Loughborough University to lead £4 million project on cutting household carbon

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Loughborough University and the University of Reading are leading two separate groups, which will share £4.2 million for work focusing on reducing the substantial proportion of CO2 emissions that result from homes.

The research is being funded by energy company E.ON and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). It will look at ways British homes can use energy more efficiently and how technology can help cut domestic carbon emissions.

The grants are part of a five-year, £10 million joint programme being run by E.ON and the EPSRC which is open to all UK universities seeking to bring forward new low carbon energy solutions.

Houses account for almost a third of the carbon dioxide emitted in the UK – 60% of energy used in UK homes is for space heating, 23% for hot water.

Dave Clarke, E.ON’s Head of Research and Development, said: “These are two more important projects in our collaborative programme with universities that will help change the way we use energy in our day-to-day lives and help combat climate change.

“It further demonstrates E.ON’s commitment to leading in low carbon energy technologies, which we are also pursuing through our own £12 million research programme involving more than 200 ongoing projects.”

Loughborough University is heading five universities in a project which will examine how energy-efficient and low-carbon technologies – such as advanced heat pumps, vacuum glazing and solid wall insulation – can better provide the heating and hot water needs of current housing styles.

Professor Dennis Loveday of Loughborough University said: “Householder appeal and interaction will play an important role in reducing emissions. This places the emphasis on retrofit solutions that are aligned with our modern lifestyles and meet practical and economic needs.”

The technologies will be tested in both laboratories and by volunteers in their own homes. New computer software will be created to design and select measures for each home.

The University of Reading project, involving six other universities, is taking an innovative approach to demonstrating how changing the way people act at home can save energy, without affecting their quality of life.

It says that, for the first time, consumers in their own homes will be asked to help identify changes to the way they currently use energy as well as providing options for lowering their needs.

Dr David Shipworth from the University of Reading said: “This project aims to give people something they can see, with forms of feedback on the energy costs of their actions which are immediate and in a form they themselves want. An approach targeting these issues could reasonably be expected to show energy savings of 20%.”

Four partner universities with low carbon expertise – Loughborough University, University of Nottingham, University of Birmingham and Imperial College, London – developed the programme. Its first £2.1 million award was made last year to another consortium of eight universities for a project looking at how the UK is to achieve its aim of a low carbon society.