STB Final Report Final JAN2013

7/27/2019 STB Final Report Final JAN2013

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/stb-final-report-final-jan2013 1/170



IEA-ECBCS Annex 51 – Subtask B May 2012

Final report 2

Bahram Moshfegh, Heimo ZinkoCase Studies on Energy Planning and Implementation Strategies for Neighborhoods,Districts and Municipal AreasWorking report for IEA ECBCS Annex 51 Subtask BLinköping University, 2012, LIU-IEI-R--12/00160—SE






Final report 4

Summary

As a part of the IEA ECBCS Annex 51 (Energy Efficient Communities: Case Studies andStrategic Guidance for Urban Decision makers), this report describes international casestudies on energy planning and implementation strategies for neighborhoods anddistricts. Eleven case studies from eleven different countries are described and the mainexperiences derived from them are summarized. The contributing countries are: Austria,Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, The Netherlands, Sweden, andUSA.

The case studies cover quite different aspects of energy conservation in neighborhoods,dealing with refurbishment, new building construction and application of new energytechnologies based essentially on renewables. Often several of these features arecombined in the same system. The following system configurations are covered:Refurbishment with existing heating system, refurbishment with new heating systems,mix of refurbished buildings and new construction with new heating systems, newbuildings connected to new heating systems.

Following the description of the background and the technical characteristics of the case

study projects, special emphasis is put on the decision-making and planning processeswhich lead to a successful completion of the projects. Successful means that the use of primary energy and the corresponding emissions of CO2 were (or will be) considerablyreduced in the whole neighborhood. The primary energy reduction was on average of theorder of 50 – 70%. This is achieved partly by energy-saving measures in the buildingsand partly by replacing supplied fossil energy by renewable energy, often throughcentralized or local district heating schemes. In some projects, LowEx systems were alsoapplied.

One important result from these case studies is proof that energy-efficient neighborhoodscan be achieved in an essentially cost-neutral way for the tenants. That means that thesavings due to reduction of supplied energy pays by and large both for the costs of installation of equipment for energy efficiency measures as well for providing renewableenergy to the neighborhood. Although in many of the case studies subsidies were usedfor the particular case (normally given just to the start-up phase or for testing newequipment or methods), it is shown that this need not be the rule. By and large energysaving measures can be expected to pay for themselves and even part of the new-construction refurbishment process, endowing the tenants with improved comfort andquality of live. It was also shown that in the long term run-down areas can becomeattractive again when provided with improved security, sustainability and economicstrength. In all cases – newly developed and refurbished neighborhoods - the investorsobtain better investment security and a more predictable return on their investments.And – most important of all – the environment is the great winner because of the use of primary energy and the major reduction in emissions of CO2.




Final report 5

Nomenclature and definitions

See glossary of the Annex 51 guidebook.




Final report 6

Contents

Summary ............................................................................................................. 4

Nomenclature and definitions .................................................................................. 5

1. Introduction .............................................................................................. 8

2. Ambitious energy-saving projects in the participating countries ..................... 10

2.1. National case studies ................................................................................10 2.1.1. Austria ....................................................................................................14

2.1.2. Canada ....................................................................................................19

2.1.3. Denmark .................................................................................................25

2.1.4. Finland ....................................................................................................32

2.1.5. France .....................................................................................................38

2.1.6. Germany .................................................................................................42

2.1.7. Japan ......................................................................................................54

2.1.8. The Netherlands .......................................................................................58

2.1.9. Sweden ...................................................................................................67

2.1.10. United States ...........................................................................................72

2.2. Project Schedules .....................................................................................77

3. Decision processes for urban development projects...................................... 79

3.1. Decision making for urban development projects ..........................................79

3.2. The driving forces .....................................................................................79

3.2.1. The role of utilities ....................................................................................80

3.2.2. The role of the market ...............................................................................81

3.2.3. The role of subsidies .................................................................................82

3.3. Project organization structures in urban development ...................................83

3.4. Important goals ........................................................................................86 3.4.1. Energy saving pays ...................................................................................86

