Net zero housing retrofits - assuring a sustainable low-carbon transition in the domestic sector

About the Project

The UK has committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. The UK's 29 million houses represent 14% of total emissions (CCC, 2019), with nearly 90% of these built more than 20 years ago before stricter energy efficiency standards came into force (Ince & Marvin, 2019). Electrification of domestic energy services is central to achieving carbon neutrality, switching cooking, hot water, and space heating away from fossil energy, particularly natural gas. While the power generation sector is well on its way to reducing carbon intensity of the electricity grid (with emissions falling 68% since 1990; CCC, 2020), reducing demand for secondary energy at the household level will be essential to ensure that demand is aligned with production. This will require deep domestic energy retrofits occurring at an accelerating rate in coming years.

While many of the technologies required to achieve net-zero homes currently exist in the UK, their deployment has been slow for a variety of reasons (e.g., long payback period, split incentives, information gaps, restrictions on protected buildings). Further to this, retrofit deployment at the household level has generally been piecemeal, with a focus on switching to higher-efficiency appliances, rather than whole-system planning for a household’s unique net-zero strategy. Finally, it is essential that domestic retrofits be well-considered, so that these long-term investments do not inhibit the viability of future retrofit options and their performance.

This project will explore adoption of low-carbon domestic retrofits within the UK, to better understand existing drivers and barriers. It will take a life cycle sustainability perspective on domestic retrofit adoption as they scale up in order to understand the costs, environmental impacts, and social implications: Considering environmental impacts – as buildings become higher performance, their environmental impacts will shift from house operations to material inputs/outputs to a greater degree. Considering social implications – occupant experience is likely to change in the technological shift, such as interactions with the control systems of heat pumps. Further, construction practice is also changing, with increased interest in offsite construction, which also needs to be considered when selecting retrofit approaches. Finally, considering costs – the shift from operations focused costs to capital costs is worth tracking for these options, in understanding how best to finance them under changing carbon pricing regimes. The associated costs of maintenance cycles for low-carbon technologies also need to be factored in.

University of Reading:

The University of Reading, located west of London, England, is ranked at 172 globally, according to the QS World University Rankings 2025. 98% of research at the University is of international standing (REF 2021, combining the University’s world leading, internationally excellent and internationally recognised submissions). The University’s main Whiteknights Campus is set in 130 hectares of beautiful, award-winning parkland, less than a 30-minute train ride to London Paddington and is approximately 30 miles from London Heathrow airport.

During your PhD at the University of Reading, you will expand your research knowledge and skills, receiving supervision and training in a number of different forms. We also provide dedicated training in important transferable skills that will support your career aspirations. If you need to develop your academic English skills before you start your studies, then the University has an excellent Global Academy which can help with this.

Eligibility:

• Applicants should have quantitative analysis skills; experience in research on domestic energy, sustainability in the built environment, life cycle assessment or a good bachelor’s degree (minimum of a UK Upper Second (2:1) or equivalent)/master’s degree in a related discipline.
• International applicants will also need to meet the University’s English Language requirements. We offer pre-sessional English courses that can help with meeting these requirements.

The University of Reading is committed to a policy of equal opportunities and non-discriminatory treatment for all members of its community.

How to apply:

Submit an application for a PhD in Energy and Environmental Engineering via our online application system.

Further information:

Construction Management and Engineering PhD webpage

Enquiries:

Dr Eugene Mohareb e-mail : e.mohareb@reading.ac.uk