Future-proofing energy demands

Interventions made now could be undone by future changes in lifestyle and climate. That means a degree of future proofing of energy and building strategies is required.

The Naked House is a passively heated and cooled ecohome. Photo by Anne Woods.

Take the workplace. At the building scale, laptop computer technology is halving the cooling needs of offices. Task lighting has the potential to do the same for office lighting. Prescribed maximum allowable cooling capacities for unwanted solar overheating is also likely to dramatically reduce the future cooling requirements of commercial buildings.

These developments bring the cooling needs well within the capacity of natural cooling using room exposed thermal mass surfaces (coupled with night ventilation). Even if air conditioning in a building is initially perceived as necessary for current commercial expectations, buildings should be designed so that it can be stripped out and the building operated more naturally, using its thermal mass and potentially natural ventilation. Natural cooling utilising room exposed thermal mass only is, however, predicted to reduce in efficiency with the reduction in diurnal variation of ambient temperatures that is part of the future climate change predictions for UK cities.

The trend of workspaces all being within 7.5 metres from windows is also likely to become a significant factor as attracting and retaining quality staff with higher perceived space quality becomes more important. The emphasis is likely to change towards the quality of daylighting in a building instead of the current trend for oversized windows with their inherent poor light distribution and glare across the room depth.

Masterplanning at the neighbourhood scale should anticipate these trends. The massing of buildings in masterplanning block terms should be tested for depth, allowing natural ventilation. Thermal masterplanning should be used to ensure future-proofing of energy demands is integral to design.

Future proofing strategies are needed at the city and neighbourhood scale to ensure that new buildings and regeneration efforts do not quickly join the ranks of the difficult to upgrade existing building stock. Compared with individual building energy generation, community energy systems normally allow relatively easy switching to alternative renewable fuels at central plant renewal stages without having to upgrade each building connected to the system.

Priority: develop a low carbon and renewable energy portfolio
Tags: energy, cities and towns, neighbourhoods, buildings and spaces