Energy Use In Housing Research Articles

Cost-Effectiveness Evaluation of Energy-Efficient Retrofit Strategies for Pre-1930s Mid-Terrace Houses in the UK

Buildings are a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, with a large portion coming from energy use in housing. In the United Kingdom (UK), most of the housing stock was built before the introduction of building regulations that address energy efficiency and, therefore, needs to be retrofitted if net-zero emission targets are to be met. In this paper, the authors present a study of energy-efficient retrofit measures applied to a typical pre-1930s mid-terrace house, based on a home located in Nottingham, UK. Initially, a series of building envelope improvements aimed at reducing the heating demand were evaluated using dynamic building simulations. Subsequently, low-carbon heating systems were introduced, and their impact was assessed in line with the fabric improvements. Then, the annual energy costs of heating were calculated to understand the financial impact of the retrofit strategies and their cost-effectiveness. Lastly, this study also discussed the overall costs of the retrofit interventions, informed by 224 real cases, in terms of their carbon and energy impact. The findings from the simulations suggested a potential 50% reduction in the heating demand through typical fabric optimisation measures. The adoption of low-carbon heating systems resulted in a 50% reduction in carbon emissions compared to those produced by a typical gas boiler. Furthermore, following the adoption of various fabric optimisation measures, the annual running energy costs of heating decreased by 42% compared to their use in non-retrofit scenarios, highlighting the suitability of low-carbon heating such as heat pumps for installation in well-insulated homes with lower heat output demands. The results stressed the importance of coordinating fabric optimisation with the installation of low-carbon heating to maximise carbon savings and suggested that heat pumps can effectively reduce annual energy expenses and lower carbon footprints. The findings also provided an overview of the overall retrofit costs, which are usually overlooked in the literature.

Application of Internet of Things in Residential Distribution Systems

Enabling an internet of things (IoT) application in residential distribution systems by integrating houses with IoT windows and occupant behavior can provide numerous advantages to the power grid, including, but not limited to, demand diminution, congestion reduction, and capacity deferral. This paper presents a new framework that mathematically enables an IoT application in residential distribution systems by integrating IoT windows and occupant behavior with houses for load management and energy conservation. With the proposed framework, we model residential loads considering the IoT concept, and then develop a mathematical optimization model that facilitates the integration of IoT-based houses into the residential distribution system. Different case studies considering a 33-bus distribution network are presented and discussed to demonstrate the effectiveness of penetrating IoT-based houses on distribution system operations and household profitability. It is observed that the profit of the local distribution company decreases when houses are transformed to IoT-based houses due to the fact that less energy is sold to the households. On the other hand, the operation cost of the IoT-based house is lower than that of the conventional house because of the better-managed house energy use, thereby resulting in saving money. It is found that 10% and 20% penetrations of IoT-based houses help reduce the maximum power imported through the distribution substation by 30 kW and 60 kW, respectively. It is also found that the load of IoT-based houses and power availability of a rooftop photovoltaic generation are not compatible, and hence, without an action from the customer and/or utility to coordinate them through a demand response program, IoT-based houses would not contribute to increasing the connectivity of PV-distributed generation in the smart grid.

Drivers, Enablers, Barriers and Technologies (DEBT) For Low-Energy Public Housing Delivery in Nigeria

Nigeria, as a developing country, has vast and varied energy resources, both renewable and non-renewable. In spite of these resources, an estimated 75% of her population of close to 200 million faces serious energy poverty problems due to shortfalls in energy supply compared to its energy demand. Consequently, a large portion of the population lives without access to adequate electricity. Hence, the country encounters unprecedented struggles with incessant power outages, unemployment, a low human development index (HDI), and poverty. This paper examines the drivers, enablers, barriers, and technological considerations for low-energy integration in the provision of housing for Nigeria's huge population. The objective is to harness the varied energy resources to aid in the delivery of environmentally friendly and sustainable housing in a developing economy such as Nigeria. This is critical in light of rising energy costs, environmental degradation, global warming, greenhouse gas emissions, and energy consumption. Reduced energy use in housing is highlighted as a critical issue in environmental management. The paper highlighted several factors that need to be appropriately addressed for a paradigm shift to low-energy integration to achieve sustainable housing delivery in Nigeria. It recommends the application of energy conservation measures in mass housing construction, the full exploitation and promotion of renewable energy resources, and energy efficiency practices in housing provision, among others. The paper concludes that these should be given adequate attention during planning, designing, and delivering sustainable housing.

