Paul Moran

Background

About Paul Moran

Paul is currently a Research Associate in NUI Galway, working on the EU funded BenchValue project. The aim of the project is to develop a versatile benchmarking method to compare between renewable wood-based and non-renewable value chains and to quantify the sustainability impacts and climate change mitigation potential of substituting non-renewable with wood-based materials to support decision makers in policy and market environment. Paul is an Energy Systems graduate from NUI Galway. His research areas include (i) lifecycle assessment,(ii) energy efficient sustainable construction technologies,(iv) systems modelling of the built environment, and (v) studying the interrelationships between building occupants, building systems, and building energy consumption. Paul recently submitted his PhD on ‘’Towards Nearly Zero Energy Buildings: The Interrelationships of Materials, People and Operational Performance of Residential Buildings in Ireland”. His PhD research adopted an interdisciplinary methodological design that combined engineering and social sciences to examine the interrelationships between the energy consumption of residential buildings in Ireland, the people occupying these buildings and the materials and technologies used in construction/retrofit as residential buildings in Ireland move towards nZEB standards. The environmental, economic and social impacts of semi-detached and terraced houses were examined considering (i) past, present and future building regulations,(ii) the materials and technology employed in the future electricity generation fuel mix,(iv) future energy pricing,(v) discounting operational energy costs,(vi) the space heating, domestic water heating and appliance energy usage habits of people occupying the buildings and (vii) people’s attitudes, perceptions and social norms regarding energy consumption and the environment.