3.4.2. Neighborhood development .......................................................................87

3.4.3. Examples of profitable neighborhood projects ..............................................88

3.5. How decisions are being made ...................................................................89

3.5.1. The initial spark ........................................................................................89

3.5.2. The role of public and private stakeholders ..................................................90

3.5.3. The cooperation of stakeholders .................................................................92

3.6. Decision steps in STB projects ....................................................................95

3.7. Importance of quality control .....................................................................97

3.8. Lessons learned from decision-making processes ..........................................98

4. Design and Planning processes .................................................................. 99

4.1. Planning principles, tools and decision aids for development and refurbishmentprojects ...................................................................................................99

4.1.1. Conventional (tool-supported) planning ..................................................... 100

4.1.2. Integrated planning ................................................................................ 103




Final report 7

4.2. Policy instruments .................................................................................. 107

4.3. Social aspects ........................................................................................ 109

4.4. Sustainability rating ................................................................................ 111

4.5. Lessons learned from the case studies regarding the planning process .......... 113

5. Implementation phase ............................................................................. 115

5.1. Educating working labor .......................................................................... 115 5.2. How tenants are affected ......................................................................... 117

5.2.1. Evaluation of wishes, proposals and problems of the tenants ........................ 117

5.2.2. Taking care of tenants during the building phase ........................................ 119

5.2.3. Tenant life in the new or refurbished buildings ........................................... 120

5.3. Monitoring, evaluation, verification ........................................................... 121

5.3.1. Monitoring of individual projects ............................................................... 121

5.3.2. Energy efficiency in some of the case studies ............................................. 130

5.4. Achievements of goals ............................................................................. 131

5.5. SWOT analysis ....................................................................................... 133

5.5.1. Strength/weakness ................................................................................. 133

5.5.2. Opportunity/threat .................................................................................. 134

5.6. Lesson learned from the implementation process ........................................ 135

6. Economic considerations .......................................................................... 137

6.1. How energy efficiency pays for increased comfort ....................................... 137

6.1.1. Costs of refurbishment ............................................................................ 137

6.1.2. Costs of new residential buildings ............................................................. 142

6.2. Total monthly costs of tenants.................................................................. 143

6.3. A study for military barracks (Fort Irwin) ................................................... 144

6.4. The costs of renewable energy ................................................................. 145 6.5. Lesson learned about costs of energy-efficient buildings .............................. 146

7. Conclusions and key findings .................................................................... 147

7.1. Conclusions from individual case studies .................................................... 147

7.2. Key findings from Subtask B for Annex 51 ................................................. 152

7.3. Proposal for further research .................................................................... 156

8. Recommendations for Subtask D .............................................................. 157

9. References ............................................................................................. 158

Appendix A ........................................................................................................ 160

Appendix B ........................................................................................................ 165

SWOT Analysis - Part 1 ....................................................................................... 165 SWOT Analysis - Part 2 ....................................................................................... 167




Final report 8

1. Introduction

Objective

The overall objective of Annex 51 is to provide strategic guidance for local decisionmakers for the implementation of energy-efficient communities. A “community” in theframework of Annex 51 is understood in a broad sense ranging from neighborhoods,residential or commercial zones, mixed urban neighborhoods or city districts to entiretowns or cities.

In the projects of this Subtask B1), at first hand energy efficient neighborhoods or urban

quarters are addressed. Hence the participants of Subtask B were asked to contributedescriptions of “case studies” which are exemplary for blocks or districts composed byenergy-efficient buildings on a cost–controlled basis. Hence the case studies shouldrepresent “showcases” for possibilities found in different countries to apply costoptimized energy conservation technologies and renewable energy systems forneighborhoods that can be applied to a broader market and in a reproducible manner. Animportant criterion is that the costs of the methods and technologies used should notdiffer essentially from what is vendible on a normal market. That means that anysubsidies or other incentives should be accessible to all costumers of the respectivecountry or region.

