General Publications

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  Success Stories of Cost-effective Building Renovation at District Level Combining Energy Efficiency & Renewables (PDF 8.21MB) 
  May 2023
  Author(s): Silvia Domingo Irigoyen, Manuela Almeida, Ricardo Barbosa, Oskar Bell Fernández, Roman Bolliger, Henrik Davidsson, Giuliano Dall’Ò, Tiziano Dalla Mora, Kirsten Engelund Thomsen, Simone Ferrari, David Grisaleña Rodríguez, Bernhard Gugg, Juan Maria Hidalgo-Betanzos, Erik Johansson, Aurora Monge-Barrio, Fabio Peron, Piercarlo Romagnoni, Jørgen Rose, Jorge San Miguel-Bellod, Ana Sánchez-Ostiz, Inge Strassl, Lorenzo Teso, David Venus, Federica Zagarella
  Editor(s): Manuela Almeida
  Publisher: University of Minho
  Fifteen success stories from seven European countries have been collected within the framework of IEA EBC Annex 75 (available online in an interactive map: https://annex75.iea-ebc.org/success-stories). These success stories are exemplary interventions (mainly publicly owned, which largely condition the results of this report) involving district-based solutions for renewable energy use and energy efficiency measures. The scope of the renovation varies from one success story to another, and, in some cases, it was limited to measures either on the energy systems or on the thermal building envelope. It is documented to what extent the combination of energy efficiency measures on the building envelopes and renewable energy systems has been considered in the selected cases investigated and to what extent grid-based solutions were considered advantageous concerning individual heating or cooling solutions in the district. A special emphasis on the decision-making process as well as on challenges and lessons learned regarding their implementation is made.
  ISBN: 978-989-35039-7-3
  Document Number: C1
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  The District as Action Level for Building Renovation Combining Energy Efficiency & Renewables - A Short Guide for Investors and Decision-Makers (PDF 0.47MB) 
  May 2023
  Author(s): Hauke Meyer, Maximilian Pechstein, Manuela Almeida, Anita Tan De Domenico, Roman Bolliger, Bernhard Gugg, Uta Lynar, Harald Taxt Walnum, Jørgen Rose, Erwin Mlecnik, Thaleia Konstantinou
  Editor(s): Manuela Almeida
  Publisher: University of Minho
  A comprehensive and detailed Guidebook (Meyer et al., 2023) was prepared to provide target group-oriented recommendations for policymakers and investors/decision-makers. As a supplement to this Guidebook, two complementary versions offer more straightforward guidelines oriented to each target audience, with a summary of the main recommendations. This document provides guidance for investors and decision-makers only.
  ISBN: 978-989-35039-2-8
  Document Number: D3b
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  The District as Action Level for Building Renovation Combining Energy Efficiency & Renewables - A Short Guide for Policymakers (PDF 0.4MB) 
  May 2023
  Author(s): Hauke Meyer, Maximilian Pechstein, Manuela Almeida, Anita Tan De Domenico, Roman Bolliger, Bernhard Gugg, Uta Lynar, Harald Taxt Walnum, Jørgen Rose, Erwin Mlecnik, Thaleia Konstantinou
  Editor(s): Manuela Almeida
  Publisher: University of Minho
  A comprehensive and detailed Guidebook (Meyer et al., 2023) was prepared to provide target group-oriented recommendations for policymakers and investors/decision-makers. As a supplement to this Guidebook, two complementary versions offer more straightforward guidelines oriented to each target audience, with a summary of the main recommendations. This document provides guidance for policymakers only.
  ISBN: 978-989-35039-2-8
  Document Number: D3a
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  The District as Action Level for Building Renovation Combining Energy Efficiency & Renewables: Making use of the Potentials – A Guide for Policy and Decision-Makers (PDF 0.95MB) 
  May 2023
  Author(s): Hauke Meyer, Maximilian Pechstein, Manuela Almeida, Anita Tan De Domenico, Roman Bolliger, Bernhard Gugg, Uta Lynar, Harald Taxt Walnum, Jørgen Rose, Erwin Mlecnik, Thaleia Konstantinou
  Editor(s): Manuela Almeida
  Publisher: University of Minho
  The guidebook illustrates that the district, as an action level for building renovation, allows for synergies through combinations of energy efficiency measures and measures that promote the use of renewable energy and opportunities for stakeholders to cooperate, compared to an individual building approach. But building renovation at the district level also presents challenges. These include high upfront costs, a long payback time, and risks of not being implemented due to a potential withdrawal of some building owners at different stages. However, the studies also show that often the opportunities are greater than the challenges in district approaches, even if the cost-effectiveness of certain measures may not necessarily be one of these opportunities.
  One main conclusion from IEA EBC Annex 75 is that assessments must be carried out for each district renovation project since no "ready-made" or "one size fits all" solutions exist. Still, several techno-economic potentials for district solutions are apparent. Furthermore, the research indicates that the best renovation solutions for a district-level renovation depend on the district's starting situation. The building insulation level, the installed heating/cooling systems, the availability of renewable energy sources and the possibility of integrating renewable energy are determining factors.
