This study investigated the perceptions and attendant behavioural attitudes of stakeholders, including patients and visitors, to the built environments and supporting facilities provided by an NHS trust hospital. The study used a variety of methodologies to collect empirical data. This included an extensive literature survey and research review, one‐to‐one patient interviews, a large questionnaire survey, patients’ picture stories, a novice‐expert technique and a series of futures conferences. By these methods, the study assessed how stakeholders perceived the health‐care environment, including buildings, internal and external areas, and landscape and aesthetic considerations. It further identified their preferences for a range of services that were not typically provided by the NHS and established the extent of their willingness to pay.
The energy consumed by domestic space heating systems represents a considerable share of the energy consumed in the UK. At the same time up to a quarter of English homes have inadequate controls on the central heating systems. Current modelling tools, and results from the limited field trials that have been carried out, are problematic due to the influence of the behaviour of occupants and variability of weather conditions. The Salford Energy House is a full-sized end terrace house built within a climate controlled laboratory. This allows a house of typical construction to be extensively analysed while completely disconnected from the unpredictability of weather conditions and human behaviour. This paper presents a series of tests carried out in the Salford Energy House into the effectiveness of installing room thermostats and thermostatic radiator valves. Savings of 40% in terms of energy consumption, cost and CO 2 were achieved. The results should be regarded with caution in terms of their extent and application to real homes, but represent a significant contribution to the gap in current knowledge due to the ability to isolate the performance of homes from uncooperative variables, and a potential base for the development of more effective modelling tools. Practical application: This research provides evidence to support installation and use of room thermostats and thermostatic radiator valves as an effective means of reducing domestic energy consumption and overheating.
PurposeThis paper seeks to discuss the need for the development of a more flexible measure of energy efficiency based on an ever increasing multi‐cultural society.Design/methodology/approachOutlines the reasons for the prevalence of fuel poverty among the BME community, using the Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities as case studies. Then considers how culture and tradition among these communities directly impact on their use of their home and how this has implications for Energy Assessment Procedures. Individual cultural issues have traditionally not been modelled in the assessment of Fuel Poverty. These issues include the different use of the dwelling; whereas white householders would generally only use one room as their main living room, it is traditional for those of the BME householder to use two rooms. This is significant in energy usage terms as these rooms are heated to a higher temperature than the rest of the house and therefore affect the amount required to be spent on energy. It is also true that the BME community are likely to spend more on cooking and appliance usage and this should be taken into account to provide an accurate assessment.FindingsThis methodology provides a more scientific base for the determination of how hard an individual dwelling is to heat and therefore whether or not an individual household is in fuel poverty.Originality/valueEvidence has been collected from a number of studies to identify how a BME household utilises space and heating within their dwelling. In order to ascertain fuel poverty these issues have not generally been taken into account, which can lead to inaccurate determinations. However, by the use of BREDEM tools and household knowledge these issues can be assessed accurately.
Explains ways to mitigate the effects of various species of pests in dwellings, dealing with three distinct groupsinsects, rodents and birds. There are now many other species, apart from fleas, lice and bedbugs, which have evolved to capitalize on the more recent environmental modifications which man has undertaken. Looks at several objections, apart from the aesthetic, to the presence of pests in dwellings including significant risks to health, deterioration of the structure itself and economic loss. Examines potential pest problems which may arise in new designs/construction and suggest possible solutions.
Reviews the UK government’s proposals for amending the energy efficiency of new dwellings. With the aid of worked examples the alternative calculation methods for U‐values are demonstrated. The author concludes that the new methods are cumbersome to calculate by hand and that where there is only one bridged layer the difference between the old and new methods is negligible. It is envisaged that manufacturers and SAP providers will quickly provide new calculation suites to enable designers to undertake calculations effectively and easily.
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