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T. Konstantinou

80 records found

Thermal Resilience to Extreme Heat

Preliminary Study on Thermal Fragility Curves

The increasing frequency and intensity of heatwaves raises questions about the thermal vulnerability of buildings and, in particular, on how to assess their resilience to extreme heat. In this context, thermal fragility curves, which describe the probability of achieving or excee ...

Sustainable energy experiments and demonstrations

Reviewing research, market and societal trends

Research into the impact of innovative sustainable energy experiments and demonstrations is crucial to diversifying, scaling up, and accelerating the sustainable energy transition. Although there is vast research into sustainable energy experiments and demonstrations, research li ...

Making energy renovations equitable

A literature review of decision-making criteria for a just energy transition in residential buildings

Energy renovation of residential buildings is a key strategy for a just energy transition, involving complex socio-technical challenges and increasingly requiring attention to social implications and equity. However, what constitutes just energy renovations remains undefined and ...
Rising temperatures are leading to an increase in cooling energy demand and thermal discomfort due to overheating. Despite dynamic switchable glazing being a promising solution for controlling solar radiation while preserving user access to outdoor views, their cost is currently ...
Roughly 97% of the European Union (EU) building stock is not considered energy efficient, and 75–85% of it will still be in use in 2050 (Artola et al., Boosting building renovation: What potential and value for Europe? 2016). Residential buildings account for around two thirds of ...

Towards Lower Temperature Heating

A framework to support decision-making for energy renovations of existing Dutch dwellings

This study introduces a systematic framework to facilitate decision-making in selecting renovation options for preparing existing Dutch dwellings for utilising lower temperature heat (LTH) supplied by district heating (DH) systems. The framework was applied to an archetype terrac ...

Circularity potential of building products

Material Flow Analysis of façade building components

The construction industry, accounting for a significant portion of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, is pivotal in achieving Europe's ambitious climate neutrality goal by 2050. Circular Economy (CE) principles and the renovation of existing buildings are identified ...

Textile Membrane for Façade Retrofitting

Exploring Fabric Potentialities for the Development of Innovative Strategies

The European building stock demands urgent renovation due to the age of the buildings, their expected lifetime, and their excessive energy consumption, which accounts for more than a third of the EU’s total emissions. However, the complexities involved, such as time, costs, and s ...
Energy renovation processes in vulnerable neighbourhoods are complex decision-making endeavours. The JustPrepare project aims to develop inclusive strategies attuned to local needs to enhance energy renovation and transition effectiveness, considering economic, environmental, and ...

Evaluating building-level parameters for lower-temperature heating readiness

A sampling-based approach to addressing the heterogeneity of Dutch housing stock

The Dutch government aims to eliminate natural gas for residential heating in 1.5 million homes by 2030. One strategy is connecting existing dwellings to lower-temperature district heating (DH) systems, although these dwellings might require energy renovations. The heterogeneous ...
The present research proposes a framework to design and evaluate façade products integrating solar cooling technologies (SCTs), applied in an office building in a Southern Europe region. The building comprises various types of façade elements, such as opaque walls, glazed curtain ...

A Review of Climate and Resident-Oriented Renovation Processes

A Framework for Just Decision Support Systems

The renovation of existing buildings is widely recognized as a powerful strategy for reducing emissions and land use. However, when it comes to residential buildings, the socio-technical challenges are particularly complex. The necessity and urgency of increasing energy efficienc ...

Streamlining Renovation Workflow Through Process Digitalization

Enhancing Information Flow, Accelerating Decision-Making, and Reducing Costs in the Early Stages of the Renovation Process

In typical practice of building renovation design, distributed teams communicate through technical drawings, but the construction industry lags in digitalization. This study addresses this gap by proposing a methodological framework integrated into digital tools for early-stage r ...

Unraveling the implementation processes of PEDs

Lesson learned from multiple urban contexts

The implementation of Positive Energy Districts (PEDs) is recognized as a promising approach to achieving energy efficiency and reducing the negative environmental impact of climate change through the surplus of local renewable energy generation. However, several barriers to the ...
This report describes the methodology for identifying and assessing cost-effective strategies for renovating urban districts towards far-reaching objectives regarding reducing carbon emissions and energy use. The report proposes different scenarios considering boundary conditions ...
This report, therefore, focuses on the following objectives:
- Give an overview of various policy options that could target the district level, considering existing and emerging policy instruments with the potential to be successfully applied within that context, and how poli ...
The present report provides guidance on the main concepts regarding building renovation and aims to set a common language for communication between local authorities, professionals, researchers, inhabitants and, in general, all the stakeholders and international partners. Each te ...

Solar Cooling Integrated Façades

Towards investigating product applicability

The application of façade products integrating solar cooling technologies tends to be one of the promising options to be considered for challenges related to the increase in global demand for cooling in the built environment. Accordingly, the technological innovation of such prod ...
Residential buildings in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) contribute to nearly half of the overall electricity consumption in the building stock, highlighting their significant role in energy consumption. While an upgraded energy code has been established and enforced for new bu ...

Renovation process challenges and barriers

Addressing the communication and coordination bottlenecks in the zero-energy building renovation workflow in European residential buildings

The implementation of Nearly Zero-Energy Buildings (NZEB) renovation packages in Europe needs to be accelerated to meet the current decarbonization goals. To achieve this level of performance, building renovation strategies should shift towards solutions that incorporate a multit ...