This handbook holistically summarises the principles for the energy retrofitting of historic buildings, from the first diagnosis to the adequately designed intervention: preservation of the historic structure, user comfort, and energy efficiency. The content was developed by an interdisciplinary team of researchers. The wide range of different expertise, design examples, calculations, and measuring results from eight case studies makes this manual an indispensable tool for all architects, engineers, and energy consultants.
This guidance is for anyone who wishes to improve energy efficiency in an historic building. There are many reasons to do this. Improving energy efficiency will lower carbon emissions and fuel bills and often increase comfort. It also might be necessary to ensure that a building complies with legal requirements. More broadly, improving energy efficiency forms a part of the wider objective to achieve a sustainable environment. It is a widely held view that older buildings are not energy-efficient, and must be radically upgraded in order to improve their performance. In reality, the situation is more complicated, and assumptions about poor performance are not always justified. Even so, the energy and carbon performance of most historic buildings can be improved, which will help them remain viable and useful, now and in the future. But striking the right balance between benefit and harm is not easy. The unintended consequences of getting energy efficiency measures wrong (or doing them badly) include: harm to heritage values and significance, harm to human health and building fabric, and failure to achieve the predicted savings or reductions in environmental impact. Getting the balance right (and avoiding unintended consequences) is best done with a holistic approach that uses an understanding of a building, its context, its significance, and all the factors affecting energy use as the starting point for devising an energy-efficiency strategy. This 'whole building approach' ensures that energy-efficiency measures are suitable, robust, well integrated, properly coordinated and sustainable. In addition, this approach provides an effective framework for communication and understanding between the various parties involved in the process. These include assessors, designers, installers and the people who occupy and manage the building. A logical and systematic process of energy planning underpins the 'whole building approach'. This guidance describes the key stages of the process, illuminating any problems that might occur and providing solutions. It also includes checklists of practical measures that might be considered, along with links to sources of more detailed information about how to install these measures.
How to reimagine existing buildings to create a more sustainable future The construction and operation of buildings is responsible for 41 percent of all primary energy use and 48 percent of all carbon emissions, and the impact of the demolition and removal of an older building can greatly diminish the advantages of adding green technologies to new construction. In Building Reuse, Kathryn Rogers Merlino makes an impassioned case that truly sustainable design requires reusing and reimagining existing buildings. Additionally, Merlino calls for a more expansive view of preservation that goes beyond keeping only the most distinctive structures based on their historical and cultural significance to embrace the creative reuse of even unremarkable buildings for their environmental value. Building Reuse includes a compelling range of case studies—from a private home to an eighteen-story office building—all located in the Pacific Northwest, a region with a long history of sustainable design and urban growth policies that have made reuse projects feasible. Reusing existing buildings can be challenging to accomplish, but changing the way we think about environmentally conscious architecture has the potential to significantly reduce energy consumption, carbon emissions, and waste.
Energy-Efficient Retrofit of Buildings by Interior Insulation: Materials, Methods and Tools offers readers comprehensive coverage of current research in German Language Countries. Chapters provide an overview on the development of energy efficiency for building retrofits and the role of internal insulation, cover materials with chapters on Brick, Wood, Plaster, Clay, and Natural Stone, explain the impact of internal insulation in those materials and how to cope with problems such as moisture build, mold and algae growth, provide practical advice on how to apply internal insulation in the most effective way, including Salt Efflorescence, Noise Protection, Fire Prevention, and more. The practical approach of the book, with examples in all chapters, makes it valuable for Civil and Architectural Engineers involved with building retrofit. The book may also be useful to researchers in the field of Building Physics due to the breadth of the coverage. - Introduces methods and tools through application examples - Presents theory and simulations with practical information to validate models - Explores a wide variety of materials and applications - Features examples of Residential, Commercial and Historic Buildings - Covers all stages of the retrofit process, from planning to inspection and how to avoid damage
This guidance note provides advice on the principles, risks, materials and methods for upgrading the thermal performance of windows by the addition of secondary glazing. Older windows can often be draughty as over time they distort and gaps open up as joints become weakened. Although adequate ventilation is important in older buildings, excessive air leakage through windows is uncomfortable for occupants and wastes heat. Secondary glazing when carefully designed and installed allows the original windows to be retained unaltered, and where necessary repaired, whilst reducing air leakage and conducted heat losses. As a result there is no loss of historic fabric and in most cases the installation is easily reversible. Research has shown heat losses by conduction and radiation through a window as a whole can be reduced by over 60% by using secondary glazing with a low emissivity (Low-E) hard coating facing the outside. The research has also shown that further savings can be made if the secondary glazing uses insulating frames or incorporates double glazed units. Besides increasing the thermal performance of windows, secondary glazing unlike double glazing can have a number of other benefits including being highly effective at reducing noise. This guidance forms one of a series of thirteen guidance notes covering the thermal upgrading of building elements such as roofs, walls and floors.
