SYMPOSIA PAPER Published: 01 January 1987
STP18506S

Performance of a Group of Well-Insulated Solar Houses in the United Kingdom

Source

The monitoring of 14 single-story, one-bedroom senior citizens' houses in the northwest region of the United Kingdom is described. Nine of the 14 dwellings were built with very high levels of insulation (in comparison with the then existing 1976 building regulations) and with a form of Trombe wall to provide passive solar gains. The remaining five buildings, of the same internal layout as the others, were insulated only to the minimum specified standards and contained no special solar features. This group was used as a control for comparative purposes. The houses were wholly electrically heated using an off-peak low-tariff-storage heating system. Some 250 sensors, mainly resistance thermometers, were distributed within and on various parts of the structure of the dwellings for monitoring structural thermal behavior. Also, a local weather station was installed on site for climatic measurements. These were interfaced by means of an on-site data logger and land transmission line to a remote control computer at Pilkington Brothers, Research & Development Laboratories some 30 km (20 miles) away. Data were collected every hour, excluding the inevitable breakdowns, for a period of some three years. The resulting energy savings associated with the various insulation and solar measures were determined and used to provide estimates of cost-effectiveness. The most effective measures were extra ceiling insulation, cavity wall insulation, and double glazing.

Author Information

Alderson, JV
Research & Development Laboratories, Lathom, Ormskirk, England
Guy, A
Research & Development Laboratories, Lathom, Ormskirk, England
Justin, B
Research & Development Laboratories, Lathom, Ormskirk, England
Shaw, G
Research & Development Laboratories, Lathom, Ormskirk, England
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Details
Developed by Committee: C16
Pages: 599–612
DOI: 10.1520/STP18506S
ISBN-EB: 978-0-8031-4998-4
ISBN-13: 978-0-8031-0493-8