Analysis of Energy Retrofit Assessment Methodologies in Buildings by European Research Projects

Abstract

Energy retrofit of existing buildings is one of the main keys to achieve European Union's decarbonising objectives defined in the European Green Deal. In order to proceed into them, European policy has been adapted and several research projects are developed. The aim of this paper is to analyse the assessment methodology of the research projects, setting up the overview of the assessed fields and the criteria followed to perform and evaluate each project. As working methodology, 18 projects have been studied, firstly characterising by the main parameters and afterwards analysing the assessment followed by each one. This analysis is decomposed into five parameters: the assessment scope, reflecting the fields covered by the project's assessment; data source, the nature of the data; verification, use of data verification strategies; and implementation of life cycle thinking in the assessment methodology. The research shows that although the projects have their bases in the EU energetic targets they also cover a wider scope, assessing many fields and combining many sources of data. However, despite the large knowledge already defined by many projects, there is a lack of global and complete roadmap to be followed.