Over the past 3 years, I have been researching the problem of how to keep people warm in our wide diversity of UK housing without wasting energy and keeping costs manageable.
Heating our homes accounts for 61% of domestic energy use. Heating the air throughout any house uses a lot of energy because of the large volume of air involved and the multiple heat loss factors.
On top of this, heating rooms to a recommended temperature (say 20°C) is complex because individuals vary in how warm they feel (their ‘thermal comfort’) at any room temperature.
My most recent study (Spring 2024) , sought to identify the main factors affecting individuals’ thermal comfort in their everyday lives at home on 30 days in winter 2024.
A study of domestic thermal comfort – May 2024
My Thermal Study slide presentation to the Sustainable Energy Association is available here.
The Prospectory 