Discrepancies between theoretical and actual heating demand in Scottish modern dwellings

Julio Bros-Williamson, Jon Stinson, Celine Garnier, John Currie

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract / Description of output

The study reports on the differences between the actual heat consumption profiles of twelve dwellings monitored for four years and their predicted heat demand profiles as calculated by the UK Government's Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP). This monitoring methodology analysed the selected homes over 4 years of occupation leading to a longitudinal study. Using descriptive statistical metrics this paper considers different groupings and normalisation methods to understand differences in heat demand. It uses this methodology to compare predicted over delivered energy over longer occupation periods. The results demonstrate that the compliance SAP model, incorrectly estimates heat demand by up to one and a half times that recorded in these dwellings. It also concludes that analysing energy consumption over time should exclude early occupation years as they suffer from occupant adjustment periods. Furthermore, by applying a heat energy factor, none of the dwellings achieve equal or better consumption levels than SAP, however flats and the low consuming group dwellings achieve closest to the predicted.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of 33rd PLEA International Conference
Subtitle of host publicationDesign to Thrive, PLEA 2017
EditorsLuisa Brotas, Sue Roaf, Fergus Nicol
PublisherNCEUB 2017 - Network for Comfort and Energy Use in Buildings
Pages361-368
Number of pages8
Volume1
ISBN (Electronic)9780992895754
Publication statusPublished - 2017
Externally publishedYes
Event33rd International on Passive and Low Energy Architecture Conference: Design to Thrive, PLEA 2017 - Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Duration: 2 Jul 20175 Jul 2017

Publication series

NameProceedings of 33rd PLEA International Conference: Design to Thrive, PLEA 2017
Volume1

Conference

Conference33rd International on Passive and Low Energy Architecture Conference: Design to Thrive, PLEA 2017
Country/TerritoryUnited Kingdom
CityEdinburgh
Period2/07/175/07/17

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • Actual heating demand
  • Assumed heating calculations
  • Performance gap
  • SAP
  • Scottish housing

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