Following the presentation in December where we demonstrated the process of how the IES software can be used to alter constructions and attributes of a building or a space and achieve a low energy status, we were given an actual Victorian House in Birmingham to work with. The Victorian House originally has a total carbon emission of approximately 12,000 and our task is to try and achieve a zero carbon emission value.
Using the techniques learnt in the software so far, I started off by modifying the attributes of the external walls keeping in mind that I don’t change the construction of the wall because that would mean practically knocking down the wall and rebuilding it. Therefore, all alterations made were either additions to the existing construction and/or increments or reductions to the thickness or conductivity values respectively. To mention one, I added Cellular Polyisocyanurate insulation and increased its thickness from 0.013m to 0.3m. Furthermore, after altering the external wall constructions I made changes to the glazed constructions by replacing the double glazed external windows by triple glazed ones and change the resistance vale to 0.8 (realistic).
After having made a lot of such changes, the total carbon emission has come down to approximately 7000. Therefore, after making further alterations to the doors, roof, floor, etc attributes in the next few sessions I’m hoping for the carbon emissions to go down considerably and eventually achieve a zero carbon status.
Gaurav Janey – Zero Carbon Design, Victorian House
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