Sustainability Issues

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BreckLand District Council 30th July 2007
Keith Tovey (???) MA, PhD, CEng, MICE, CEnv
Sustainability Issues
Energy Science Director HSBC Director of Low
Carbon Innovation
CRed
Acknowledgement Karla Alcantar
2
Sustainability Issues

• Background
• Issues of Sustainable Building Construction/
  Occupation
• Thermal Performance issues
• Future Proofing Buildings - Fabric Cooling?
• Management of Building Energy Use
• Behaviour of the Occupants
• Renewable Energy and Integration of Design
• Life Cycle issues
• Transport Issues
• Conclusions

• Background
• Issues of Sustainable Building Construction/
  Occupation
• Thermal Performance issues
• Future Proofing Buildings - Fabric Cooling?
• Management of Building Energy Use
• Behaviour of the Occupants
• Renewable Energy and Integration of Design
• Life Cycle issues
• Transport Issues
• Conclusions

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Climate ChangeArctic meltdown 1979 - 2003

• Summer ice coverage of Arctic Polar Region
• Nasa satellite imagery

• 20 reduction in 24 years

Source Nasa http//www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/n
ews/topstory/2003/1023esuice.html
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Our Choices They are difficult Energy Security
There is a looming capacity shortfall Even with a
full deployment of renewables. A 10-15 reduction
in demand per house will see a rise of 7 in
total demand

• Opted Out Coal Stations can only run for 20 000
  hours more and must close by 2015
• New Nuclear assumes completing 1 new nuclear
  station each year beyond 2016
• New Coal assumes completing 1 new coal station
  each year beyond 2016

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Renewable Electricity Generation in GB
Renewable Generation represented 4.2 of final
demand in 2005
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Renewable Electricity Generation in GB by Region
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Renewable Electricity Generation by type and
County in EEDA Region
The output from Scroby Sands is sufficient to
provide 95 of domestic demands of Norwich and
Ipswich combined or 30 of demand on average
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Proportion of Electricity Consumption provided by
Renewables Norfolk and Suffolk Districts
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Sustainability Issues

• Background
• Issues of Sustainable Building Construction/
  Occupation
• Thermal Performance issues
• Future Proofing Buildings - Fabric Cooling?
• Management of Building Energy Use
• Behaviour of the Occupants
• Renewable Energy and Integration of Design
• Life Cycle issues
• Transport Issues
• Conclusions

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Thermal Performance Issues Future Proofing

• Thermal performance has improved with better
  insulation.
• With better fabric insulation, ventilation can
  represent up to 80 of heating energy
  requirements.
• Careful design of ventilation is needed
• lower capital costs vs lower environmental
  running costs.
• Are ESCOs a way forward?
• Provide optional environmentally efficient
  systems within all new buildings.
• Improved control Smart (Sub) Metering
• Is traditional Cost Benefit Analysis the correct
  way to appraise low carbon systems?
• should insurance issues also
  be considered?

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The Climate Dimension
Thermal Comfort is important Even in ideal
environment 2.5 of people will be too cold and
2.5 will be too hot. Estimate heating and
cooling requirements from Degree Days
Heating requirements are 10 less than in
1960 Cooling requirements are 75 higher than in
1960. Changing norm for clothing from a business
suite to shirt and tie will reduce clo value
from 1.0 to 0.6. To a safari suite 0.5.
Equivalent thermal comfort can be achieved with
around 0.15 to 0.2 change in clo for each 1 oC
change in internal environment.
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Fabric Cooling using Hollow Core Slabs
The concrete hollow core ceiling slabs are used
to store heat and coolness at different times of
the year to provide comfortable and stable
temperatures
Draws out the heat accumulated during the day
Summer night
night ventilation/ free cooling
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Fabric Cooling using Hollow Core Slabs
The concrete hollow core ceiling slabs are used
to store heat and coolness at different times of
the year to provide comfortable and stable
temperatures
No air conditioning is needed even though the
norm would have been to install air-conditioning
Summer day
Pre-cools the air before entering the occupied
space
The concrete absorbs and stores the heat like a
radiator in reverse
In future, with Global Warming, when
air-conditioners may be installed, they will be
run over night to pre-cool building and improve
efficiency of chillers
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Heat Pumps A solution for a Low Carbon Future

• Ground Source Heat Pumps are an effective route
  to low carbon heating can save 50 60 of
  carbon emissions.
• Work most efficiently with under floor heating.
• Can be used with fabric pre-cooling in summer
  with very modest air-conditioning
• Can be to provide some inter-seasonal heat store
• i.e. reject heat in summer to acquifer/ground
  recover during winter. There is 3 months
  thermal lag in peak temperature in ground
  corresponding with early heating season use, and
  much improved coefficients of performance.

