1 research outputs found
Refurbishing the UK's 'hard to treat' dwelling stock: understanding challenges and constraints
Project CALEBRE (Consumer Appealing Low Energy technologies for Building
REtrofitting) is a four year £2 million E.ON/RCUK funded project that is investigating
technologies and developing solutions for the UK’s solid-wall houses to offer energy
demand reduction, energy efficient heat generation and energy management
combined with user appeal. Understanding how technical solutions can be aligned
with householder lifestyles is central to the CALEBRE project. The technologies
include: vacuum glazing to achieve exceptionally low U-values whilst being capable
of retrofit in existing window frames; advanced gas and electric air source heat
pumps that operate at the temperatures needed for integration with existing domestic
radiator systems; innovative surface materials for buffering moisture, humidity and
temperature; retrofit mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR) to manage
ventilation and its associated heat loss. The technologies are being trialled in
facilities that include the University of Nottingham E.ON 2016 House, a highly
instrumented replica construction of a1930s dwelling. Alongside development and
trialling, business case modelling of technologies is being conducted to establish
mass roll-out strategies, as well as modelling to identify bespoke packages of
measures for house refurbishment. This paper introduces Project CALEBRE, its
content and scope, and reports some of its initial findings to highlight the challenges
and constraints involved in the process of refurbishing the UK’s domestic stock