Rory Victor Jones

Providing high air quality is crucial to the health and well‐being of older people living in nursing homes. A measurement study was undertaken in 22 communal rooms of five nursing homes in Spain to investigate the effects of heating, ventilation, and air‐conditioning (HVAC) systems, room characteristics, and occupant activities on the indoor air quality. The study included 196 periods of data collection (equivalent to 5282 measurements). To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study of indoor air quality in Spanish nursing homes. The study found that mean CO ₂ concentrations were consistently below established standards, although notable peaks were evident due to specific activities. Natural and cross ventilation had a clear role in maintaining CO ₂ concentrations below recommended levels. The findings indicate that lower occupancy density may be required in rooms where high‐CO ₂ ‐generating activities take place, such as gym–physiotherapy rooms. The results showed that the older residents and staff were both more thermally comfortable at higher CO ₂ concentrations. This suggests that striking a balance between air quality and thermal comfort is necessary. The study provides useful insights for the design of ventilation systems and spatial layouts of nursing homes, which can achieve higher levels of indoor air quality and occupant well‐being.

Biomimicry creates designs inspired by nature and uses ecological benchmarks to assess their sustainability. It is believed that biomimicry can help society produce and consume in more sustainable ways, as well as address some of the key challenges facing the world today. However, research into the applications of and possible barriers to using biomimicry for creating more sustainable Architectural, Engineering and Construction (AEC) projects is still limited. This paper addresses this gap by undertaking and analysing twelve semi-structured interviews with leading global experts and practitioners in the field of biomimicry as applied to the built environment industry. The study identifies substantial potential in the use of biomimicry in AEC projects, including the following: adopting circular approaches; enhancing interactions between human and natural infrastructure; optimising material and energy use; recycling and re-use of materials; reducing time and costs; plus more collaborative and interdisciplinary working. However, a wide range of multifaceted barriers also exist that are currently hindering the exploration and exploitation of this potential, including the following: lack of knowledge; insufficient research and testing at the scale of AEC projects; fragmentation, poor communication and traditional nature of the industry; perception of high risks and costs; as well as outdated and unsuitable legislation and planning processes.

In the West African Monetary and Economic Union (UEMOA), information on the characteristics of the users and patterns of electricity end-uses remains hard to find. This study aims to contribute to reducing the gap in research on domestic electricity consumption in the region by unveiling the ownership rates, patterns of use and electricity consumption of domestic appliances in urban households through a city-wide survey. Three categories of urban users were investigated including high, medium and low consumers. Findings demonstrated various ownership rates for appliances, ranging from 100% for lighting fixtures to 0% for washing machines depending on user category. Domestic electricity demonstrated patterns consisting of three peak demand periods, with the main ones occurring in the evening (19:00 to 20:00) and the night (22:00). Other demand characteristics include an average daily electricity use ranging from 0.50 to 6.42 kWh per household, a maximum power demand of between 0.19 and 0.70 kW and a daily load factor between 35 and 58%. Finally, the appliances contributing the most to domestic electricity use include air-conditioners, fans, fridges and freezers, televisions and lighting fixtures, with contributions differing from one category of user to another. Policy implications including review of the appliances’ importations framework and policies, and incentives for purchasing efficient appliances, design of more tailored policies, considering the different backgrounds of the users, education enhancement on energy behaviours for increasing energy efficiency/conservation, and implementation of DSM programs including load levelling, load shifting and load reducing depending on the type of appliance for energy conservation in the domestic buildings were derived. Overall, a large range of stakeholders of the electricity sector, not only in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA), but also in other regions and countries sharing common characteristics should be interested in the results of this study.

This study analyses the dwelling, household, socio-economic and appliance-related determinants of urban domestic electricity use in Burkina Faso. A survey of 387 households in Ouagadougou was conducted and combined with their electricity use, collected from energy bills. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first large-scale, city-wide household electricity study undertaken in Burkina Faso. Linear regression models were applied to the data to assess the influence of household, dwelling, socio-economic and appliance-related factors on electricity use. Significant and unambiguous predictors of urban domestic electricity use included household income, dwelling tenure type and ownership, and use of lighting fixtures, television sets, fridges, fans, freezers and air conditioners. Dwelling, household and socio-economic factors explained 70.2% and 70.5% of the variance in electricity use, respectively, when combined with appliance ownership and use factors. This study provides an understanding of the driving factors of domestic electricity use and discusses the implications and applications of this research for a range of stakeholders in the electricity sector.

This paper investigates the opportunities and barriers to business engagement in the UK domestic retrofit sector. There are approximately 28 million UK dwellings accounting for 30% of UK total energy consumption. Almost all of the existing housing stock will require some form of retrofit in order to meet the UK Government’s Net Zero emissions target by 2050. However, adoption has been much lower than required. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with industry professionals to investigate the key barriers and opportunities for businesses in the retrofit market. The results suggest that there is significant opportunity for businesses, but engagement has been suppressed by three main categories of barriers: (1) Those that cause lack of consumer demand; (2) Those that constrain retrofit projects, limiting their volume and scalability; (3) Those resulting from a lack of government will or direction. Business opportunity for retrofit was seen to extend globally, with substantial market growth possible. The paper suggests potential roles and solutions key stakeholders could take to achieve the volume of retrofit required. The findings should be of interest to all stakeholders who wish to overcome the multitude of barriers to business engagement in the retrofit sector and realise the potential opportunities. Practical application: This study aims to understand the barriers preventing the large-scale adoption of domestic retrofit in the UK in order to identify avenues for increasing business engagement in the sector. Potential areas believed to present significant opportunity for businesses when engaging in, developing and upscaling the retrofit process and solutions are highlighted. This paper should be of interest to building industry professionals already or wanting to undertake domestic retrofit works in future. The paper also gathers the views of current building industry professionals through semi-structured interviews providing an industry centric assessment of the sector’s challenges and possible solutions.