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GMIT has formed a research partnership with property development
company Oysterhomes on a project to develop energy
efficient A-rated homes, in line with new building regulations.
Researchers from the GMIT School of Engineering are to collaborate
with Galway-based Oysterhomes
Ltd over the next three years on a cutting-edge research
project to design and develop cost-effective ultra energy
efficient homes.
New legislation - due to be implemented in July - stipulates
a 40% improvement in energy efficiency and a 31% reduction
in CO2 emissions for new homes. With
GMIT as its research partner, Oysterhomes plans to design
low CO2 energy-efficient homes
in their two new developments - in Athlone and Clara.
The collaboration will use best practice engineering tools
and methodologies to investigate the optimum combination of
insulation, structural and fabric details and renewable technologies,
to achieve state-of-the-art energy efficient homes. It will
be led by GMIT's Dr Tom Roche and Dr John Lohan, Principal
Investigators, GMIT Centre for the Integration of Sustainable
Energy Technologies (CiSET).
"The building quality affecting energy efficiency will
be inspected at regular intervals during the build process.
Once completed, we will carry out engineering tests on the
buildings to correlate build quality with the projected energy
efficiencies. We will this using real live energy data coming
from the 'living' dwellings over a period of two years
post occupation" - said Dr Roche.
"This research project is extremely important - not
just for the owners of homes in these developments, but also
nationally for the furthering of Ireland's mission to cut
CO2 and to reduce its dependence on
imported fossil fuels."
CEO of Oysterhomes, Eamon Conneely, said - "We approached
GMIT with the idea to collaborate over the next number of
years on a cutting-edge research project to support the design
of cost-effective ultra energy efficient homes for these developments.
I am delighted that GMIT has agreed to team-up with Oysterhomes
on this exciting project and I believe it will benefit the
entire industry going forward."
The findings from the research project will be made available
to the general public - as the project progresses - via
academic publications and a dedicated website.
For further information - Click
Here
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