scholarly journals Conservation-Compatible Retrofit Solutions in Historic Buildings: An Integrated Approach

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 2927 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessia Buda ◽  
Ernst Jan de Place Hansen ◽  
Alexander Rieser ◽  
Emanuela Giancola ◽  
Valeria Natalina Pracchi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Conditions ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Historic Buildings ◽  
Zero Energy ◽  
Building Stock ◽  
Energy Retrofit ◽  
Performance Requirements ◽  
Detailed Assessment

Historic, listed, or unlisted, buildings account for 30% of the European building stock. Since they are complex systems of cultural, architectural, and identity value, they need particular attention to ensure that they are preserved, used, and managed over time in a sustainable way. This implies a demand for retrofit solutions able to improve indoor thermal conditions while reducing the use of energy sources and preserving the heritage significance. Often, however, the choice and implementation of retrofit solutions in historic buildings is limited by socio-technical barriers (regulations, lack of knowledge on the hygrothermal behaviour of built heritage, economic viability, etc.). This paper presents the approach devised in the IEA-SHC Task 59 project (Renovating Historic Buildings Towards Zero Energy) to support decision makers in selecting retrofit solutions, in accordance with the provision of the EN 16883:2017 standard. In particular, the method followed by the project partners to gather and assess compatible solutions for historic buildings retrofitting is presented. It focuses on best practices for walls, windows, HVAC systems, and solar technologies. This work demonstrates that well-balanced retrofit solutions can exist and can be evaluated case-by-case through detailed assessment criteria. As a main result, the paper encourages decision makers to opt for tailored energy retrofit to solve the conflict between conservation and energy performance requirements.

scholarly journals How Can Scientific Literature Support Decision-Making in the Renovation of Historic Buildings? An Evidence-Based Approach for Improving the Performance of Walls

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 2266
Author(s):  
Valentina Marincioni ◽  
Virginia Gori ◽  
Ernst Jan de Place Hansen ◽  
Daniel Herrera-Avellanosa ◽  
Sara Mauri ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Performance ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Cultural Value ◽  
Correct Selection ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Historic Buildings ◽  
Indoor Environmental Quality ◽  
Building Stock ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Assessment Design

Buildings of heritage significance due to their historical, architectural, or cultural value, here called historic buildings, constitute a large proportion of the building stock in many countries around the world. Improving the performance of such buildings is necessary to lower the carbon emissions of the stock, which generates around 40% of the overall emissions worldwide. In historic buildings, it is estimated that heat loss through external walls contributes significantly to the overall energy consumption, and is associated with poor thermal comfort and indoor air quality. Measures to improve the performance of walls of historic buildings require a balance between energy performance, indoor environmental quality, heritage significance, and technical compatibility. Appropriate wall measures are available, but the correct selection and implementation require an integrated process throughout assessment (planning), design, construction, and use. Despite the available knowledge, decision-makers often have limited access to robust information on tested retrofit measures, hindering the implementation of deep renovation. This paper provides an evidence-based approach on the steps required during assessment, design, and construction, and after retrofitting through a literature review. Moreover, it provides a review of possible measures for wall retrofit within the deep renovation of historic buildings, including their advantages and disadvantages and the required considerations based on context.

Use of adaptable solutions to achieve near-zero energy buildings through a combined thermal and comfort performance approach

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 361-373
Author(s):  
Carlos Ochoa ◽  
Beth Massey
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Thermal Comfort ◽  
Indoor Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air ◽  
Housing Stock ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Building Envelope ◽  
Zero Energy ◽  
Building Stock

