A holistic multi-methodology for sustainable renovation

A review of the barriers for building renovation has revealed a lack of methodologies, which can promote sustainability objectives and assist various stakeholders during the design stage of building renovation/retrofitting projects. The purpose of this paper is to develop a Holistic Multi-methodology for Sustainable Renovation, which aims to deal with complexity of renovation projects. It provides a framework through which to involve the different stakeholders in the design process to improve group learning and group decision-making, and hence make the building renovation design process more robust and efficient. Therefore, the paper discusses the essence of multifaceted barriers in building renovation regarding cultural changes and technological/physical changes. The outcome is a proposal for a multi-methodology framework, which is developed by introducing, evaluating and mixing methods from Soft Systems Methodologies (SSM) with Multiple Criteria Decision Making (MCDM). The potential of applying the proposed methodology in renovation projects is demonstrated through a case study

Thermal analysis and energy-efficient solutions to preserve listed building façades. The INA-Casa building heritage

Energy efficiency of building heritage derived from pre-regulation period is one of the most debated topics in Europe. Building facades, through opaque walls and thermal bridges, are a major source of transmission heat losses and require sustainable and consistent solutions. Aiming to achieve an energy demand reduction, thermal features of building facades were evaluated by field measurements and simulations for one INA-Casa listed apartment building built in the 1950s. Non-destructive insulating solutions have been proposed and a comparison between transmission heat loss coefficient in the current situation and the designed intervention was made. Results show that before the renovation, opaque walls and thermal bridges respectively contributed to 25% and 44% of total transmission heat loss in the case-study building facade. After the renovation, total impact was reduced up to 70% depending on whether high performance windows were replaced; in particular, the impact of opaque walls and thermal bridges were reduced by 66% and 82%, respectively. Interventions performed primarily on the internal layer of the facade with insulation elements, when appropriately designed, strengthen the negative effects of thermal bridges in junctions. Findings show that an accurate insulation design allows for both more efficient conditions and the preservation of the heritage-listed building

Energy efficient renovation of heritage residential buildings using modelica simulations

Historic homesteads can be found on a large scale in Europe and particularly in Flanders. In Flanders there are hundreds of homesteads in desperate need of renovation. Within the framework of the Europe 2020 objectives both CO2 emission and energy use need to be reduced with 20% by 2020. Unlike for the average residential building renovation, focus lies on synergy between respect to heritage and achieving an optimal energetic effectiveness. The object of this research is a case study homestead in Bruges, named the Schipjes. The first step in energy efficient renovation is to lower energy use by optimizing the building physics, therefore dynamic simulations in Modelica are performed to evaluate primary energy demand, especially for heating, and thermal comfort. The second step is the choice of the most energy efficient technical installations for a district heating system as will be used for Schipjes. Five different scenarios or combinations of heat production and distribution systems are developed as input options for future research simulations and energetic equations in Modelica

Strategies for building pathology reports in an urban rehabilitation process: Project of the Old City Centre of Coimbra

The increasing interest on architectural heritage associated to the recognised building value, at economic, social and cultural levels have stimulated, in the recent decades, the urban rehabilitation and renovation o several cities in Europe. Despite the strategy or method adopted in a city renovation process, its efficiency depends mainly on: type of buildings (structural systems, construction techniques and materials); intervention level (singular buildings, groups of buildings, urban zones, etc.); and, project objective (risk assessment, decision making to support future rehabilitation projects, definition of council maintenance policies, etc.). In what concerns large renovation programs of old city centres, choosing the most adequate approach for inspection, appraisal and diagnosis is a complex task that can determine the success or failure of the project purpose. This paper describes the preparation phase of the inspection of 700 buildings located in the old city centre of Coimbra (Portugal), where a global renovation process is planned for the forthcoming years. In the scope of the renovation and rehabilitation process, the city council contract a complete identification and inspection survey of the buildings, directed on three different domains: (a) architectural typologies, (b) constructive and pathological condition of buildings, and (c) socio-demographic characterisation, of this part of the city. It will be present the check-lists developed and some of the obtained results on point (b), related to roofing systems, and exterior façades. This diagnosis procedure shows that the inspection results quality is quite dependent on the items surveyed for each construction element (roof, façade, internal members, installation efficiency), as well as on the possibility of their correlation for a single building. The adopted method has been applied on 70% of the buildings inspected within the project perimeter. Further treatment of the inspection and appraisal data will allow the developing pathology reports and list repair actions, and estimating rehabilitation costs. It will also help to produce defect level diagrams and seismic building risk maps, but, most important, to improve and guide a renewal strategy and intervention methodology for old buildings