  ISBN: 978-989-35039-2-8
  Document Number: D3
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  Barriers and drivers for energy efficient renovation at district level (PDF 1.21MB) 
  May 2023
  Author(s): Erik Johansson, Henrik Davidsson, Erwin Mlecnik, Thaleia Konstantinou, Hauke Meyer, Juan Maria Hidalgo-Betanzos, Roman Bolliger, Silvia Domingo Irigoyen, Matthias Haase, Bernhard Gugg, Manuela Almeida, Anita Tan De Domenico
  Editor(s): Manuela Almeida
  Publisher: University of Minho
  This report aims to identify both barriers that hinder energy-efficient renovation of buildings and drivers enabling the implementation of energy and cost-effective renovation of buildings and energy supply systems at the district level.
  Fifteen success stories regarding barriers and drivers were analysed in the first step. These success stories consisted of projects from seven European countries (Austria, Denmark, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland) where energy-efficient and/or renewable energy measures had been successfully implemented at the district level.
  In the next step, different stakeholders involved in energy renovations at the district level were interviewed about their experiences to identify barriers and drivers. In total, 39 in-depth interviews from eight countries (Austria, Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland) were carried out. The stakeholders included policymakers, renovation solution suppliers, energy solution suppliers, clients and beneficiaries, financing intermediaries and other intermediaries. The barriers and drivers were divided into the following categories: policy, legal aspects, economic aspects, social aspects, communication, technical aspects, and knowledge and training.
  ISBN: 978-989-35039-5-9
  Document Number: C3
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  Cost-effective building renovation strategies at the district level combining energy efficiency & renewables – investigation based on parametric calculations with generic districts (PDF 5.61MB) 
  May 2023
  Author(s): Toivo Säwén, Johnny Kronvall, David Venus, Jørgen Rose, Kirsten Engelund Thomsen, Ole Balslev Olesen, Tiziano Dalla Mora, Piercarlo Romagnoni, Lorenzo Teso, Teresa Blázquez, Simone Ferrari, Federica Zagarella, Manuela Almeida, Anita Tan De Domenico, Juan Maria Hidalgo, Raúl Briones Llorente, Henrik Davidsson, Erik Johansson, Roman Bolliger, Silvia Domingo Irigoyen
  Editor(s): Manuela Almeida
  Publisher: University of Minho
  This report aims to study cost-effective strategies to combine energy efficiency measures and renewable energy use in building renovation at the district level and to investigate factors influencing the choice of a cost-effective strategy. This is done through generic district assessments, where hypothetical, “generic” districts are generated to model typical conditions in various European countries.
  For the generic districts, relevant variables were defined to carry out parametric assessments, applying and testing the methodology developed in IEA EBC Annex 75. The generic districts were generated and selected based on the typical conditions in each country, and the hypothetical nature of the assessment allowed for studying different starting conditions and renovation measures. It is, in particular, investigated to what extent there are synergies and trade-offs for combining energy efficiency measures and renewable energy measures.
  ISBN: 978-989-33-4464-4
  Document Number: B3
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  Methodology for investigating cost-effective building renovation at district level combining energy efficiency & renewables (PDF 1.36MB) 
  May 2023
  Author(s): Roman Bolliger, Jon Terés-Zubiaga, Manuela Almeida, Ricardo Barbosa, Henrik Davidsson, Kirsten Engelund Thomsen, Silvia Domingo Irigoyen, Simone Ferrari, Erik Johansson, Thaleia Konstantinou, Roland Limacher, Tomas Matuska, Erwin Mlecnik, Ove Christen Mørck, Walter Ott, Piercarlo Romagnoni, Jørgen Rose, Toivo Säwén, Harald Taxt Walnum, David Venus, Zeno Winkels
  Editor(s): Manuela Almeida
  Publisher: University of Minho
  This report describes the methodology for identifying and assessing cost-effective strategies for renovating urban districts towards far-reaching objectives regarding reducing carbon emissions and energy use. The report proposes different scenarios considering boundary conditions and different interventions on building envelopes and thermal systems. The proposed methodology builds on the methodology previously developed for individual buildings in IEA EBC Annex 56 (developed by the same main authors of this report), extending it to the level of districts/groups of buildings. Furthermore, it also makes use of results from other related Annexes. The idea is that the methodology supports decision-makers in evaluating the efficiency, impacts, cost-effectiveness and acceptance of various strategies for renovating urban districts, and in identifying suitable renovation strategies.
