CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Opinion differs as to the benefits of refurbishing buildings. New builds can present opportunities for energy management that would not be achievable in some refurbishments. On the other hand, existing buildings account for architectural value (historical, heritage), important amounts of embodied energy and could present adaptation opportunities to environmentally upgrade them depending on form and orientation. Essentially the issue resolves around how well an existing buildings energy performance can be improved, taking into consideration that the existing buildings will comprise the majority of the total building stocks for years to come and hence will remain responsible for the majority of greenhouse gas emissions from the sector. This paper investigates potentials of sustainable refurbishment of representative houses in a particular location (Mendoza, Argentina 32º40 SL, 68º51 WL, 750m above sea level) aiming to provide guidelines for other buildings with Mediterranean climate and constructive traditions. First, questionnaires have been used to analyse users satisfaction and well being in their homes. After that, calculi of potential upgrade were performed. Then, three cases were selected and annual on-site air temperature, surface temperature, relative humidity and global radiation on horizontal plane measurements were performed. With this information a dynamic simulation model were developed and adjusted. Models were run with different refurbishment options. A sequential proposal of application was considered and the relative impact of each step was analysed. In houses oriented towards the Equator, results show reductions in energy consumption between 60 to 87% in winter. Initial measured energy consumption of 200 - 400 kWh.m2/year was reduced to 15 / 30 kWh.m2/year. It is concluded that in the cases presented for discussion refurbishment is highly recommended to improve well-being, reduce energy consumption and environmental pollution.