A case for application of vacuum insulated panels (VIPs) in high-income area solid wall buildings: Expensive technology for expensive areas

The UK is a large producer of carbon emissions releasing over 580 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2012. One quarter of this (~145 million tonnes) was accounted for by emissions derived from the residential sector. Compared to the 1990 baseline, emission levels in this sector have reduced 14% with this being achieved mainly through a mixture of UK government incentives and imposed energy legislation. However in order for the UK to meet its energy reduction obligations by 2050, significantly higher reductions are required. According to reviewed UK studies progress in reducing domestic building energy consumption in the past 20 years has been achieved via interventions including: loft and cavity wall insulation, boiler replacements, and installation of double glazing. The majority of these having been targeted in low-income areas, where installation companies can gain access to government sponsored funding schemes such as CERT, CESP, and the ECO. However, these have not extending to enable access to the solutions in middle- and high-income areas, and minor improvements have been made to certain parts of the country, most notably in its city centres that have high-densities of solid wall housing. Recent schemes have been launched to resolve this issue (i.e. the Green Deal); however these have fallen short because of a number of reasons. This paper addresses two of the main problems: Unsuitability of existing technology, and non-financial feasibility of current innovative solutions. A case study in a Nottingham based end-terrace house is presented for upgrade in which current solid wall insulation solutions are not feasible. A hybrid external-internal solid wall vacuum insulated panel solution was installed in this property and an economic analysis was undertaken based on house prices, rental income, and internal floor area. This was used to analyse the feasibility of this solution for this given case, which was then compared against other similar houses in medium and high income areas of the country. With the installation cost being relatively fixed, the feasibility of this solution became favourable as the value of housing and associated rental increased.