Comparing the profitability of various renovation packages in Swedish residential building sector : case study

• Swedish government adopted national targets to reduce total energy consumption and mitigate environmental impacts. At this point, detached houses play an important role, since they account for a large share of dwelling stock in this country. The majority of these buildings are affected by technical deteriorations in building envelopes and heating, ventilation and air condition systems. Accordingly, there is a need for a deep renovation strategy, which covers both energy efficiency measures and economic issues. Additionally, a deep renovation can improve indoor climate, which contributes to the enhanced health and wellbeing. Thus, the aim of this study is to compare the efficiency of eight different renovation packages in reducing energy consumption and providing economic benefits in a detached house in Sweden. The renovation packages include 1) improving the U-value of building envelopes; 2) adding a heat recovery for ventilation system; 3) installing a ground source heat pomp for supporting heat demand and domestic hot water; 4) combination of renovation package 1 and 2; 5) combination of renovation package 1 and 3; 6) combination of renovation package 2 and 3; 7) combination of renovation package 1, 2 and 3; and 8) combination of renovation package 1, 2, 3 along with installing photovoltaic cells for producing electricity. The reduction in energy consumption was calculated in kWh/m². year for each renovation package, while the economic benefit was obtained by calculating the payback period during a lifespan of 50 years and internal rate of return with interest rates of 1%, 3% and 6%. The results indicate that renovation package 8 has the highest potential in reducing total energy consumption, while renovation package 3 is the most profitable solution since it provides the shortest payback period with the highest internal rate of return. The results help to define and project efficient energy policies in Sweden.

Subject headings

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Samhällsbyggnadsteknik -- Annan samhällsbyggnadsteknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Civil Engineering -- Other Civil Engineering (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Energy efficiency

Detached houses

Internal rate of return

Payback period

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kon (subject category)