Dr Alejandro Moreno-Rangel

Lecturer

Architecture

Contact

Back to staff profile

Personal statement

Alejandro is the Director of Technology Studies (UG & PG) & Lecturer in Building Performance Evaluation and Net Zero Design. Alejandro’s main research interests are sustainable architecture and the indoor environment – indoor air quality (IAQ) and thermal comfort –, particularly Passivhaus buildings. Ultimately, the connections between sustainable architecture to health and human behaviours to create healthy homes through design research methods. Recently, Alejandro has developed an interest in using low-cost sensors as research tools and their effect on residential behaviour, design, and human health & well-being. Alejandro is also a certified Passivhaus Designer.

Back to staff profile

Research Interests

Alejandro’s main research interests are net zero buildings, particularly Passivhaus homes, and its connections to health, urban and human behaviours. Through this, Alejandro explores the architectural design, energy efficiency methods, passive techniques and their impact on the indoor environment – indoor air quality (IAQ) and thermal comfort–, particularly in homes and their relation to the urban environment to create healthy homes. Architecture has well responded to climate change mitigating the effects of the built environment. However, its impact on health is usually left aside. Alejandro’s approach to architectural design seeks to improve the quality of life for all citizens in an ageing society, delivering sustainable interventions that take a “whole house” approach. Alejandro’s research uses design research methods to explore the interactions between resident behaviours and the built environment to deliver healthier indoor environments, considering the impact of bio-psychological-social aspects of health, climate change impacts, and energy efficiency methods interactions. Alejandro’s research interests also extend to the use of low-cost sensors as research tools and the effect that they could have on residential behaviour, design and human health & well-being.

Professional Activities

Meet the Expert - See your Indoor Air Quality
Host
9/11/2024
2024 Clean Air Conference
Participant
2/10/2024
UKIEG Annual Conference 2024
Chair
6/6/2024
UKIEG Annual Conference 2024
Organiser
6/6/2024
International Conference of the International Society of Indoor Air Quality & Climate (Event)
Peer reviewer
15/1/2024
UK Indoor Environments Group (External organisation)
Advisor
1/9/2023

More professional activities

Projects

Human-Centric, Healthy, Net-Zero Housing and the Role of Digitisation
McGill, Grainne (Principal Investigator) Dragojlovic-Oliveira, Sonja (Co-investigator) Moreno-Rangel, Alejandro (Co-investigator)
02-Jan-2024 - 02-Jan-2025
Electric Wallpaper Evaluation via Cyber-Physical Systems for Clean Heating: A Pilot Study
Taha, Ahmad (Principal Investigator) Moreno-Rangel, Alejandro (Principal Investigator)
The UK's homes are among the oldest in the world and the worst insulated in Europe, which contributes to their high carbon footprint. The average UK home loses heat three times faster than, e.g., a German property. Heating in homes and buildings is a major contributor to carbon emissions in Scotland and the UK. In the UK, heating accounts for about 37% of the total carbon emissions, with three quarters of that coming from homes. In Scotland, occupied buildings account for 13% of the country's total greenhouse gas emissions, and around 30% of its total energy consumption. Gas central heating is the most common type of heating in Scotland, with 84% of households using a gas or oil boiler as their primary source of heat. Mains gas is the most common fossil fuel used for heating homes. However, more than one million homes in Scotland are not connected to the gas grid and use electric heating or other alternative fuels. The Scottish New Build Heat Standard (NBHS) requires new buildings and limited conversions that apply for a building warrant from April 1, 2024, to use climate-friendly heating systems.
Electric Wallpaper (EWP) is gaining significant attention as an innovative replacement to gas central heating, Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHP), and alternative clean heating mechanisms. West of Scotland Housing Association (WSHA) are piloting the use of NexGen EWP technology in 12 tenemental properties to test the effectiveness of this innovative new clean heating product. This project therefore aims to conduct a pilot study to evaluate the performance of EWP technology in pre 1919 tenements in Glasgow using cutting edge monitoring technology empowered by the Internet-of-Things and AI-enabled data analytics. Data will be collected via a smart sensor system from 12 tenemental properties, owned by WSHA, that already have EWP installed and advanced analytics and forecasting will be applied to generate insights on heating levels, heat retention, and energy consumption taking into account tenants’ comfort level and feedback.
01-Jan-2024 - 31-Jan-2025
Optimising Environmental Sensor Placement in Residential Settings: AICO Ei1025 Environmental Sensors
Moreno-Rangel, Alejandro (Principal Investigator) Sharpe, Tim (Co-investigator) Farooq, Muhammad Zaeem (Researcher)
The project will involve conducting real-world experiments and statistical analysis. To achieve this, multiple sensors will be placed strategically within a controlled residential room environment in the living room, bedroom and kitchen for one week at a time in each room. A maximum of 22 sensors (5 ceiling, 1 centre of the room and 16 walls) will be placed in each room. A maximum of 4 dwellings will be targeted. The data collected from these sensors will be analysed to identify trends and discrepancies in environmental readings based on the sensor's location. The monitoring would be carried out during a 3 to 4 week period within an agreed seasonal period.
01-Jan-2024 - 31-Jan-2025
U-value in situ test - Old Shettleston tenement buildings
Moreno-Rangel, Alejandro (Principal Investigator)
01-Jan-2024 - 31-Jan-2024
An integrated typology-based approach to guide the future development of European historic buildings towards a clean energy transition (FuturHist)
Sharpe, Tim (Principal Investigator) McElroy, Lori (Co-investigator) Moreno-Rangel, Alejandro (Co-investigator) Farooq, Muhammad Zaeem (Researcher)
01-Jan-2024 - 31-Jan-2027
Net Zero Housing Design in Practice – Evaluating Innovation
Moreno-Rangel, Alejandro (Principal Investigator)
Heating costs for a 100m² Passivhaus dwelling can be as low as £200 pa with the potential to eliminate fuel poverty.

The Scottish government has committed to adopting a Passivhaus equivalent approach to building energy performance standards by 2025. Building regulations will be adapted and solutions developed to achieve this quickly and cost-effectively – with a focus on a fabric-first approach. Post Occupancy Evaluation (POE) can provide valuable data on performance outcomes in terms of achieving the required target standards. Publication of the results of this project will provide measured outcomes and evidence for the impact of implementation of Passivhaus in Scotland.

The outcome of the project is an evidence-based report will quantify the performance of replicable infra-red heating systems to achieve the standard:

a. occupancy profile
b. indoor air temperature
c. indoor relative humidity
d. indoor carbon dioxide concentrations
e. outdoor temperature
f. outdoor relative humidity
g. barometric pressure
h. dwelling energy consumption (manual readings)a
i. heating costs

A questionnaire will be used to collect “soft data”, e.g., occupants’ level of satisfaction with the indoor air quality, construction process, etc.

The project in question has already attracted high-profile media interest, e.g., leading specialist publications—“Passive House Plus” and Home Energy Scotland (EST) have expressed interest in publishing the output. These offer valuable opportunities for promoting the (independently validated) capabilities of Kirsty Maguire Architects, and the advantages of the innovative technology.
04-Jan-2023 - 08-Jan-2024

More projects

Back to staff profile

Contact

Dr Alejandro Moreno-Rangel
Lecturer
Architecture

Email: alejandro.moreno-rangel@strath.ac.uk
Tel: 548 3995