The Pennyland low-energy housing project — results and lessons

Abstract

The Pennyland Project has been one of the largest and best monitored of the clutch of large-scale housing field trials started in the UK in the mid-1970s, and is the only one of the UK Department of Environment-funded field trials to have gone significantly beyond current 1986 building regulation levels of insulation. The project offers clear evidence of energy savings resulting from an increase in the level of insulation specified by the UK Building Regulations to levels approaching those specified by the Danish BR 77 code — that is to wall and roof U-values of 0.3 — and with windows double-aas opposed to single-glazed. The project also offers clear evidence on the importance of boiler efficiency standards in the domestic sector. Finally, the project yields some tentative conclusions on the subject of passive solar design, both at the level of housing layout and in the case of the individual house.