MSc IN SUSTAINABLE ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT

LOW CARBON FOOTPRINT

Assignment 3: Design of a Low Carbon House

Ogunyemi Oluwagbenga Oladotun 0958940

March 2011

INTRODUCTION The increase in global emissions of CO2 has made concerns about the reduction of carbon emission from homes/buildings a paramount issue. 27% of the total carbon footprint of the UK is from emissions from average homes while that of London which is a more densely populated area is about 38% (Eccleston 2007). The aim of this report is to reduce the CO2 emissions by at least 80% in a 1930 semi-detached house. This is corresponding to a maximum emission of 13.07kg/year/m 2 from 65.35kg/year/m2. Different components that will be altered to achieve this are analysed in subsequent sections but the scope of this report cannot alter the floor area. VENTILATION RATE: The house possesses 4 chimneys and 2 extract fans and changes made to this resulted in a final effective air change rate of 0.65m3 and CO2 emission of 61.15kg/year/m2 from 1.14m3 and 65.35kg/year/m2 respectively. The design included a draught lobby, no chimney and 3 extract fans which are in accordance with the SAP 2005 regulations (Appendix R) for floors greater than 80m2 and the floor area of the house is 86m2. The changes in chimney and extract fans gave a reduction of 0.68m3 in air changes per hour. HEAT LOSSES AND HEAT LOSS PARAMETER: Huge carbon emission reductions were achieved in the heat losses and heat loss parameter sections, varying materials were used in the modifications and the resulting U-value were reduced. Table 1 outlines the modification in this section. Table 1: Modification of components and new U-values. Component/Material Door/Solidcore Timber of width 60mm Window/Triple glazed with low emissivity timber Wall/ Timber clad masonry Roof/asphalt cover, high density of polystyrene foam Old U-Value 2.8 2.8 New U-Value 1.94 1.82

1.45 0.34

0.27 0.10

These resulted in a reduction of heat loss parameter and CO2 emissions of 2.99W/m2K and 30.99kg/year/m2. WATER HEATING ENERGY REQUIREMENT: To further reduce the carbon emissions a reduction of 0.0068Kwh/litre/day reduction was achieved in the hot water storage loss factor by using a 160mm thick factory insulated cylinder (SAP 2005, Table 2) from the value 0.0152Kwh/litre/day. A temperature factor of 0.54 was calculated from the manufacturers declared loss of 0.6 multiplied by 0.9 because of separate time control of domestic hot water. There were no primary circuit losses because an electric immersion heater was used (SAP 2005, Table 2b) neither were there combi losses because combi boiler is not included in the new design. Further improvement in emission reduction incorporated the use of a solar water heating system of 16m 2 area, unglazed, 90% efficiency and 30o south orientation with no over-shading to give heat gains of 911.78Kwh annually (SAP 2005, Appendix H). This equals 416.66Kwh/year and 3.54Kg/year/m2 saving in heat energy and carbon emissions respectively. MEAN INTERNAL TEMPERATURE: The design also includes the use of an electric ground to air heat pump with efficiency of 320% from Table 4a (SAP 2005). Wet system of under-floor heating using pipes in insulated timber which is corresponding to heating type 1 and responsiveness 1 as well as time and temperature zone control of 3 and 0 respectively (Tables 4d and 4e). A combination of all these resulted in further reductions to 24.32kg/year/m2. SPACE HEATING REQUIREMENTS: No secondary heating was used except the 320% efficient electricity powered central electric heating pump is 130Kwh/year with room using thermostats. This caused a further reduction in CO2 emissions of 14.79kg/year/m2 leaving total annual emissions for the house at 9.53kg/m2. FUEL COSTS: Standard electricity tariff of 7.12p/Kwh was applied which gives an annual cost of 114.30 (SAP 2005, Table 12). The roof of the house was also used to generate electricity using 3kw peak-power photovoltaic of 30o orientation facing south-east. Annual solar radiation of 997kwh/m2 with modest over-shading, electricity produced was calculated using formula M1 in Appendix M and equal to 1914kwh. CONCLUSION The overall alterations and modifications give an annual total emission rate of 0.14kg/year/m2. In addition to the low carbon footprint of the new design, it is also been able to generate electricity to be exported to the
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national grid. The modifications in the design of this building has improved drastically the carbon emissions and also be able to supply some energy to the grid. The current carbon emissions therefore represent a 99.7% reduction after the alterations and modification. This is an efficient and viable tool to assess and evaluate Carbon emissions reductions and make the target of 60% reductions in emission by 2050 achievable in the UK.

REFERENCES Eccleston Paul 2007, Britain's CO2 emissions could be cut by 80% [online] Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/3316111/Britains-CO2emissions-could-be-cut-by-80.html [Assessed 20/03/11] SAP 2005 document Wind turbine calculator (excel spread sheet) SAP worksheet 981 (excel spread sheet)