Abstract
Facing the energy transition, Dutch social housing corporations are expected to fulfil a pioneering role in realising fossil fuel free and CO2 neutral dwellings and neighbourhoods. However, given the high current costs of retrofitting dwellings to net zero energy, housing corporations are searching diligently for alternative, more affordable, renovation strategies. A Thermal Compartmentation renovation concept has been developed, in which retrofitting efforts are concentrated on the living spaces in dwellings. By means of co-heating tests, the quality of the thermal shell of three retrofitted case objects has been evaluated. It is found that both the airtightness and the heat loss coefficient (HLC) improved significantly as a result of the renovation. As would be expected, the realised ‘warm compartments’ show a better thermal performance than the entire dwellings. Although the measurements and subsequent analyses have confirmed the impact of the renovation measures on the buildings’ thermal performance, additional research targeting the inhabited dwellings is necessary to draw up final conclusions on the potential of the Thermal Compartmentation renovation concept.
Highlights
Whilst European and national legislation to reduce the energy demand of newly built dwellings has become ever more stringent [1], it has been noted that the existing building stock possesses a large energy saving potential [2]
Whilst the heat loss coefficient (HLC) of the warm compartment after renovation may seem high, it is noted that the building shell to floor surface ratio is much higher for the warm compartment (4.2) than for the entire dwelling (2.8)
When the HLC is expressed per square meter thermal shell, it becomes apparent that the warm compartment has a better thermal performance than the entire dwelling for each of the three case objects, which would be expected considering the applied renovation measures
Summary
Whilst European and national legislation to reduce the energy demand of newly built dwellings has become ever more stringent [1], it has been noted that the existing building stock possesses a large energy saving potential [2]. The Dutch housing stock is characterized by a relatively large share (33%) of tenant occupied dwellings [3]. This is one of the reasons why social housing corporations have been designated to fulfil a pioneering role in the Dutch energy transition [5]. That means that the warm compartment, i.e. the living spaces comprising the kitchen and living room, which dominates the energy demand for space heating, is thermally insulated well. Unknown parameter in a simplified energy balance (see Fig. 3), the transmission heat loss (Qt), can straightforwardly be calculated
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