IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v220y2021ics0360544220327535.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Comprehensive energy, economic and thermal comfort assessments for the passive energy retrofit of historical buildings - A case study of a late nineteenth-century Victorian house renovation in the UK

Author

Listed:
  • Qu, Ke
  • Chen, Xiangjie
  • Wang, Yixin
  • Calautit, John
  • Riffat, Saffa
  • Cui, Xin

Abstract

This paper aims to evaluate the energy-saving potential, affordability and thermal comfort performance of various passive building retrofit measures for a historical building (late nineteenth-century Victorian house) renovation. Three types of interior passive retrofit measures (i.e. internal wall insulation, glazing upgrade and airtightness improvement), classified as traditional and advanced measures, are further grouped into 63 retrofit combinations. In order to evaluate the performance of these defined retrofit combinations, five assessment indicators are proposed, including energy reduction rate, specific initial cost, discounted payback period, space volume reduction rate, and indoor thermal comfort. Under three internal space reduction scenarios with a space reduction rate of 5.2%, 2.6% and 1.3%, these combinations are evaluated and compared, and the most favourable combinations are determined to achieve multiple objectives (maximum energy saving, most cost-effective and most energy-efficient). The influence of the most favourable retrofit combinations on the internal thermal comfort level improvement is also dynamically evaluated using the EnergyPlus simulation tool. The final recommended passive retrofit combination consists of vacuum insulation windows, gypsum air infiltration reduction, and 2 cm thickness of Polyisocyanurate (PIR) panels, with 51.8% of primary energy reduction, a specific initial investment of £144.71/m2 and a discounted payback period of 18 years.

