Renovating buildings, yes! But how?
The transdisciplinary research project "Renovation Buildings, yes! But how?" between the Chair of Sustainable Construction at ETH Zurich, the USYS Td Lab at ETH Zurich and the Department of Design at ZHdK is addressing environmental impacts attributed to the building sector and providing solutions for renovations of existing buildings that are environmentally friendly, climate resistant and cost-efficient.
In Switzerland, about 74% of the building stock was constructed before 1990. Such buildings are energy-inefficient and need to be renovated. Furthermore, 60% of the stock still relies on fossil-fuel based heating systems causing a high level of carbon emissions. In a previous SNF research project, robust, cost-effective and climate-friendly renovation scenarios were identified. First, the uncertain parameters critical for the analyses of costs and environmental emissions in a building renovation process were identified. Then, the possible renovation solutions including conventional and bio-based materials were defined with associated costs and environmental emissions. Afterwards, multi-objective robust optimization for several building representatives from all the construction periods in Switzerland were performed.
For all studied buildings, the optimal robust cost-effective and climate-friendly solution is different from the deep renovation practice promoted to decrease the energy consumption of a building. In contrast to common practices, the robust, cost-effective and climate-friendly renovation solutions identified require a minimal amount of insulation material in case conventional materials are used due to future climate changes and possible overheating during summer months. Such a contrasting solution is supported by complex analysis with a comprehensive assessment of future uncertainties and robust optimization techniques.
However, the complexity of such analysis makes communication in a comprehensive way to the general public difficult. The goal of this project is to disseminate the results of our previous SNF project on the key actors of the sector and influence decision-makers in order to shift towards a low-carbon and climate-proof Swiss building. Specific discussion and interaction platforms will be developed for each stakeholder in order to tailor the message to the type of actions they can do and the initial knowledge and interest they have. The outreach strategy and different measures will be developed in close collaboration with experts from the USYS Td Lab at ETH and the Department of Design at ZHDK.
