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The UK has some of the oldest buildings in Europe. They are also some of the worst performing in terms of energy performance. In tandem with these issues the UK has committed to making a substantial reduction in CO2 emissions. UK homes are currently responsible for almost 20 per cent of CO2 emissions. This leaves little option other than to make considerable progress with the retrofitting of homes to improve their energy performance. This is a technical process, however, and can introduce risks to building and their occupants. Examples exist of homes being retrofitted with disastrous consequences. Some of these issues can be due to the lack of thorough examination of a home before it undergoes a retrofit. This paper proposes a method that provides a detailed pre-retrofit assessment of a home, to fall in line with PAS 2035, a standard that provides guidance around publicly funded retrofit in the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UK government aims to transition its modern natural gas infrastructure towards Hydrogen by 2035. Since hydrogen is a much lighter gas than methane, it is important to understand the change in parameters when transporting it. While most modern work in this topic looks at the transport of hydrogen-methane mixtures, this work focuses on pure hydrogen transport. The aim of this paper is to highlight the change in gas distribution parameters when natural gas is replaced by hydrogen in the existing infrastructure. This study uses analytical models and computational models to compare the flow of hydrogen and methane in a pipe based on pressure loss. The Darcy-Weisbach and Colebrook-White equations were used for the analytical models, and the k- ε model was used for the computational approach. The variables considered in the comparison were the pipe material (X52 Steel and MDPE) and pipe diameters (0.01m–1m). It was observed that hydrogen had to be transported 250–270% the velocity of methane to replicate flow for a fixed length of pipe. Furthermore, it was noted that MDPE pipes has 2–31% lower pressure losses compared to X52 steel for all diameters when transporting hydrogen at a high velocity. Lastly, it was noted that the analytical model and computational model were in agreement with 1–5% error in their findings. [Display omitted] • Hydrogen is expected to replace methane by 2035 for domestic heating applications. • Analytical and computational models were used to compare flow of hydrogen and methane. • Hydrogen velocity must be up to 2.7 times faster than methane to replicate flow. • MDPE pipes showed lower pressure losses than steel pipes due to reduced roughness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A primary drawback of solar thermal technologies, especially in a domestic setting, is that collection of thermal energy occurs when solar irradiance is abundant and there is generally little requirement for heating. Thermochemical Energy Storage (TCES) offers a means of storing thermal energy interseasonally with little heat loss. A combination of a Solar Thermal Collector (STC) and TCES system will allow a variety of different heating applications, such as domestic space and hot water heating as well as low temperature industrial process heat applications to be met in a low carbon way. This paper describes and assesses the feasibility of two novel technologies currently under development at Loughborough University; i) an evacuated flat plate STC and ii) composite TCES materials, coupled together into a system designed to store and supply thermal energy on demand throughout the year. Experimental results of composite TCES materials along with predicted performance of STC's are used within a developed model to assess key metrics of conceptual TCES + STC systems feasibility, including; charging time, payback time, cost/kWh, energy savings and CO 2 savings. This paper demonstrates the economic, energy and carbon savings potential of conceptual TCES + STC systems suitable for domestic use. • Economic feasibility of novel TCES + STC conceptual systems presented. • Conceptual systems using a Vacuum Flat Plate Collector are the most economical. • 30% of the domestic space heating demand can be supplied using these systems. • Significant CO 2 reductions possible if systems installed in UK households. • Systems predicted to result in financial savings to the homeowner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The notion of ‘fuel poverty’, referring to affordable warmth, underpins established research and policy agendas in the UK and has been extremely influential worldwide. In this context, British researchers, official policymaking bodies and NGOs have put forward the notion of ‘transport poverty’, building on an implicit analogy between (recognised) fuel poverty and (neglected) transport affordability issues. However, the conceptual similarities and differences between ’fuel’ and ’transport’ poverty remain largely unaddressed in the UK. This paper systematically compares and contrasts the two concepts, examining critically the assumption of a simple equivalence between them. We illustrate similarities and differences under four headings: (i) negative consequences of lack of warmth and lack of access; (ii) drivers of fuel and transport poverty; (iii) definition and measurement; (iv) policy interventions. Our review suggests that there are important conceptual and practical differences between transport and domestic energy consumption, with crucial consequences for how affordability problems amongst households are to be conceptualised and addressed. In a context where transport and energy exhibit two parallel policy worlds, the analysis in the paper and these conclusions reinforce how and why these differences matter. As we embark on an ever closer union between our domestic energy and transport energy systems the importance of these contradictions will become increasingly evident and problematic. This work contributes to the long-term debate about how best to manage these issues in a radical energy transition that properly pays attention to issues of equity and affordability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UK government is committed to reducing carbon dioxide emission levels by 80%, comparative to the 1990 baseline, by 2050. 