Design of HVAC systems for deprived community houses in yorkshire and the humber region in the UK

The stock housing of England (UK) constitutes the oldest housing stocks in the world. Indeed, 63 per cent of all dwellings were built before 1960s and thus most of the people in the UK live in an old house or at least a house that is more than 50 years old. The most common dwelling types in the UK are the semi-detached and terraced houses, and particularly within deprived communities. In deprived communities, houses suffer from poor indoor conditions and building standards of energy performance. They always have the issue of having to be well heated in winter and have to burn more fuel as a consequence. Heating and ventilation are the biggest part of energy consumption in a house. In this study, an ongoing investigation is whether the current houses in deprived communities, in a situation of pre-refurbishment, are within the standards of the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) recommendations in terms of heat, ventilation and possibly cooling. The methodology used is to model different kind and the most common dwellings, and to conduct dynamic computer simulations, for each one, in terms of energy consumption and performance analysis. As a result, this would help to highlight the current energy consumption, and to find out the weaknesses in terms of energy and comfort parameters such as indoor conditions of temperatures and relative humidity levels. In addition, further studies to investigate issues related to indoor air quality and ventilation aspects have been carried out. Furthermore, several design scenarios of a ‘Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning’ (HVAC) system, less energy-consuming and in accordance with the CIBSE guidelines in order to improve the indoor comfort of deprived community houses while reducing the energy consumption and the carbon footprint, has been presented in the study.