Susan Roaf

Who is Susan Roaf?

Susan Roaf is a visiting Professor at the Open University and Arizona State University as well as an Oxford city councillor. In 2005, she became Professor of Architectural Engineering at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh.

She was born in Malaysia and completed a degree from Manchester University. Her doctoral thesis was on the windcatchers of Yazd in Iran from Oxford Brookes University where she taught from 1989 to 2005 both in professional studies, technology and design. She has practiced for a number of years on the design of housing, schools, hospitals and town planning.Heriot Watt School of the Built Environment

In 1995 Susan Roaf built the Oxford Ecohouse, a house in Oxford designed to maximise energy efficiency. It is equipped with the first photovoltaic cell roof installed in Britain.

A six bedroom family home, it produces only 130 kg CO₂/annum per metre square, in contrast to comparable UK houses that produce 5000 kg CO₂/annum m2. It has 4 kW peak of photovoltaic output, 5m2 of solar hot water panels and additional heating from a passive solar sun space.