Off-the-Shelf Solutions to the Retrofit Challenge: Thermal Performance

QUB/e: A Novel Transient Experimental Method for in situ Measurements of the Thermal Performance of Building Fabrics

“…A guard house is also present so that the effects of a neighbouring property can be explored during experiments. For more details, the interested reader should refer to Ji et al (2014), Farmer et al (2015) and Alzetto et al (2016b).…”

“…Air circulation fans were used during the steady-state measurements in order to further homogenise the air temperature (Johnston et al, 2013;Farmer et al, 2015). Heat flux plates (Hukseflux HFP01), type K thermocouples and PT100 resistance temperature detectors were used to monitor the heat flux densities on building elements and the air temperatures.…”

Looking Critically at Heat Loss through Party Walls

“…The Stamford Brook field trial [2,3] measured the energy performance of dwellings, comparing designed energy efficiency against actual building fabric efficiency once the homes were built. Whole house heat-loss measurements of dwellings were conducted, and initial results showed the greatest disparities between designed and actual fabric efficiencies in mid-terraced dwellings.…”

“…The distinction between cavity and solid party walls is significant not only for acoustic reasons, but also thermally. Past work by Leeds Beckett University [2][3][4], identified a 'thermal bypass' through cavity party walls, where warm air passed by convection and stack effect up through the cavity, so avoiding even high levels of insulation in the floor, walls and roof of modern homes. A major benefit of the cavity in this type of party wall is that it is relatively economical, and straightforward, to insulate-in a similar way to external cavity-wall insulation.…”