A new partnership between the University of Salford and the India Green Building Council (IGBC) has been signed ahead of the University’s second conference on energy conservation in construction, Retrofit 2012.
The agreement, which will include the development of a joint Masters programme in green and sustainable management, was signed at the India Green Building Congress, the country’s flagship event on green building which brought together an international gathering of influential industrialists and academics.
In his keynote address, Professor Mike Kagioglou, Head of the University’s School of the Built Environment, said: “Our current relationship with the Indian Green Building Council puts us in a unique position to act as a hub for collaboration between Indian and British companies in green construction and energy.
“This new partnership means that in addition to establishing close research and development working in this hugely important field, we shall be able to benefit a wide range of manufacturers and service providers working in green construction and renewable energy.”
The plans will gather significant momentum at Retrofit 2012, to be held in January, when international academics, businesses and policy-makers in energy, construction and the environment will gather to hear the findings of vital research into energy use and reduction undertaken in the University’s unique Energy House.
The Energy House, built in the same Coronation Street-style as 4.5m UK homes and unveiled at last year’s conference, is a pre-1920s terraced house, furnished and fitted as a typical working home with fully functioning water, gas and electricity supplies - all built inside a three-storey, sealed testing chamber.
This unique approach is a response to the sustainability challenge presented by the UK’s ageing housing stock. 70% of the country’s existing residential property will still be inhabited in 2050 and 91% of all UK homes would benefit substantially from improvements in energy efficiency.
The country’s least efficient properties were predominantly constructed prior to 1920. These currently make up 15% of UK homes but actually account for 23% of total notional C02 emissions. Of these dwellings, more than 2m, are the two-up, two-down terraced-style the University will be studying.
With the imminent launch of the government’s Green Deal, both business and the public will be interested in quantitative findings about the energy and cost outputs of various behaviours, approaches and equipment in a domestic setting.
The conference will hear that already the Energy House is testing insulation and efficiency technologies from more than 50 businesses ranging from large multi-national leading brands through to regional micro business looking to enter the fast growing retrofit market. The team is also working with housing associations and local authorities to deliver cost-effective energy-saving combinations. These bring together construction techniques and ways of persuading and helping people to adopt more energy-efficient habits in their daily lives.
In total the Energy House has now attracted more than £3.5m of investment and has just won a Green Gown Award, celebrating environmental activity in UK universities, for its research and development. The House and has also been nominated for several other prestigious awards including a Times Higher Award for Outstanding Contribution to Innovation and Technology.
Professor Nigel Mellors, Energy Theme Lead said: “The reduction of energy demand from the existing stock of homes had been identified as a core part of UK and EU energy policy. As a high-level question of research, policy and economics it brings together many disciplines in addressing a real world problem.
“The interest from India shows that even though a Salford terrace and homes in India, and their ambient climates, may differ dramatically, the same issues of energy reduction are at the top of the agenda.
“Whether the housing type is terraced house or a clay structure, the findings of the research we are doing here are needed as much in Mumbai as they are in Manchester.
“Too often, excellent work that would impact upon an integrated understanding of successful retrofit programmes is lost in translation, history and within disciplines. Time is running out in the battle against high energy practices and lifestyles, and the conference is designed to ensure such valuable knowledge is not wasted.”
January’s event brings together a wide range of researchers, policy makers and industry professionals to discuss energy efficiency. Retrofit 2012 will take a multi-disciplinary approach in identifying how domestic retrofit for energy efficiency may be best addressed, as well as to debate the three main issues for UK energy policy - carbon emissions, fuel poverty and energy security.
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