Whilst new nearly Zero Energy (nZE) concepts have been the first priority in the previous decade, in more recent years it has become widely acknowledged that renovating dwellings will have a large ...impact on the energy use in buildings. Using a simplified calculation method, this paper illustrates the high-energy consumption in several building types within the housing stock in Bologna. Among these, a specific building has been selected as the worst-case for an in-depth investigation. For this building the paper analyses a large set of possible scenarios for renovation -from the more standard operations up to higher levels of façade components' transformation- as technically feasible solutions to achieve a nearly Zero Energy Building (nZEB). By discussing the economic/energy impact of each scenario, this paper aims at contributing to the debate on deep-versus-shallow renovation in existing buildings. In particular, it attempts at answering the following important research issues: whether the technical feasibility is associated to the economic feasibility in the retrofitting towards nZEBs; to what extent deep renovation and high transformation of buildings is competitive with respect to shallow retrofit; whether non-energy related factors can be considered to properly assess the economic competitiveness. Energy and economic benefits are the main renovation's objectives in building renovation; nonetheless, non-energy related aspects are also helpful to expand the feasibility of nZEBs retrofit in the current building practises
This article discusses the neighbourhood-level renovation potential in Tallinn's modernist privately owned apartment blocks, with the aim of addressing the global need for deep renovation. The ...analysis considers international directives, national policies and municipal objectives, highlighting the focus of current renovation initiatives on apartment buildings. The discourse drives the ongoing conflict between energy-focused renovation and the preservation of spatial quality, relevant especially for the countries that favour partial renovation over the complete transformation of a building. It analyses the emerging impact of the New European Bauhaus (NEB) initiative, emphasizing the need to balance technical energy investments with cultural and aesthetic considerations in wider neighbourhoods. Shifting the focus to Tallinn, the article deals with the challenges of modernist mass production housing districts, recognizing their technical structure, current decay and socio-economic limitations. The European Renovation Wave strategy and upcoming energy efficiency requirements are seen as catalysts for neighbourhood revitalization, prompting the exploration of innovative models to transform these neighbourhoods into liveable and functional spaces. The discussion unfolds within the NEB compass, emphasizing the core values of beauty, sustainability, and cohesion. Practical considerations for the transformation of Tallinn districts are discussed, including spatial regulations, the complexity of ownership and the different perspectives of apartment owners. As a solution, the SOFTacademy approach is introduced, proposing a collaborative model establishing both the hardware and software elements for NEB driven renovation of neighbourhoods. In terms of hardware solution, prefabrication and modularity is used both for renovating the buildings as well as reinventing the courtyards around them. While the physical rejuvenation of the neighbourhoods is the key to NEB transformation, the shift depends as much from the software solutions. The results outline a process for initiating neighbourhood-level renovations, emphasizing the importance of consulting with owners, creating blueprints, and entering into cooperative agreements.
•Multi-objective optimisation is an efficient method in energy and cost-optimality analyses of buildings.•It is more cost-effective to improve the energy performance of the HVAC and energy systems ...than the energy performance of the building envelope.•Heat pump systems are more cost-effective and energy efficient than district heating.•External financial support is needed to encourage apartment building owners to conduct deep renovations towards nZEBs.
The paper presents cost-optimal energy performance improving measures conducted in deep renovations of typical Finnish (cold climate) brick apartment buildings, built in the 1960’s. The study discusses the effects of different renovation measures on the energy performance and economic viability in a selected building. Energy performance is studied from the primary energy consumption’s perspective and cost-effective renovation measures to meet higher energy performance criteria are also studied. The cost-optimal renovation concepts to meet different energy performance criteria were determined from over 2 billion potential renovation measure combinations by using sophisticated simulation-based multi-objective optimisation (SBMOO) analysis, utilising the advanced Pareto-Archive NSGA-II genetic algorithm, as the main research method. The SBMOO analysis was used to minimise the primary energy consumption and the net present value of life-cycle cost over a 25-year discount period simultaneously. The results indicate that the cost optimum renovation solutions of the brick apartment building stock provide the same energy performance criteria as the current national minimum energy performance requirements of new apartment buildings. According to the study, the investments should be focused on high performance renewable energy production systems, which deliver the best return on investment. External financial support mechanisms are also required to encourage apartment building owners to conduct deep renovations towards nearly zero-energy apartment buildings.
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•The optimization models are established considering the renovated CHP units.•The adaptive mutation particle swarm optimization is used to solve proposed models.•Energy and exergy ...analysis of multi-types of CHP units are performed.•About 0.191 billion kWh of more renewable energy can be consumed.•About 0.069 million tons of coal and 0.181 million tons of CO2 emissions can be reduced.
