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Solid-wall U-values: heat flux measurements compared with standard assumptions

Li, FGN; Smith, AZP; Biddulph, P; Hamilton, IG; Lowe, R; Mavrogianni, A; Oikonomou, E; ... Oreszczyn, T; + view all (2015) Solid-wall U-values: heat flux measurements compared with standard assumptions. Building Research & Information , 43 (2) 238 - 252. 10.1080/09613218.2014.967977. Green open access

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Abstract

The assumed U-values of solid walls represent a significant source of uncertainty when estimating the energy performance of dwellings. The typical U-value for UK solid walls used for stock-level energy demand estimates and energy certification is 2.1 Wm−2 K−1. A re-analysis (based on 40 brick solid walls and 18 stone walls) using a lumped thermal mass and inverse parameter estimation technique gives a mean value of 1.3 ± 0.4 Wm−2 K−1 for both solid wall types. Among the many implications for policy, this suggests that standard UK solid-wall U-values may be inappropriate for energy certification or for evaluating the investment economics of solid-wall insulation. For stock-level energy modelling, changing the assumed U-value for solid walls reduces the estimated mean annual space heating demand by 16%, and causes a proportion of the stock to change Energy Performance Certification (EPC) band. The analysis shows that the diversity of energy use in domestic buildings may be as much influenced by heterogeneity in the physical characteristics of individual building components as it is by variation in occupant behaviour. Policy assessment and guidance material needs to acknowledge and account for this variation in physical building characteristics through regular grounding in empirical field data.

Type: Article
Title: Solid-wall U-values: heat flux measurements compared with standard assumptions
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1080/09613218.2014.967977
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09613218.2014.967977
Language: English
Additional information: Copyright © 2014 The Author(s). Published by Taylor & Francis. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The moral rights of the named author(s) have been asserted.
Keywords: solid walls, energy demand, buildings, thermal conductivity, U-value, heat flux measurements, epidemiology
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment > Bartlett School Env, Energy and Resources
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1452229
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