The existing residential building stock in many industrialized countries is large but extremely energy inefficient, despite the existence of energy directives that apply mostly to new construction. Prefabricated building refurbishment for energy upgrading is a viable option for the existing building stock, but solutions need to adapt to each case and usage in order to respond to specific requirements. The “RECO2ST” project (Horizon 2020) is used as example of a forecast methodology that can help achieve nearly zero energy refurbishments, through selection of innovative modular elements for the opaque and transparent areas of the building envelope, covering diverse energy reduction strategies while improving thermal comfort and indoor air quality. This integrated approach is not usual in the field. The Technical Note studies a series of facade and active window technologies that supply climate strategies such as insulation, heat recovery and ventilation. The methodology is demonstrated for three sample cases using a typical refurbishment scenario. It is evaluated through energy simulation and analysis of improvements in thermal comfort and indoor air quality indicators. Practical application: The methodology helps to reduce guesswork for actions to be taken in order to refurbish and upgrade the existing housing stock to comply with current energy directives. It takes into account at the same time energy performance and user comfort, as expressed through indoor air quality.

scholarly journals Urban energy performance calculation based on EPBD standards. GIS4ENER tool

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gema Hernandez-Moral ◽  
◽  
Víctor Iván Serna-Gonzalez ◽  
Francisco Javier Miguel Herrero ◽  
César Valmaseda-Tranque
Keyword(s):  
Energy Demand ◽  
Planning Process ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Local Scale ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Energy Planning ◽  
Strong Impact ◽  
Building Stock ◽  
Urban Energy ◽  
Performance Calculation

Climate change will have a strong impact on urban settings, which will also represent one of the major challenges (world’s urban population is expected to double by 2050, EU buildings consume 40% final energy and generate 36% CO2 emissions). A plethora of initiatives address this challenge by stressing the underlying necessity of thinking globally but acting locally. This entails the inclusion of a varied set of decision-makers acting at different scales and needing robust, comprehensive and comparable information that can support them in their energy planning process. To this end, this paper presents the GIS4ENER tool to support energy planners at different scales by proposing a bottom-up approach towards the calculation of energy demand and consumption at local scale that can be aggregated to support other decision-making scales. It is based on three main pillars: the exploitation of publicly available data (such as Open Street Maps, Building Stock Observatory or TABULA), the implementation of standardised methods to calculate energy (in particular the ISO52000 family) and the use of Geographic Information Systems to represent and facilitate the understanding of results, and their aggregation. The paper presents the context, main differences with other approaches and results of the tool in Osimo (IT).

Deep renovation of historic buildings

2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 539-553 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Herrera-Avellanosa ◽  
Franziska Haas ◽  
Gustaf Leijonhufvud ◽  
Tor Brostrom ◽  
Alessia Buda ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Demand ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Historic Buildings ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Critical Approaches ◽  
Conceptual Paper ◽  
Continued Use ◽  
Definition Of

Purpose Improving the energy performance of historic buildings has the potential to reduce carbon emissions while protecting built heritage through its continued use. However, implementing energy retrofits in these buildings faces social, economic, and technical barriers. The purpose of this conceptual paper is to present the approach of IEA-SHC Task 59 to address some of these barriers. Design/methodology/approach Task 59 aims to achieve the lowest possible energy demand for historic buildings. This paper proposes a definition for this concept and identifies three key socio-technical barriers to achieving this goal: the decision-makers’ lack of engagement in the renovation of historic buildings, a lack of support during the design process and limited access to proven retrofit solutions. Two methods – dissemination of best-practice and guidelines – are discussed in this paper as critical approaches for addressing the first two barriers. Findings An assessment of existing databases indicates a lack of best-practice examples focused specifically on historic buildings and the need for tailored information describing these case studies. Similarly, an initial evaluation of guidelines highlighted the need for process-oriented guidance and its evaluation in practice. Originality/value This paper provides a novel definition of lowest possible energy demand for historic buildings that is broadly applicable in both practice and research. Both best-practices and guidelines are intended to be widely disseminated throughout the field.

scholarly journals Accelerating Energy Renovation Solution for Zero Energy Buildings and Neighbourhoods—The Experience of the RenoZEB Project

Proceedings ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michele Vavallo ◽  
Marco Arnesano ◽  
Gian Marco Revel ◽  
Asier Mediavilla ◽  
Ane Ferreiro Sistiaga ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
European Level ◽  
Zero Energy ◽  
Building Stock ◽  
Existing Building ◽  
A Value ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
New Buildings

