with seven work packages. 'More & Better Homes from Wood' (work package (WP) WP3) focusses on the assessment of building performance for dwellings using timber, and is being delivered by a multi-disciplinary team at CMU through the Sustainable and Resilient Built Environment group (SuRBe). This paper discusses the context and need for the HGH project as Wales launched its low carbon agenda in March 2019. The focus for the paper is to introduce the building performance assessment (BPA) protocol to be implemented by SuRBe across several housing case studies in Wales, through the design, in-construction and occupancy phases, to address thermal and fire (TaF) performance issues, and impacts upon occupant quality of life, comfort and safety. Preliminary results are presented of in-construction testing on a live construction site with the challenges of conducting thermography tests whilst construction progresses and the weather becomes warmer in April 2019. This paper will be useful for academics, architects, building contractors, housing developers and professionals undertaking building performance assessment and evaluation on live construction sites.

“…Since 2010, significant sums of money have been invested to improve energy efficiency and combat fuel poverty in some of the most deprived areas of Wales, by retrofitting thousands of dwellings through the Arbed1, 2 and 3 schemes with exterior wall insulation, roof insulation, new boilers and controls, windows [3,4]. Increasing energy efficiency of older properties remains a significant challenge, which cannot be achieved through insulation and air-tightness interventions alone, particularly when alterations to historically important architectural features of the building are not permitted [5]. So, alternative solutions are needed, which is explored in this paper.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Holistic Dwelling Energy Assessment Protocol for Mine Water District Heat Network

Philip

Evans

et al. 2019

UK buildings and energy infrastructures are heavily dependent on natural gas and a large proportion is used for domestic space heating; but 50% is imported. Improving energy security and reducing carbon emissions are major government drivers for reducing gas dependency. So, there needs to be a wholesale shift in the energy provision to householders without impacting on thermal comfort levels, convenience or cost of supply. Electrical powered heat pumps are seen as a potential alternative system for heating new dwellings, but will they work in dwellings built prior to 1919? This paper investigates the energy demand of pre-1919 dwellings in Wales, UK as part of a feasibility study to extract water from disused coalmines to supply a district heat network. A holistic surveying protocol providing a more accurate/realistic assessment of total household heat demand are considered. The protocol's techniques, include condition surveys, air permeability and thermography tests, and heat loss calculations are discussed. The results were used to predict future (beyond 2019) heat demand after potential retrofit improvements, thereby informing the size of heat pumps required. The findings show estimated heat demand to be in close correlation to household energy bills, and that the use of heat pumps in pre-1919 dwellings is viable, provided sufficient improvement to thermal performance is possible.