Abstract
The intense urbanization process Romania has known during the industrialization period of the 1960-70s led to an exponential shortage in urban housing. Similar to other countries, but more specifically to the former Eastern block, Romanian state-financed collective dwellings were erected starting from standardized projects of Reinforced Concrete Large Prefabricated Panels (RCLPP) blocks of flats, generating nowadays a particular built stock of identical buildings and several apartment types, widespread throughout the entire country. These buildings currently house 60% of the urban population of Romania that own 96% of the apartments, as opposed to the European trends regarding the number of owner-occupied barely reaching 60%. Even though at not even half of their intended lifespan, the collective dwellings do not satisfy basic comfort conditions such as cooling and ventilation, being in an urge of retrofitting and upgrading. Individually applicable cooling systems undertaken by the owners have proved to be acceptable, but did not, however, contribute to a decrease in the overall energy consumption of the buildings. The present paper analyses the individual cooling systems being currently applied in Romanian apartments as opposed to a global-holistic system on block level, in terms of energy consumption and efficiency, flexibility of owner controlled indoor microclimate. The results show the potential of introducing renewable energy sources as viable alternatives for the existing systems.
Highlights
The industrialization period had a major impact on the existing urban environment
The technology of building using Reinforced-Concrete Large Prefabricated Panels (RCLPP) has been applied in the northern European countries as well
Compared to the rest of Europe, between 1961 and 1990 Romania had one of the highest percentages of RCLPP units being build (60%), with Ireland (32%) and Estonia (80%) at both ends of the list
Summary
The industrialization period had a major impact on the existing urban environment. The urban population has significantly increased. It resulted a repetitive pattern that could be applied in multiple ways according to the urban limits [1]. The topic of existing building retrofitting, especially applied on those from the east-European areas has become a concern as well as a necessity world-wide for ensuring optimal parameters towards sustainable development. Because these buildings were used on such a wide scale and sheer numbers, upgrading them to the current standards, instead of demolishing them is the best economical solution [3]. The necessary piping is installed within a ventilated façade system and a renewable cooling system in form of a “Canadian shaft” is integrated
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