This thesis emerges from the climate emergency of recent years and the international efforts to mitigate the impacts of climate change. Although energy retrofitting residential buildings has demonstrated the ability to deliver up to a 90% reduction in energy use and offers multiple benefits on a national and dwelling scale, the level of retrofitting remains very low in Europe. This study aims to holistically investigate what the most effective energy retrofitting strategies are technically, economically and in terms of acceptance by homeowners, for improving energy use and thermal comfort in existing residential buildings in Albania. The evidence from 49 case studies of residential buildings in Albania reveals they have poor energy and thermal performance, overheat in summer and have low indoor temperatures in winter, making energy retrofitting an urgent need. Eight retrofitting scenarios have been investigated for eight main archetypes of the Albanian building stock, in terms of energy savings and improvement of the indoor environment, using baseline energy models informed by empirical data collected through building and occupants’ surveys, as well as monitoring of indoor temperature. Three indoor temperature profiles were developed using Hierarchical Cluster analysis and explained for contextual factors, to account for various occupant behaviours present in Albanian households. External wall insulation (thickness of 10cm) was found to be the most effective single measure to reduce energy consumption by up to 52% in flats with silicate bricks, while deep retrofitting has shown the highest energy-saving potential of up to 80%. A large reduction in temperature over 28°C was found for each scenario from over 70% to 21% of the occupied time. Cost-benefit analysis of each strategy identified the most cost-effective strategies, which were thereafter evaluated for their acceptance by homeowners using semi-structured interviews. External wall insulation and replacement of single-glazed windows with double-glazed ones were the most effective single measures both financially and in terms of acceptance by the homeowners, while the combination of the two was found to be widely accepted as a package of measures. A deeper understanding of the extent and reasons for the lack of acceptability of energy retrofits by homeowners has been reached, including financial, administrative, institutional, and building-related factors, as well as individual circumstances such as income, education and inability to adapt to a new lifestyle. Findings in this research demonstrate that modelling work itself is quite routine unless some of the findings are novel, and using empirical data for energy modelling would bridge the performance gap between the estimated and achieved energy savings through energy retrofits. Ultimately, this study’s empirical evidence suggests that there is a huge potential for energy savings through retrofitting and the findings can assist the decision-making of homeowners, as well as policymakers, to address and overcome barriers to the large-scale implementation of energy retrofits in the Albanian housing stock.
Permanent link to this resource: https://doi.org/10.24384/j4ah-ct85
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Murataj, Jonida
Supervisors: Gupta, Rajat; Nicol, Fergus
School of ArchitectureFaculty of Technology, Design and Environment
Year: 2022
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