Centro de Território, Ambiente e Construção
Escola de Engenharia da Universidade do Minho
Campus de Azurém
4800-058 Guimarães, Portugal
Phone: + 351 253 510 200 (517 206)
Fax: + 351 253 510 217
Email: geral@ctac.uminho.pt
Project | Annex 56 Cost |
Title | Benefits of energy related building renovation in residents’ comfort and well-being – Vila d’Este case study |
Publication Type | Communications in International Conferences |
Year of Publication | 2016 |
Authors | Almeida, Manuela G., Ferreira M., Rodrigues A., and Barbosa J. |
Abstract | The relevance of the building sector in the global energy use as well as in the global carbon emissions makes the improvement of the overall energy performance of existing buildings an important part of the actions to mitigate climate changes. Regardless of this potential, large-scale building renovation has been found hard to trigger, with present standards mainly focused on new buildings, not responding effectively to the technical, functional and economic constraints of the existing ones. One of the common problems in the assessment of building renovation scenarios is that only energy savings and costs are normally considered, despite the fact that the investment on energy efficiency yield several benefits beyond the value of saved energy (the so-called co-benefits). To demonstrate and highlight the relevance of co-benefits achieved in the renovation process, a Portuguese neighbourhood with nearly 17.000 inhabitants that has been recently renovated is analysed in search for evidences of the existence of these co-benefits and their relevance. Indoor temperature, humidity and noise insulation were monitored and a survey to the residents was carried out. Results clear indicate the achievement of co-benefits at the building level such as increased user comfort and reduced problems with building physics (mould and water infiltrations), but also the elimination of the feeling of gentrification by outside people to the neighbourhood. The analysis demonstrates that the decision-making process can’t only be based on investment costs and energy savings, being necessary that owners, investors, promoters, but also policy makers adapt their reasoning to include these additional benefits. |
Conference Name | IAQVEC 2016 - 9th International Conference on Indoor Air Quality Ventilation & Energy Conservation In Buildings |
Date Published | 2016-10-23 |
Conference Location | Seoul, Republic of Korea |
Keywords | Building renovation, Co-benefits, Energy Efficiency, thermal comfort |
Rights | openAccess |
Peer reviewed | yes |
Status | published |
The Centre for Territory, Environment and Construction (CTAC) is a research unit of the School of Engineering of University of Minho (UMinho), recognised by the “FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia” (Foundation for Science and Technology), associated to the Department of Civil Engineering (DEC), with whom it shares resources and namely human resources.
Currently CTAC aggregates 25 researchers holding a PhD of which 20 are faculty professors of the Civil Engineering Department. Read more
Centro de Território, Ambiente e Construção
Escola de Engenharia da Universidade do Minho
Campus de Azurém
4800-058 Guimarães, Portugal
Phone: + 351 253 510 200 (517 206)
Fax: + 351 253 510 217
Email: geral@ctac.uminho.pt