Analysis of the Determining Factors for the Renovation of the Walloon Residential Building Stock

The issue of energy retrofitting of existing building stock occupies an increasingly prominent place in energy transition strategies in Europe. Adopting models representing the building stock and accounting for occupancy influence on final housing energy use must be developed to advise new policies. In this respect, this study aims to characterize the Walloon residential building stock and to analyze the existing correlations between the stock’s technical data and its occupants’ socioeconomic data. This study uses existing databases on buildings and inhabitants in Wallonia. Several statistical analyses make it possible to highlight the preponderant criteria and existing correlations between these different criteria. This study affirms the importance of accounting for certain socioeconomic categories, such as low-income groups, in a global strategic reflection on energy renovation. Multiple linear regression shows us that each percent increase in the category of households that declare between 10,000–20.000 EUR of income per year corresponds to an increase of 7.22 kWh/m2·y in the average energy efficiency of the built stock. The results highlight the importance of focusing on renovation strategies for particular types of buildings, such as semi-detached houses, which combine unfavorable technical and socioeconomic factors. Thus, the results confirm the interest of a mixed model approach to adapt to effective renovation policy strategies.

Household final energy footprints in Nepal, Vietnam and Zambia: composition, inequality and links to well-being

The link between energy use, social and environmental well-being is at the root of critical synergies between clean and affordable energy (SDG7) and other Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Household-level quantitative energy analyses enable better understanding regarding interconnections between the level and composition of energy use, and SDG achievement. This study examines the household-level energy footprints in Nepal, Vietnam, and Zambia. We calculate the footprints using multi-regional input–output with energy extensions based on International Energy Agency data. We propose an original perspective on the links between household final energy use and well-being, measured through access to safe water, health, education, sustenance, and modern fuels. In all three countries, households with high well-being show much lower housing energy use, due to a transition from inefficient biomass-based traditional fuels to efficient modern fuels, such as gas and electricity. We find that households achieving well-being have 60%–80% lower energy footprint of residential fuel use compared to average across the countries. We observe that collective provisioning systems in form of access to health centers, public transport, markets, and garbage disposal and characteristics linked to having solid shelter, access to sanitation, and minimum floor area are more important for the attainment of well-being than changes in income or total energy consumption. This is an important finding, contradicting the narrative that basic well-being outcomes require increased income and individual consumption of energy. Substantial synergies exist between the achievement of well-being at a low level of energy use and other SDGs linked to poverty reduction (encompassed in SDG1), health (SDG3), sanitation (SDG6), gender equality (SDG5), climate action and reduced deforestation (SDG 13 and SDG15) and inequalities (SDG10).

The implementation of energy saving policies and their influence on energy use and cultural values in the housing stock of Sweden

