The sunlight is radiated onto the test surface on the opposite side of the cage and in that

cage we can place components of buildings as if they were integral parts of a building

structure. That allows us to measure the thermal performance of those devices when bathed in

sunlight and the entire process is about improving the performance of devices and improving their

efficiency to lead us towards a low carbon future.

Buildings are about 40 per cent of the UK's

carbon dioxide emissions and so they're one of the prime targets for trying to meet

government CO2 reduction ambitions. A lot of our work is based on developing computer

models of buildings, models which help us to understand how energy is used, the contribution

which renewable energy technologies might make and also which can be used by central

government and local authorities to develop their carbon reduction policies.

A lot of the uncertainty in making predictions of building energy demand relates to the people

in the building and how they behave. Energy consumption is hugely influenced by equipment,

lights, appliances, computers, televisions and the way that equipment is used by people.

A lot of the work to understand energy demand is multi-disciplinary, bringing together social

scientists who understand behaviour with traditional engineers and building physicists who understand

about the fabric and the energy systems.

To give you a practical example we can measure the energy demand of buildings and the internal

temperatures using traditional scientific monitoring techniques, but on the other hand

we can use social science survey methods to understand the socio economic status of households

and get an inventory of the lights and appliances in households. By comparing the two we can

start to better understand the relationship between people and energy demand.

A lot of our work is of direct interest to energy companies as well as local authorities

and central government. And in a way having worked in this field for 25 years it feels

like finally our moment has come and it's almost impossible to satisfy all the different

demands that different stakeholders have for the work that we do. If we have buildings

which consume less energy, then the demand on the system is reduced and renewable energy

technologies, be it wind, wave and some would say nuclear, has a much greater chance of

meeting a higher proportion of our energy needs.