Sustainable Solutions for Extensive Retrofitting of Residential Buildings Built in the 1970s (original) (raw)

Springer Proceedings in Energy

Today, more than half of the urban population in Romania lives in collective housing units based on standard typologies built from large prefabricated reinforced concrete panels. These units were built on a large scale between the early 60s and 90s in order to rapidly provide housing for a large number of workers coming from the rural areas due to the intense expansion of the industries near the cities. With the evolution of technology and social routines, these housing units are now outdated and consume significant amounts of energy for heating, cooling and ventilation while, not being able to meet modern living needs. Based on the main aspects of sustainable development, a retrofitting scenario of these building is proposed, i.e.: (1) social, by rethinking the space configuration within the apartments, accessibility and transforming the inner courtyards, now occupied by cars, into a positive space; (2) economic, by offering a new building envelope based on a ventilated facade system and by improving the existing facilities for heating, ventilation and cooling; (3) environment, by integrating renewable energy systems and passive design strategies-a new extension module is placed on top of the buildings that behaves as an active core and house a solar panel array and energy distribution networks. With the transition of the existing power grids to the so-called "smart grids", such buildings can become, consumers as well as suppliers, and the possible energy losses on the grid to be eliminated.