106 research outputs found
Using activity diaries: Some methodological lessons
Descriptions of how people use time can tell us much about quality of life, social and economic well-being, and patterns of leisure, work, travel, and communication. Self-administered activity diaries are one of the main methods available for capturing data on time use. This paper discusses some of the methodological issues surrounding the use of self-administered activity diaries as a tool for capturing data on communication and travel activities. Its main concern is to highlight the lessons learnt from the use of self-administered activity diaries as a supplementary method of data collection in a recent study. This study assessed whether different levels of access to, and use of, Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) enable different paces of life in different communities, and how this process might be contributing to social and spatial polarisation. The insights gained into how activity dairies can be successfully applied are relevant to research within any discipline where this method of data collection is being considered
Designing low carbon buildings : a framework to reduce energy consumption and embed the use of renewables
EU policies to mitigate climate change set ambitious goals for energy and carbon reduction for the built environment. In order meet and even exceed the EU targets the UK Government's Climate Change Act 2008 sets a target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the UK by at least 80% from 1990 levels by 2050. To support these targets the UK government also aims to ensure that 20% of the UK's electricity is supplied from renewable sources by 2020. This article presents a design framework and a set of integrated IT tools to enable an analysis of the energy performance of building designs, including consideration of active and passive renewable energy technologies, when the opportunity to substantially improve the whole life-cycle energy performance of those designs is still open. To ensure a good fit with current architectural practices the design framework is integrated with the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) key stages, which is the most widely used framework for the delivery of construction projects. The main aims of this article are to illustrate the need for new approaches to support low carbon building design that can be integrated into current architectural practice, to present the design framework developed in this research and illustrate its application in a case study
DEMAND RESPONSE IN BLOCKS OF BUILDINGS DELIVERABLE: D.6.1 DEVELOPMENT OF PUBLIC WEB PORTAL, VIDEO AND PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS
The transition to clean energy:Are people living in island communities ready for smart grids and demand response?
Islands are widely recognised as ideal pilot sites that can spearhead the transition to clean energy and development towards a sustainable and healthy society. One of the assumptions underpinning this notion is that island communities are more ready to engage with smart grids (SGs) than people on the mainland. This is believed to be due to the high costs of energy on islands and the idea that the sense of community and collective action is stronger on islands than on the mainland. This paper presents findings from a survey conducted to assess people’s perception of, and readiness to engage with, SG and demand response (DR) in the communities of three islands taking part in a H2020 project called REACT. The main objective of the survey, conducted in 2020, was to inform the recruitment of participants in the project, which is piloting different technologies required for SGs and DR with communities on the three islands. The results show that many island residents are motivated to take part in SG, to engage with energy saving, and are willing to change some energy-related behaviours in their homes. However, the results also indicate that levels of ownership of, and knowledge and familiarity with, the SG and DR related technologies are extremely low, suggesting that the expected uptake of DR in islands might not be as high as anticipated. This brings into question the readiness of island dwellers for the SG, their role in the deployment of such schemes more widely and the validity of the assumptions often made about island communities. This has significant implications for the design of SGs and DR solutions for islands, including devoting sufficient efforts to build knowledge and awareness of the SG, investing in demonstration projects for that purpose and tailoring interventions based on island communities’ motivations
On the use of thermal inertia in building stock to leverage decentralised demand side frequency regulation services
Visualising urban energy use: The potential value of remote sensing & LiDAR data in urban design and energy planning
Assessing Energy Improvement Potential from Efficiency and Renewable Interventions at Neighborhood Level
A visual energy performance assessment and decision support tool for dwellings
Abstract
Background
The target for carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions reduction in the UK is set at 20% by 2020 and 80% by 2050. The UK housing stock is one of the least energy efficient in Europe. The energy used in homes accounts for more than a quarter of energy use and carbon dioxide emissions in Great Britain. Therefore, it is imperative to improve the energy performance of the existing housing stock and fully exploit energy efficiency and renewable energy interventions. The UK has developed several policies and initiatives to improve the energy performance of the housing stock and there are a number of databases that hold information about the condition of the housing stock. However, existing approaches and tools do not allow decision makers to assess the environmental and economic effectiveness of CO2 reduction strategies at the neighbourhood level.
Methods
This research presents a methodology that integrates these energy databases with visualisation systems and multi-criteria decision analyses to enable the evaluation of the environmental and financial implications of various energy efficiency and renewable energy interventions at both building and neighbourhood levels. The methodology is prototyped in a proof-of-concept tool which is validated and tested in an empirical case study with local authorities and social housing providers.
Results
The validation study compared the energy performance of the dwellings estimated by the proposed methodology with the energy performance calculated from actual survey and confirmed that the results are consistent. The case study demonstrated that the methodology and the prototype can be reliably utilised to evaluate the environmental and financial implications of various energy efficiency and renewable energy interventions.
Conclusion
The findings illustrate that the tool is particularly useful for town planners, local authorities and social housing providers. They can make informed decisions about the implementation of energy policies and initiatives along with energy suppliers, building engineers and architects. The tool developed in the research and presented in this paper can contribute to meeting CO2 emission reduction targets.
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