HIGH ENERGY EFFICIENCY PREFABRICATED RETROFIT MODULE DEVELOPMENT
Domingos da Silva Teixeira, S.A.
University of Minho Supervisors: Manuela Almeida, Luís Bragança; Co-Supervisor: Vasco Mesquita
School of Engineering
Centre of Biological Engineering
Introduction
Taking into consideration the excessive energy consumption in recent
years, it must be realized that the building sector is an extremely
important sector to intervene. According to Balaras, the European
building stock stands for 33% of the final energy consumption and 50%
of electricity use.
Energy Construction Year
Consumption
200
150
100
50
Image adapted from Mark Zimmerman
kWh/m2.y
There are also some predictions pointing out that if a significant change
of practice does not take place, in 2050 the building stock will represent
80% of the total energy consumption. Conscious of this problematic, the
European Union launched some Directives to promote the sustainable
development of the building sector reducing its excessive energy
consumption. The last one, EPBD-Recast, is very restrictive and sets the
so called 20-20-20 targets: reduce the greenhouse gases emissions in
20%, reduce the community’s energy consumption in 20% and increase
the share of energy from renewable sources to 20% until 2020. This can
only be reached if some actions on existing buildings are taken. In this
context, a massive rehabilitation of the existent building stock must be
started and new refurbishment solutions must be developed. Conscious
of these needs, the LFTC – UMinho, funded by FCT (PTDC
/ECM/67373/2006), is developing an optimized prefabricated façade
retrofit module for Portuguese residential buildings, helping contributing
to these targets.
Building Stock Measurement Campaign In order to develop
effective and efficient retrofit modules, we need to know what are
the major needs and problems of the building stock. To pursuit
this objective, a measurement campaign in different buildings
was carried out to identify the main energy pathologies, which
are: low insulation levels (high U values) of the envelope, high
air infiltrations rates and abundant thermal bridges. These
problems can be overcome by reinforcing the envelope
insulation and applying more airtight windows frames and doors
or using mechanical ventilation systems with heat recovery.
Engenharia para a Qualidade de Vida: MOBILIDADE E ENERGIA – Semana da Escola de Engenharia -11 a 16 de Outubro de 2010
Author* PEDRO SILVA
* psilva@civil.uminho.pt
Retrofit
Module
installation
method
Building Stock Measurement Campaign – Thermal Bridges
Prefabricated Retrofit Module Design optimization - a 3D modelling tool was applied – Google
SketchUp® - in order to study and optimize the module application to the
To reinforce the insulation level of existing buildings, it is being existing wall and the interaction between modules;
developed a prefabricated module based on traditional discontinuous
prefabricated insulating finishing, although with integrated ducts to Other issues - it was applied the tool THERM® to optimize the module in
lodge different kinds of tubes and cables, optimized levels of terms of thermal bridges and the tool Wufi® to confirm the inexistence of
insulation and with a mounting system that allows a simple application condensation inside the module.
and removal. The module composition is: 37.9 °C
aluminium composite finishing (3mm); 35
agglomerated black cork insulation (60mm);
30
steel U-profiles (3mm); extruded polystyrene
insulation (XPS – 120mm) with or without
25.3
moulded ducts or negative for ducts and cables;
smart vapour retardant; aluminium composite
finishing (3mm).
The application of the solution to the existing wall is going to uphold
two phases: 1st - placement of the metallic supporting structure; 2nd - Several module prototypes
application of the module to the supporting structure with a system of were built and tested on
indentation pins (module) and gaps (supporting structure) LFTC Test Cells and the
theoretical thermal
transmittance, U, of 0.23
W/m2.ºC has been
Conclusions confirmed.
The development of a new prefabricated retrofit module for residential
buildings is relevant – the implementation of this type of solutions can
result in a substantial overall reduction of the energy needs that can
be higher than 70% if the application of the retrofit module is
Module performance optimization complemented with a systematic improvement of the building
Energy performance - a dynamic simulation tool was applied envelope. For the final validation of the retrofit module, several
(eQuest®) and the performance of an existing building was estimated prototypes were built and instrumented with monitoring equipment and
considering the original envelope (U=1.9 W/m2.ºC) and the their thermal performance certified.
application of the retrofit module on the existing building walls (U=0.2 Acknowledgment
W/m2.ºC). The results showed that this measure, together with the The authors would like to thanks to FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e
reinforcement of the others envelope elements, led to a significant Tecnologia) for funding the Project PTDC/ECM/ 67373/2006, and also for the
reduction of the total energy needs that went from 320 kWh/m2year scholarship SFRH / BDE / 15599 / 2006 to the author Pedro Silva. Also a
(of the original building) to 86.8 kWh/m2year; special recognition to the DST, S.A. board of directors, namely to Eng. José
Teixeira, for the investment provided to the accomplishment of several studies
presented in this paper.