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Sustainability Issues

• Background
• Issues of Sustainable Building Construction/
  Occupation
• Thermal Performance issues
• Future Proofing Buildings - Fabric Cooling?
• Management of Building Energy Use
• Behaviour of the Occupants
• Renewable Energy and Integration of Design
• Life Cycle issues
• Transport Issues
• Conclusions

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Thermal Properties of Buildings

• Heating energy requirement is strongly dependant
  on External Temperature.
• Thermal Lag in Heavy Weight Buildings means
  consumption requirements lags external
  temperature.
• Correlation with temperature suggests a thermal
  lag of 8 hours.
• Potential for predictive controls based on
  weather forecasts

Data collected 10th December 2006 April 29th
2007
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The Elizabeth Fry Building 1994
Cost 6 more but has heating requirement 25 of
average building at time. Building Regulations
have been updated 1994, 2002, 2006, but
building outperforms all of these.
Runs on a single domestic sized central heating
boiler.
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Conservation management improvements
User Satisfaction
thermal comfort 28
air quality 36
lighting 25
noise 26
Careful Monitoring and Analysis can reduce energy
consumption.
A Low Energy Building is also a better place to
work in
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Good Management has reduced Energy Requirements
The space heating consumption has reduced by 57
Acknowledgement Charlotte Turner
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The Management Dimension

• Good Management will analyse data and use bands
  to identify anomalous behaviour.
• Management Quality Index
• one standard deviation/mean
• 0 - very poor control
• 100 - perfect control
• UEA Low amount of scatter Management Quality
  index 88
• Office in Norwich 72
• Other Offices in East Anglia 57, 69.

UEA Heat Demand
Example of Good Management
Example of less good Management
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Sustainability Issues

• Background
• Issues of Sustainable Building Construction/
  Occupation
• Thermal Performance issues
• Future Proofing Buildings - Fabric Cooling?
• Management of Building Energy Use
• Behaviour of the Occupants
• Renewable Energy and Integration of Design
• Life Cycle issues
• Transport Issues
• Conclusions

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Electricity Consumption

• Household size has little impact on electricity
  consumption.
• Consumption varies by up to a factor of 9 for any
  given household size.
• Allowing for Income still shows a range of 6 or
  more.
• Education/Awareness is important

Data from 114 houses in Norwich
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Results of the Big Switch-Off
With a concerted effort savings of 25 or more
are possible
How can these be translated into long term
savings?
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Social Awareness Impact on Climate Change
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Sustainability Issues

• Background
• Issues of Sustainable Building Construction/
  Occupation
• Thermal Performance issues
• Future Proofing Buildings - Fabric Cooling?
• Management of Building Energy Use
• Behaviour of the Occupants
• Renewable Energy and Integration of Design
• Life Cycle issues
• Transport Issues
• Conclusions

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Options for Renewable Energy Solar Thermal
Solar Collectors installed 27th January 2004
Annual Solar Gain 910 kWh
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Options for Renewable Energy Solar Thermal

• Performance of an actual solar collector 9th
  December 2006 2nd May 2007
• Average gain (over 3 years) is 2.245 kWh per
  day
• Central Heating Boiler rarely provides Hot
  Water from Easter to 1st October
• More Hot Water used the greater amount of
  solar energy is gained
• Optimum orientation for solar hot water
  collectors for most houses is NOT due
• South

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Options for Renewable Energy Solar Photovoltaic
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ZICER Building
Photo shows only part of top Floor

• Top floor is an exhibition area also to promote
  PV
• Windows are semi transparent
• Mono-crystalline PV on roof 27 kW in 10
  arrays
• Poly- crystalline on façade 6/7 kW in 3 arrays

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Arrangement of Cells on Facade
Options for Renewable Energy Solar Photovoltaic
Individual cells are connected horizontally
If individual cells are connected vertically,
only those cells actually in shadow are affected.
As shadow covers one column all cells are inactive
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Options for Renewable Energy Solar Photovoltaic
Peak output is 34 kW
Sometimes electricity is exported
Inverters are only 91 efficient
Most use is for computers
DC power packs are inefficient typically less
than 60 efficient
Need an integrated approach
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Options for Low Carbon Technologies Micro CHP