Suggested Citation

  • Qu, Ke & Chen, Xiangjie & Wang, Yixin & Calautit, John & Riffat, Saffa & Cui, Xin, 2021. "Comprehensive energy, economic and thermal comfort assessments for the passive energy retrofit of historical buildings - A case study of a late nineteenth-century Victorian house renovation in the UK," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:220:y:2021:i:c:s0360544220327535
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2020.119646
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544220327535
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2020.119646?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chen, Zhou & Chen, Zhaofeng & Yang, Zhaogang & Hu, Jiaming & Yang, Yong & Chang, Lingqian & Lee, L. James & Xu, Tengzhou, 2015. "Preparation and characterization of vacuum insulation panels with super-stratified glass fiber core material," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 93(P1), pages 945-954.
    2. Copiello, Sergio & Gabrielli, Laura & Bonifaci, Pietro, 2017. "Evaluation of energy retrofit in buildings under conditions of uncertainty: The prominence of the discount rate," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 104-117.
    3. Abdul Mujeebu, Muhammad & Ashraf, Noman & Alsuwayigh, Abdulkarim, 2016. "Energy performance and economic viability of nano aerogel glazing and nano vacuum insulation panel in multi-story office building," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 949-956.
    4. Galatioto, A. & Ricciu, R. & Salem, T. & Kinab, E., 2019. "Energy and economic analysis on retrofit actions for Italian public historic buildings," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 58-66.
    5. Berardi, Umberto & Nosrati, Roya Hamideh, 2018. "Long-term thermal conductivity of aerogel-enhanced insulating materials under different laboratory aging conditions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 1188-1202.
    6. Bottino-Leone, Dario & Larcher, Marco & Herrera-Avellanosa, Daniel & Haas, Franziska & Troi, Alexandra, 2019. "Evaluation of natural-based internal insulation systems in historic buildings through a holistic approach," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 521-531.
    7. Wang, Ran & Lu, Shilei & Feng, Wei, 2020. "A three-stage optimization methodology for envelope design of passive house considering energy demand, thermal comfort and cost," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    8. Huang, Yu & Niu, Jian-lei, 2015. "Application of super-insulating translucent silica aerogel glazing system on commercial building envelope of humid subtropical climates – Impact on space cooling load," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 316-325.
    9. Saikia, Pranaynil & Pancholi, Marmik & Sood, Divyanshu & Rakshit, Dibakar, 2020. "Dynamic optimization of multi-retrofit building envelope for enhanced energy performance with a case study in hot Indian climate," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 197(C).
    10. Ascione, Fabrizio & Bianco, Nicola & Mauro, Gerardo Maria & Napolitano, Davide Ferdinando, 2019. "Retrofit of villas on Mediterranean coastlines: Pareto optimization with a view to energy-efficiency and cost-effectiveness," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 254(C).
    11. Lina La Fleur & Patrik Rohdin & Bahram Moshfegh, 2019. "Energy Renovation versus Demolition and Construction of a New Building—A Comparative Analysis of a Swedish Multi-Family Building," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-27, June.
    12. Giuseppe Bonazzi & Mattia Iotti, 2016. "Evaluation of Investment in Renovation to Increase the Quality of Buildings: A Specific Discounted Cash Flow ( DCF ) Approach of Appraisal," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-17, March.
    13. Gustafsson, S.I. & Bojic, M., 1997. "Optimal heating-system retrofits in residential buildings," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 22(9), pages 867-874.
    14. Shen, Pengyuan & Braham, William & Yi, Yunkyu & Eaton, Eric, 2019. "Rapid multi-objective optimization with multi-year future weather condition and decision-making support for building retrofit," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 892-912.
    15. Delia D’Agostino & Paolo Zangheri & Luca Castellazzi, 2017. "Towards Nearly Zero Energy Buildings in Europe: A Focus on Retrofit in Non-Residential Buildings," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-15, January.
    16. Galatioto, A. & Ciulla, G. & Ricciu, R., 2017. "An overview of energy retrofit actions feasibility on Italian historical buildings," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 991-1000.
    17. Arumägi, Endrik & Kalamees, Targo, 2014. "Analysis of energy economic renovation for historic wooden apartment buildings in cold climates," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 540-548.
    18. Zheng, Donglin & Yu, Lijun & Wang, Lizhen, 2019. "A techno-economic-risk decision-making methodology for large-scale building energy efficiency retrofit using Monte Carlo simulation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Fedorczak-Cisak, Małgorzata & Radziszewska-Zielina, Elżbieta & Białkiewicz, Andrzej & Prociak, Aleksander & Steidl, Tomasz & Tatara, Tadeusz & Żychowska, Maria & Muniak, Damian Piotr, 2022. "Energy efficiency improvement by using hygrothermal diagnostics algorithm for historical religious buildings," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 252(C).
    2. Ana Paola Vargas & Leon Hamui, 2021. "Thermal Energy Performance Simulation of a Residential Building Retrofitted with Passive Design Strategies: A Case Study in Mexico," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-21, July.
    3. Lee, Minjung & Ham, Jeonggyun & Lee, Jeong-Won & Cho, Honghyun, 2023. "Analysis of thermal comfort, energy consumption, and CO2 reduction of indoor space according to the type of local heating under winter rest conditions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 268(C).
    4. Mi-Yeon Kim & Hyung-Geun Kim & Jin-Sung Kim & Goopyo Hong, 2022. "Investigation of Thermal and Energy Performance of the Thermal Bridge Breaker for Reinforced Concrete Residential Buildings," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-11, April.
    5. Pochwała, Sławomir & Anweiler, Stanisław & Tańczuk, Mariusz & Klementowski, Igor & Przysiężniuk, Dawid & Adrian, Łukasz & McNamara, Greg & Stevanović, Žana, 2023. "Energy source impact on the economic and environmental effects of retrofitting a heritage building with a heat pump system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 278(PB).