Steam turbine renovations, including the high back-pressure (HBP) renovation and the low pressure turbine zero power output (LZPO) renovation, can enlarge the loads supply range of one single combined heat and power (CHP) unit. Focusing on renewable energy consumption and coal saving, the problem regarding the optimal dispatch of a case CHP plant with renovated CHP units is addressed in this study. The energy and exergy analysis models are developed to evaluate the performance of various types of CHP units. The models of the minimum power load and the coal consumption for the whole plant are established based on the unit combinations in case 1 to case 4. The adaptive mutation particle swarm optimization (AMPSO) algorithm is adopted to seek the optimal value and the corresponding loads distributions. Results show that the maximum energy efficiency of the HBP renovated unit and LZPO renovated unit are 87.1% and 88.2%. Moreover, the maximum exergy efficiency of the HBP renovated unit and LZPO renovated unit are 41.3% and 32.1%. In brief, the HBP renovated unit has higher exergy efficiency and lower energy efficiency than LPZO renovated unit. In terms of optimization methods, AMPSO has better performance than PSO in terms of convergence speed and getting rid of local optimum solutions. After reasonably redistributing the loads of the case plant integrating the HBP and LZPO renovations, approximately 0.191 billion kWh more renewable energy would be consumed, and about 0.069 million tons of coal and 0.181 million tons of CO2 emissions could be saved during the heating season. Optimization results show that the LZPO renovations are more effective in consuming renewable energy, and the HBP renovations can be considered as the preferable coal-saving option. This study provides a method for optimizing the operation of renovated CHP plants. In addition, for the un-renovated CHP plant such as case 1, the renovation patterns in case 2 to case 4 provide some reference once the steam turbine renovations to be considered.
Energy renovation of buildings in the European Union would lead to considerable energy savings and a 26% reduction in energy consumption. Despite this and the programmes implemented to promote it in ...the residential environment in Europe and the United States, the barriers that homes, contractors, and finance companies face to undertake these processes have slowed down the results. The emergence of one-stop-shops (OSSs), promoted by European directives, as integrated management entities to promote the energy renovation of dwellings seems to be a central element in the development of future strategies. This paper looks at experiences of implementing OSSs in Europe, tries to identify the main factors of success, and proposes lines of action to strengthen OSS operation in the long term. To achieve this, documents, regulations, and data on the context were studied, and active cases of OSSs were analysed. Experiences of OSSs that are no longer operating were identified to determine why they had closed down. The results suggested that a lack of structural funding is one reason why activities terminated and that the most successful cases applied an ‘all inclusive’ model and supported families in the entire process.
Shifting the conservation paradigm Prober, Suzanne M.; Doerr, Veronica A. J.; Broadhurst, Linda M. ...
Ecological monographs,
02/2019, Letnik:
89, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Changes in Earth's climate are accelerating, prompting increasing calls to ensure that investments in ecological restoration and nature conservation accommodate such changes. To acknowledge this ...need, we propose the term "ecological renovation" to describe ecological management and nature conservation actions that actively allow for environmental change. To evaluate and progress the development of ecological renovation and related intervention options in a climate change context, we reviewed the literature and established a typology of options that have been proposed. We explored how these options address emerging principles underpinning climate-adapted conservation goals and whether the balance of approaches reflected in our typology is likely to be sufficient given expected rapid rates of climate change. Our typology recognizes a matrix of 23 intervention option types arranged on the basis of underpinning ecological mechanisms ("ameliorate changing conditions" or "build adaptive capacity") on one axis, and the nature of the tools used to manipulate them ("low regrets" or "climate targeted") on the other. Despite a burgeoning literature since 2008, we found that the majority of effort has consistently focused on low-regrets adaptation approaches that aim to build adaptive capacity. This is in many ways desirable, but a paradigm shift enabling greater attention to climate-targeted approaches is likely to be needed as climate change accelerates. When assessed against five emerging principles for setting nature conservation goals in a changing climate, only one option type could deliver to all five, and we identified a conflict between climate-targeted options and "wildness" values that calls for deeper evaluation. Importantly, much of the inference in the 473 reviewed studies was drawn from ecological reasoning and modeling, with only 16% offering new empirical evidence. We also noted significant biases toward North America and Europe, forest ecosystems, trees, and vertebrates. To address these limitations and help shift the paradigm toward humans as "renovators" rather than "restorers" of a prior world, we propose that ecological researchers contribute by (1) informing societal discourse toward adapting nature conservation goals to climate change, (2) adjusting and upscaling conservation planning to accommodate this suite of climate-adapted goals, and (3) reconceptualizing experimental approaches to increase empirical evidence and expedite innovation of tools to address change.
