Over the sessions on zero carbon design, i have successfully turned the Victorian house into a zero carbon building, with CO2 being -29KgCO2. This programme has taught me what can you change and what can’t you change when it comes to the building fabric in the process of making the building zero carbon, and that an educated decision will have to be made when it comes to the choice of material to enable the construction to have the lowest U value possible with out the whole building being reconstructed.
When it comes to zero carbon design there is a lot of controlled elements that are involved in making a building zero carbon, whether it is down to the the temperature of each room or the lighting that each room receives, this in all though has to be calculated at different times a day, in which enables more educated guessing to which is most suitable. This also has taught me that this process of making a building zero carbon is as much on the user of the household as it is on the construction and control elements. For example, the user may have to reduce the heating in each roof and swap this added heat for a wooly jumper.
This IESVE software is very good at simulating conceptual designs in buildings when it comes down to zero carbon, however i question the accuracy of this and how these ideas will translate i the real world with many external factors effecting whether the building is zero carbon or not. With weather being so varied in both temperature and light, one year the house that was made zero carbon on the software could be not zero carbon in real life. So i personally feel that this software is great for simulating, but further research is needed with real life experimental models to be produced in order to find out wether you idea will produce a zero carbon house.
Matthew Evans
Zero Carbon Design
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