'Nearly-zero-energy buildings' (nZEBs) were introduced by the Energy Performance Building Directive (recast) in 2010 as a realistic solution to the intrinsic environmental debt associated with most existing buildings. This paper aims to carry out a life-cycle cost (LCC) analysis to identify what is a cost-optimal level and how best to achieve this by examining and focusing on the exploration of realistically applicable energy-efficient measures and retrofit scenarios for a typical UK dwelling. A sensitivity analysis is used to identify uncertainty and provide the expected economic benefits and losses of the applied scenarios over their respective lifetimes. It was established that the total LCCs of all the retrofit scenarios were in fact lower than that of the baseline scenario (i.e. not retrofitting the property) over the 30-year study period. Furthermore, it was found that the cost-optimal level for the retrofit of a typical UK residential dwelling is 75 (kWh/m2)/year; meanwhile, the UK's current nZEB target stands at 44 (kWh/m2)/year, meaning that there is a gap between the current nZEB target and the calculated cost-optimal level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The notion of ‘fuel poverty’, referring to affordable warmth, underpins established research and policy agendas in the UK and has been extremely influential worldwide. In this context, British researchers, official policymaking bodies and NGOs have put forward the notion of ‘transport poverty’, building on an implicit analogy between (recognised) fuel poverty and (neglected) transport affordability issues. However, the conceptual similarities and differences between 'fuel' and 'transport' poverty remain largely unaddressed in the UK. This paper systematically compares and contrasts the two concepts, examining critically the assumption of a simple equivalence between them. We illustrate similarities and differences under four headings: (i) negative consequences of lack of warmth and lack of access; (ii) drivers of fuel and transport poverty; (iii) definition and measurement; (iv) policy interventions. Our review suggests that there are important conceptual and practical differences between transport and domestic energy consumption, with crucial consequences for how affordability problems amongst households are to be conceptualised and addressed. In a context where transport and energy exhibit two parallel policy worlds, the analysis in the paper and these conclusions reinforce how and why these differences matter. As we embark on an ever closer union between our domestic energy and transport energy systems the importance of these contradictions will become increasingly evident and problematic. This work contributes to the long-term debate about how best to manage these issues in a radical energy transition that properly pays attention to issues of equity and affordability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper responds to the need for a greater integration of energy and environment themes in the higher education curriculum. We explore the practical implications of empowering students towards the implementation of individual action research projects focused on investigating and addressing insufficient or wasteful energy consumption among households and businesses. The paper scrutinizes a series of teaching and assessment activities within this domain, undertaken during 6 consecutive academic years – between 2008 and 2013 – within a third-level undergraduate course unit at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom. Using questionnaire surveys, assessed projects and interviews with the students, we have found evidence to suggest that the action research projects contributed to the emergence of constructive alignment in the entire teaching process, while opening the space for informal action learning ‘sets’ leading to the generation of new problem-solving skills useful in the job market. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background Estimates of energy requirements are needed in weight management and are usually determined using prediction equations. The objective of these two systematic reviews was to identify which equations based on simple anthropometric and demographic variables provide the most accurate and precise estimates of (1) resting energy expenditure (REE) and (2) total energy expenditure ( TEE) in healthy obese adults. Methods Systematic searches for relevant studies in healthy adults with body mass index ( BMI) ≥25 kg m−2 and published in English were undertaken using Cinahl, Cochrane Library, OpenGrey, PubMed and Web of Science (completed March 2014). Search terms included metabolism, calorimetry, obesity and prediction equations. Data extraction, study appraisal and synthesis followed guidelines from PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses). Results From 243 REE papers and 254 TEE papers identified, 21 and four studies, respectively, met the inclusion criteria. (1) The most accurate REE predictions varied with BMI subgroup: WHO (weight and height) ≥25 and ≥30 kg m−2; Mifflin 30-39.9 kg m−2; Henry ≥40 kg m−2. The most precise REE predictions