Healthy Energy Efficient Dwellings (HEED)

As people spend up to 90% of their time indoor; exposure to poor Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) may negatively affect their health. Moreover, the COVID19 pandemic has revealed the profound social vulnerability of certain groups in society, particularly those struggling with poor health conditions. Additionally, the external air temperatures in the UK are expected to rise by over 5°C by 2070, as a result of climate change, with the frequency and intensity of heat waves also expected to increase. Rising external temperatures increase significantly the risk of overheating, cooling load, energy consumption in buildings and associated carbon emissions, with the problem being particularly affecting health and wellbeing of vulnerable populations including children and older occupants of buildings. There is therefore an urgent need to address this multi-faceted knowledge gap by developing effective interventions that improve health and living conditions in homes occupied by vulnerable populations. The project aims to fill a knowledge gap in evaluating and improving indoor air quality (IAQ) and thermal comfort in council homes. The purpose is to ultimately develop technical-behavioural interventions that improves people's health, indoor environmental conditions, and reduces energy consumption and associated carbon emissions. We anticipate the project will have a positive impact on housing design policies, as well as increase public awareness on the necessity for behaviour change to achieve net zero carbon targets, whilst improving occupants' health and wellbeing.

Respiratory related diseases are one of the main causes of death in the UK costing the NHS and the economy over £11 billion per annum due to the ill health and reduced productivity. Avoidable mortality due to respiratory disease in the most socioeconomically deprived areas in England is 7 times more than the least deprived areas. There exists a strong link between poor IAQ and respiratory related diseases. In tandem with the poor IAQ, the external air temperatures in the UK are expected to rise by up to 5.4°C by 2070 with an increased risk of overheating in buildings. Poor building design and quality contribute to critical thermal discomfort which may lead to heat exhortation, heat syncope or heat stroke, with the vulnerable groups most as risk. The HEED explores the correlations of both IAQ and TC variables to health conditions, and the implications of building design and performance on comfort and on occupants' health and wellbeing. Currently there are no studies that cover combinations and extents of IAPs, their correlations with OAPs, climate change, retrofit, summer/winter thermal comfort and behaviour, and their effects on the health and wellbeing of occupants of domestic buildings in the UK. The project addresses this knowledge gap by establishing evidence-based correlations between the abovementioned factors leading to the design of technical-behavioural interventions that simultaneously addresses both energy and health. The project adopts a mixed method research, design behavioural surveys, employing indoor environmental monitoring, post occupancy evaluation, and dynamic thermal modelling.