  The methodology defines the boundary conditions set for the assessments carried out, the research questions/hypotheses mainly investigated with the assessments, and the type of outputs generated from the assessments.
  It is intended that, based on the methodology developed, existing tools can be identified, or existing tools can be adapted to support the application of the methodology in case-specific assessments. In addition, an online Calculation Tool (Annex 75 CT) was developed to support the application of this methodology, which is available at: https://annex75.bim.energy and at https://annex75.iea-ebc.org/publications.
  ISBN: 978-989-35039-6-6
  Document Number: B1
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  Overview of available and emerging technology for cost-effective building renovation at district level combining energy efficiency & renewables (PDF 4.71MB) 
  April 2023
  Author(s): Ove C. Mørck, Jørgen Rose, Kirsten Engelund Thomsen, Tomáš Matuška, Sergio Vega Sánchez, David Venus, Fabio Peron, Piercarlo Romagnoni, Erwin Mlecnik, Harald Walnum, Manuela Almeida, Ricardo Barbosa, Juan Maria Hidalgo, Jon Terés Zubiaga, Erik Johansson, Henrik Davidsson, Roman Bolliger, Silvia Domingo-Irigoyen, Uta Lynar, Hauke Meyer
  Editor(s): Manuela Almeida
  Publisher: University of Minho
  This report offers an overview of the available technologies for energy renovation and renewable energy supply at the district level. As anticipated, this is the second edition of the Technology Overview Report published in 2020 (and made available on the IEA EBC Annex 75 website since then), completing the set of final reports developed by IEA EBC Annex 75. The first edition was the first of IEA EBC Annex 75 deliverables and documented the work of Subtask A – Technology Overview. It served as a necessary reference for other subtasks, providing helpful information for assessing district renovation examples, especially for the simulations of the case studies and generic districts used in this project to test and verify the developed methodology.
  ISBN: 978-989-35039-4-2
  Document Number: A1 - 2nd edition
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  Business Models for cost-effective building renovation at district level combining energy efficiency & renewables (PDF 3.15MB) 
  April 2023
  Author(s): Thaleia Konstantinou, Matthias Haase, Juan Maria Hidalgo-Betanzos, Emilia Motoasca, Mira Conci, Zeno Winkels, Erwin Mlecnik, Hauke Meyer, Erik Johansson
  Editor(s): Manuela Almeida
  Publisher: University of Minho
  The present report aims to identify the key characteristics of business models important for upscaling business from the building to the district level. Understanding those characteristics and gaining insights about the opportunities the BMs offer for the different stakeholders will support the implementation of the renovation and the stakeholder dialogue. The methods implemented in the study included desk research and quantitative analysis of semi-structured interviews.
  ISBN: 978-989-35039-3-5
  Document Number: D2
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  Investigation of cost-effective building renovation strategies at the district level combining energy efficiency & renewables – a case studies-based assessment (PDF 9.44MB) 
  April 2023
  Author(s): David Venus, Piercarlo Romagnoni, Tiziano Dalla Mora, Lorenzo Teso, Manuela Almeida, Anita Tan De Domenico, Álvaro Campos Celador, Jon Terés Zubiaga, Juan Maria Hidalgo-Betanzos, Henrik Davidsson, Erik Johansson, Roman Bollinger, Silvia Domingo-Irigoyen, Clint Christen, Harald Taxt Walnum, Paula van den Brom
  Editor(s): Manuela Almeida
  Publisher: University of Minho
  This report aims to show, in selected case studies, the application of cost-effective strategies to combine energy efficiency measures and renewable energy use in building renovation at the district level, investigate factors influencing the choice of a cost-effective strategy, and gather related best-practice examples.
  For selected case studies, the necessary data was gathered to carry out parametric assessments, applying and testing the methodology developed in IEA EBC Annex 75. It was intended to select, as case studies, existing urban districts in need of renovation where the results of the analysis of these case studies could guide the choice of an adequate renovation strategy for the respective district. It is investigated to what extent there are synergies and trade-offs for combining energy efficiency measures and renewable energy measures. It is envisaged to determine cost-effective renovation strategies for the investigated districts considering both energy efficiency and renewable energy measures.
  ISBN: 978-989-33-4463-7
  Document Number: C2
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  Annex 75 Calculation Tool - A75CT 
  April 2023
  Author(s): Toivo Säwén
  The Annex 75 Calculation Tool was developed as part of the IEA EBC Annex 75 project entitled ”Cost-effective
  Building Renovation at District Level Combining Energy Efficiency & Renewables” with the purpose of conceptualising a calculation framework to optimise the cost and environmental impact of building renovation measures and district energy supply systems.
  
