Concrete solutions for climate change

The Concrete Centre is exploring the need to protect homes against the impact of climate change with the Met Office predicting high temperatures and increased risk of flooding.

According to the newly published UK Climate Projections, Britain is facing summer temperatures above 40degC with droughts becoming commonplace in the South East and more frequent torrential downpours and winter storms leading to widespread flooding.

Prepared by the Met Office and based on 12 years of research by the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research, the projections are the most comprehensive of their kind and show that the predicted impacts of climate change will transform our lives.

"The predicted hotter summers and increased flooding could mean uncomfortable living conditions, particularly for those whose homes are built using lightweight construction", warns Tom de Saulles, building physicist at The Concrete Centre.

"Compared with the thermal mass of heavyweight homes built from concrete and masonry, lightweight homes are more likely to feel the full effects of summer heat during the days and feel even more uncomfortable at night".

"In addition, the robustness and innate flood resilience of heavyweight construction means that it is better able to cope with storms and flooding".

Research carried out by Arup for The Concrete Centre found that the increase in summer temperatures means that a lightweight timber frame home would regularly overheat and would need to fit air-conditioning in just 12 years time.

By contrast, a medium weight house built with brick and block external walls, or a heavyweight house that incorporates a precast concrete first floor and ground floor internal concrete block walls, would not overheat in such a way due to their inherent thermal mass that absorbs heat gains and so evens out the internal temperature.

The research, 'Embodied and operational carbon dioxide emissions from housing: a case study on the effects of thermal mass and climate change', found that the additional marginal embodied CO2 in the heavyweight buildings was offset in only 11 years due to their superior thermal performance not only in the summer but also during the heating season.

"The increased energy consumption resulting from the premature installation of air-conditioning in lightweight homes would significantly increase their CO2 emissions and, therefore, their environmental impact", said de Saulles.

"Thermal mass helps to future proof homes against a warming climate and can save energy by negating the need for air conditioning during the summer and by reducing heating requirements during the winter".

In addition to hotter summers, the UK Climate Projections predicts that, despite summer time droughts, Britain will suffer from more frequent storms resulting in widespread flooding.

10 per cent of UK homes are already at risk from coastal or inland flooding and this figure looks set to rise due to extreme rainfall patterns and rising sea levels.

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