Near Zero Carbon Care Home Design in the Uk

The global construction industry is in a transition period of reducing energy consumption and carbon emissions. The recast of the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) in 2010 will require Member States to achieve nearly zero-energy for all new buildings from the 1st of January 2021 and for all new buildings occupied and owned by public authorities to be nearly zero-energy from the 1st of January 2019[1]. Care homes have consistent high energy requirements 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. It is important to improve their energy efficiency to tackle the issues of overall fuel security and climate change, as well as to reduce their running cost in order to reduce the finance burden in an aging society. In addition, energy consumption patterns to operate care homes and their special thermal requirements present both opportunities and challenges to achieve successful near zero carbon care homes. Reducing energy consumption in a building requires an integrative approach to balance all design aspects affecting energy performance, whilst ensuring a comfortable and healthy built environment for occupants. This paper aims to investigate the potential to deliver near zero carbon care homes design through a systems approach incorporating innovative technologies. The systems approach for low carbon care homes design is focussed on four steps: 1) reducing internal heat loads, 2 using passive design strategies), 3) applying efficient HVAC systems and 4) integrating renewable energy supply and storage systems into the building design. Building simulation is used to optimise the design in each step in order to achieve the most practical design solution. In this study, a standard care home in the UK is used to provide the design information, and building simulation will be carried out within a local context and climate to evaluate the impact of different design strategies. Furthermore, the impact of each design strategy on thermal comfort, energy consumption and carbon emissions will be discussed. Dr Shan Shan Hou, Prof Phil Jones