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Description
This programme looks at the effects of insulation on energy consumption.
Subtitle Number Time In Time Out Subtitle Text
100:00:03.366 00:00:07.200You've been learning about experimentation in the last block of the course and in
200:00:07.200 00:00:10.201this programme we're going to concentrate on some of the things
300:00:10.201 00:00:14.232you've covered about experimental design. But now it's going to be in the
400:00:14.232 00:00:17.064context of energy conservation experiments.
500:00:17.663 00:00:22.126Well by now you're pretty familiar with one such experiment. This one here
600:00:22.126 00:00:26.948at Pennyland in Milton Keynes.
700:00:29.554 00:00:33.036Well as you know these aren't quite ordinary houses. They've got several
800:00:33.036 00:00:37.652energy saving features and the main objective of the experiment is to
900:00:37.652 00:00:41.120measure just how much energy each of these features saves.
1000:00:41.120 00:00:46.327So let's just recap what the features are. Firstly some of the houses have more
1100:00:46.327 00:00:51.233insulation than others. Secondly, they're oriented so as to catch the
1200:00:51.233 00:00:57.615sun. All the houses face south, give or take 45 degrees. Thirdly different houses
1300:00:57.615 00:01:02.720have different glazing patterns. Take a look at this house over here. You see
1400:01:02.720 00:01:06.584it's got very big windows on the side that's facing us. That's the south side
1500:01:06.584 00:01:13.822of the house, but round the back on the north side the windows are much smaller
1600:01:13.875 00:01:18.269Well there are other perhaps secondary objectives. The experimenters want to know
1700:01:18.269 00:01:22.806if these energy saving features make the houses more difficult to build and whether
1800:01:22.806 00:01:26.579the houses are acceptable to the people who are living in them. But in this
1900:01:26.579 00:01:30.174programme and the next we're going to be concentrating on the energy saving
2000:01:30.174 00:01:34.571objectives. Well it should be fairly clear by now that Pennylands really quite a
2100:01:34.571 00:01:40.076complicated experiment. As well as looking at insulation there are all these passive
2200:01:40.076 00:01:44.041solar features, that is the features designed to take advantage of the sun's
2300:01:44.041 00:01:49.541heat, like the orientation and the glazing patterns that I mentioned earlier. And all
2400:01:49.541 00:01:53.395this is going on in real lived in houses with all the complications that that can
2500:01:53.395 00:02:00.111cause. So Pennyland is complex. So before we go and look at the design of the
2600:02:00.111 00:02:04.524Pennyland experiment in a bit more detail, we're going to start off by investigating
2700:02:04.524 00:02:08.641one of its predecessors. An experiment where things were rather simpler.