Impact of current occupant behaviour on potential carbon savings in a council owned tower block undergoing retrofit

Paper in proceeding, 2014

This paper investigates the impact of current user behaviour on the carbon savings from retrofit measures including Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery (MVHR) in a council owned 107-flat tower block. Prior to the retrofit, temperature and relative humidity monitoring was undertaken in 18 flats for 35 days. The measurements were then used to develop occupant behaviour profiles and their relation to the heating system. Dynamic thermal simulation of the flats pre- and post-retrofit was performed using TRNSYS, with the identified user behaviour profiles as the key parameter. The results highlight that for these fuel poverty constrained flats the estimated carbon savings of retrofit will be typically half those predicted using standard rules for temperature in living spaces.