Energy Retrofit Of Historic Buildings Research Articles

Evaluating the Implementation of Energy Retrofits in Historic Buildings: A Demonstration of the Energy Conservation Potential and Lessons Learned for Upscaling

This study presents an in-depth analysis of 69 case studies focusing on the energy retrofit of historic buildings, uncovering challenges, best practices, and lessons learned to balance energy efficiency improvements with heritage preservation. The findings highlight several challenges encountered during renovations, such as complex heritage evaluations, restrictions on alterations, coordination issues with authorities, technical limitations, higher investment costs, and knowledge gaps. On the other hand, identifying factors promoting renovation, including demonstrating energy savings while respecting heritage, early collaboration between planners and authorities, and quantifying investments, could incentivize owners and authorities. The limitations of a still-limited sample size, occasional incomplete data, and potential sample bias call for cautious interpretation of the presented analysis. Despite these, the study provides valuable insights into successful projects, emphasizing the need for scalability, knowledge transfer from innovative policies, and targeted policy-making for successful replication. The study concludes with a call for further development of the HiBERatlas (Historic Building Energy Retrofit atlas), an extensive resource for historic building renovation, expanding its database, collaborating with agencies, and tailoring guidance for stakeholders to foster energy retrofits in heritage buildings.

Key Performance Indicators: their use in the energy efficiency retrofit for historic buildings

Energy efficiency in the built environment is gaining ground due to policies to mitigate climate change impact. This contribution focuses on investigating the role of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that can be useful for the energy retrofit of historic buildings. The KPIs were hinged upon PESTEL domains (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, and Legislative) in order to define objective and measurable criteria that allow for a comprehensive evaluation of an energy retrofit performance. A literature review carried out through the PRISMA flow chart allowed to select 59 papers, subsequently analyzed to investigate the occurrences of the selected KPIs. The findings showed that the political domain is the less considered, differently from the legislative one, whose KPI highlighted the importance of being compliant with regulations. The domains representing economic, social, technological, and environmental KPIs are mostly present together in the scientific literature, underlining the importance of a holistic and multidisciplinary approach. Future research should be oriented towards delineation of best practices to meet sustainability and conservation needs, and to better integrate current policies and international requirements.

Applying International Guidelines on Historic Building’s Retrofit in New Zealand: A Critical Context View

Interest in the energy retrofit of historic buildings reflects the current drive to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. New Zealand (NZ), unlike Europe and USA, has no country-specific guidelines considering heritage conservation, energy efficiency, reduced carbon emissions and cost. The paper explores benefits to NZ from a policy and practice perspective from such procedures. The adoption of tailored retrofit guidelines would contribute to the national goal of reduced GHG emissions by 2050. The case study investigates the relevance and challenges of assessments such as heritage impact, life-cycle carbon assessment and life-cycle costing for historic building renovations. Through interviews with a range of experts, the results for hypothetical retrofits of a heritage building are evaluated. The interviews reveal how possible trade-offs among different assessment criteria (e.g., energy, cost, carbon footprint and heritage impact) are considered by different specialist groups, as well as exploring the benefits and barriers, and providing recommendations for future renovation guidance. The main findings highlight the importance of a life-cycle perspective and of conservation plans for heritage assessment. The experts all agreed that from a conservation perspective, there was no one energy retrofit solution that fits all building types and cases.

A new decision guidance tool for the adoption of energy retrofit solutions in historic buildings

Energy retrofit of historic buildings often represents a challenge for owners and practitioners due to the lack of knowledge and access to suitable solutions. The growth of awareness and interest in sustainability has caused an increase in the number of solutions available for improvement of historic buildings’ energy performance. What it is still missing is their dissemination across the involved stakeholders. This will improve practitioners’ trust on these solutions and the adoption by owners in the building renovation. In the framework of IEA SHC Task 59 and the Interreg project ATLAS, experts have collected well established and innovative solutions for historic building renovation presented in an online decision guidance tool. The set of solutions is structured in four groups: wall insulation, window solutions, solar systems and HVAC systems. For each group a decision tree was developed to guide the end-user with questions to the appropriate solutions for their building. The tool aims to inspire and motivate technicians and owners with a large number of possible solutions, which serve as a basis for further investigation and planning. With more than 130 documented solutions it is already a comprehensive tool that can be used as basis and extended in future.