  Access to the online tool: https://annex75.bim.energy
  Document Number: B2

  • Full Report (PDF 0.81MB)
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  Policy instruments for cost-effective building renovation at district level combining energy efficiency & renewables (PDF 1.81MB) 
  April 2023
  Author(s): Erwin Mlecnik, Juan Maria Hidalgo-Betanzos, Hauke Meyer, Uta Lynar, Thaleia Konstantinou, Frits Meijer, Roman Bolliger, Matthias Haase, Erik Johansson, Henrik Davidsson, Jan Peters-Anders, Bernhard Gugg, Manuela Almeida, Anita Tan De Domenico
  Editor(s): Manuela Almeida
  Publisher: University of Minho
  IEA EBC Annex 75 focuses on promoting cost-effective building renovation at the district level combining energy efficiency and renewable energy systems. The present report intends to explore suitable policy instruments that can support the development of building renovation at the district level, targeting various types of stakeholders.
  
  This report, therefore, focuses on the following objectives:
  - Give an overview of various policy options that could target the district level, considering existing and emerging policy instruments with the potential to be successfully applied within that context, and how policy challenges specifically occurring in an urban context can be overcome;
  - Develop, test and use a methodology which can be applied to identify best-practice policy instruments for specific districts by evaluating stakeholder’s acceptance of proposed policy instruments and the effects and impacts stakeholders expect for reducing carbon emissions and energy use in buildings in cities at the district level, combining both energy efficiency measures and renewable energy measures;
  - Illustrate the development and assessment of innovative local policy instruments that could target the district level for achieving energy renovations and renewable energy systems;
  - Provide the necessary background for recommendations to policymakers and their key partners on how they can influence the uptake of cost-effective combinations of energy efficiency measures and renewable energy measures in building renovation at the district level.
  ISBN: 978-989-35039-1-1
  Document Number: D1
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  Good practices and lessons learned to transform existing districts into low-energy and low-emission districts (PDF 0.89MB) 
  April 2023
  Author(s): David Venus, Silvia Domingo-Irigoyen, Toivo Säwén, Johnny Kronvall, Henrik Davidsson, Erik Johansson
  Editor(s): Manuela Almeida
  Publisher: University of Minho
  The objective of this report is to illustrate, in selected case studies, cost-effective strategies combining energy efficiency measures and renewable energy use in building renovation at the district level, investigate factors that influence the choice of these strategies and gather related best-practice examples (the so-called "successful stories").
  ISBN: 978-989-35039-9-7
  Document Number: C4
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  Strategies to transform existing districts into low-energy and low-emission districts (PDF 0.94MB) 
  April 2023
  Author(s): Harald Taxt Walnum, David Venus, Jørgen Rose, Kirsten Engelund Thomsen, Tiziano Dalla Mora, Piercarlo Romagnoni, Lorenzo Teso, Manuela Almeida, Anita Tan De Domenico, Henrik Davidsson, Erik Johansson, Roman Bollinger, Paula van den Brom
  Editor(s): Manuela Almeida
  Publisher: University of Minho
  This report aims to describe various strategies to transform existing districts into low-energy and low-emission districts in different country contexts, as well as the opportunities and risks of such strategies. The strategies build on the outputs of other work packages and subtasks associated with this Annex, namely the case study assessments of case studies and the generic district analyses.
  ISBN: 978-989-35039-0-4
  Document Number: B4
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  Definitions and Common Terminology on cost-effective building renovation at district level combining energy efficiency & renewables (PDF 0.38MB) 
  April 2023
  Author(s): Juan Maria Hidalgo-Betanzos, Erwin Mlecnik, Thaleia Konstantinou, Hauke Meyer, Roman Bolliger, Manuela Almeida, Anita Tan De Domenico, Harald Walnum
  Editor(s): Manuela Almeida
  Publisher: University of Minho
  The present report provides guidance on the main concepts regarding building renovation and aims to set a common language for communication between local authorities, professionals, researchers, inhabitants and, in general, all the stakeholders and international partners.
  
