University of Bath - Equipment Account

蜂巢是一个专门设计的建筑，允许研究新的建筑材料和系统，这将减少建筑环境对环境的影响。该建筑物有16个单独的牢房，这些牢房经过精心建造，彼此完全绝缘，只有一面，在某些情况下有两面暴露在外部环境中。这些面用于安装由各种材料和建筑系统制成的墙壁，并在真实的生活条件下评估这些墙壁的性能。新的建筑材料和系统是在实验室中开发的，在它们可以成功地用于真实的建筑之前，它们确实需要进行全面的评估，这可能是困难的，因为空间的可用性，规划许可，适当的接触地点以及必要的科学和技术基础设施。蜂巢解决了所有这些问题。建筑物的建造和使用占英国总碳排放量的近一半。2010年的二氧化碳当量（CO2e）为2.89亿吨。能源（及相关的碳排放）通过制造建筑构件和材料并将其运输到现场以及安装过程而投入到建筑物的建设中。这种能源成本的总二氧化碳当量被称为建筑物的碳足迹，2010年这一数字超过5300万吨二氧化碳当量。在建筑围护结构的制造中使用可再生的生物基材料具有从空气中“捕获”二氧化碳并将其隔离在建筑物的结构中的好处。这使得创造潜在的“负”碳足迹建筑成为可能。HIVE旨在评估和优化这些类型的材料。使用建筑物涉及大量的能源消耗，特别是用于加热，照明和空调。2010年，这一能源成本约为2.36亿吨二氧化碳当量。通过改善建筑物的结构，可以大大减少这一能源成本。这包括改善气密性，提高绝缘性，使用“透气材料”以减少对空调的需求。然而，这些方法中的一些确实有缺点，尤其是在密封的建筑物中，空气质量可能会受到影响，使建筑物不舒服，甚至不健康，生活和工作。使用蒸汽活性建筑材料和经过处理以被动清洁空气中污染物的材料正在成为一个重要的研究领域。蜂巢是专门为促进所有这些领域的研究而设计的。据说，研究的好处很少在研究完成后的十年或更长时间内感受到。HIVE旨在减少这一时间延迟，并为实现联合王国的碳预算做出有意义的贡献，即到2020年将碳排放量比1990年减少35%。它通过成为一个平台来实现这一目标，在这个平台上，材料和技术的发展可以迅速转化为商业产品，这些产品可以在最初开发的同一建筑物上进行现场测试。与建筑行业的主要参与者携手合作，新型低影响建筑将更快地建造，以最小的延迟造福公众和环境。HIVE是巴斯大学建筑研究园的一部分，位于科学博物馆的Wroughton机场，因此开发项目将通过科学博物馆的公共渠道与公众广泛分享。HIVE还充当这些技术的示范者，使政府和其他决策者能够亲眼看到和了解低影响建筑可以给经济、环境和全球减少碳排放带来的真实的好处。

The HIVE is a building that has been especially designed to allow research into novel building materials and systems which will reduce the environmental impact of the Built Environment. The building has 16 individual cells that have been carefully constructed to be completely insulated from each other, except for one, and in some cases two faces which are exposed to the external environment. The faces are used to install walls made from a whole range of materials and constructive systems, and the performance of these walls is evaluated in real life conditions.Novel building materials and systems are developed in the laboratory and before they can be successfully used on real buildings, they do need to be evaluated at full scale, something which can be difficult because of problems with availability of space, planning permission, suitable exposure sites, and the necessary scientific and technical infrastructure. The HIVE resolves all of these issues.The construction and use of buildings is responsible for nearly half of the UK's total carbon emissions. This amounted to 289 million tonnes of Carbon Dioxide equivalent (CO2e) in 2010.Energy (and associated carbon emissions) is put into the construction of buildings through the manufacture and transportation of building components and materials to site, and into their erection. The total CO2e of this energy cost is known as the building's carbon footprint, and in 2010 this amounted to more than 53 million tonnes CO2e. The use of renewable, bio-based materials in the fabrication of building envelopes has the benefit of 'capturing' CO2 from the air and sequestering it within the fabric of the building for its life. This allows the creation of potentially 'negative' carbon footprint buildings. The HIVE has been designed to evaluate and optimize these types of materials.Using buildings involves the expenditure of considerable amounts of energy, particularly for heating, lighting and air-conditioning them. In 2010, this energy cost amounted to some 236 million tonnes CO2e. Significant reductions can be made to this energy cost through improvements to the fabric of buildings. This includes improving air tightness, improving insulation, using 'breathable materials' to reduce the need for air-conditioning. Some of these approaches do, however, have a down-side, and this is particularly the case with hermetically sealed buildings where the air quality can suffer, making buildings uncomfortable, or even unhealthy, to live and work in. The use of vapour active building materials, and of materials that have been treated to passively clean the air of contaminants is becoming an important area of research. The HIVE has been specially designed to facilitate all these areas of researchIt is said that the benefits fom research are rarely felt for ten years or more after the research has been done. The HIVE is designed to reduce this time delay and to make a meaningful contribution towards achieving the UK's Carbon Budget of reducing carbon emissions by 35% over 1990 levels by 2020. It achieves this by being a platform where developments in materials and technologies can be rapidly transformed into commercial products which can be field tested on the same building where were first developed. Working hand in hand with the key players in the construction industry, novel low impact buildings will be constructed more rapidly, benefitting the general public and the environment with the minimum of delay.The HIVE forms part of the University of Bath's Building Research Park at the Science Museum's Wroughton Airfield site, so developments will be widely shared with the general public through the Science Museum's public outlets. The HIVE also acts as a demonstrator of these technologies allowing Government and other policy makers to see and understand at first hand the real benefits that low impact construction can bring to the economy, the environment and to global reduction of carbon emissions.