This book comprises a selection of the top contributions presented at the second international conference “Smart and Sustainable Planning for Cities and Regions 2017”, held in March 2017 in Bolzano, Italy. Featuring forty-six papers by policy-makers, academics and consultants, it discusses current groundbreaking research in smart and sustainable planning, including the progress made in overcoming cities’ challenges towards improving the quality of life. Climate change adaptation and mitigation of global warming, generally identified as drivers of global policies, are just the “tip of the iceberg” when it comes to smart energy transition. Indeed, equally relevant towards this current transformation – and key topics in this volume – are ICTs, public spaces and society; next economy for the city; strategies and actions for good governance; urban-rural innovation; rethinking mobility. The book’s depth in understanding and insightfulness in re-thinking demonstrate the breaking of new ground in smart and sustainable planning. A new ground that policy-makers, academics and consultants may build upon as a bedrock for smart and sustainable planning.
Cost-Effective Energy Efficient Building Retrofitting:Materials, Technologies, Optimization and Case Studies provides essential knowledge for civil engineers, architects, and other professionals working in the field of cost-effective energy efficient building retrofitting. The building sector is responsible for high energy consumption and its global demand is expected to grow as each day there are approximately 200,000 new inhabitants on planet Earth. The majority of electric energy will continue to be generated from the combustion of fossil fuels releasing not only carbon dioxide, but also methane and nitrous oxide. Energy efficiency measures are therefore crucial to reduce greenhouse gas emissions of the building sector. Energy efficient building retrofitting needs to not only be technically feasible, but also economically viable. New building materials and advanced technologies already exist, but the knowledge to integrate all active components is still scarce and far from being widespread among building industry stakeholders. - Emphasizes cost-effective methods for the refurbishment of existing buildings, presenting state-of-the-art technologies - Includes detailed case studies that explain various methods and Net Zero Energy - Explains optimal analysis and prioritization of cost effective strategies
This guidance is aimed at homeowners and those managing or renting historic or older domestic buildings who may need to commission an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) or who have received one for an older property that has been purchased or rented. Details are provided on the type of information included in an EPC, how it is calculated, and its limitations as an assessment method when applied to older buildings. The guidance also covers the issues to be taken into account when commissioning an EPC and considering its recommendations. Almost every older building can accommodate some energy improvements without harming either its special interest or environmental performance. However, an appropriate balance needs to be achieved between building conservation and measures to improve energy efficiency if lasting damage is to be avoided both to a building’s character and significance and its fabric.
Provides guidance to historic building owners and building managers, preservation consultants, architects, contractors, and project reviewers prior to treatment of historic buildings.
The book “Building Energy Audits-Diagnosis and Retrofitting” is a collection of twelve papers that focus on the built environment in order to systematically collect and analyze relevant data for the energy use profile of buildings and extended for the sustainability assessment of the built environment. The contributions address historic buildings, baselines for non-residential buildings from energy performance audits, and from in-situ measurements, monitoring, and analysis of data, and verification of energy saving and model calibration for various building types. The works report on how to diagnose existing problems and identify priorities, assess, and quantify the opportunities and measures that improve the overall building performance and the environmental quality and well-being of occupants in non-residential buildings and houses. Several case studies and lessons learned from the field are presented to help the readers identify, quantify, and prioritize effective energy conservation and efficiency measures. Finally, a new urban sustainability audit and rating method of the built environment addresses the complexities of the various issues involved, providing practical tools that can be adapted to match local priorities in order to diagnose and evaluate the current state and future scenarios towards meeting specific sustainable development goals and local priorities.