Introduction: The overall objective is to understand how policies may be used to increase the potential for saving energy while simultaneously preserving cultural values in the housing stock. The project contributes to SDGs 11, 17, 5, 8 and 10. Methods: The paper summarises and discusses findings in previous research and projects led by the authors. Finally the design of a new project launched in 2020 is presented. The purpose of Energy efficiency and cultural values. How well do the policies function on the local level? is to give valuable knowledge on how the building process, advice on energy use and renovation strategies work together in Swedish municipalities. Results: Since the 1970s there has been a conflict between the preservation of architectural heritage and decreasing energy use in the Swedish housing stock. The first policy programme focussing energy saving was launched after the first global energy crisis in 1973. Since then there have been different policies addressing the issue of energy use in housing. The knowledge of how to carefully renovate existing buildings has increased, but the incentives for cutting energy use further has diminished among property managers. As a consequence, there is very little renovation aiming at energy efficiency, which challenges the national goals of lessening the impact on climate change. One problem may be an incoherent and inefficient implementation of policies dealing with the preservation and the energy use of the built environment. Conclusions: The antagonism between energy efficiency and cultural heritage that emerged in the 1970s has changed in character. Above all, increased energy efficiency seems not to be a very strong force when designing renovation projects in homes. If Agenda 2030 goals of accomplishing a well-built environment that does not require unsustainable practices to be sustained are to be reached, new policies will be required. Grant support: The research has been supported by the Swedish Energy Agency (grant #50041-1).

Machine Learning for Benchmarking Models of Heating Energy Demand of Houses in Northern Canada

In most cases, the benchmarking models of energy use in houses are developed based on current and past data, and they continue to be used without any update. This paper proposes the method of retraining of benchmarking models by applying machine learning techniques when new measurements are made available. The method uses as a case study the measurements of heating energy demand from two semi-detached houses of Northern Canada. The results of the prediction of heating energy demand using static or augmented window techniques are compared with measurements. The daily energy signature is used as a benchmarking model due to its simplicity and performance. However, the proposed retraining method can be applied to any form of benchmarking model. The method should be applied in all possible situations, and be an integral part of intelligent building automation and control systems (BACS) for the ongoing commissioning for building energy-related applications.

THE SIMULATION ANALYSIS OF A PROPOSED ‘HYDRONIC RADIATOR’ SYSTEM TOWARDS LOW COST HOUSING OPERATION IN TEMPERATE AND HOT TROPICAL CLIMATES

ABSTRACT Fuel poverty is one of the global concerns affecting not only users' financial capacity or affordability for maintaining housing operation but also the occupants' health and wellbeing. Space heating and cooling require a relatively large amount of domestic energy use in housing. Therefore, this study was formed with the aim to propose an innovative approach to utilising free, clean renewable sources of energy applicable to the space heating and cooling of housing in both cold and hot regions. Accordingly, housing test facilities based in Melbourne, Australia, and Kuching, Malaysia, were selected and used for this study that examined the thermal performance of a proposed ‘hydronic radiator’ (HR) system through simulation and onsite measurements. The geothermal heat capacity of a ‘vertical ground heat exchanger’ (VGHE) installed in the house in Melbourne was examined previously by the authors and the VGHE measured data was also applied to this HR performance simulation. The water that circulates through the HRs is heated by sunlight and VGHE or cooled by night sky radiation. This study drew conclusions that the sole utilisation of renewable sources through these proposed HR space heating and cooling systems can provide thermally accessible or comfortable indoor living environments in both heating or cooling dominant regions. Thus, fuel poverty issues may be alleviated through HR system application. The HRs can remove a ‘sensible’ portion of metabolic heat, but they cannot effectively contribute to the ‘latent’ heat removal. Thus, the future potential use or effect of ‘flow-through’ HRs, which are integrated into a underfloor air distribution (UFAD) plenum, was also dsicussed in this study. In the test house located in Melbourne, the flow-through HR UFAD system is currently under development. Therefore, the performance will be measured once the system has come into operation for further testing.

Modelling study of the impact of thermal comfort criteria on housing energy use in Australia

