Where there’s a wool there’s a way
Work by Professor Steve Sharples and Haniyeh Mohammadpourkarbasi has been highlighted in an article by Sarah Lonsdale in The Sunday Telegraph (24th November 2013). Steve and Haniyeh assessed the energy saving potential of a novel device, the Chimney Sheep, which is made from wool and placed in open, unused chimneys to stop warm air escaping and cold air entering a room. There are many millions of these chimneys in UK housing, and so the energy saving potential could be quite significant. The Chimney Sheep was invented by Sally Phillips, and she received funding from the Technology Strategy Board to have the thermal performance of her invention investigated by Steve and Haniyeh. Analysis demonstrated that the Chimney Sheep could deliver small but easy-to-achieve energy savings that could repay the low cost of the device over just one cold winter.