The projects in the eleven case studies presented in this report cover quite differentaspects of energy conservation in neighborhoods, dealing with refurbishment, newbuilding construction and application of new energy technologies based essentially onrenewables. Often, several of these features are combined in the same system. Basicallywe can discern the following system configurations:

- Refurbishment with basically existing heat distribution system (2 cases)

- Refurbishment with new heating systems (4 cases)

- Mix of refurbished buildings and new construction with new heating systems (1case)

- New building construction connected to new heating systems (4 cases)

The work described in the following chapters is mainly based on input received from theSubtask B participants. This input was in turn prepared based on specifications given bythe Subtask leader as specified in a Cases Study Form (compiled spring 2010) and in anEvaluation Report (compiled summer 2010). Additional information was gathered bymeans of a Questionnaire with “open questions” compiled in summer 2011. Hence,whereas the basis information about the case study projects and the cost information isin most cases from 2009 or early 2010 at the latest, some experiences, especially

monitoring results, are from 2011.

The contributions

The subtask B representatives from the participating countries were free to choose aproject they judged best suited to fulfill the basic criteria mentioned above. It turned out

1) Subtask B of IEA-ECBCS Annex 51also cited sometimes as STB.




Final report 9

that there is a broad spectrum of possible ways to achieve economic neighborhoods inboth refurbishment and new construction. And it is also shown that in spite of differenttechnologies and methods in the chosen projects, they have one important fact incommon: Energy conservation pays for most of what has been added to the tenants’

quality of life: Increased comfort, increased neighborhood security and increased

sustainability of housing. Although energy conservation measures in most cases resulted

in increased investments and higher fixed rents (compared to market levels), the totalmonthly costs for rents and purchased energy for the tenants are often the same or onlyslightly increased. One reason for that is the nowadays relatively high costs of primaryenergy compared to the situation let’s say 10 years ago, especially in Europe and Japan.An additional effect is that the owners of the buildings achieve a better investmentsecurity and a more predictable Return on Investment (ROI). And – very important - inall projects, the use of primary energy and emissions of CO2 are greatly reduced.

The findings from these projects are presented in the following chapters. In Chapter 2,the projects and their essential technical accomplishments are described. Chapter 3 dealswith the decision-making processes, and discusses the question of how and by whom theprojects are initiated. In chapter 4 planning principles, policy instruments and planning

tools used in the case studies are discussed. In chapter 5, the focus is on the implemen-tation process. Some subchapters here discuss the role of the tenants for whom in theend all these efforts are undertaken. Their cooperation is especially important inrefurbishment projects. Chapter 6 discusses cost examples for the different projects.Finally, the main conclusions are presented in Chapter 7 and recommendations for theongoing Subtask D of Annex 51 are summarized in Chapter 8.




Final report 10

2. Ambitious energy-saving projects in the participatingcountries

2.1. National case studies

Location and climate

The participating countries selected Subtask B projects known for their success so far asenergy saving and reduction of CO2 are concerned. In most projects, the objective was todemonstrate that ambitious projects can be realized and that envisaged goals can bemet. Most of the projects have been in planning during the 2000s and are alreadypartially finished and/or under progress. In some case studies, only a study has beencarried out but there exists a high probability that the project will be realized in thefuture. In other cases, energy and CO2 saving is only one part of the project vision. Veryoften, it was obvious that the primary goal was not energy saving but a process of regeneration or revitalization of an urban area which for different reasons had been run-down for many years. Another kind of project deals with new development of

neighborhoods with a high ambition of energy conservation and supply of renewableenergy. However, by discussing the costs of such projects, it was found that energysaving is one way to transfer costs from operation to investment and thus contributes tothe financing of the whole construction process. At the same time, the tenants could besupplied with modern architecture and housing, and thus an area that was in socio-economic decline could be restored.

