retrofit

Many post-occupancy comfort studies of energy renovated residential buildings have documented elevated temperatures above comfort levels, not only during the summer period but also during the shoulder months. The main focus in renovation projects is on heat savings while the risk of overheating is not considered.

Indoor air quality and thermal comfort was measured in 14 three-bedroom, semi-detached, cavity wall naturally-ventilated homes during the winter following an energy efficient retrofit. As part of the energy retrofit, homes received new windows and doors, an upgraded heating system, attic insulation, and wall vents, as well as pumped beaded wall insulation into three external walls.

Many buildings in Sweden are in need of renovation in order to meet the current standards of energy use in buildings. Particularly challenging are old listed buildings, the majority built before 1950, because the renovation is restricted to the parts that do not change the appearance of the building. This paper presents experiences gained during the renovation of a listed building where aging of materials, movements and settlements during the building operation have left trails in form of air leakage paths that are difficult to cover by renovation.

The low energy retrofit of the UK existing building stock is an urgent matter after the government’s commitment to reduce carbon emissions by 80% until 2050.

French authorities have launched an extensive thermal renovation program aiming at retrofitting 4M dwellings over 10 years, with priority given to the most energy consuming ones. Without specific focus on airtightness, retrofitting does not achieve very low airtightness levels, which means numerous leaks in the envelope. Added to the possibility of fungus development at the junction between ancient and new wall, the possibility of airflow conveying pollutants emitted in walls into indoor air is a major concern for public health.

CETE de Lyon gives support to French administration for thermal regulation definition and enforcement. They must therefore work on measurements in order to set appropriate requirements and give advice to professionals about building methods.

LBNL Residential Diagnostics Database (ResDB) contains blower door measurements and other diagnostic test results of homes in United States. Of these, approximately 134,000 single-family detached homes have sufficient information for the analysis of air leakage in relation to a number of housing characteristics. We performed regression analysis to consider the correlation between normalized leakage and a number of explanatory variables: IECC climate zone, floor area, height, year built, foundation type, duct location, and other housing characteristics.

A retrofit study was conducted in an unoccupied manufactured house to investigate the impacts of airtightening on ventilation rates and energy consumption. This report describes the retrofits and the results of the pre- and post-retrofit assessment of building airtightness, ventilation, and energy use. Building envelope and air distribution systems airtightness were measured using fan pressurization. Air change rates were measured continuously using the tracer gas decay technique.

The National Museum of Western Art is the only work of Le Corbusier in Japan and 50 years have already passed since its construction. In order to maintain the museum’s value as a cultural asset, there is an urgent need to draft a thorough retrofit plan both to maintain the building’s function as an art museum and to restore Le Corbusier’s original design concept.

At present 95% of energy consumption for heating, domestic hot water, air conditioning, lighting andventilation in Europe are related to buildings built before 1980.