were obtained using Mifflin in BMI 30-39.9 and ≥40 kg m−2, where approximately 75% of predictions were within 10% of measured REE. (2) No accurate or precise predictions of TEE were identified. Conclusions No single prediction equation provides accurate and precise REE estimates in all obese adults. Mifflin equations are recommended in this population, although errors exceed 10% in 25% of those assessed. There is no evidence to support the use of prediction equations in estimating TEE in obesity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The health and performance of students and teachers are influenced by the internal environment of school buildings such as noise levels, indoor temperature, air quality and light. Providing good internal environmental conditions with minimum energy for schools has long been a concern in school design guidelines around the world. The growing necessity to save energy in an uncertain future and to provide a good indoor environment in schools suggests that school designers should approach design more holistically in order to offer a better internal environment and to reduce the gap between design and performance. This paper investigates design issues in UK schools through case study analysis and a review of the literature. The main reasons for these design issues can be attributed to the lack of optimisation of different internal environment factors and their relation with energy consumption; the lack of understanding occupants’ response to the environment; the lack of building adaptability and the inappropriate application or use technology. This paper urges school designers to look at these factors holistically in order to overcome these problems in the future design of UK schools. This study also suggests an Environmental Circle to look at the interrelation between comfort factors through their sub factors in a holistic manner in order to prevent any conflict between. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper empirically investigates the influence of building fabric, services and occupant related factors on actual energy use of six case study dwellings, located in three new low energy social housing developments in UK, covering a variety of built forms and construction systems (timber frame, hempcrete, steel-frame). Physical monitoring of indoor environment and window-opening is cross-related with building fabric and systems’ performance, and qualitative data gathered through occupant surveys, review of control interfaces and handover guidance, to understand the causes of the gap between modelled and measured energy use. Actual energy use is found to exceed design expectations by a factor of three, questioning the need for whole-house mechanical ventilation heat recovery (MVHR) systems at measured air permeability rates of 6 m³/(h.m²) against the design target of 3 m³/(h.m²). Lack of proper commissioning of MVHR and heating systems, combined with inadequate user comprehension about their operation and control leads to occupant ‘misuse’ wherein systems are de-activated, thereby negatively affecting indoor air quality. This is confounded by occupant factors related to higher demand temperatures, unexpected opening of windows during winters due to under-performance of MVHR combined with habitual behaviours, and over-use of heating systems to compensate for higher than expected air permeability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years there has been a significant change in the distribution of wind farms in Great Britain, with a trend towards very large offshore farms clustered together in zones. However, there are concerns these clusters could produce large ramping events on time scales of less than 6 h as local meteorological phenomena simultaneously impact the production of several farms. This paper presents generation data from the wind farms in the Thames Estuary (the largest cluster in the world) for 2014 and quantifies the high frequency power ramps. Based on a case study of a ramping event which occurred on 3rd November 2014, we show that due to the large capacity of the cluster, a localised ramp can have a significant impact on the cost of balancing the power system on a national level if it is not captured by the forecast of the system operator. The planned construction of larger offshore wind zones will exacerbate this problem. Consequently, there is a need for accurate regional wind power forecasts to minimise the costs of managing the system. This study shows that state-of-the-art high resolution forecast models have capacity to provide valuable information to mitigate this impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

UK energy policies position urban heat networks as components of a resilient low carbon, affordable system, but, as Stewart Russell's work showed, such technologies have never been integrated into UK provision. This paper takes Russell's legacy forward by examining prospects for urban district heating and combined heat and power development in the context of the financial, rather than technological, innovations shaped by liberalised energy and financial markets. Drawing on sociology of markets and social studies of finance, the paper examines the resulting evaluation practices. Findings indicate that such district energy infrastructure does not conform to the investment calculus, making a business case hard to establish. Bridging the value gap between liberalised finance and district energy requires actors willing to devise improvised solutions. In spite of the established sustainability credentials of the technology therefore, significant deployment in the UK (and similar countries) will depend on political leadership and new fiscal policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decade, a growing body of research has examined the role of cities in addressing climate change and the institutional and political challenges which they encounter. For the most part, in these accounts, the infrastructure networks, their material fabric, everyday practices and political economies, have remained unexamined. In this paper, it is argued that this is a critical omission and an approach is developed for understanding how urban responses to climate change both configure and are configured by infrastructure networks. Central to any such analysis is the conception of how and why (urban) infrastructure networks undergo change. Focusing on urban energy networks and on the case of London, the paper argues for an analysis of the ‘urban infrastructure regimes’ and ‘experiments’ through which climate change is governed. It is found that climate change experiments serve as a means through which dominant actors articulate and test new ‘low-carbon’ logics for urban infrastructure development. It is argued that experiments work by establishing new circuits, configuring actors in new sets of relations and through these means realising the potential for addressing climate change in the city. At the same time, experiments become sites of conflict, a means through which new forms of urban circulation can be confined and marginalised, leaving dominant energy regimes (relatively) intact. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper investigates factors associated with variation in daily total (electricity and gas) energy consumption in domestic buildings using linked pre-COVID-19 smart meter, weather, building thermal characteristics, and socio-technical survey data covering appliance ownership, demographics, behaviours, and attitudes for two nested sub-samples of 1418 and 682 British households selected from the Smart Energy Research Laboratory (SERL) Observatory panel. Linear mixed effects modelling resulted in adjusted R2 between 63% and 80% depending on sample size and combinations of contextual data used. Increased daily energy consumption was significantly associated (p -value < 0.05, VIF < 5) with: households living in buildings with more rooms and bedrooms, that are older, more detached, have air-conditioning, and experience colder (more heating degree days) or less sunny weather; households with more adult occupants, more children, older adult occupants, higher heating temperature setpoints, and that do not try to save energy. The results demonstrate the value of smart meter data linked with contextual data for improving understanding of energy demand in British housing. Accredited UK researchers are invited to apply to access the data, which has recently been updated to include over 13,000 households from across Great Britain. This paper provides guidance on appropriate methods to use when analysing the data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The governments of Britain, France, and the United States are seeking to promote renewed investment in nuclear power through metagovernance. Metagovernance describes the way governments can leverage state power and resources to shape the behavior of networked actors to advance policy goals. To metagovern, governments use a variety of policy tools but the factors shaping the design of these policy tools remains unclear. Grid-group cultural theory is used to show that the design of the policy tools used in metagovernance reflects both an underlying cultural bias within government and prevailing institutional circumstances. The paper demonstrates the utility of cultural theory in the study of metagovernance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interface of a long-standing movement for sustainability at the urban scale and the imperatives of the carbon-reduction agenda are driving change in urban energy systems. This paper seeks to address the nature of that change and, in particular, to consider how different pathways of change are emerging. To do this it draws on the coevolution and pathways literatures to interrogate a database of current urban energy initiatives within the UK. This analysis reveals the multiple pathways of change though which new modes of energy production and consumption are being developed to deliver carbon reductions through the reconfiguring of urban energy systems. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of these changes for urban governance and for carbon reductions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how actors in the UK electricity sector are attempting to deliver investment in low carbon generation. Low carbon technologies, because of their relative immaturity, capital intensity and low operational costs, do not readily fit with existing electricity markets and investment templates which were designed for fossil fuel based energy. We analyse key electricity market and infrastructure policies in the UK and highlight how these are aimed at making low carbon technologies ‘investable’ by reducing uncertainty, managing investment risks and repositioning actors within the electricity socio-technical ‘regime’. We argue that our study can inform contemporary debates on the politics and governance of sustainability transitions by empirically investigating the agency of incumbent regime actors in the face of uncertainty and by offering critical insights on the role of markets and finance in shaping socio-technical change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to valuate existing building stock with respect to its contribution to a changing and uncertain future, especially in relation to energy performance. Design/methodology/approach – The authors review literature related to existing buildings, climate