Insights: WRI's Blog | World Resources Institute, June 2018
Persuading people to use energy more efficiently has long been heralded as a simple, effective way to help tackle climate change. The problem lies in the persuasion. In this piece, we discuss how behavior related nudging through information and feedback could offer solutions for residential energy efficiency in India.
India Climate Dialogue, August 2017
The building sector is integral for meeting India’s climate change mitigation targets as well as Sustainable Development Goals. This article discusses the need for making the Energy Conservation Building Code mandatory and provides ideas for effective implementation by identifying cities with growing construction activity and reviewing municipalities and their capacities to enforce the Code.
Comparative evaluation of CO2 emissions from national building stocks
Cities and Climate Change: Responding to an Urgent Agenda -Volume 2, Book Chapter, The World Bank, Washington, 2009
This commissioned paper carries out a comparative evaluation of approaches and policies to measure, benchmark, reduce and manage CO2 emissions from energy use in the existing urban building stocks in the UK, USA, and India. The paper provides a comprehensive analysis and insightful comparisons of available tools, methodologies, benchmarks, and policy strategies in each of the case study countries to mitigate GHG emissions from buildings.
Understanding occupants: feedback techniques for large-scale low-carbon domestic refurbishments
Building Research and Information, Journal paper, 2010
This paper describes the application of occupant feedback methods into the management and design of low-carbon and whole-house refurbishment of two case study dwellings as part of the phase 1 of Technology Strategy Board’s Retrofit for the Future Programme. The Programme explored how existing homes can be improved to use less energy, cut carbon emissions and save costs. The paper highlights the need to integrate occupant feedback and physical measurements and monitoring for building performance evaluation during the pre-refurbishment stage and reveals how findings from these influence the selection of low carbon retrofitting interventions.
Technical and economical feasibility of achieving low and zero carbon homes in the UK
European Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ECEEE), Summer Study Proceedings, France 2009
Code for Sustainable Homes defines the UK’s national standard for sustainability of new homes and serves as a guide for future building regulations. The paper describes the development, application and analysis of an interactive and user-friendly tool, the Sustainability Appraisal Toolkit (SAT), which is used to evaluate the technical and economical feasibility of achieving target Code levels for a representative sample of new-build dwellings in UK for different scales of development (single-home, 25 homes and 250 homes).
Post-occupancy evaluation approach to provide evidence-based feedback
Passive and Low Energy in Architecture (PLEA) Proceedings, Canada, 2009
This paper describes the learning and teaching approach adopted in a postgraduate post-occupancy evaluation (POE) module run at Oxford Brookes University (Oxford, UK) to examine and assess the technical and functional performance of, and occupants’ thermal comfort in, recently-built seven sustainable buildings in the UK. The findings from the study provide valuable feedback to assess how buildings perform with respect to design intentions and how feedback loops can inform subsequent building designs, specifications and performance. This study also provides an opportunity to bring together both academia and industry to work towards developing evidence-based sustainable building design and performance.
How to commission sustainable construction in Further Education colleges
Seacourt Publishers, Oxford, 2009
This report provides guidance on sustainability issues while commissioning construction of new buildings or refurbishments within further education (FE) colleges in the UK. The guidance is primarily meant to be used by senior
This guide is one of a series of 5. The others in the series are on:
• Conserving Energy in Further Education Colleges
• Conserving Water in Further
• Case study 1 - A post-occupancy evaluation of a FE building – Merton College
• Case study 2 - A post-occupancy evaluation of an Academy building – City of London Academy
