Energy of the rehabilitation of the thermal envelope of existing building

Abstract

Residential buildings are great producers of CO2 while the current energy context is trying to minimize these emissions into the atmosphere. In order to achieve the requirements imposed by legislation, we must improve the energy performance of buildings by reducing energy consumed in heating and cooling. The research presented here focuses on the rehabilitation of existing buildings, where there is the greatest potential for savings. We propose the renovation of the thermal envelope of existing buildings applying only passive measures. We selected a building of homes with architectural value as a prototype for this study, which can be extended to other buildings with similar characteristics and rating in the future. Firstly, we analysed the existing building and obtained a rating level energy of E. After applying several improvements involving the implementation of thermal insulation, we determined a rating of D. Even though this is a positive result, the objective was to reach a rating at least of C. In order to do this we needed to analyse the exact influence of the different elements on the energy performance of the building and implement those improvements that will have a greater impact. We ran several simulations in order to quantify different effects and found that facades and windows are the most decisive items on improving the rating of this particular building. Finally, we implemented these measures in the thermal envelope of the building and reached a rating level energy of C. Simulation of the effect improvements allowed us to determine the savings in energy consumption due to the rehabilitation of the building as well as the reduction of CO2 emissions.