change and future environmental needs; present energy performance data from ten case studies; and identify inadequacies and scope for improvements with reference to typical housing stock. Findings – Current policies and programmes are inadequate to the scope and scale of the task; a step-change in thought and practice is needed. Practical implications – A massive programme is warranted if the substantial stock of existing buildings is to be adapted to meet identified environmental standards to "save the planet"; a radical re-conceptualisation of building adaptation is required. Originality/value – The paper prompts a review of the role of the surveyor in achieving sustainability through adaptation of existing buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the threat of the disruptions of climate change, there is growing interest in clean coal technology in the UK. This paper reviews the technologies underpinning the capture, transportation and storage of CO2. In the case of the UK, the storage of CO2 is planned in the sub seabed of the North Sea Continental Shelf. This being so, the paper goes on to analyse the rapid changes made at International, EU and UK level to shape a legal framework, the contours of which, if not the precise topography, is now visibly recognisable. It explores the linkages between regimes on climate change and marine protection and it concludes that the viability of the technology may ultimately be dependent on one element of that regulatory structure, namely the EU Emissions Trading Scheme since, ultimately, the price of carbon will determine levels of investment in the technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Interest in hydrogen as a fuel and energy carrier has significantly grown internationally as a response to increasing concerns with environmental and energy security issues, and massive investments in research and demonstration programmes are being made worldwide. At the same time, hydrogen energy has attracted attention of both natural and social scientists in relation to questions about public perception and acceptance. There are now several studies addressing these issues. The aim of this paper is to improve the current state of knowledge on lay perception and acceptance of hydrogen. To do so, the first part of the paper summarises the evidence from existing survey-based studies and identifies key knowledge gaps, by critically analysing methods and findings. These gaps concern five broad issues: (1) how to elicit opinion of the unknown; (2) what the drivers of current perceptions of hydrogen are and what role risk plays; (3) how ‘public acceptance’ should be conceptualised; (4) whether people would pay more for the public goods; and (5) issues around information and trust. The paper addresses these points by presenting selected key findings from qualitative social research conducted by the authors within two projects in the United Kingdom, funded by the Engineering and Physical Research Council (EPSRC) and the Department for Transport (DfT) respectively. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The ’MOT’ vehicle inspection test record dataset recently released by the UK Department for Transport (DfT) provides the ability to estimate annual mileage figures for every individual light duty vehicle greater than 3 years old within Great Britain. Vehicle age, engine size and fuel type are also provided in the dataset and these allow further estimates to be made of fuel consumption, energy use, and per vehicle emissions of both air pollutants and greenhouse gases. The use of this data permits the adoption of a new vehicle-centred approach to assessing emissions and energy use in comparison to previous road-flow and national fuel consumption based approaches. The dataset also allows a spatial attribution of each vehicle to a postcode area, through the reported location of relevant vehicle testing stations. Consequently, this new vehicle data can be linked with socio-demographic data in order to determine the potential characteristics of vehicle owners. This paper provides a broad overview of the types of analyses that are made possible by these data, with a particular focus on distance driven and pollutant emissions. The intention is to demonstrate the very broad potential for this data, and to highlight where more focused analysis could be useful. The findings from the work have important implications for understanding the distributional impacts of transport related policies and targeting messaging and interventions for the reduction of car use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the UK, it has become apparent in recent years that there is often a discrepancy between the steady-state predicted and the measured in situ thermal performance of the building fabric, with the measured in situ performance being greater than that predicted. This discrepancy or gap in the thermal performance of the building fabric is commonly referred to as the building fabric 'performance gap'. This paper presents the results and key messages obtained from undertaking a whole-building heat loss test (a coheating test) on seven new-build dwellings as part of the Technology Strategy Board's Building Performance Evaluation Programme. While the total number of dwellings involved in the work reported here is small, the results illustrate that a wide range of discrepancies in thermal performance was measured for the tested dwellings. Despite this, the results also indicate that it is possible to construct dwellings where the building fabric performs thermally more or less as predicted, thus effectively bridging the traditional building fabric performance gap that exists in mainstream housing in