    6. Lai, Yuan & Papadopoulos, Sokratis & Fuerst, Franz & Pivo, Gary & Sagi, Jacob & Kontokosta, Constantine E., 2022. "Building retrofit hurdle rates and risk aversion in energy efficiency investments," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 306(PB).
    7. Haolan Liao & Rong Ren & Lu Li, 2023. "Existing Building Renovation: A Review of Barriers to Economic and Environmental Benefits," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-23, February.
    8. Wang, Yuhao & Qu, Ke & Chen, Xiangjie & Zhang, Xingxing & Riffat, Saffa, 2022. "Holistic electrification vs deep energy retrofits for optimal decarbonisation pathways of UK dwellings: A case study of the 1940s’ British post-war masonry house," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 241(C).
    9. Quddus Tushar & Guomin Zhang & Satheeskumar Navaratnam & Muhammed A. Bhuiyan & Lei Hou & Filippo Giustozzi, 2023. "A Review of Evaluative Measures of Carbon-Neutral Buildings: The Bibliometric and Science Mapping Analysis towards Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-31, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zhou, Yuekuan & Zheng, Siqian, 2020. "Uncertainty study on thermal and energy performances of a deterministic parameters based optimal aerogel glazing system using machine-learning method," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    2. Zhou, Yuekuan, 2022. "A multi-stage supervised learning optimisation approach on an aerogel glazing system with stochastic uncertainty," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
    3. Zhou, Yuekuan & Zheng, Siqian, 2020. "Stochastic uncertainty-based optimisation on an aerogel glazing building in China using supervised learning surrogate model and a heuristic optimisation algorithm," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 810-826.
    4. Petkov, Ivalin & Mavromatidis, Georgios & Knoeri, Christof & Allan, James & Hoffmann, Volker H., 2022. "MANGOret: An optimization framework for the long-term investment planning of building multi-energy system and envelope retrofits," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 314(C).
    5. Wang, Yuhao & Qu, Ke & Chen, Xiangjie & Zhang, Xingxing & Riffat, Saffa, 2022. "Holistic electrification vs deep energy retrofits for optimal decarbonisation pathways of UK dwellings: A case study of the 1940s’ British post-war masonry house," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 241(C).
    6. Anti Hamburg & Targo Kalamees, 2018. "The Influence of Energy Renovation on the Change of Indoor Temperature and Energy Use," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-15, November.
    7. Berardi, Umberto & Nosrati, Roya Hamideh, 2018. "Long-term thermal conductivity of aerogel-enhanced insulating materials under different laboratory aging conditions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 1188-1202.
    8. Joana Fernandes & Maria Catarina Santos & Rui Castro, 2021. "Introductory Review of Energy Efficiency in Buildings Retrofits," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-18, December.
    9. Bienvenido-Huertas, David & Sánchez-García, Daniel & Rubio-Bellido, Carlos, 2020. "Comparison of energy conservation measures considering adaptive thermal comfort and climate change in existing Mediterranean dwellings," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    10. Aurora Greta Ruggeri & Laura Gabrielli & Massimiliano Scarpa, 2020. "Energy Retrofit in European Building Portfolios: A Review of Five Key Aspects," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-38, September.
    11. Ahmed Abdelrady & Mohamed Hssan Hassan Abdelhafez & Ayman Ragab, 2021. "Use of Insulation Based on Nanomaterials to Improve Energy Efficiency of Residential Buildings in a Hot Desert Climate," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-17, May.
    12. Belén Onecha & Alicia Dotor & Carlos Marmolejo-Duarte, 2021. "Beyond Cultural and Historic Values, Sustainability as a New Kind of Value for Historic Buildings," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-18, July.
    13. Mariangela De Vita & Giulia Massari & Pierluigi De Berardinis, 2020. "Retrofit Methodology Based on Energy Simulation Modeling Applied for the Enhancement of a Historical Building in L’Aquila," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-26, June.
    14. Hamburg, Anti & Kuusk, Kalle & Mikola, Alo & Kalamees, Targo, 2020. "Realisation of energy performance targets of an old apartment building renovated to nZEB," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 194(C).
    15. Khadidja Rahmani & Atef Ahriz & Nahla Bouaziz, 2022. "Development of a New Residential Energy Management Approach for Retrofit and Transition, Based on Hybrid Energy Sources," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-23, March.
    16. Evangelisti, Luca & De Lieto Vollaro, Roberto & Asdrubali, Francesco, 2022. "On the equivalent thermo-physical properties for modeling building walls with unknown stratigraphy," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 238(PA).
    17. Akkurt, G.G. & Aste, N. & Borderon, J. & Buda, A. & Calzolari, M. & Chung, D. & Costanzo, V. & Del Pero, C. & Evola, G. & Huerto-Cardenas, H.E. & Leonforte, F. & Lo Faro, A. & Lucchi, E. & Marletta, L, 2020. "Dynamic thermal and hygrometric simulation of historical buildings: Critical factors and possible solutions," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    18. Giuseppe Aruta & Fabrizio Ascione & Nicola Bianco & Teresa Iovane & Margherita Mastellone, 2023. "Assessment of the Incentive Rate to Favor the Energy Retrofit of Public Buildings: A Comprehensive Approach for an Italian University Facility," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-16, June.
    19. Abdul Mujeebu, Muhammad & Ashraf, Noman & Alsuwayigh, Abdulkarim, 2016. "Energy performance and economic viability of nano aerogel glazing and nano vacuum insulation panel in multi-story office building," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 949-956.
    20. Małgorzata Basińska & Dobrosława Kaczorek & Halina Koczyk, 2021. "Economic and Energy Analysis of Building Retrofitting Using Internal Insulations," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-18, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:220:y:2021:i:c:s0360544220327535. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.