The case studies of the different countries belong to different climate zones. One way todescribe the climate and its consequence for the heating and cooling demands of therespective location is to use degree days for heating to 20ºC (room temperature).Degree days are normally used to characterize heating needs with respect to a certainbase temperature which, depending on the insulation standard of the buildings, can be

any temperature below 20ºC. Buildings with low-energy standards often have basetemperatures around 10ºC and passive house standards close to 0ºC, due to solar andinternal heating gains, whereas older buildings, such as we intend to refurbish in ourprojects, could have a base temperature as high as about 18ºC2). The difference betweenthe base temperature and room temperature is supplied by internal energies, such aslighting, appliances and the occupants themselves. One way to compare the climate of the case study projects is to calculate the heating needs at a balance temperature of 20ºC, i.e., the standard room temperature, which is quite similar in most countries of theindustrialized world, without taking into consideration building standard and internalsupplies.

Figure 2.1.1 shows the participating projects in Europe and Figure 2.1.2 those in NorthAmerica and Japan.

2)These base temperatures can vary considerably depending on climate and type and occupation of buildings.




Final report 11

Figure 2.1.1: The European case study projects (red marks)

Figure 2.1.2: The location of the case study projects in North America and Japan (red

marks).




Final report 12

The European projects shown in Figure 2.1.1 are distributed between latitudes 58º and47ºN, with a local climate which varies quite strongly with the latitude of the location.The projects in North America are situated in Montreal (latitude 45ºN) and Barstow(35ºN). Finally we find a project in Tokyo (Japan, latitude 36 ºN). Figure 2.1.3 comparesthe heating loads with base temperature 20ºC for the different locations. The degreedays are calculated based on published long-term averages of monthly mean tempe-

ratures. It is seen that Montreal’s heating load belongs to another (continental) climate,much colder during winter compared with the European locations.

Figure 2.1.3: Heating loads in degree days (base 20ºC) as function of latitude for the

locations of the participating projects.

The case studies

In Table 2.1.1, the types of project contributions from the different countries aresummarized. From this table, some general features about the projects of Subtask B forneighborhoods can be deduced.

Based on eleven project cases we find that the majority of the projects (seven) concernrefurbishment of existing buildings, whereas only two projects are devoted to thedevelopment of new housing areas. Among the refurbishment projects, four (Mulhouse,

Lehen, Rintheim and Kumagaya) belong to city renewal projects, and four others dealwith renovation of mixed industrial/commercial/living areas. Two of them are militaryareas (Bad Aibling and Fort Irwin), although Bad Aibling is to be converted into civil use,i.e., a mixed residential-commercial area. Fort Irwin aims just at a due renovation of anactive military training center. Among the remaining two refurbishment projects,Brogården is a residential area. The project in Heerlen deals with redevelopment of mixed residential, commercial and office buildings, but new buildings are also connectedto the low-temperature heat distribution system.




Final report 13

The new development projects are essentially projects devoted to new energy efficientbuildings. In Lystrup, new building technology (essentially prefabricated wood structures)are demonstrated, and in the Petite Rivière project in Canada, a former recreation area isredeveloped into a residential park area where sustainable living should be possible.

The main aspects of all these projects are described in the following chapters.

Table 2.1.1: Case studies from low-energy projects in the participating countries

Location Main goalType ofbuildings

Number ofbuildings/dwellings

Start ofplanning

Construct.time

Start/end

Expectedenergy/CO2 reduction

Specialfeatures

ATStadtwerkLehen,Salzburg

New develop-ment of formerindustry andstadium areanear city

New andrefurbishedresidential andcommercialbuildings

Dwellings550 (refurb.)/ 623 (new)

2005 2009/201430% - 75%Prim energy

Micro DHnet withsolarenergy

CANPetite Rivière,Montreal

Equilibriumcommunityinitiative – (Sustainability)

