Findings from the DEEP project
In 2018 PCA made a bid for a very small part in a planned research project funded by the UK Government. The title of the project was The Demonstration of Energy Efficiency Potential - DEEP for short. Roll on almost half a decade and a global pandemic and finally, the findings are nearly ready for publication.
What is really interesting about the project, which was eventually run by a consortium of universities lead by Leeds Beckett, Salford and Loughborough, is that they looked at the impact and implications of real retrofit on real buildings over time. This work was central to understanding the benefits of different approaches to fabric orientated energy efficiency measures. The results taken from site were then evaluated to validate (or challenge) lots and lots of very clever computer modelling.
What have we found so far?
So after a bucket full of investment and the application of the collective minds of three leading universities, we discover several really interesting things:
- Delivering energy saving through insulation and draft reduction is not straightforward and each dwelling is different.
- Some measures work better than others but depend on the building and the occupant.
- Less can be more! In terms of insulation thickness and moisture risk and cost.
- Retrofit always affects but very often increases moisture risk. Some approaches are more risky than others.
- The way old buildings are put together and the stuff bolted to the outsides of traditional buildings is problematic, (services, drain pipes, architectural features).
- Very old buildings and heritage assets are a real problem.
- Once you have sealed up the gaps and covered the place in insulation, effective relightable mechanical ventilation becomes totally system critical.
- It is not always necessary to do everything at once. An informed, staged approach to retrofit is possible.
"Genius", I hear you all cry, insights of the like of which we could never have imagined? But wait - haven’t the PCA spent years saying the same things to anyone who would listen?
Well yes we have, but so have many others. What is cool, is that for the first time our assertions and protestations are backed by science. We could bleat about the waste of time and money thrown at this research, or we could be pleased that our common sense approach based on experience and pragmatism has been validated.
The future looks busy...
What the PCA can also take from DEEP is that we have been on the right track all along. Retrofit can be undertaken effectively and it can be done at scale, but a significant number of attempts to improve energy performance in older buildings will fail in some way. That failure will only be noticed in one of two ways - energy performance gaps and dampness.
As we attempt to improve the thermal performance of 20 million dwellings in less than 30 years, there will be a lot of dampness issues to resolve. The future looks busy for experts in the subject...