It is an increasing challenge for building designers in the 21st century to provide for thermal comfort at minimum energy cost by taking into consideration both the current and the future warming climate. Most previous studies have focused on thermal comfort in non-residential buildings under current climatic conditions. This study evaluates the impact of thermal comfort criteria by lowering the acceptability limits on space cooling energy requirements for Australian residential buildings, under both the current and projected future climates (with an assumed global warming of 2 °C) through building simulations using three different types of typical building constructions – lightweight, heavyweight, and a combination. The results show that under both current and future climates, relaxing thermal comfort criteria by lowering the acceptability limits from 90% to 70%, has a small or minor impact on space cooling energy consumption for the heavyweight and combination type construction in the subtropics (Brisbane), warm temperate (Sydney), temperate (Melbourne) and cool temperate (Hobart) climate regions. However, it has significant impact on space cooling energy consumption (saving more than 40%) in tropical regions (e.g. Darwin) and regions with a hot summer climate (e.g. Alice Springs and Mildura). For the lightweight type construction under the current climate, relaxing the acceptability limits will increase the energy star rating by 3.6 stars in Darwin, 0.5 star in Mildura, 0.3 star in Alice Springs and 0.2 star in Brisbane. Under the projected future climate, relaxing the acceptability limits to 70% will increase the energy star rating by 1.6 stars in Darwin, 1.2 stars in Brisbane, 0.7 star in Alice Springs and 0.3 star in Mildura. It was also found that for all the climates, relaxing the acceptability limits from 90% to 80% has greater impact than that from 80% to 70%. By relaxing the acceptability limits, the space cooling energy consumption can be minimized in tropical and subtropical regions for high set lightweight houses.

The influence of design and everyday practices on individual heating and cooling behaviour in residential homes

Emerging results from practice-based research demonstrate that energy efficient houses often do not meet theoretical energy use based on the current standards of residential buildings. A factor influencing this inconsistency is related to user behaviour and everyday practices. The objective of this research is to uncover some of the complexities associated with the practices of heating and cooling in the home, which are influenced by motivations, knowledge and technologies, including the use of photovoltaic panels. For this purpose, ten Australian houses were established as embedded Living Labs and monitored for over a year. The results confirm the variation of energy use in houses; in this case, similar designs vary by up to 33%. The type of heating and cooling systems that houses rely on through the year was found to be a major determinant in energy use. However, energy variation between houses is also linked to intra-home practices and behaviours. This research found that individuals living in the same house may have different motivations and/or heating and cooling practices, affecting the overall energy use. For instance, one individual who is motivated to save on energy bills might turn on appliances during the day to make the most of solar panels or use the heater for brief periods of time, whilst another inhabitant of the same house might turn on the heater for extended periods out of habit or to achieve a hedonic experience. The adoption of an explanatory design mixed-method approach to study everyday practices in the home showed that the routines, household configuration, technology and varied occupant motivations impact on the practice of ambient heating and cooling, impacting its regularity, duration, time of the day and intensity.

UK Housing Stock Models Using SAP: The Case for Heating Regime Change

Cutting energy use in housing will play a key role in the UK’s efforts to reduce climate change emissions in line with international commitments. Much UK Government policy is based on modelling present and future emissions using assumptions from SAP, the Standard Assessment Procedure. This paper compares SAP-based modelling against measured gas consumption in 405 dwellings that were monitored in the Energy Follow-Up Survey, an extension of the English Housing Survey. The combined EFUS/EHS provides comprehensive information about space heating energy use for a sample of dwellings: detailed physical data, user behaviour, and measured energy use. Very poor model versus measurement agreement is observed at the individual dwelling level – the average difference is 45%. Much better agreement is observed when applying typical EFUS regimes of 20°C mean demand temperature, 10 hours of heating a day for weekdays and weekends, and a heating season of six months, and comparing average results. Comparisons for the 405 dwellings and an EFUS subset of 1,191 dwellings are both in agreement to within 2%, whilst average 2010 and 2011 sub-national estimates are in agreement to 3% of DUKES figures. The authors recommend changing SAP heating regimes to a mean demand temperature of 20°C, 10 hours of heating a day for weekdays and weekends, and a heating season of six months.

