Creative Commons

This dissertation is part of the MSc in Energy Building Design at the International Hellenic University. In the European Union, the energy spent in buildings accounts for 40% of the total energy consumption and 36% of CO2 emissions. Most of the already existing European buildings have been constructed before the compliance of the member states national legislations with the EPBDs. They have low to insufficient insulation of the envelope, inefficient heating cooling and ventilation mechanical systems, low air tightness, lack of proper shading and are generally designed with little or no consideration regarding the environment and the energy consumption. About 35% of this stock is older than 50 years, which means the buildings were constructed before any national legislation or regulation concerning the energy efficiency was applied. This research, discusses the European building stock characteristics, the European Energy in buildings policy and legislation, the typology and methodology used for the study of building retrofitting measures. It will present direct and indirect benefits of such actions, from a thermal comfort, energy conservation, carbon-emission optimization and cost-effectiveness point of view. Finally, it applies the energy retrofitting methodology in several case studies, to retrieve results and extract conclusions for the energy behaviour of the buildings and the typology used.