The ageing of buildings is associated with their degradation. By the end of a building's operative life, two solutions are provided: demolition and new construction, or renovation. New construction ...can cause higher greenhouse gas equivalent emissions than renovations, related to higher demand for building materials, processes, and waste management. Conversely, building renovation requires greater effort in planning and implementation. Moreover, when improperly planned, renovation might ensure only limited improvements in building performance. This study presents three renovation systems based on hybrid timber technologies for three common case-study building types in the Republic of Korea: apartment, low-rise residential, and mixed-use (industrial–commercial). Following analysis of the current regulations for building component performance in Korea, three modular building envelope renovation systems have been developed: (i) cross-laminated timber, (ii) glue-laminated frame with integrated timber stud panels, and (iii) steel frame with integrated timber stud walls. The development of the three systems focuses on designing modular self-supporting components that allow both horizontal and vertical extension, and the structural support of occupied buildings. The hybrid timber-based construction provides a low-carbon alternative to demolition and new construction, helping to solve spatial constraints to renovation determined by the high urban density of Korean cities.
•Combining timber materials and BIPV facilitates carbon-neutral building renovation.•Research method addresses structural, technical, spatial, and environmental aspects.•Three modular building renovation systems with hybrid-timber technologies.•Load-bearing renovation and extension structures reinforce existing buildings.•Minimized Life Cycle Impacts and C02-equivalent emissions by extensive timber use.
Complexity in the sustainable renovation of heritage buildings requires adoption of more sophisticated technologies and project management models to deal with the contradiction between sustainable ...design and heritage values preservation, as well as enhancing process productivity and final performance. This research aims to assess the application of several Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) strategies and tools through Building Information Modelling (BIM), determining shared collaborative practices across the projects and the level to which the teams were able to implement the tools and processes effectively to enhance sustainability aspects and efficiency of renovating heritages. The research adopts a mixed methodology, Qualitative Comparative Analysis triangulating the collected data. An intensive review of related literature is carried out, besides data collection and analysis of four real-world heritage cases (in different contexts). The research study enables a comprehensive and systematic exploration of the potential use of IPD and BIM within the development of an analytical framework consisting of a set of defined variables including 50 criteria, classified into 15 categories, and grouped into five thematic strands (people, process, policy, technology, and product). The findings reveal that IPD and BIM simultaneous use allows integrating heritage values into holistic decision-making frameworks attaining high-performance outcomes in heritage renovations.
With energy transition setting the ground for innovation and new ways of conducting business, one-stop shops (OSSs) have recently gained momentum in the renovation market. By transforming a complex ...set of multiple-actor decisions into a single entry and customer-centric service, OSSs have the potential of establishing a bridge between the fragmented demand and supply sides of the traditional renovation value chain. To assess the viability of the OSSs model as a vehicle of accelerating decarbonisation efforts in the European building stock, this paper collects and analyses 63 case studies of OSSs across Europe. The study offers insights into the dynamics of their business model, key benefits and ways forward, by explicitly exploring OSSs’ role in incentivising homeowners to decide to renovate. Our findings show that OSSs can be instrumental in addressing the multitude of barriers that prevent homeowners to renovate. With around 100,000 OSSs projects per year, their activity is expected to substantially contribute to the European renovation targets to rise, subject to favourable policy framework, availability of affordable financing solutions and experience sharing within and across countries. With some OSSs already supporting vulnerable households to renovate, OSSs might be well-placed in the future to contribute to tackle energy poverty by assisting in accessing financing and engaging property owners to renovate.
The current European building stock is ageing and requires significant renovation efforts to improve its energy performance and ensure structsural safety. As part of the key actions of the European ...Green Deal, increased building renovations, a `renovation wave', is needed to ensure that the ambitious EU energy saving and decarbonisation goals can be reached by 2030 and 2050, accordingly. To incentivise renovation further, integrating energy retrofitting with seismic strengthening is explored in this study. A combined energy and seismic retrofitting is investigated across twenty European cities with varied seismic hazard levels and different climatic conditions. Typical building types are defined both in terms of their energy and structural characteristics and are associated to the building population of each city. A monetary metric for combined assessments based on expected annual losses from energy costs and seismic losses is used and an optimum retrofitting scenario is identified. By means of the proposed renovation rate of 3%, a reduction of approximately 30% of primary energy use and CO2 emissions may be achieved within a decade. Taking into account energy costs and costs related to structural damage it is found that a combined retrofitting scheme will reduce substantially the payback periods in moderate to high seismicity regions. In such locations the combined energy and seismic retrofitting is justified and proposed instead of the sole energy retrofitting typically applied today in existing buildings.
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