Low carbon climate-responsive Heating and Cooling of Cities (LoHCool)

0e3b6c20-36cd-4d1d-aa73-7d59c5d20588

Closed

EPSRC
EPSRC
EPSRC
EPSRC
EPSRC

£3,994,930

Sept. 30, 2015

March 31, 2019

LoHCool focuses on topic T1 'Delivering economic and energy-efficient heating and cooling to city areas of different population densities and climates'. It confronts directly the conundrum of offering greater winter and summer comfort in a Continental climate zone whilst mitigating what would be a carbon penalty of prodigious proportions. It concentrates on recovering value from the existing building stock, some 3.4 Billion m2 in which dwell and work some 550 Million citizens. It is highly cross-disciplinary involving engineers, building scientists, atmospheric scientists, architects and behavioural researchers in China and UK measuring real performance in new and particularly in existing buildings in Chinese cities to investigate the use of passive and active systems within integrated design and re-engineering. It focuses on the very challenging dynamic within China's Hot Summer/Cold Winter HSCW climate zone. It aims to enable the much desired improvements in living conditions and comfort levels within buildings through developing a keen understanding of the current heating and cooling technologies and practices in buildings by monitoring, surveying and measuring people's comfort and capturing this understanding through developing systems modelling including energy simulations. It will borrow on UK research for comparative purposes, for example work examining the current and future environmental conditions within the whole National Health Service (NHS) Hospital Estate in England and the practical economic opportunities, very considerable, for significant improvement whilst saving carbon at the rate required by ambitious NHS targets. It will propose detailed practical and economic low and very low carbon options for re-engineering the dominant building types which we will identify in a series of cities, as developed with local stakeholders, contractors and building professionals, exploring economic and energy-efficient low carbon district heating and cooling systems. Finally, it will test them in the current climate, 'current' extreme events, future climates and will estimate the carbon implications and cost of widespread implementation. Findings for the existing stock will be equally applicable to new-build, in many ways a simpler prospect.

Potential Impact:
Project Sounding Panel members have wide-reaching constituencies in China/UK ie Policy-advisors/-makers: China Academy of Building Research, input into national energy/carbon programmes, connections to UK academics/leading companies; UK NHS Sustainable Development Unit Asia context for Carbon Reduction Target; MOHURD Centre for Energy Efficiency in Buildings informing national policy and regulation on building energy efficiency, future Energy Efficient Demonstration Project types (asPI's FutureHouse); China Green Building Council, Training Programmes, presentations/exhibition at annual pre-eminent Int. Conf. on Green and Energy-Efficient Building Expo Beijing; China Association of Building Energy Efficiency, MOHURD exploitation of LoHCool technologies/techniques, training, database; Chongqing Municipal Commission of Urban-Rural Development Bureau of Energy Efficiency in Buildings, implementation 'coal face' in Chongqing, reinforces timely interest in retrofit; Chongqing Green Building Council develops its collaborations with UoR/Chongqing Univ. adds Cam/Lboro; Ministry of Science and Technology funded National Centre for International Research in Low Carbon and Green Building, Co-I Li is current Director, PI Short founding Academic Leader, £33K investment buys more PI/Co-I visits, local film-making, Visiting PhD to L'boro. UK Researchers, academics, companies benefit from China Partners' critiques of practicability, economy, social acceptability of emerging proposals, extremely interesting comparative studies. Urban Design/Masterplanners, Cook Chairman/Thompson Dir. BuroHappold v.active in China, insights, new approaches, advantage; Zhejiang Shimao Real Estate Group similar new urban approaches; Shenzhen Institute of Building Research, techniques, connections; AECOM Masterplanning Directors Nanda/Rose + Chi Chung Wong very active in China; AECOM Engineering infrastructure insight ; Zhejiang Province Construction Technology Promotion Center, techniques, data, connections; SPIE UK, engineering insights/advantage; China Southwest Architectural Design and Research Institute new approaches, connections; Chongqing Construction Engineering Group Real Estate Development, all will acquire quite new approaches to the retention, environmental upgrading and low carbon adaptation of the existing urban building stock at unparalleled scale in workable costed detail, transfer straightforwardly to new build situations. Construction: SKANSKA, H. of Sustainability, insights practical environmentally responsible, safe construction worldwide; Centre of Science and Technology in Construction, MOHURD, highly influential, acquires findings, co-organising China workshops and conferences; Shanghai Research Institute of Building Sciences acquire data, case studies, insights, connections; Shenzhen Institute of Building Research, adds to database, keen to share outcomes; UKTI China-Britain Business Council networking, commercial insights; Chongqing Construction Engineering Group Development and Mgmt. Co. 'backbone of construction in Chongqing' enthusiastic to apply innovative LoHCool re-engineering solutions in live projects; similarly Hangzhou Municipal Construction Commission (HMC); Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of Zhejiang Province Zhejiang Province Construction Technology Promotion Center, sizeable housing, urban developer eager to receive solutions; the Chartered Institute of Building promoting innovative construction via all its platforms (supplementing project team's links to the Cambridge Centre for Smart Infrastructure). The broadcast quality film will reach many thousands of citizens worldwide, Cam YouTube, streaming media, new dynamic TV ie Propellor (DeDeRHECC film winner 2013 tv\e Global Sustainability Film Award at BAFTA. Wholesale replacement is not an option at the HSCW region scale in carbon terms alone but 550 million total citizens deserve the conditions they aspire to.