Predicting overheating risk in UK homes
Matej Gustin, Loughborough University
Introduction
Overheating in UK homes is a recognised existing problem for UK house builders, homeowners, landlords and tenants. Climate change projections indicate that the UK is expected to experience more frequent and more intense heat wave periods over the coming decades. Thus, the problem will intensify as the climate warms and as homes become even better insulated, resulting in discomfort, health complaints and even mortality. For these reasons, predicting the overheating risks in UK homes is of utmost importance in order to identify the homes, locations and occupants that are most at risk.
The aim of this project is to understand the risks of summer overheating in different UK dwellings, in different locations, with different occupants, both now and in future.
The main research question that this research attempts to address is:
Is it possible to develop a device to use in homes, care settings and hospitals, that would predict the overheating risk in a specific space, with the only use of the monitored internal temperatures and meteorological data, and alert in advance the occupants of the overheating risk in order to take the necessary precautions?
The outcomes of the study will help to identify the best modelling technique and necessary data for accurate overheating predictions.
Project Team
Student
Matej Gustin
Supervisors
Kevin Lomas, Robert McLeod