Survey and Field Measurement on Residential Lifestyle and Energy Use in Rural China

In the middle of May to September 2014, the research team conducted survey and field measurement on rural residential energy consumption and environment condition in China’s local city in order to grasp the lifestyle pattern and its correlation on energy use in the demand side. In this paper, the analyses of people lifestyle and summer energy consumption will be presented through statistical analyses based on data which collected from questionnaire survey. The results of questionnaire were presented and discussed. Based on the questionnaire results, we classified the housing types into several groups then compared the energy use of each type. The major influential factors on housing energy consumption were analyzed and the results were discussed. The results of field measurement during summer which conducted to several types of houses were also discussed. Finally, the results will propose some strategies on lowering housing energy use in the village. Further, the results will give conceptual layout to find the correlation between environmental quality, thermal condition, and energy consumption.

Are there domino effects between consumers' ordinary and ‘green’ practices? An analysis of quantitative data from a sensitisation campaign on personal carbon footprint

This paper studies how consumers' reported practices related to food, energy use in housing, daily mobility, and tourism are combined and structured. Social practice theories are the main theoretical framework of this research. Data are drawn from a sensitisation campaign run by the WWF-Belgium and the methods developed to attempt to translate the theoretical focus to practices. Results show that both the low number of ‘green’ practices reported and the multiplicity of combinations of practices indicate a rather important compartmentalisation of ‘green’ practices and seem to refute the hypothesis of vast domino effects in these four different areas. In addition, a wider openness to information on environmentally friendlier practices is associated with a larger number of such practices, which raises questions about the design of such campaigns. Finally, there is no conventionalised way of linking practices and commitments taken by the respondents to reduce their environmental impact. A few policy recommendations are derived for sensitisation campaigns that often assume domino effects between ‘green’ practices, and for tools dealing with personal carbon awareness.

Analysis of the effects of intra-urban spatial structures on carbon footprint of residents in Seoul, Korea

The purpose of this study is to analyze the effects of the net and gross population densities on carbon footprint of residents on an intra-urban scale in Seoul, South Korea. Path analysis was conducted to verify the effects based on the results of individual surveys of 500 sample households. The results indicate that the net and gross population densities decreased the carbon footprint of the residents while they have opposite impacts on job opportunities. Net population density decreased housing energy use only in winter and housing energy use contributed to a larger carbon footprint for residents in winter than in summer. This study provides some evidences of the spatial structure–carbon footprint relationship.

Field Measurements of Residential Energy Consumption and Indoor Thermal Environment in Six Chinese Cities

The purpose of this study was to reveal the energy use and indoor environment characteristics of twelve households located in six cities in China, including daily use of gas and electricity, temperature and humidity throughout a year. The energy uses for district heating and hot water were not included. The investigated houses were separated into two groups, namely Group 1 with domestic heating, and Group 2 with district heating. The analysis showed that the energy use of Lighting and Audio visual & information for each house is not very different during the four seasons. Annual energy use varied from 13.3 to 32.4 GJ in Group 1. The energy use of House 05 was 32.4 GJ/year, which is the highest in Group 1, the space heating reached 18.5 GJ/year, accounting for 57% of the total. Energy use of House 01 increased in winter and summer, which is attributed to the use of heating in winter and cooling in summer, respectively. Annual energy use varied from 2.9 to 17.0 GJ in Group 2. Almost no change of energy use was found for the houses in Group 2 during the four seasons, but a big difference of average indoor temperature was found in the coldest days between the houses in Group 1 (around 10 °C) and Group 2 (around 20 °C), while the difference was small in summer.

The Changing of Taiwan Housing Energy Intensity and Emission Intensity

Combining the informations of Taiwan energy balance sheet and National Housing Survey, the paper explores the changing of the housing energy use intensity and emissions intensity. Results of the analysis showed that electricity is the dominant energy type used in Taiwan housing from 1986 to 2005; the accumulated logarithmic growth of electricity use intensity from 1986 to 2005 was 60.1%. The accumulated logarithmic growth rate of electricity emissions intensity from 1986 to 2005 was 96.9%. The major effect of Taiwan housing emissions intensity was electricity use intensity during the study period.

