Awaiting Public Project Summary

The proposed project is concerned with the development and manufacturing of a revolutionary photovoltaic vacuum glazing (PV-VG) for building applications. The PV-VG design features lower heat loss and lighter weight compared with double or triple glazing, and eliminates the need for inert gases such Argon used in conventional windows. The proposed PV-VG technology also generates electricity using the laminated thin-film PV cell and makes use of low-e coating to reduce radiative heat loss or gain to offer better thermal comfort and energy saving. The application of this innovation across buildings for public use, community centres and social housing will have a direct impact on improving the energy security, comfort and economic lives of the ODA citizens.

The overall aims of the project is to investigate the technical and commercial feasibility of a novel technology that would enable Ground Source Heat Pumps (GSHPs) powered by low carbon energy sources to become economically viable for a wide range of space heating applications. It creates a new commercial opportunity for UK industry addressing fuel poverty by making space heating cheaper. In this project, the proposed EfficientGeoTech system avoids expensive, large drilling rigs required for conventional borehole, the use of portable piling machines allows GHEs to be installed on otherwise inaccessible sites. The project will demonstrate to house builders and local authorities significant potential for reducing buildings' energy consumption. Such improvements would benefit future occupants by reducing their heating costs and thus improving their standard of living. The work will also help more broadly in enhancing public awareness that sustainable heating is feasible if technologies are properly developed. The key features, i.e. low cost, high efficiency, ease of production and installation, will help stimulate the building and energy technology market, increasing the strategic role in the UK economy and, creating more employment.

Project Notch looks to accelerate the adoption of Community Energy Systems (CES). CES is a different way of generating and supplying heat and electricity to homes and commercial buildings - locally produced energy is used locally with minimal or no use of the national grid. The benefits are reduced cost and more efficient use of distributed renewables to reduce the overall carbon emissions from the energy system. Most of the necessary technologies are available but they are too expensive for consumers to invest in themselves and the business model is not in place that shows companies how they will make a return, so they dont invest. Project Notch starts with a blank sheet of paper: a new housing development in Nottingham’s Trent Basin. It brings together all the companies involved in the energy supply chain with the potential buyers of up to 120 homes on site. Involving heat and electricity the aim is to operate independent of the gas and electric grids. Using novel consumer engagement tools and a focus on business model development the consortium will develop and test business model templates that could be used by any developers of large scale housing projects.

From the farm to the store, food and drink including eggs and poultry products must be chilled -- and kept chilled, packaged and handled properly so it will be safe for consumers to buy. In addition, in the UK, there is a legal requirement, that the internal temperature of a warehouse for food and drink storage or processing must be kept at 8°C or below and food must be kept in a fridge or cool ventilated place. Refrigeration is a necessity for sustainable conservation and supply of food and drink products; however currently, fossil fuel consumption costs and greenhouse gas emissions are too high. The aim of the project is to develop a first-of-its-kind Ice Heat Pump for ice production for the food and drink applications sectors. The novel system uses environmental friendly working fluids (air/water mixture), that will result in 40% more efficient and cost-effective cool ventilated warehouses or/and refrigerated storage rooms.

his project aims to develop, optimize, and manufacture novel polymer micro-hollow fibre heat exchangers (PHFHE) for various applications . This light weight PHFHE can reduce the weight up to 50% compared with traditional metal heat exchanger, leading to at least 50% cost reduction. The small diameters of the fibres (micrometers) have thin walls and large surface area so heat transfer intensity is significantly increased. PHFHE can be applied in the following sectors: 1) Buildings: holllow membrane fibres for liquid desiccant cooling and non-porous capillaries for air heat recuperation, air heaters and fan-coils; 2) Automotive: car radiators with same thermal power as traditional radiators but 50% lighter; 3) Electronics:heat transfer units for cooling compact electronic devices; 4) Water desalination:air humidification by pervaporation through hollow fibre membranes; 5) Energy Storage: non-porous hollow fibres for encapsulating PCMs can enhance heat transfer for passive cooling and energy storage applications. The implementation of such micro-fibre technology will offer cost effective and recycleable materials significant reduction in energy consumption and carbon emission.