• Potential to substantially reduce CO2 emissions
• Significant reduction is losses from transmission
• but
• problem of heat disposal in summer
• Does not make sense to provide CHP with solar hot
  water heaters
• Consider using absorption chilling to provide
  cooling where required

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Sustainability Issues

• Background
• Issues of Sustainable Building Construction/
  Occupation
• Thermal Performance issues
• Future Proofing Buildings - Fabric Cooling?
• Management of Building Energy Use
• Behaviour of the Occupants
• Renewable Energy and Integration of Design
• Life Cycle issues
• Transport Issues
• Conclusions

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Sustainability in Building and Occupation

• Life Cycle Issues an issue in Sustainability
• Does local sourcing of materials necessarily lead
  to a low carbon construction?
• In case of PV it emits LESS CO2 if cells are
  manufactured in Spain and transported to UK!
• despite the transport!!!!
• Need to be aware of how fuel mix used for
  generation of electricity affects CO2.
• UK 0.52 kg/kWh, Spain 0.46 kg/kWh
• France 0.06 kg/kWh
• To what extent does embodied carbon from
  construction and demolition affect total carbon
  emission?
• Example ZICER Building

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Life Cycle Energy Requirements of ZICER as built
compared to other heating/cooling strategies
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54
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51
29
61
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Comparison of Life Cycle Energy Requirements of
ZICER
Comparisons assume identical size, shape and
orientation
Compared to the Air-conditioned office, ZICER
recovers extra energy required in construction in
under 1 year.
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Sustainability Issues

• Background
• Issues of Sustainable Building Construction/
  Occupation
• Thermal Performance issues
• Future Proofing Buildings - Fabric Cooling?
• Management of Building Energy Use
• Behaviour of the Occupants
• Renewable Energy and Integration of Design
• Life Cycle issues
• Transport Issues
• Conclusions

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The Transport Dimension Behavioural Issues

• Car 5 door Toyota Yaris
• Real performance is best at 50 mph. Saves up
  to 15 in fuel consumption cf 70 mph.
• Driver 2 has a fuel consumption 8 higher over
  mid range of speeds

• Driver behaviour trials at Banham Poultry
• Driver behaviour affects performance
• Driver 2 uses 13.8 more fuel

Yaris Journey Norwich to Newcastle
return Driver 1 would save 10 or 4 litres of
petrol Extra time per journey lt 20 minutes
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The Transport Dimension Cultural Issues

• Distance each tonne has travelled has increased
  by
• 223 since 1960
• 20 since 1990
• Is this increase in movement of freight conducive
  to optimum economic growth, energy security, and
  carbon reduction?

• Car travel (2004 statistics)
• 679 billion passenger kilometres
• 398 billion vehicle kilometres
• Average occupancy 1.71. (cf 1.81 in 1980)
• Raising occupancy to 1980 level would save 3.71
  Mtonnes CO2
• Raising occupancy to 2 would save 9.9 Mtonnes CO2

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Mapping Consumption automatically in existing
buildings
Storeys 2 options
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Mapping Consumption automatically in existing
buildings
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Conclusions

• Sustainable Buildings require
• Initial sound design addressing high insulation
  standards, effective control of ventilation
  Attention to Future Proofing.
• Integration of use of building with provision of
  services.
• Avoidance of combining novel technologies which
  are incompatible.
• Use of most sustainable materials Local
  provision of materials is NOT ALWAYS best
  careful Life Cycle Assessments are needed.
• Provision of optional extras for all buildings
  including renewable technologies etc perhaps with
  alternative financing methods.
• Provision of SMART sub metering to inform the
  user.
• Improvements in training of users where newer
  technologies are used.
• a need for awareness raising.

"If you do not change direction, you may end up
where you are heading."
Lao Tzu (604-531 BC) Chinese Artist and Taoist
philosopher
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BreckLand District Council 30th July 2007
Keith Tovey (???) MA, PhD, CEng, MICE, CEnv
This presentation is now accessible on the WEB
at www2.env.uea.ac.uk/cred/creduea.htm
Sustainability Issues
Energy Science Director HSBC Director of Low
Carbon Innovation
CRed
Acknowledgement Karla Alcantar