Buildings are the key factor to transform cities and to contribute to recent European energy efficiency objectives for 2030 and long-term 2050. New buildings account to only 1–2% annually. Yet, ninety percent of the existing building stock in Europe was built before 1990, it is therefore necessary to promote their energy renovation to achieve the set objectives. Renovation solutions are available on the market, yet a wrong implementation and integration due to a lack of knowledge neither maximizes the energy performance of the post-retrofitting nor the financial optimisation and viability of the projects. This paper presents research on a plug & play, modular, easy installable façade and ICT decision making technologies to provide affordable solutions in order to overcome those deep renovation barriers. The paper sets out by defining a value framework that can be applied by real estate investors for making better retrofitting decisions for residential buildings, through mapping targeted building typologies and investigating new building revalorisation strategies, new renovation concepts and KPIs for evaluation. Thereafter the paper presents the modular and easy-to-install façade system that is replicable and scalable at European level.

scholarly journals An Integrated HBIM Simulation Approach for Energy Retrofit of Historical Buildings Implemented in a Case Study of a Medieval Fortress in Italy

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 2601 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina Piselli ◽  
Jessica Romanelli ◽  
Matteo Di Grazia ◽  
Augusto Gavagni ◽  
Elisa Moretti ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Central Italy ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Information Modeling ◽  
Integrated Modelling ◽  
Water Tank ◽  
Hvac System ◽  
Historical Buildings ◽  
Building Stock ◽  
Energy Retrofit

The Italian building stock consists of buildings mainly constructed until the mid-20th century using pre-industrial construction techniques. These buildings require energy refurbishment that takes into account the preservation of their architectural heritage. In this view, this work studies an innovative integrated modelling and simulation framework consisting of the implementation of Historical Building Information Modeling (HBIM) for the energy retrofit of historical buildings with renewable geothermal HVAC system. To this aim, the field case study is part of a medieval complex in Central Italy (Perugia), as representative ancient rural offshore architecture in the European countryside. The system involves of a ground source heat pump, a water tank for thermal-energy storage connected to a low-temperature radiant system, and an air-handling unit. The building heating energy performance, typically influenced by thermal inertia in historical buildings, when coupled to the novel HVAC system, is comparatively assessed against a traditional scenario implementing a natural-gas boiler, and made inter-operative within the HBIM ad hoc platform. Results show that the innovative renewable energy system provides relevant benefits while preserving minor visual and architectural impact within the historical complex, and also in terms of both energy saving, CO2 emissions offset, and operation costs compared to the traditional existing system. The integrated HBIM approach may effectively drive the path toward regeneration and re-functioning of heritage in Europe.

scholarly journals Towards Nearly-Zero Energy in Heritage Residential Buildings Retrofitting in Hot, Dry Climates

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (24) ◽  
pp. 13934
Author(s):  
Hanan S. S. Ibrahim ◽  
Ahmed Z. Khan ◽  
Yehya Serag ◽  
Shady Attia
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Energy Sources ◽  
Zero Energy ◽  
Building Stock ◽  
Heritage Buildings ◽  
Dry Climates

Retrofitting “nearly-zero energy” heritage buildings has always been controversial, due to the usual association of the “nearly-zero energy” target with high energy performance and the utilization of renewable energy sources in highly regarded cultural values of heritage buildings. This paper aims to evaluate the potential of turning heritage building stock into a “nearly-zero energy” in hot, dry climates, which has been addressed in only a few studies. Therefore, a four-phase integrated energy retrofitting methodology was proposed and applied to a sample of heritage residential building stock in Egypt along with microscale analysis on buildings. Three reference buildings were selected, representing the most dominant building typologies. The study combines field measurements and observations with energy simulations. In addition, simulation models were created and calibrated based on monitored data in the reference buildings. The results show that the application of hybrid passive and active non-energy generating scenarios significantly impacts energy use in the reference buildings, e.g., where 66.4% of annual electricity use can be saved. Moreover, the application of solar energy sources approximately covers the energy demand in the reference buildings, e.g., where an annual self-consumption of electricity up to 78% and surplus electricity up to 20.4% can be achieved by using photo-voltaic modules. Furthermore, annual natural gas of up to 66.8% can be saved by using two unglazed solar collectors. Lastly, achieving “nearly-zero energy” was possible for the presented case study area. The originality of this work lies in developing and applying an informed retrofitting (nearly-zero energy) guide to be used as a benchmark energy model for buildings that belong to an important historical era. The findings contribute to fill a gap in existing studies of integrating renewable energy sources to achieve “nearly-zero energy” in heritage buildings in hot climates.

