Rural Innovation for the Future (RIFF)
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as PDF Rural Innovation for the Future will deliver a non-invasive whole house retrofit kit consisting of four distinct modules: A non-invasive insulation module; an extremely low carbon heating module; a combined solar module and a lighting, appliances and control module. Each module could stand alone but together they form a whole house solution that delivers deep cuts in both carbon emissions and primary energy consumption. The focus is on delivering a rural solution but the unique innovation is the non-invasive nature of our chosen package of works. Our tenants will be able to remain in their homes throughout the retrofit project. Our solution also offers value for money as we plan to renovate two homes with the available funding.
Retrofit for the future ZA237K
Rural Innovation for the Future (RIFF) : Project images
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Energy and fuel use
Measured data from renewable generation is not yet available.
Fuel use
| Pre-development | Forecast | Measured | |
| Electricity use | 19741 kWh/yr | 1287 kWh/yr | - |
|---|---|---|---|
| Natural gas use | - | - | - |
| Oil use | - | - | - |
| LPG use | - | - | - |
| Wood use | 7801 kWh/yr | 2322 kWh/yr | - |
| wood pellets (main heating) | - | 8689 kWh/yr | - |
| Pre-development | Forecast | Measured | |
| Primary energy requirement | 724 kWh/m².yr | 192 kWh/m².yr | - |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annual CO₂ emissions | 148 kg CO₂/m².yr | 14 kg CO₂/m².yr | - |
| Annual space heat demand | 151 kWh/m².yr | 92 kWh/m².yr | - |
Renewable energy
| Electricity generation | Forecast | Measured |
|---|---|---|
| 1.4kWp solar PV facing SW | 1084 kWh/yr | - |
| Other Renewables Tech | - | - |
| Electricity consumed by generation | - | - |
| Primary energy requirement offset by renewable generation | 158 kWh/m².yr | - |
| Annual CO₂ emissions offset by renewable generation | 6 kg CO₂/m².yr | - |
Calculation and targets
| Whole house energy calculation method | SAP |
|---|---|
| Other whole house calculation method | PHPP was used as well for comparison |
| Energy target | Retrofit for the Future |
| Other energy targets | - |
| Forecast heating load | - |
Airtightness
| Date | Result | |
| Pre-development air permeability test | - | - |
|---|---|---|
| Final air permeability test | - | - |
Project description
| Stage | Under construction |
|---|---|
| Start date | 15 April 2010 |
| Occupation date | 15 April 2010 |
| Location | Beausale Warwickshire England |
| Build type | Refurbishment |
| Building sector | Public Residential |
| Property type | Semi-Detached |
| Construction type | Masonry Cavity |
| Other construction type | Cavity gap 20mm with bricks bridging the cavity regularly u=1.41 |
| Party wall construction | Assumed to be masonry cavity |
| Floor area | 80 m² |
| Floor area calculation method | Actual Floor Area (SAP) |
| Building certification |
Project Team
| Organisation | Encraft Ltd |
|---|---|
| Project lead person | Encraft Ltd |
| Landlord or Client | Warwick District Council |
| Architect | Sandy Hickey |
| Mechanical & electrical consultant | Encraft Ltd |
| Energy consultant | Encraft Ltd |
| Structural engineer | |
| Quantity surveyor | |
| Consultant | |
| Contractor | Kinetics Group |
Design strategies
| Planned occupancy | Our tenants will remain in their homes throughout the rennovation. Both houses are currently tenanted by families with varying occupancy patterns. |
|---|---|
| Space heating strategy | Space heating from wood pellet boiler feeding radiators. The wood pellet boiler will have manual feed. Space heating control to be provided by a new innovative controller called Wattbox. This controller learns from occupant behaviour and has a uniquely simple interface providing tenants with easy to use "more heat" and "less heat" buttons. |
| Water heating strategy | Water heating from wood pellet boiler supplemented by 3.4m2 solar water heating system. Water heating control to be provided by Wattbox which will optimise the integration of solar and wood pellet boiler heat sources. Wattbox learns from occupant behaviour and has a uniquely simple interface providing tenants with a simple "more hot water" button. |
| Fuel strategy | Mains electricity plus electricity from solar photovoltaic panels. Incoming mains electricity voltage to be regulated with a V-Phase unit. Wood pellets delivered in bulk to external store. |
| Renewable energy strategy | 1.4kWp grid connected solar photovoltaic system |
| Passive Solar strategy | |
| Space cooling strategy | Natural ventilation with intermittent extract fans |
| Daylighting strategy | |
| Ventilation strategy | Intermittent extract fans in kitchens and bathrooms to replace existing open vents in the walls. Openable windows with over-frame background trickle ventilators. |
| Airtightness strategy | Air tight membrane to be incorporated into external wall insulation system. Air tight sealant tape around new windows and doors - to be integrated with the external wall insulation system. |
| Strategy for minimising thermal bridges | Thermal bridges will be reduced when the external wall insulation and new windows and doors are installed. We will replace the porch over the front door and will continue the insulation around the corner at the junction of the rear wall of the house to the roof of the outbuilding. |
| Modelling strategy | Whole house modelling in SAP2005 and PHPP 2007 has been completed for all three houses. We also plan to model all three houses in IES Virtual Environment so that we can directly compare results from these software packages to the measured data collected during the monitoring period. |
| Insulation strategy | External wall insulation to achieve u-value of 0.15W/m2K Replacement windows with a u-value of 0.9W/m2K and doors with a u-value of 1.2W/m2K |
| Other relevant retrofit strategies | We are planning to carry out our package of retrofit measures with tenants remaining in the dwelling during the proposed works. We intend to demonstrate our approach can be undertaken with minimal disruption to the tenants and with no associated temporary re-housing costs. We are deliberately applying an identical retrofit to two identical houses so we can specifically study the influence of different human behaviour patterns on the carbon emissions of the house. As the Wattbox heating controller saves through learning and adapting to occupant behaviour patterns it is ideal for such an experiment. |
| Contextual information |
Building services
| Occupancy | NULL |
|---|---|
| Space heating | NULL |
| Hot water | NULL |
| Ventilation | NULL |
| Controls | NULL |
| Cooking | NULL |
| Lighting | NULL |
| Appliances | NULL |
| Renewable energy generation system | NULL |
| Strategy for minimising thermal bridges | NULL |
Building construction
| Storeys | |
|---|---|
| Volume | - |
| Thermal fabric area | - |
| Roof description | NULL |
| Roof U-value | 0.00 W/m² K |
| Walls description | NULL |
| Walls U-value | 0.00 W/m² K |
| Party walls description | NULL |
| Party walls U-value | 0.00 W/m² K |
| Floor description | NULL |
| Floor U-value | 0.00 W/m² K |
| Glazed doors description | NULL |
| Glazed doors U-value | 0.00 W/m² K - |
| Opaque doors description | NULL |
| Opaque doors U-value | 0.00 W/m² K - |
| Windows description | NULL |
| Windows U-value | 0.00 W/m² K - |
| Windows energy transmittance (G-value) | - |
| Windows light transmittance | - |
| Rooflights description | NULL |
| Rooflights light transmittance | - |
| Rooflights U-value | 0.00 W/m² K |