Energy, Environmental Impact and Indoor Environmental Quality of Add-Ons in Buildings

Abstract

On a European scale, the existing building stock has poor energy performance and particularly vulnerable structures. Indeed, most of the existing buildings were built before the introduction of energy standards and under structural safety criteria different from those currently required. It is therefore necessary the intervention in existing buildings according to an integrated approach that contemplates both the structural safety and the energy efficiency of buildings. This study, consistently with the objectives of the European research project “Proactive synergy of integrated Efficient Technologies on buildings’ Envelopes (Pro-GET-OnE)”, proposes a retrofit intervention for a student dormitory of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. The scope of the evaluation is to understand how an integrated intervention, that implies a structural and energy retrofit, as well as a spatial redistribution, leads to an improvement of the Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ). In detail, the structural retrofit was performed through exoskeleton that leads to the addition of new living spaces and to a remodeling of the building facades. The energy retrofit regarded all three levers of energy efficiency, and thus the building envelope, the microclimatic control systems, and the systems from renewable sources. The integrated intervention, in addition to a reduction of energy demand, has led to advantages in terms of IEQ. Thermal comfort, both during summer and winter, is improved and the hours of suitable CO2 concentration pass from 34% in the pre-retrofit stage up to 100% in the post retrofit stage.

Techno-economic analysis of residential building heating strategies for cost-effective upgrades in European cities

“…Building envelope thermal properties were normalized based on common values found in the literature ( Table 3 ). 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 The normalized envelope system has a value of 0, which indicates that the envelope has the best performance found in literature, with the best thermal insulation for walls, roofs, and fenestrations, 42 while a value of 1 indicates that the building envelope is not well insulated. 43 …”

Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Technological Advances, Impacts and Challenges in the Management of Healthy and Sustainable Environments

“…Among these approaches, in Canada, Soudian and Berardi [93] developed a multifunctional façade for buildings capable of regulating the flow of heat, humidity and air. On the other hand, in Greece, Mastellone et al [94] highlighted the implementation of energy and structural retrofitting, resulting in significant improvements in IEQ, especially in terms of thermal comfort and air quality.…”

Mutual Interaction of Daylight and Overheating in the Attic Space in Summer Time

“…The authors addressed the mentioned issues in a different period of 2022. These include the problems of daylight optimization [57], environmental impact and IEQ [58], and multi-objective optimization in terms of energy load and daylight [59] or shading devices for naturally ventilated spaces [60].…”