Is Building-Integrated Energy Storage a Good Idea?

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Meeting our global climate targets depends on a massive decarbonisation of heating, but the UK government's recent 'Clean Growth Strategy' identified this as "our most difficult policy and technology challenge" for meeting carbon targets. Two key ways to decarbonise heating are: 1) switch to electrical heating (such as heat pumps) using decarbonised electricity. 2) increase the diversity of direct low-carbon heating technologies such as solar thermal, biomass, and waste heat. Energy storage (both electrical and thermal) will be a crucial enabler in both cases, decoupling the timing of energy supply from demand and aiding the adoption of more low-carbon power generation. However, many questions remain over how best to adopt energy storage into buildings and communities. For example, what physical size would novel storage options need to be to shift energy demand over useful durations (e.g. a few hours)? What are the environmental impacts of promising technology options; e.g. will they achieve a net carbon benefit through their use? Is building-scale an appropriate level to target energy storage at to assist in the wider decarbonisation context? This PhD will use a combination of dynamic energy modelling and life cycle assessment to establish the feasibility of novel storage options for buildings. The research is funded via EPSRC through the department ACE, and directly addresses faculty strategic research priorities of "low carbon futures" and "sustainability". It will benefit architects and engineers by providing scientific evidence to guide the design of energy storage systems into buildings and communities. It will also inform policy-making on the role of energy storage for low-carbon buildings.