Abstract
A dramatic improvement of the efficiency of existing dwellings is essential to tackle the climate emergency. About 30% of the European domestic building stock is classified as heritage, with generally poor thermal performance. While retrofitting of historic buildings is therefore essential, it presents increased challenges and risks compared to more modern ones. This is due to preservation requirements, the wider range of pre-retrofit conditions, the limited availability of reliable information on the building fabric and its complex hygrothermal behaviour. These challenges are reflected in the limited ability of current simulation tools to provide representative energy performance estimations for historic buildings, where large discrepancies with in-situ measurements are often unacceptable. This research compared three common dynamic simulation tools (EnergyPlus, IESVE, and WUFI Plus) to explore their relative strengths and weaknesses within the context of historic buildings. A 18th century barn was used as case study. Energy demand, indoor temperature and relative humidity outputs were assessed and compared using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results showed the importance of tool selection depending on the aim of the analysis. While IESVE and EnergyPlus showed similar results for energy performance and heating loads; WUFI Plus and IESVE were more consistent for indoor conditions and thermal comfort evaluation.
Highlights
Over the past decades, researchers have raised concerns over the impact of the rapid climate change on societies across the world [1]
While IESVE and EnergyPlus showed similar results for energy performance and heating loads; WUFI Plus and IESVE were more consistent for indoor conditions and thermal comfort evaluation
While the standard deviation (SD) of indoor temperature data across tools ranged between 3.2-3.9 °C, a relatively large difference was observed between the SD of the indoor relative humidity (RH) points obtained from WUFI Plus (6.8 °C), EnergyPlus (12.7 °C) and IESVE (13.6 °C)
Summary
Researchers have raised concerns over the impact of the rapid climate change on societies across the world [1]. In an effort to address this overgrowing issue, Governments around the world have introduced policies aiming at reducing greenhouse gas emissions of the building stock, which account for 40% of global emissions worldwide [2]. Tackling the issue will require the retrofit of the existing housing stock including historic buildings [3]. With historic buildings (as defined in [4]) being part of every country's cultural heritage, building experts should consider holistic approaches to retrofit strategies. Careful design through building performance simulations is of utmost importance to provide solutions that will ensure the efficient improvement of the heat and moisture performance of the building envelope and overcome technical concerns. Current dynamic simulation tools are mainly designed for modern buildings, with
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