  Each term is defined in the context and scope of IEA EBC Annex 75, namely building renovations at the district level, and combines definitions from the European legal framework, common definitions of English dictionaries, related projects, research papers, and other professional publications.
  ISBN: 978-989-35039-8-0
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  Tecnology Overview Report (PDF 8.56MB) 
  May 2020
  Author(s): Ove C. Mørck, Jørgen Rose, Kirsten Engelund Thomsen, Tomas Matuska, Sergio Vega Sanchez
  This report is the first of the deliverables from the IEA Annex 75 project. It documents the work of Subtask A – Technology Overview. As the title of the subtask indicates, the idea of this subtask was to create an overview of the available technologies for energy renovation and renewable energy supply at the district level.
  
  The technical and economic characteristics of the technology options are also determined. This includes in particular information on their efficiency, cost elements such as investment costs and operational costs taking into account economies of scale. The interdependencies, obstacles and success factors for combining the technology options are also described.
  The technology options are put into context with available potentials, and an outlook is made on their future developments.
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  Workshop on upscaling energy renovation to the district level - Summary and Main Findings (PDF 1.56MB) 
  Delft, September, 25th, 2019
  September 2019
  Author(s): Erwin Mlecnik and Thaleia Konstantinou
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  Workshop on district renovation towards nZEB - Summary and Main Findings (PDF 0.57MB) 
  Bilbao, March 27th, 2019
  June 2019
  Author(s): Juan María Hidalgo-Betanzos

Success Stories

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  Success Story in Switzerland - Weggis (PDF 1.21MB) 
  December 2020
  The document reports detailed information of a Sucess Story in Switzerland concerning neighbourhood renovation in Weggis
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  Success Story in Sweden - Hagalund (PDF 0.72MB) 
  December 2020
  The document reports detailed information of a Sucess Story in Sweden, concerning neighbourhood renovation in Hagalund
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  Success Story in Portugal - Vila D´Este (PDF 5.5MB) 
  May 2020
  The document reports detailed information of a Sucess Story in Portugal, concerning neighbourhood renovation in Vila Nova de Gaia.
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  Success Story in Portugal - Rainha Dona Leonor (PDF 5.43MB) 
  May 2020
  The document reports detailed information of a Sucess Story in Portugal, concerning neighbourhood renovation in Porto.
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  Success Story in Portugal - Boavista (PDF 8.01MB) 
  May 2020
  The document reports detailed information of a Sucess Story in Portugal, concerning neighbourhood renovation in Lisboa.
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  Success Story in Spain - Vitoria-Gasteiz (PDF 1.34MB) 
  March 2020
  The document reports detailed information of a Success Story in Spain, concerning district renovation in Vitoria-Gasteiz
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  Success Story in Spain - Tudela (PDF 0.48MB) 
  February 2020
  The document reports detailed information of a Sucess Story in Spain, concerning district renovation in Tudela.
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  Success Story in Italy - Valdastico (PDF 0.55MB) 
  February 2020
  The document reports detailed information of a Sucess Story in Italy, concerning district renovation in Valdastico.
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  Success Story in Italy- Venice Campus (PDF 0.62MB) 
  February 2020
  The document reports detailed information of a Sucess Story in Italy, concerning district renovation in the Venice IUAV Campu
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  Success Story in Italy - Sangallo (PDF 1.05MB) 
  February 2020
  The document reports detailed information of a Sucess Story in Italy, concerning district renovation in Sangallo.
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  Success Story in Italy - Turin (PDF 0.47MB) 
  February 2020
  The document reports detailed information of a Sucess Story in Italy, concerning district renovation in Turin.
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  Success Story in Austria - Strubergrasse (PDF 0.8MB) 
  February 2020
  The document reports detailed information of a Sucess Story in Austria, concerning district renovation in Strubergrasse.
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  Success Story in Italy - Modena (PDF 0.69MB) 
  February 2020
  The document reports detailed information of a Sucess Story in Italy, concerning district renovation in Modena.
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  Success Story in Denmark - Aalborg (PDF 1.02MB) 
  February 2020
  The document reports detailed information of a Sucess Story in Denmark, concerning district renovation in Aalborg
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  Success Story in Sweden - Lund (PDF 1.27MB) 
  May 2019
  The document reports detailed information of a Sucess Story in Sweden, concerning district renovation in Lund.

