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Abstract: There is a widespread interest in reducing environmental impacts of all industries and processes to help achieve the targets set in the Climate Change Act of 2008. The use of alternative construction techniques to build the walls of UK housing has the potential to reduce their environmental impact in a range of ways. This includes the reduction of embodied energy as well as operational energy use, the latter through improved thermal performance. A major challenge to be overcome if alternative techniques are to be used is the acceptability to purchasers. The current acceptability of a range of construction techniques and issues that are important to purchasers were examined using a questionnaire. Although the acceptability of lower carbon alternatives is less than that of the conventional technique, findings in this research suggest that there is potential for their use in UK housing. The acceptability of alternative construction techniques varies greatly with type. Concerns expressed about the construction techniques could often be dispelled by existing research, indicating that education is key to improving acceptability of alternative construction techniques and hence opening the way to accessing their environmental benefits. The respondents identified environmental issues, finance, operating costs and risk as key areas of concern, which need to be considered during decision-making. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Presents a validation and design for the approach used in analyzing solar collectors subjected to unequal front and rear ambient temperatures. Study of the equivalent ambient temperature concept; Collector air flow and measurement; Solar simulator design; Surface wind simulation; Solar irradiance and transmittance.

Describes an approach for analyzing solar collectors subjected to unequal front and rear ambient temperatures. Study of the equivalent ambient temperature concept; Collector thermal modeling; Evaluation of solar collector thermal performances.

A matched pair of 1930s semi-detached houses, in original condition and un-refurbished in terms of energy efficiency, were employed to measure the energy savings that might result from the use of zonal space heating control (ZC). The houses were adjoined and had the same synthetic, yet realistic, occupancy schedule, the same new central heating system, and were exposed to the same weather conditions. In one house the space heating was controlled conventionally (CC) according to minimum requirements in UK Building Regulation Part L1B for existing dwellings, whereas in the other house ZC was used to heat the rooms only when they were ‘occupied’. Over an 8-week winter test period, the house with ZC used 11.8% less gas despite 2.4 percentage points drop in average daily boiler efficiency. Although zonal control reduced the mean indoor air temperature of the whole house by 0.6 °C, it did not reduce the average air temperature in rooms during the hours of active ‘occupancy’. Normalisation and extrapolation of the results shows that, compared to CC, ZC could reduce annual gas demand for space heating by 12% in most regions of the UK, and that ZC would be a more effective energy efficiency measure in homes in the cooler, more northerly regions of the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]