Temperature Variations in Heated UK Homes
Ashley Morton, Loughborough University
Introduction
The domestic sector accounted for 30.5% of the 2010 final UK energy consumption (DECC, 2011), of which around 66% was used towards space heating. The UK building stock is extremely diverse in size and shape and spans many decades. This diversification means vastly different energy performances making the challenge of reducing energy consumption and carbon emissions a difficult task to tailor for the residential sector. Modelling the domestic building stock allows for energy consumption to be calculated meaning that predictions can be made for future energy trends and the potential impacts and savings of implementing various energy efficiency improvement measures. However current UK housing stock models make crude assumptions about internal temperatures due to limited knowledge on actual winter-time temperatures and a lack of understanding on room by room temperature variations.
Aims:
This study aims to investigate the inter-room variation in temperatures within a selection of UK homes to develop a better understanding of the extent to which temperatures vary room by room relating to the household socio-demographics, the house type, the energy system or a combination of these factors. Resulting in a better appreciation into the appropriateness of common assumptions made within UK building stock models about average household temperatures and the level of temperature variation represented.
Objectives:
• To complete a literature search of existing knowledge about wintertime temperatures in UK homes.
• To undertake a pilot study of inter-room temperatures in four houses to develop a solid research methodology in relation to data collection and analysis and to develop a questionnaire for the household and a site survey checklist to use in the field.
• To implement the research methodology by collecting data from 27 houses which are part of the 4M project.
• Carry out a household questionnaire and site survey for each house when collecting the data.
• To collate the data and plot to analyse the relationship between the temperatures recorded and household feedback and observed recordings during the site survey.
• To link the data with the factors listed in the aim and to compare the results with assumptions made in simple thermal models.
Justification for the Research:
Current knowledge about actual winter-time temperatures is limited and in particular little has been published about room by room temperature variations. This lack of knowledge means that UK housing stock models make crude assumptions about internal temperatures. Using crude temperature assumptions can result in either an overestimation or underestimation of energy used to heat a dwelling, based on the model inputs relating to the thermal and energy performance of a dwelling.
Anticipated outcomes:
A better understanding of the spatial and temporal temperature variations in UK homes to gain a better appreciation into the appropriateness of common assumptions made about household temperatures and their level of variation.
A better insight into the relationships between temperature variation and the household type, heating system and occupant interaction with the system controls.