Hygrothermal analysis of a wall isolated from the inside: the potential of dynamic hygrothermal simulation

Hygrothermal simulations are expected to provide powerful support to the design process in the context of energy retrofit of historic buildings and prevent the moisture-related damages. They can be used to predict the hygrothermal behaviour of the building in detail and exclude the occurrence of moisture related damages, such as mould formation or material degradation. However, these simulations require various input data related to materials and boundary conditions, which are often difficult to find during the design phase. In this article we analyse the potential of hygrothermal simulations in predicting the hygrothermal behaviour of an internally insulated wall, even with limited information on the hygrothermal properties of the materials composing the historical wall. The quality of the simulation’s results is evaluated through a comparison with monitored data. The numerical model is calibrated to maximise the agreement with the monitored data. The considered case study is a historical building located nearby Bolzano (Northern Italy). The monitoring system is installed with the aim of analysing temperature and relative humidity profiles within the construction. In addition, the climatic boundary conditions are measured both inside and outside the building, including temperature, relative humidity, driving rain and solar radiation. The numerical simulation of the wall under analysis is performed with the software DELPHIN.

Development of an aerogel-based thermal coating for the energy retrofit and the prevention of condensation risk in existing buildings

The energy retrofit of existing buildings, particularly historic and/or listed buildings, presents several issues; that is, the compatibility between the identified solutions and the heritage value or the internal space reduction (if internal interventions have to be adopted).For this reason, an emerging method to address the target of the energy retrofit of historic buildings is the use of advanced materials characterized by high thermal insulation performance.In the framework of a European research project (Horizon 2020), a novel aerogel-based insulating coating, particularly suitable for the mitigation of thermal bridges and for the prevention of the condensation risk, is under development.In this article, both the laboratory and in-field research activities are described. The first was aimed at optimizing the thermohygrometric properties of the coating; the latter dealt with the results of a monitoring activity carried out on a full-scale application.Results highlight that the internal application of 12 mm of the developed material can lead to a significant increase in indoor surface temperature (about 1.4 °C) with a decrease in the wall U-value of about 27%. Moreover, a mitigation of the thermal bridges was observed with an increase in the minimum surface temperature up to 1.6 °C.

Performance of hydrophobized historic solid masonry – Experimental approach

The hygrothermal conditions in historic solid masonry are expected to change for the worse, with the application of internal insulation. Nevertheless, internal insulation plays a role in a holistic energy retrofit of historic buildings. With careful considerations and correct application, hydrophobic treatment may help remedy moisture ingress from external rain loads. This study includes experimental investigations of the effect on hygrothermal performance of various hydrophobization treatments on both brick and air lime mortar. An investigation of water migration through masonry applied with imitated climatic loads is also reported. The study showed a larger efficiency of hydrophobization on specimens of brick compared to the efficiency of hydrophobization of specimens of air lime mortar, which may be problematic in cases where mortar joints are the primary means for water ingress. Silane-based treatments generally proved to be most efficient in brick, whereas a variety of other active components were most successful in air lime mortar treatment. The investigation of water migration showed a distinct effect of silane, cream hydrophobization, though most evident in the external part of the brick.

Assessing the Needs and Gaps of Building Information Technologies for Energy Retrofit of Historic Buildings in the Korean Context

Most domestic modern buildings from the early 1900s have been constructed as heavy mass, and for many years have relied on passive measures for climate control. Since effective passive measures eventually reduce the heating and cooling loads, thus also reducing the system size, passive and hybrid measures are the most preferred Energy Conservation Measures (ECMs). In addition, the domestic situation and climate are additional constraints in energy retrofit decision making, such as a shorter budget and time, poor maintenance history, and uncertainties in vernacular lifestyle. For this reason, the performance improvement and side-effects prior to installing ECMs should be predictable, particularly in case the originality can be damaged. This complexity confirms that simulation-based Measurement and Verification (M&V) would better suit the energy retrofit of domestic historic buildings. However, many domestic investors still believe re-construction has a larger economic value than restoration. Therefore, they are even unwilling to invest in more time than a preset audit period—typically less than a week. Although simulation-based M&V is theoretically favored for retrofit decision making, its process including collecting data, modeling and analysis, and evaluating and designing ECMs could still be too demanding to domestic practitioners. While some manual, repetitive, error-prone works exist in the conventional retrofit process and simulation-based M&V, it is proposed here that enhanced Building Information Technology (BIT) is able to simplify, automate, and objectify, at least the critical steps of the retrofit project. The aim of this study is to find an efficient and effective energy retrofit strategy for domestic historic buildings that appeals to both domestic investors and practitioners by testing selective BIT tools on an actual historic building. This study concludes with the suggestion that software vendors are asked to develop enhanced features to resolve users’ pending demands. It is also suggested that, in the domestic context, how the current practice for each process of the energy retrofit of historic buildings needs to shift to take a full advantage of BIT.

