The machine behind me is an indoor solar simulator. It simulates sunlight using a series of lamps.
The sunlight is radiated onto the test surface on the opposite side of the cage and in that
cage we can place components of buildings as if they were integral parts of a building
structure. That allows us to measure the thermal performance of those devices when bathed in
sunlight and the entire process is about improving the performance of devices and improving their
efficiency to lead us towards a low carbon future.
Buildings are about 40 per cent of the UK’s
carbon dioxide emissions and so they’re one of the prime targets for trying to meet
government CO2 reduction ambitions. A lot of our work is based on developing computer
models of buildings, models which help us to understand how energy is used, the contribution
which renewable energy technologies might make and also which can be used by central
government and local authorities to develop their carbon reduction policies.
A lot of the uncertainty in making predictions of building energy demand relates to the people
in the building and how they behave. Energy consumption is hugely influenced by equipment,
lights, appliances, computers, televisions and the way that equipment is used by people.
A lot of the work to understand energy demand is multi-disciplinary, bringing together social
scientists who understand behaviour with traditional engineers and building physicists who understand
about the fabric and the energy systems.
To give you a practical example we can measure the energy demand of buildings and the internal
temperatures using traditional scientific monitoring techniques, but on the other hand
we can use social science survey methods to understand the socio economic status of households
and get an inventory of the lights and appliances in households. By comparing the two we can
start to better understand the relationship between people and energy demand.
A lot of our work is of direct interest to energy companies as well as local authorities
and central government. And in a way having worked in this field for 25 years it feels
like finally our moment has come and it’s almost impossible to satisfy all the different
demands that different stakeholders have for the work that we do. If we have buildings
which consume less energy, then the demand on the system is reduced and renewable energy
technologies, be it wind, wave and some would say nuclear, has a much greater chance of
meeting a higher proportion of our energy needs.