the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attempts to reduce household energy consumption for space heating are showing little progress. This paper explores the role of thermal mass in refurbishing an existing dwelling to reduce heating energy consumption. The investigation is based on three refurbishment strategies to achieve light, medium and heavy weight building structures in conjunction with a highly insulated and airtight structure (compatible with Code for Sustainable Homes Level 5). This was based on a typical Irish dwelling originally constructed using concrete hollow block, although the results could be extrapolated for the UK, which has a similar climate. HTB2 (a dynamic thermal energy calculation engine) was used to carry out thermal modelling of the refurbishment strategies in conjunction with more than 40 occupancy patterns. For average occupancy, the thermal mass had little impact on energy use; however, light weight fabric was slightly more efficient for lower or intermittent occupancy. The energy penalty of reheating dwellings left unoccupied and unheated for a full day was equivalent to 1.2-2 days' heating energy. Increasing thermal mass reduces the likelihood of major overheating but does not mitigate it entirely. The remaining overheating hours, however, could be sufficiently addressed by increasing the ventilation to 1.5 Air Changes per Hour during overheating hours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers how energy-related external costs change through time. It focuses on one of the key periods in the history of energy. After a period of declining coal prices and soaring consumption which fuelled the Second Industrial Revolution, the nineteenth century British economy was externalising the social costs of energy production and consumption on a massive scale. Rising from 25% in the 1820s, an estimated 60%–70% of the average social costs of coal were externalised in the 1880s, imposing damages close to 20% of GDP. The eventual decline in air pollution concentration (around 1900) occurred fifty years later than was broadly socially optimal. This experience highlights the evolution of the demand for and supply of environmental quality in the context of economic growth, and the nature of related market and government failures, implying the necessity for adaptation rather than encouraging mitigation. This experience may offer lessons for climate analysis and policy-making. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The growing prominence of sustainability assessment and carbon calculators in the transport sector has led to a greater general awareness of the sustainability issues associated with infrastructure projects. Ceequal, the assessment and awards scheme for improving sustainability in civil engineering and public realm projects, is identified as the leading methodology for assessing such projects in the UK. Ceequal evaluates sustainability by asking questions over 12 sections, including material and energy use, which previous research has identified as important topics for transport projects. This paper presents analysis of 24 Ceequal projects which are transport-related. It shows that high scores in the material use category have a high correlation to overall project scores. Conversely scores in the energy usage section appear to show little relation to overall project performance. An evaluation of road projects within those assessed reveal a number of what can be considered core transport topics and other topics that have little impact on the overall Ceequal score. Therefore recommendations are made for the development of Ceequal, including the rationalisation of material and energy question sets. The methodology outlined in this work could also be extended to the remaining ten Ceequal sections to develop a suite of more specific assessment schemes focused on different categories of civil engineering projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a method of generating realistic electricity load profile data for the UK domestic buildings. The domestic space features have been investigated excluding the heating and hot water systems. A questionnaire survey was conducted and the feedback were collected from a number of occupants at different intervals of times on daily bases in order to establish the probabilistic record of the estimated use of electrical appliances. The model concept of this study also considers the results of previous investigations such as that available in public reports and statistics as input data elements to predict the global domestic energy consumption. In addition, the daily load profile from individual dwelling to community can be predicted using this method. The result of the present method was compared to available published data and has shown reasonable agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a method of generating realistic electricity load profile data for the UK domestic buildings. The domestic space features have been investigated excluding the heating and hot water systems. A questionnaire survey was conducted and the feedback were collected from a number of occupants at different intervals of times on daily bases in order to establish the probabilistic record of the estimated use of electrical appliances. The model concept of this study also considers the results of previous investigations such as that available in public reports and statistics as input data elements to predict the global domestic energy consumption. In addition, the daily load profile from individual dwelling to community can be predicted using this method. The result of the present method was compared to available published data and has shown reasonable agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper