In response to UK government policy mandating the construction of 'zero carbon' homes by 2016 there have been significant changes in the way dwellings are being designed and built. Recent years have seen a rapid uptake in the adoption of the German Passivhaus standard as a template for ultra-low energy and zero carbon buildings in the UK. Despite genuine motivations to mitigate climate change and fuel poverty there is a lack of research investigating the long-term performance of Passivhaus buildings in a rapidly changing UK climate. This paper sets out to investigate whether Passivhaus dwellings will be able to provide high standards of thermal comfort in the future or whether they are inherently vulnerable to overheating risks. Scenario modelling using probabilistic data derived from the UKCP09 weather generator (WG) in conjunction with dynamic simulation and global sensitivity analysis techniques are used to assess the future performance of a range of typical Passivhaus dwellings relative to an identical Fabric Energy Efficiency Standard (FEES) compliant dwelling over its notional future lifespan. The emphasis of this study is to understand what impact climate change will pose to overheating risks for Passivhaus dwellings relative to the de facto (i.e. FEES) alternative, and which design factors play a dominant role in contributing to this risk. The results show that optimization of a small number of design inputs, including glazing ratios and external shading devices, can play a significant role in mitigating future overheating risks.
8The process of building design is currently undergoing some major changes. In an attempt to mitigate climate change, the design 9 of more sustainable building is advocated by the UK government. Furthermore, standalone design methods are being replaced 10 with the concept of Building Information Modelling (BIM). The adoption of BIM has been documented to result in many benefits, 11 which range from time to cost savings. During the initial planning stages, building performance simulation (BPS) can be used to 12 inform design decisions. Data can be exchanged between BIM and BPS tools using data transfer schemas such as the Industry 13Foundation Classes (IFC). The IFC schema lacks an energy domain, and as a result, an extension is proposed in this paper. This 14 contains energy concepts from a BPS tool called Passive House Planning Package (PHPP). The extended schema was developed 15 by way of an externally coupled Java tool, which facilitates the transfer of data, and informs the building design decision-making 16 process. The process of geometry extraction has been validated with several case studies, which are based on certified Passivhaus 17 buildings in Hannover Kronsberg, Germany and Ebbw Vale, Wales. The amount of error is acceptable, and it is mostly due to 18 differences in the initial BIM model set up, not due to the processing of IFC files. 19
Numerous studies have reported on overheating in urban contexts the majority of which have focused on the influences of external factors, such as: heat waves and climatic change. To date very little research has examined the more insidious issue of chronic year-round overheating in temperate climatic zones. The present study begins by reviewing the potential implications of planning and legislative constraints underlying urban residential design. A case study example is then introduced to examine the potential manifestation of such issues in practice. Detailed field monitoring and survey data from a number of newly built flats in a multi-residential block in London, is presented. Typical of a new generation of urban dwellings the development incorporates a high thermal specification together with low carbon building services, such as communal heating systems and mechanical ventilation with heat recovery. Through detailed zonal measurements of a broad range of environmental and building services parameters it has been possible to isolate the key factors underpinning poor overheating performance for these flats. The findings of this case study are part of a larger research project investigating the causes of overheating in high density urban dwellings across Greater London. The results suggest that the causes of chronic overheating in these modern low-energy flats are multiple, but typically share common factors stemming from poorly integrated architectural and MEP design decisions. Conflicts between regional planning policies, UK building regulations, and health and safety legislation appear to be compounding the problem.
A rapid transition to 'zero carbon' building was announced by the UK Government in December 2006 as a key step forward in reducing the Green House Gas (GHG) emissions from the domestic and non-domestic sectors. This paper elaborates on whether the revised definition of 'zero carbon' dwellings in the UK (2009) and the approach to implementing this policy, advocated by the Zero Carbon Hub (ZCH) , is coherent with overarching climate change and energy policies. Further, the paper examines the barriers to adopting higher minimum standards of fabric energy efficiency, in particular the German Passivhaus standard. By comparing methodological differences and outcomes associated with these different energy performance standards, an estimate of the real world energy and carbon savings has been determined. The paper concludes that adopting a more robust 'fabric first' approach, would achieve better coherence with UK climate change and energy policies, whilst mitigating the risks associated with carbon offsetting mechanisms.
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