Community Energy Literature Review

CO2 monitors of useful accuracy are available at modest price, and the information they provide about air quality in the home can be used in different ways. A first question in response to a home CO2 reading might be about its health implications. This issue is addressed by Usha Satish et al. in their 2012 paper Is CO2 an Indoor Pollutant? Direct Effects of Low-to-Moderate CO2 Concentrations on Human Decision-Making Performance [1] The writers point out that it has been thought that adverse effects attributed to raised CO2 levels in the home are actually due to other pollutants commonly associated with CO2. They describe how their experiment was designed to eliminate this possibility and so isolate the effects of CO2. Before presenting their own findings, they summarise previous research on levels of CO2 much higher than those likely to be encountered in the home: “ CO2 concentrations > 20,000 ppm cause deepened breathing; 40,000 ppm increases respiration m...

Three main groups of pollutant have been distinguished as affecting indoor air quality. According to Schieweck et al., [1] they are outdoor air pollutants, occupant-related pollutants, and building-related pollutants. Those entering a building from outside include carbon monoxide (CO), benzene (C6H6), sulphur dioxide (SO2), ozone (O3), oxides of nitrogen(NO, NO2), and particles. Pollutants mainly produced by occupants include CO2, bio-effluents and particulate matter. Those originating from the materials used in building construction, furnishing and indoor equipment are typically volatile organic compounds, and also viruses, fungi and bacteria. The levels of such pollutants may clearly be important to the health of occupants, but are of particular concern if energy saving measures are taken which may increase the concentration of any pollutants by reducing ventilation levels. Such measures are of interest to many Community Energy groups in the UK, where domestic heating eff...

Energy saving, ventilation and health. In the UK an appreciable proportion of total energy consumption can be ascribed to heating buildings, and of this energy a significant amount is used to heat air. If the number of air changes per hour (ACH) is unnecessarily high, energy is wasted. This post concentrates on domestic buildings, in which a reduction in ACH can often be achieved by cheap and simple means, giving a rapid return on expenditure through lowered energy costs. However, the ACH figure for a house should not be reduced below the minimum needed for the health of its occupants and the preservation of its fabric. In order to know whether the ACH for a dwelling should be reduced, the actual ACH value is needed, and to know by how much it can safely be cut, the minimum figure is required. Pressurisation is one method of measuring the actual ACH figure, and is described in ATTMA Technical Standard L1 Measuring Air Permeability in the Envelopes of Buildings , 2016 (ope...

The impact of policy changes: The opportunities of Community Renewable Energy projects in the UK and the barriers they face Pegah Mirzania, Andy Ford, Deborah Andrews, George Ofori, Graeme Maidment Energy Policy 129 (2019) 1282–1296 The role of Community Renewable Energy (CRE) is reviewed in the context of the energy trilemma (the problem of delivering energy security, equity, and environmental sustainability), changing policy, and the UK’s aging infrastructure. The paper is based on information gathered from community energy groups during 2016 and 2017. It describes the “huge problems” that arose following changes in government policy, and concludes with recommendations on future policy and on business models. Key points in the early development of government policy on CRE are reviewed, the growth of the sector is compared with that achieved in other European countries, and a series of later policy changes are listed which were detrimental to the prospects of CR...

A serious game about air quality, carbon and health. Earlier posts have taken as their subjects Gamification and Motivation and Gamification and domestic energy consumption . This post looks at a particular game, ClairCity Skyline s and its context, as described in ClairCity Project: citizen-led scenarios to improve air quality in European cities. by Enda Hayes et al. (2018), Air Pollution XXVI pp. 233 – 241. Open access: https://www.witpress.com/elibrary/wit-transactions-on-ecology-and-the-environment/230/36761 The ClairCity Project is concerned with air pollution particularly in major cities; Bristol, Amsterdam, Ljubljana, Sosnowiec, Aveiro and Liguria (Genova) are piloting it. The project aims to create a “major shift in public understanding towards the causes of poor air quality, inviting citizens to give their opinions on air pollution and carbon reduction policies to shape the cities of the future.” The game ClairCity Skylines is one of the me...

A previous post referred to a review by Jonna Koivistoa and Juho Hamaria which covered a wide spectrum of papers on gamification. The following review has a much narrower focus, closer to the central topic of this blog. Gamification and serious games within the domain of domestic energy consumption: A systematic review. Johnson, Daniel; Horton, Ella; Mulcahy, Rory; & Foth, Marcus; Queensland University of Technology (2017) Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews, 73, pp. 249-264. The authors refer at the outset to “the urgent need to consider new approaches to motivating individuals to become more energy aware and to translate this knowledge into action.” From a search of 2831 articles, 26 were selected as most suitable for study. These are based on 25 primary studies reporting empirical data on the value of gamification and serious games on energy consumption. There is increasing interest in these tools “to motivate, engage and educate people regarding energy cons...

Community Energy workers are typically interested in motivating members of the public to take action in areas such as energy conservation and the adoption of renewable energy supplies.  Gamification has been considered as a method of informing and motivating its users in a variety of fields, and a brief description of a recent paper reviewing gamification in general follows. Readers may conclude that gamification could be usefully applied to Community Energy, as a method of increasing public engagement, and further posts on this topic are planned. The rise of motivational information systems: A review of gamification research by Jonna Koivistoa and Juho Hamaria, Gamification Group, Faculty of Information Technology and Communications, Tampere University International Journal of Information Management 45, 2019 (Open access) The abstract defines the topic: “Gamification refers to designing information systems to afford similar experiences and motivations as g...