describes the concept development and work to date, of an innovative ‘true’ building integrated wind turbine. The context for this is the role of small-scale renewable energy in addressing climate change. In the UK a number of small wind turbines have reached the market, however, in almost all cases, these are existing HAWT or VAWT tower mounted systems. Due to their inherent design qualities, and issues such as planning requirements, these have much reduced output due to their form and siting and are unable to take advantage of augmented airflow around buildings. The Crossflex proposal is a radical new development of a Darrieus turbine form. As well as having a technically innovative flexible blade system, it also utilises a lightweight cowling system that can provide both augmented airflow and improved visual integration into new and existing building forms. It is a modular form that can be sited on ridges and corners of buildings to provide useful levels of generation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a societal level exergy analysis approach developed to analyse transitions in the way that energy is supplied and contributes to economic growth in the UK, the US, Austria and Japan, throughout the last century. We assess changes in exergy and useful work consumption, energy efficiency and related GDP intensity measures of each economy. The novel data provided elucidate certain characteristics of divergence and commonality in the energy transitions studied. The results indicate that in each country the processes of industrialization, urbanisation and electrification are characterised by a marked increase in exergy and useful work supplies and per capita intensities. There is a common and continuous decrease in the exergy intensity of GDP. Moreover for each country studied the trend of increasing useful work intensity of GDP reversed in the early 1970s coincident with the first oil crisis. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper analyses the interrelation between the transport system and measures of resource consumption such as material and energy consumption over a 60-year period (1937-1997) in the UK. Non-motorized transport and time consumption for mobility are estimated in addition to conventional measures of transport. During the period analyzed, the UK population grew by 20% while transport of goods and persons increased more than threefold and material and energy consumption almost doubled. The transport intensity of domestic material input (DMI) doubled to 300 ton-kilometers (tkm) per ton of DMI while the transport intensity of domestic energy consumption (DEC) doubled to 20 tkm per gigajoule (GJ) of DEC. Thus, while the material and energy intensity of GDP declined significantly, a well-established trend in many advanced countries, the transport intensity of materials and energy consumption rose. These findings suggest a close link between transport, economic development, and long-term structural transformations. In the case of personal transport, a “rebound effect” was also observed: whereas the average speed of transport has greatly increased, the average number of hours per day devoted to personal transport has not declined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decarbonisation is becoming a central aim of countries around the globe, ensuring the effects of climate change do not increase exponentially in the coming years. Renewable energy generation is at the core of this decarbonisation process, enabling economies to divorce themselves from a reliance on oil and coal. Hybrid energy systems can utilise multiple generation methods to supply electrical demand best. This paper investigates the use of localised hybrid energy systems around the UK, comparing the financial viability of solar, wind and hydrokinetic generation methods both as a hybrid system and individually in different scenarios. The significance of having localised hybrid energy systems is that they address two large problems within renewable energy generation, that of storage issues and also generating the electricity far away from where it is actually used, requiring extensive infrastructure. The microgrid optimisation software HOMER was used to simulate each of the generation methods alongside the national grid, including lithium ion batteries and converters to create a comprehensive hybrid system. Net Present Cost, which is the current value of all the costs of installing and operating the system over the project lifetime, was considered as the metric. The analysis finds that for each modelled location, wind turbines in combination with lithium ion batteries and a converter is the system with the lowest Net Present Cost, with the exception of Bristol, which also uses hydrokinetic turbines within the system. The findings indicate the extensive wind resources available within the UK, along with identifying that certain locations around the country also have very high potential for tidal power generation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Expert guidance in the UK suggests a limit to temperatures in bedrooms to of 26°C or less to avoid overheating. This short paper looks at the temperatures in bedrooms and uses data from comfort surveys combined with models which link comfort to the thermal environment. Evidence is given that people sleep comfortably where temperatures are 29–31°C in their personal space within the bed and they use bedclothes to allow them to attain these temperatures. The effect of the use of a mattress and the adaptive opportunities afforded by the bedclothes and sleepwear are briefly explored as are methods used in hot climates to offset high bedroom temperatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]