Energy Retrofits of Residential Buildings

In order to be successful on the market, energy-saving measures for existing buildings need to be promoted with arguments that are directly relevant to the users. It has been shown that people are particularly attracted to the idea of increasing the comfort and appearance of their homes, rather than carbon savings or long-term monetary profits. Therefore, the goal in this paper was to analyze the potential of linking energy-efficiency to an increase in housing quality. Sixty case studies analyzed by International Energy Agency (IEA), under SHC Task 37, were taken as references. Based on these projects, the most frequent refurbishment interventions are: addition of thermal insulation, reconstruction of balconies, enlargement of window area and restructuring of the floor plan. Each of the four measures was analyzed in a separate chapter through various aspects of housing quality.