Assessment of the sustainable redesign of existing buildings in Greece in the context of an undergraduate course: Application of passive solar systems in existing, typical residences

Abstract

Residential buildings in Greece form an important part of the existing building stock. Most of them were built prior to the first Thermal Insulation Code (1981) and thus are characterised by poor energy performance and increased heating and cooling consumption. The 6th semester undergraduate course of the NTUA, School of Architecture “Special Topics on Environmental and Bioclimatic Design” attempts to educate students on assessing the thermal characteristics and the environmental performance of existing buildings and then propose and quantitatively evaluate the effect of low-tech and low-cost interventions with the use of energy simulation software (Design Builder®). The paper presents the teaching methodology for the application of passive solar systems -with and without thermal insulation of the building shell and openings- to existing, typical residences built after 1920, which are found mostly in suburban areas and settlements all around Greece, and the assessment of the diurnal thermal performance during the heating period. The results of the study are two-fold and involve, primarily the teaching outcome of the course and secondarily the assessment of simple bioclimatic interventions to existing buildings’ energy performance and thermal comfort conditions during the cold period of the year.