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Agzennai Soares, Samir (2025) The challenges of decarbonising heating of rural UK homes. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham.

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Abstract

In UK law, the country must reduce it’s carbon emissions by 100% by 2050 in comparison to emissions produced in 1990 (UK Parliament 2008). Simply put the United Kingdom must reduce it’s emissions to net zero by 2050. Domestic heating currently accounts for the largest proportion of CO2 emissions of the UK, where effort has been made to decarbonise improve UK housing stock. The vast majority of which are in urban and suburban environments. The work in this thesis comprises of understanding the current state and challenges to decarbonise rural homes, particularly remote home heating. Enabling lower emissions homes and heating in rural settings is more challenging and costlier due to various factors such as remoteness, lack of infrastructure, government awareness and other factors. This work is seeking to contribute to awareness and understanding of rural domestic energy access and the challenges in reducing household energy emissions in this setting.

This will be done by surveying rural residents and evaluating who lives rurally, and what sort of buildings they live in, five rural energy user groups are identified that can facilitate subsequent research in this thesis and beyond. 20 models are developed of a single rural home microgrid. Each using a different heating fuel or technology that is currently used in rural UK homes and low emissions technologies that could be used in rural settings in the future.

The 19 developed models are simulated across 6 different energy demand profiles. Three demand profiles are estimated, based on local heat degree days and building characteristics. Three more energy demand profiles are based on smart meter data using the earlier derived rural energy user groups, resulting in total 114 unique sets of results. Each model result is scored based on factors such as emissions, cost and energy efficiency. It is found that that heat pump based energy systems are the best scoring. The poorest scoring systems are those that electrolyse and generate hydrogen on location.

This thesis finishes by developing a home scale demonstration system using metal hydride material to store hydrogen gas in a solid state in a domestic energy system. In addition, a digital twin of this system is simulated and analysed alongside the 19 other microgrid models, resulting in 120 total model results.

The purpose of this thesis is to develop and compare the current fuels and technologies used in rural domestic heating and power, to compile some of the challenges towards rural domestic net zero, and evaluate some low emissions technologies that could be considered and used in the future by rural residents and policymakers. And to demonstrate novel energy storage technologies that could be used in rural UK settings.

All to contribute towards a just transition to net zero and low emissions domestic energy to everyone no matter of socioeconomic ability. And to everywhere, whether from the city to the countryside or from the lowland to the highland.

Item Type:	Thesis (University of Nottingham only) (PhD)
Supervisors:	Gillott, Mark Stuart, Alastair
Keywords:	carbon dioxide mitigation, Great Britain, greenhouse gas mitigation, heating, rural houses
Subjects:	T Technology > TH Building construction > TH7005 Heating and ventilation. Air conditioning
Faculties/Schools:	UK Campuses > Faculty of Engineering UK Campuses > Faculty of Engineering > Built Environment
Item ID:	80741
Depositing User:	Soares, Samir
Date Deposited:	29 Jul 2025 04:40
Last Modified:	29 Jul 2025 04:40
URI:	https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/id/eprint/80741

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