Foundation Support for Nonprofit Capital Needs in Southern California

Analyzes trends in foundation funding for nonprofits' capital campaigns, land acquisition, and building and renovation in five counties. Lists foundations that may provide capital support, but suggests securing other primary sources of capital funding

The History of Glatfelter Hall

A history of one of the oldest buildings on the Gettysburg College Campus, Glatfelter Hall. The paper covers the time period from the construction of the building in 1888 to after its first major renovation in 1929

Life-cycle costs and impacts on energy-related building renovation assessments

"Published online: 15 Jun 2017"Many regulations and initiatives to promote the reduction of the energy consumption and carbon emissions have been implemented in the building sector. However, they are mostly targeted for new buildings. In order to reach the goals that are being established, it is necessary to act in new but especially in the existing buildings, which correspond to the majority of the European building stock. Building renovation improves the buildings? energy performance, reducing the carbon emissions related to the operation of the building but involves adding new materials and technical systems. The production process of these new materials uses energy (embodied energy) and releases carbon emissions. In this sense, to evaluate the relevance of the embodied energy in building renovation, IEA EBC project Annex 56, developed a methodological framework to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of building renovation solutions which include a life-cycle impact assessment. Thus, using a particular case study, different renovation solutions are compared with and without considering the embodied energy. The results have shown that the embodied energy do not have a major impact on the evaluation of the cost-effectiveness of the renovation solutions, but as the renovation energy target gets closer to zero non-renewable energy level, its relevance increases.(undefined)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Attitudes and practices of homeowners in the decision-making process for building energy renovation

The most recent studies point out that building users play a critical role in the decision-making process for the energy renovation of buildings as well as in energy use during the building life-time occupancy. Nevertheless, this important player has been poorly considered in the policies implemented. The homeowner, whose role has been passively induced to renovate accordingly with impositions of the regulations, is calling for himself a more active participation in the renovation process. The social dimension of the building renovation has been ignored. The study highlights the role of the homeowner in the decision-making for building renovation investigating his motivations, needs, attitudes and daily routines. A selected group of Portuguese homeowners were interviewed. Also in Portugal, homeowners’ qualitative decisions and everyday life practices have a strong influence in the decision-making for building renovation.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Co-benefits in building retrofit : methodology proposal, tool development and a case-study demonstration

The existing building stock encloses a huge potential for actions to deal with climate change and to move towards a sustainable economy, but the decision making process for its renovation keeps hampered by the evaluation of building renovation measures that only considers the direct costs, disregarding other relevant benefits and thus, significantly underestimating the full value of improvement and re-use of buildings, both in local and global economy. The goal of this study was to identify a broader scope of effects that arise from building renovation and to propose a methodology for their quantification and integration in the decision making process in order to assist owners and promoters in the definition of the most appropriate renovation measures. These effects that arise from building renovation operations have been related with the different packages of renovation measures in order to allow comparing and ranking them through a tool developed for this purpose. The application of the developed methodology and tool to a case study allowed to confirm the relevance of the non-financial benefits in the final evaluations, proving that not only economic criteria should support decisions in the field. An enormous influence of the categories related to the social aspects was demonstrated, as well as to the environmental parameters, clearly showing that these parameters can change the ranking between the tested renovation packages

Synthesis Report on the assessment of Member States' building renovation strategies

The European building stock consumes approximately 40% of primary energy and it is responsible for 36% of the EU greenhouse emissions. A significant reduction of building energy demand is a requisite to meet Europe’s GHG emissions reduction targets. The Article 4 of the Energy Efficiency Directive requires Member States "to establish a long-term strategy beyond 2020 for mobilising investment in the renovation of residential and commercial buildings with a view to improving the energy performance of the building stock. In order to transpose the Directive and to increase the rates and depth of building renovation, the Member States were asked to develop their first renovation strategies and provide them with their third NEEAPs, due by 30th April 2014. The JRC undertook an assessment of 31 national/regional building renovation strategies submitted by the Member States. The present report summarises the assessment performed by JRC on the received strategies. The analysis assessed and evaluated the compliance with all the items of Article 4 and checked if they were adequately addressed in each national renovation strategy.JRC.F.7-Renewables and Energy Efficienc