  • (PDF 1.27MB)

Articles

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  Comparative Analysis between Dynamic and Quasi-Steady-State Methods at an Urban Scale on a Social-Housing District in Venice 
  August 2021
  Author(s): Tiziano Dalla Mora, Lorenzo Teso, Laura Carnieletto, Angelo Zarrella, Piercarlo Romagnoni
  The residential building stock represents one of the major players in energy use and greenhouse gas emissions; thus, it is fundamental to reduce the energy used. Simulation tools are becoming more and more accurate in compliance with the new requirements both at the single-building and at the district scale, although they are not affordable by non-specialist users such as policymakers. The research concerns the evaluation of the energy demand for space heating for a historical district that is representative of the Italian building stock. The work compares dynamic and specialist-oriented urban scale tools such as Energy Urban Resistance Capacitance Approach (EUReCA) and City Energy Analyst (CEA)) as well as a quasi-steady-state calculation method (Excel spreadsheet), which is more affordable for non-specialist users. The work was carried out to assess the possible deviation of the results between the dynamic and quasi-steady-state calculation methods, as well as to identify any limits and opportunities in the application of the latter procedure, which is currently the official national calculation tool for the implementation of Directive 2010/31/EU. The study shows how the quasi-steady-state method predicts a reliable building energy demand, in line with the results obtained by the two dynamic tools, when considering only geometry and infiltrations as input. However, the limits of the quasi-steady-state method emerge when introducing internal loads, significantly underestimating the energy demand compared to CEA and EUReCA simulations. The results underline the potential application of the quasi-steady-state method to predict energy demand, although dynamics tools are more reliable but far more complex. Major findings through two methods concern the impact of solar heat gains on the overall heating demand at both the single building and the district scale. The different results between the tools provided evidence of a gap in the use of the simplest tool and demonstrated the accuracy and reliability of the proposed approach with a lower computational effort.

