The Nottingham energy, health and housing study: reducing relative humidity, dust mites and asthma

Pretlove, S. E. C., Critchley, R., Howard, R. and Oreszczyn, T. (2002) The Nottingham energy, health and housing study: reducing relative humidity, dust mites and asthma. Building Services Engineering Research and Technology, 23 (1). pp. 43-55. ISSN 0143-6244

Documents
Nottingham study_pretlove.pdf

Request a copy
[img] PDF
Nottingham study_pretlove.pdf - Whole Document
Restricted to Repository staff only

172kB
Item Type:Article
Item Status:Live Archive

Abstract

This paper describes the Nottingham energy, health and housing study, a project where seven Nottingham City Council households subject to either fuel poverty or heat poverty have been refurbished to improve the internal environmental conditions and therefore the health of the occupants. The main aim was to provide improvements in ventilation, insulation, draughtproofing and heating control in the dwellings. An intervention study was carried out in the seven dwellings where temperature, relative humidity, health, dust mite numbers and ventilation were measured before the introduction of a range of heating, ventilation and insulation improvements. These were then monitored again a year later. The results of the study indicate that with a limited budget, significant improvements have been realised in the comfort levels of the occupants and in their health. Modelling of the environmental conditions and energy consumption in each dwelling has been carried out using the steady-state Condensation Targeter II model. Comparisons between the model predictions and the measured data show that Condensation Targeter II can be used as an effective tool for selecting the most appropriate design modifications for an individual dwelling and can assess the impact that these modifications will have on the energy efficiency of the dwelling and the health of the occupants.

Keywords:Energy efficiency, Relative Humidity, Temperature, House Dust Mites, Asthma, Housing
Subjects:K Architecture, Building and Planning > K210 Building Technology
F Physical Sciences > F330 Environmental Physics
B Subjects allied to Medicine > B910 Environmental Health
K Architecture, Building and Planning > K130 Architectural Technology
Divisions:College of Arts > School of Architecture & Design > School of Architecture & Design (Architecture)
Related URLs:
ID Code:26796
Deposited On:05 Apr 2017 10:30

Repository Staff Only: item control page