Balancing Trade-offs between Deep Energy Retrofits and Heritage Conservation: A Methodology and Case Study
Larissa Ide, Michael Gutland, Scott Bucking, Mario Santana Quintero
Abstract
Drastic reductions in energy consumption within existing buildings are required to achieve climate change mitigation targets. However, a portion of existing buildings have important historic values that need to be conserved. The goal of this paper is to present a methodology and decision-framework for deep energy retrofit analyses that balances trade-offs between conservation and sustainability. This methodology includes historic recording, documentation, a detailed energy model, and calibration to monthly data. An historic house in Ottawa, Canada is studied to demonstrate the use of the methodology. The energy retrofit analysis suggests 67% energy savings are achievable by increasing envelope thermal resistance to 4.1 m2-K/W, reducing air infiltration by 70% to 4.2 ACH at 50 Pa through air sealing and an air-vapour barrier, rehabilitating windows to be triple-pane low-E assemblies, using an air-source heat pump to supplement the existing gas boiler, daylight sensors and controls, and solar PV panels.