CO2 based ventilation control in energy retrofit: An experimental assessment

CO2 based ventilation control is an eligible technology to reduce energy consumptions concerning ventilation air treatment and its distribution in particular in presence of highly variable occupancy. An experimental assessment of the performances of this control strategy is illustrated in this paper. The study refers to a historic building in Venice recently refurbished and subject to a preservation order. It concerns a demand controlled ventilation (DCV) system installed in a part of the building transformed in a university library and based on the use of CO2 sensors. A building management system (BMS) able to measure and record the required data was used as a tool for long term monitoring of the HVAC system. A comparison with alternative solutions was also carried on. The results permit to quantify remarkable energy savings, particularly strategic in the energy retrofit of historic buildings especially in presence of preservation orders. But the investigation highlights also the peculiarities of CO2 based ventilation control in meeting the indoor comfort requirement which suggest a systematic use of long term assessment to verify control efficacy in different operating conditions.

Innovative technologies for energy retrofit of historic buildings: An experimental validation

Abstract Refurbished buildings should also increase their energy efficiency, according with current regulation; however, in case of historical buildings, preservation orders are so strict to hamper usual energy efficient interventions on the building envelope side. As a consequence, in historical buildings, HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning) systems and control strategies should be further improved, since they are the only true means for energy efficiency. This paper presents the set of technologies implemented in the frame of the refurbishment of an historical building in the very center of Venice, in order to lower energy consumption and increase occupants’ comfort. The refurbishment consisted mainly in the application of the following technologies: Surface Water Heat Pump (SWHP), Demand Controlled Ventilation (DCV) and trigeneration. Furthermore, the paper proves the achieved energy savings by comparing the actual energy consumption against detailed building energy simulations for baseline HVAC system configurations. For such a purpose, the authors take advantage of the installed extensive building management system (BMS), which is able to record detailed data about flow rates (of air and water), temperature and humidity for all of the key devices of the HVAC system. The building used as a case study is very significant because of its energy intensive intended use as well as for the very strict preservation orders acting on it. In particular, global primary energy savings equal to 36% have been calculated, if compared with a traditional baseline HVAC system.

Energy retrofit of historic buildings in the Mediterranean area: the case of the Palaeontology Museum of Naples

This paper aims to identify some optimal system solutions for the energy refurbishment of a specific historic building, through energy simulations in dynamic conditions performed with a suitable software. The analysis is carried out by the evaluation of energy requirements of the building, in terms of both primary and electric energy. The hypotheses of intervention regard only the air conditioning system components and take into account the existing architectural constraints. The case study refers to the Palaeontology Museum of Naples (Southern Italy), whose rooms are currently in a historic building located in the ancient centre of the city.

Integrated Methodologies Energy Efficiency of Historic Buildings

For several years, Italian associations and research organizations have been developing strategies aimed at evaluating and increasing energy efficiency in historic buildings, offering a sort of guidelines about this issue. These strategies are intended to provide useful information for a correct approach to the energy retrofit of historic buildings, offering a framework as well as innovative technical solutions for integrated design intervention restoration of historic buildings. The purpose of the guidelines is investigating the relationship between architectural restoration and plant installations, which are – now – rarely explored problems theoretically and experimentally, by introducing the concept of improvement instead of adapting to the standards of safety and comfort, in accordance with the integrated conservation strategies (Amsterdam Declaration, 1975). Effective proposals of a historic building energy retrofit (or a cultural landscape) can be implemented in a conscious way, tending to an architectural and landscape integration, without changing the monumental building, as it often happens in the case of adaptation of a new building to the new rules. The proposed methodology is based on an interdisciplinary approach, articulated in successive phases: analysis of plant systems, measurements of environmental quality, identification of vulnerabilities, defining appropriate intervention techniques, verification of the improvement achieved. The case study concerns a historic building in Salerno (Italy) dating back to the eighteenth century, used as a school complex. It will be investigated by the morphological, technological, static, energy point of view, by the use of a BIM platform, in order to identify energy efficiency measures consistent with the technological and structural aspects. The objective is, therefore, to identify an integrated methodology of energy retrofit of historic buildings.

Energy retrofit of historic buildings: Environmental assessment of cost-optimal solutions

This paper describes the implementation of an integrated cost optimality and environmental assessment involving alternative energy efficiency retrofit packages for a building that dates from the beginning of the 20th century. A building typical of the building stock in the centre of Coimbra (located in the central region of Portugal and recently classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site) was used to illustrate the methodology presented. The results were also analysed for the same building in two other locations. A life-cycle (LC) model was implemented to assess different energy efficiency measures for an apartment. The economic assessment complied with European Directive 2010/31/EU. The results show that the lowest life-cycle environmental impacts were obtained for insulation thicknesses between 50 and 120mm, which are also cost-optimal. It is also shown that insulation thicknesses of more than 80mm do not improve energy efficiency or global cost reduction. This paper shows that, even though historic buildings in Portugal do not have to comply with building energy codes, significant energy savings can be achieved for them without changing their historic character. It was also concluded that economic and environmental costs can both be minimised by choosing the most suitable energy efficiency retrofit measures.