Attitudes and approaches of Irish retrofit industry professionals towards achieving nearly zero-energy buildings

2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheikh Zuhaib ◽  
Richard Manton ◽  
Magdalena Hajdukiewicz ◽  
Marcus M. Keane ◽  
Jamie Goggins
Keyword(s):  
Construction Industry ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Zero Energy ◽  
Building Stock ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Existing Building ◽  
Social Barriers ◽  
Performance Targets ◽  
Basic Services ◽  
Zero Energy Buildings

Purpose There is profound demand for higher skills and expertise in retrofitting the existing building stock of Europe. The delivery of low- or nearly zero-energy retrofits is highly dependent on technical expertise, adoption of new materials, methods of construction and innovative technologies. Future Irish national building regulations will adopt the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive vision of retrofitting existing buildings to higher energy efficiency standards. Construction industry stakeholders are key for the achievement of energy performance targets. Specifically, the purpose of this paper is to assess the attitudes, approaches and experiences of Irish construction professionals regarding energy efficient buildings, particularly nearly zero-energy buildings (nZEBs). Design/methodology/approach Data were collected through a series of quantitative and qualitative methods, including a survey, a workshop and detailed interviews with professionals in the retrofit industry. The structure of this approach was informed by preliminary data and information available on the Irish construction sector. Findings There is a substantial amount of ambiguity and reluctance among the professionals in reaching the Irish nZEB targets. The growing retrofit industry demonstrates low-quality auditing and pre/post-retrofit analysis. Basic services and depth of retrofits are compromised by project budgets and marginal profits. Unaligned value supply chain, poor interaction among nZEB professionals and fragmented services are deterrents to industry standardisation. Practical implications This study will enable construction industry stakeholders to make provisions for overcoming the barriers, gaps and challenges identified in the practices of the retrofit projects. It will also inform the formulation of policies that drive retrofit uptake. Social implications This study has implications for understanding the social barriers existing in retrofit projects. Support from clients/owners has a diverse impact on energy performance and retrofit decisions. Community-based initiatives are key to unlock the promotion of nZEBs. Originality/value This paper provides an overview of current activities of retrofit professionals and analyses the barriers, gaps and challenges in the industry.

scholarly journals Settlement scale analysis approach to reach nearly zero energy communities

2019 ◽  
Vol 111 ◽  
pp. 06026
Author(s):  
Ece Kalaycıoğlu ◽  
Ayşe Zerrin Yılmaz
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Energy Levels ◽  
Energy System ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
High Energy ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Zero Energy ◽  
Building Stock ◽  
District Energy ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages

Looking at the recent developments, the European Union (EU) aims to become a zero carbon community. For the building sector, Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) was recast in 2010 introducing the definition of the nearly zero energy building (NZEB) levels to construct all new buildings at this level by the end of 2020. The last revision of the directive in 2018 also promotes the renovation of the building stock to the NZEB levels. In the paper, it was proposed to define the nearly zero energy levels for settlements. This way, it was aimed to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of reaching the nearly zero energy levels at larger scales than single buildings. Settlement level studies, including the district energy systems, intended to reveal the energy efficiency measures which lead to optimal cost levels for more than one building. Key parameters were examined for a new settlement design which may be beneficial for the large-scale renewable energy system implementation and district energy system (DES) usage with high energy performance buildings.

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