Energy efficiency technologies for our homes

Our homes, and how we live in them, have a significant impact on the environment. The average household creates some six tonnes of CO2 each year, and heating, lighting and power used in domestic buildings produces approximately 27% of the UK’s CO2 emissions. Researchers at the University of Nottingham are developing new technologies to reduce this impact in the future.

How we design and build the sustainable homes of the future, and how we adapt existing buildings to become better energy savers – and bring down fuel bills – is now the major challenge in house construction.

A street of ‘eco-houses’ built on the University of Nottingham’s campus is helping researchers to collaborate with construction companies of all sizes to meet that challenge.

The unique test-site of seven ‘Creative Energy Homes’ is a living laboratory, where researchers work with industry partners to develop new energy technologies by investigating the link between how people behave in the home and energy consumption. Their world-leading research is helping firms integrate energy-efficient technologies into house building.

As a result of this work, Lovell Homes has been able to establish itself as a low-energy house developer, winning a number of sustainable housing contracts. The Midlands-based Roger Bullivant Group has developed and installed foundation systems that help improve insulation, while regeneration property developer Igloo Blueprint has built £7 million worth of new homes. The research findings have also informed the UK Government’s ‘Green Deal’ strategy.

Related case studies

Detecting bowel cancer early

One million new diagnoses of bowel cancer are made worldwide each year. This human tragedy is costing the NHS more than £1 billion annually. However, a new, simple and cost effective screening test developed by researchers at Imperial College London has proved so effective that this form of cancer could become a rare disease.

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Developing the bowel cancer screening programme – Imperial College London

There are one million new diagnoses of colorectal cancer annually worldwide. It is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer and the second most frequent cause of cancer death in the UK – incurring costs to the NHS in excess of £1 billion annually.

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