Towards demand flexibility in buildings and improving indoor air quality
Join us for a webinar with Dr Douglas Booker and Flavia de Andrade Pereira.

Developing an environmental justice focused approach to improving indoor air quality
Dr Douglas Booker
How patterns of air pollution vary across an array of social characteristics has been of longstanding interest for the environmental justice (EJ) movement. This has largely been in terms of outdoor air quality, while indoor air quality (IAQ) remains both under theorised and studied. This presentation will draw on an AHRC/EPSRC Impact Acceleration Account project with Lancaster University. In the project we are outlining a framework to develop an EJ focused approach to improving IAQ, including how IAQ policy, practice, and research can contribute to achieving EJ. In doing so, we take an understanding of EJ beyond simply who is exposed more/less to poor IAQ, to also focus on the processes through which unequal distributions of poor IAQ are created and sustained.
Leveraging semantic models for scalable demand flexibility applications in buildings
Flavia de Andrade Pereira
The transition towards decarbonisation requires a tenfold increase in Demand Flexibility (DF) by 2030 compared to 2020 levels, with around 50% coming from buildings. DF involves actively managing loads to support grid demands, particularly during high demand, low supply, or renewable curtailment risks. Despite its significance, the widespread adoption of DF applications in buildings remains limited. This is partly because the heterogeneous nature of the building stock often requires bespoke solutions, leading to a lack of interoperability and portability. Deploying new applications across different buildings entails resource-intensive onboarding processes. In this webinar, we will explore the use of semantic models to address these challenges and enhance the scalability of DF applications. We will discuss how these models describe the meaning of data, facilitate its exchange among diverse sources, and enable applications to be portable across various buildings. We will also address the benefits, limitations, and challenges associated with semantics-driven approaches.
Research Fellow in Smart Building Data Models
UCL Institute for Environmental Design and Engineering
Flavia's research focuses on smart buildings, demand flexibility, and information management, with a particular emphasis on semantic web technologies and linked data. Flavia's background is in Electrical Engineering, and she holds an MSc in Smart Systems Integration. She is currently pursuing her doctoral studies in Mechanical Engineering, with a thesis on "A Semantics-driven Framework for Scalable Demand Flexibility Control Applications in Buildings". Flavia also has extensive international experience in the energy sector, having worked in the consulting industry and research institutes in Brazil, the US, and Spain.
Dr Douglas Booker
Lecturer in Indoor Air
University of Leeds
Dr Douglas Booker is geographer and entrepreneur, with a focus on indoor air quality and environmental justice. Douglas is a Lecturer in Indoor Air at the University of Leeds in the School of Civil Engineering, and the Co-Founder & CEO of NAQTS, a Lancaster Environment Centre collocated business that develops tools and technologies to provide holistic indoor air quality information. Douglas is also a UKRI Regional Clean Air Champion as part of the SPF Clean Air Programme, where he helps to bring together research across engineering, atmospheric, medical, and social science to develop practical and fair solutions for air quality challenges.
Further information
Ticketing
Pre-booking essential
Cost
Free
Open to
All
Availability
Yes