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CAMBEEP

Cambridge Building Energy & Environment Portal

CamBEEP purpose

CamBEEP, Cambridge Building Energy & Environment Portal, is a cross-departmental web-based resource for students (undergraduates and graduates) and researchers. The aims of the website consist of providing resources for the following cross-disciplinary areas: 1. Building performance simulation (practical building physics and guide to simulation tools); 2. Building performance monitoring (handouts, toolkits and case studies)


CamBEEP background

National and global targets for reducing CO2 emissions by 2020 and 2050 can only realistically be achieved by reducing the energy demand in existing buildings, which account for 45 % of all end user carbon emissions. This reduction in energy demand must be achieved whilst preserving (or arguably improving) occupant comfort and wellbeing. There is therefore a pressing need to equip our students with the knowledge and skills to design low carbon buildings, and perhaps more importantly, to de-carbonise the existing and ageing building stock. This need is reflected in the growing number of modules on offer that provide the necessary fundamental and applied knowledge. One of the principal real-world challenges in this area is to characterise the performance of existing buildings, as this forms the basis of the remedial / renovation measures that are proposed, and serves to verify that the remedial measures, once installed, are effective. This is an important aspect of research activities at Cambridge, where the recent developments in remote sensing technology are being exploited to provide valuable data on the operation of buildings and the interaction of occupants at relatively low cost. This has however yet to be deployed in our teaching.