An examination of development models for innovative, low carbon, ecological dwellings for rural areas of Wales

<p> </p> <p>The provision of housing in rural areas has been identified as crucial for the long term</p> <p>sustainability of rural communities. However, there are questions about how rural</p> <p>developers are responding to legislative requirements to reduce carbon emissions,</p> <p>whether the fulfilment of a need for affordable housing in rural areas can be reconciled</p> <p>with higher energy performance and whether higher energy performance will affect</p> <p>thermal comfort when climate change is taken into account. To understand these issues a</p> <p>review of published and monitored case studies in rural areas of the UK was undertaken</p> <p>which highlighted a number of development models that might be applied by house</p> <p>builders in the Welsh context. An analysis of two exemplar projects in Pembroke Dock,</p> <p>West Wales, examined the following: the social, economic and legislative context of rural</p> <p>development; the significance of energy and carbon used to construct rural houses; and</p> <p>the quantity of energy required to keep rural dwellings at a comfortable temperature in a typical year. Dynamic thermal modelling was then used to investigate a number of design approaches</p> <p>highlighted in the earlier studies as significant including: increasing thermal mass;</p> <p>increasing south facing glazing; adjusting building form and the layout of the site; and</p> <p>higher levels of insulation. The application of these approaches on a housing scheme in</p> <p>West Wales established the benefits of incorporating thermal mass into the building</p> <p>fabric, maintaining a compact form and, where reasonable, using passive solar gain, to</p> <p>reduce heating load. This study identified that these approaches, if carefully combined,</p> <p>could achieve significant (i.e. 16.4%-29.8%) reductions in heating load without</p> <p>compromising the affordability of the original scheme. However, the study also identified</p> <p>that one possible consequence of improving the energy performance would be a</p> <p>reduction in thermal comfort as a result of higher internal temperatures. To gain a better</p> <p>understanding of this further modelling examined the potential for overheating using the</p> <p>following: current and future climate files; an algorithm based on window opening</p> <p>behaviour; detailed simulation of airflow; and bivariate data analysis techniques. The</p> <p>results from this study identified that thermal mass and ventilation techniques could be</p> <p>employed to address the issues of overheating.</p>