  • Full Report (PNG 0.19MB)
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  Building renovation at district level – Lessons learned from international case studies 
  May 2021
  Author(s): Jørgen Rose, Kirsten Engelund Thomsen, Silvia Domingo-Irigoyen, Roman Bolliger, David Venus, Thaleia Konstantinou, Erwin Mlecnik, Manuela Almeida, Ricardo Barbosa, Jon Terés-Zubiaga, Erik Johansson, Henrik Davidsson, Mira Conci, Tiziano Dalla Mora, Simone Ferrari, Federica Zagarella, Ana Sanchez Ostiz, Jorge San Miguel-Bellod, Aurora Monge-Barrio, Juan Maria Hidalgo-Betanzos
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  Cost-effective building renovation at district level combining energy efficiency & renewables 
  Methodology assessment proposed in IEA-Annex 75 and a demonstration case study
  October 2020
  Author(s): Jon Terés-Zubiaga, Roman Bolliger, Manuela G. Almeida, Ricardo Barbosa, Jørgen Rose, Kirsten E. Thomsen, Eduardo Montero, Raúl Briones-Llorente
  Building renovation plays a key role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and achieving the climate pro-tection goals. The district scale approach is one of the most effective approaches to accelerate this processof reducing the energy consumption in the building sector as increasing its renovation rates. In this con-text, the Energy in Buildings and Communities Programme of the IEA, IEA-EBC started in 2017 the project‘‘Annex 75: Cost-Effective Building renovation at District Level Combining Energy Efficiency andRenewables” aiming to explore optimal opportunities of district renovations from a cost-benefit perspec-tive. IEA Annex 75 is a co-operative effort of participants from 13 different countries: Austria, Belgium,China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Swedenand Switzerland. In this paper, key elements of the methodology developed in Annex 75 project are pre-sented. This methodology aims to facilitate the identification of optimal solutions in different Europeancountries, enabling to explore similarities and differences amongst them, with a particular focus on thebalance between energy efficiency measures and renewable energy measures. After a detailed descrip-tion of the developed methodology, it is also applied to a case study located in Portugal and resultsobtained are analysed in detail. The paper demonstrates the usefulness of the methodology for evaluatingand identifying optimal solutions in renovations at district scale, as well as for successfully addressing theresearch questions investigated by the Annex 75 project. They also provide some insights regarding thespecific case study, showing that, although district systems are not usual in the current Portuguese con-text, these centralised solutions in renovations at district level are cost-effective interventions that canlead to significant reductions of greenhouse gas emissions and non-renewable primary energy use.

  • Full Report (PNG 0.28MB)
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  O potencial das intervenções de renovação a nível urbano para edifícios nZEB (PDF 0.5MB) 
  Portuguese national journal article
  Author(s): Manuela Almeida and Ricardo Barbosa
  Publisher: Edifícios e Energia

Newsletters

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  Annex 75 Newsletter - September 2021 
  September 2021
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  Annex 75 Newsletter - December 2020 
  December 2020
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  Annex 75 Newsletter - March 2020 

  • Full Report (PNG 0.15MB)
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  Annex 75 Newsletter - July 2019 
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  Annex 75 Newsletter-November 2018 

  • Full Report (PDF 0.77MB)

Conference Papers

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  Neighbourhood consultancy centres for the adoption of low-carbon technologies by homeowners: experiences from Dutch initiatives (PDF 0.48MB) 
  March 2021
  Author(s): Erwin Mlecnik,Oubbol Oung, Ariane Lelieveld, Marianne de Snoo, Coen Vos
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  Potential of building renovation at district level for reducing CO2 emissions and fostering urban regeneration. IEA-EBC Annex 75 (PDF 0.56MB) 
  October 2019
  Author(s): Jon Terés-Zubiaga, Manuela G. Almeida , Ove Mørck, Roman Bolliger, David Venus
  Publisher: Proceedings of 10th EUROPEAN CONFERENCE ON ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND SUSTAINABILITY IN ARCHITECTURE AND PLANNING, VITORIA-GASTEIZ, 2019

Fact Sheet

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  Factsheet: Cost-effective Building Renovation at District Level Combining Energy Efficiency & Renewables (PDF 0.78MB) 
  November 2019
  Author(s): Annex 75
  Buildings are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions and cost-effectively reducing their energy use and associated emissions is particularly challenging for the existing building stock, mainly because of the existence of many architectural and technical hurdles. The transformation of existing buildings into low-emission and low-energy buildings is particularly challenging in cities, where many buildings continue to rely too much on heat supply by fossil fuels. However, at the same time, there are specific opportunities to develop and take advantage of district-level solutions at urban scale. In this context, the project aims to clarify the cost-effectiveness of various approaches combining both energy efficiency measures and renewable energy measures at the district level. At this level, finding the balance between renewable energy measures and energy efficiency measures for the existing building stock is a complex task and many research questions still need to be answered.

Presentations

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  ASHRAE Energy Efficiency for Existing Buildings Standard 100 (PDF 4.72MB) 
  Deep Energy Retrofit of Buildings Forum 2016 - Washington DC
  September 2016
  Author(s): Wayne Stoppelmoor

Annex 75