Climate change and future energy consumption in UK housing stock

This paper examines the likely effects on gas and electricity consumption and carbon emissions from heating and cooling systems in existing dwellings up to 2080, assuming a widespread uptake of cooling systems. This area of research is highly sensitive to the myriad of possible inputs and thus holds a wide range of predicted outcomes. However, general trends have been found, showing significant sensitivity to ventilation rate, U-values, occupant behaviour and location. Heating demand will still be dominant over cooling demand in UK dwellings by the 2080s, based on an UKCIP02 A1F1 weather scenario. A national worst case scenario for the 2050s, shows a 10 megatonne CO2 emissions saving on present levels largely due to a 20% reduction in gas consumption. Practical applications: The balance of heating and cooling demand causes more modest changes in CO 2 than first anticipated. Despite first perceptions of future energy use in housing and climate change, heating appears to remain the major load rather than cooling, even into the 2080s. These predictions of future CO 2 emissions will be useful to those in the building industry planning appropriate proportionate climate adaptation and climate mitigation measures. Also, the prediction of changes to future energy demands from the housing sector will be of interest to energy providers considering future demands for heating and cooling and may feed into larger bottom-up energy models.

GREENING THE UK BUILDING STOCK: Historic Trends and Low Carbon Futures 1970-2050

Historic trends and future projections of energy use and carbon dioxide emissions associated with the United Kingdom building stock are analysed for the period 1970-2050. Energy use in housing is found to rise at a slightly slower rate than the increase in household numbers, which totalled some 25.5 million in 2000. It appears feasible to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the UK domestic building stock by more than 65% by 2050. But this would require a significant take-up of energy saving measures and the adoption of various low or zero carbon (LZC) energy technologies. Non-domestic buildings consisted of some 1.98 million premises in 2000. Anticipated changes in the UK Building Regulations will lead to reductions in energy use and carbon emissions of up to 17% and 12% respectively for 2010 standard buildings. Improvements in the non-domestic building stock and industrial processing could lead to a reduction of nearly 59% in CO2 emissions, via the adoption of LZC energy technologies. Thus, the potential for ‘greening' the UK building stock – making it environmentally benign - is large, but the measures needed to achieve this would present a significant challenge to the UK government, domestic householders, and industry in the broadest sense.

The efficacy of an energy efficient upgrade program in New Zealand

This paper details the physical effects of a government sponsored, residential energy efficiency upgrade program in New Zealand, with data gathered from 100 houses located in Dunedin. House energy use and thermal indoor environment were monitored over a 2-year period. Houses were found to be 0.4 °C warmer (annual average increase) after the upgrade with a 0.6 °C increase recorded over the winter months, after being corrected for energy consumption and weather conditions. A small, but statistically insignificant, reduction in energy consumption was also found. In absolute terms, indoor temperatures were found to be very low and did not come close to WHO recommendations. The data showed occupants could be exposed to indoor temperatures below 12 °C for nearly half of the 24 h day during the three winter months. The findings were quite surprising as the upgrade program had the goal of making houses warmer and healthier by reducing heat loss through improved thermal insulation. Householders, however, provided very little heating to living areas and even less to bedrooms thus contributing to the less than desirable indoor thermal environment.

The compact city and the environment: a review

In many Western countries the concept of the compact city has been adopted as a guiding principle for urban development. It is commonly held that the compact city is the best policy goal to prevent or reduce the negative effects of urbanisation on the environment. In this paper we investigate whether this assumption can be justified on the basis of empirical research. Four categories of environmental effects are distinguished: emissions of CO2 and NOx caused by mobility; energy use in houses; noise, odour and local air pollution; and fragmentation of natural areas. Using existing research, the paper reviews the state‐of‐the‐art knowledge about the impact of the urban structure on these aspects and deduces some implications for urbanisation policy. The conclusion is that the potential of the compact city policy to contribute significantly to the solution of environmental problems in the short term is limited. However, a policy of concentrating urbanisation may be advocated because of the flexibility it offers for different future policy options, such as providing opportunities for public transport or development of larger natural areas.