Robert Hastings

Donau University

Department of Building & Environment
AT-3500 Krems
robert. hastings@aeu. ch

Abstract

I strongly favour renovating housing because older structures often have a charm and personality lacking in "modern" box architecture. A renovation for me is "advanced" if it fulfils contemporary expectations for appearance, functionality, space and light; and if purchased energy costs are drastically reduced. Often, however, renovations are only superficial. This is tragic because a sensible renovation will not be an issue again for many years. Therefore, clients should be convinced to set high standards for renovations. To achieve ambitious goals, many components and concepts drastically reduce heat losses. However, in existing buildings conservation opportunities are often limited by existing construction or historic preservation. In such circumstances, producing energy is an economical alternative to extreme conservation. The obvious means is harnessing the sun, be it by photovoltaics, solar thermal or passive solar design. When a renovation includes a sensible mix of conservation and solar measures, and drastically improves living quality, it can truly be said to be an "advanced solar housing renovation". Examples of comprehensive renovations and their performance from across middle Europe are presented here, based on documentation completed in a Subtask of IEA-SHC 37.

Keywords: housing, renovation, solar, international

1. Introduction

Successful, innovative renovation projects are a good source of ideas, can convince a client to set ambitious goals and are helpful in setting realistic targets. Exemplary renovations from seven countries have been documented in an IEA-SHC project [1]. The combined strategies of conservation and solar use achieve up to 90 percent reduction in non-renewable energy demand. Primary energy use for space and water heating was reduced to between 40 and 70 kWh/m2a. The renovation strategies not only save energy, they also improved living quality, comfort and functionality, as well as increasing real estate values. As in new building design, careful detailing is the key to beauty, effectiveness and durability in renovation projects (fig. 1).