New buildings,2 - 4 stories in apark landscape

56/14614600 m

2

commercialarea

2007 2012/2020

energyreduct. 50%CO2 notdecided yet

Notdecided yet

DENLaerkehaven -Lystrup

Low-energydistrict heatingsystem

New detachedhouses

105/122 2004 2008/2010Annual use:45 - 55kWh/m2

PV , low-temp DH55/25 ºC

FI PeltosaariIntegratedrefurbishmentproject

Existingresidentialbuildings andneighborhoodredevelopment

125 buildings103000 m

2

flats,2 commerc.buildings,1 school

2008 2012/2020 Energy 50% DH

FRFranklin-Mulhouse

Refurbishmentof degradedbuildings in ahistoric area

2- 4 storieshistoricalresidentialbuildings

Dwellings /120

2005 2007/2012Primaryenergy by90%

Indiv.boilers

DE1 Rintheim

Urban renewalby refurbish.and newconstruction

Refurbishedresidentialbuildings +some new

Dwellingsexist new

/1350 3/1102009 2009/2012

80% CO2 reduction

Cost-optimizedenergysupply

DE2 Bad AiblingRevitalizationof abandoned

military area

New andrefurbishedresidential and

commercialbuildings

52/183 (refur)21/60 (new)

2006 /2015Target 0 (net-zero)

Show-casefor variousenergy

savingprojects

JA KumagayaReplacementof ineffectiveenergy system

Office buildingand Hotel/ restaurant

2 buildings,10,340 m

2

2008 2009/2010Primaryenergy by77%

Solar heatand PV,Micro CHP

NLMine waterHeerlen

LOWEX -district heatingsystem basedon miningwater

New and exist.resid. buildings,detachedhouses andcommercialbuildings

330 + 110dwellings+120000 m

2

commercial /office area

2006 2009/201230- 40%Primaryenergy

HPassistedlow-tempDH

SE Brogården

RefurbishmenttowardsPassive housestandard

Existingresidential massproducedbuildings

18/300 2007 2009/201280% energy53% CO2 reduction

DHassisted airheating

US Fort Irwin

Prestudy ofnet-zero

energyrenovation

Renovationobjects at

military trainingarea

6/ 16,000 m2

incl .diningroom 2009

50% forrefurbish.

100% withbiomass plant

CHP, PV

Color code explanation: New development

Neighborhood development

Refurbishment project




Final report 14

2.1.1. Austria

Stadtwerk Lehen – revitalization of a city district in Salzburg

Project vision and objective:

Revitalization of a rundown urban area with the intention to improve quality of life by creating a district aimed at sustainability as far as environment, energy, and social life is

concerned.

Reference: [1]

Location: 47°48′ N, 13°02′ E Degree days (20°C): 4092

Time frame: 2005 – 2014

CASE DESCRIPTION

Public, semi-public and private companies joined under the lead of the municipality of

Salzburg for planning and developing new residential and commercial buildings in therundown city district Lehen, close to the city center of Salzburg. The driving force for thisproject is a political and social vision of the public (municipality) stockholders. A luckyingredient was the acquisition of an EU-Concerto funding which served as trigger for acoordinated action of the project partners.

The original Community Development Plan was revised by including sustainability aspectsand adding standards and goals for buildings. The former soccer stadium was replaced bythe city library. On the site of a former utility, residential and commercial buildings willbe realized – with the approach of defining high standards for energy efficiency. Buildingsaround the area (mostly owned by the City of Salzburg) were essentially erected in thetime after World War II and therefore needed a thorough renovation.

The project comprises an area of 105,000 m2

for new buildings with 550 dwellings(35,000m2 living area) and refurbishment of buildings with an area of 50,000 m2 with623 dwellings. About 20% of the new buildings are planned for commercial use3.

The goal of the project should fulfill criteria of sustainability with the following issues:

− Low-energy standard for new buildings and as economically as possible forrefurbishment

− High rate of renewable energy supply for the whole area (new buildings,refurbishments)

− Energy-efficient components in the public electrical applications (especially pumpsand lighting).

The targets for annual heat demand were set at 20 kWh/m2 for new buildings and 35kWh/m2 for existing buildings. The requirement for a high amount of renewable energyresulted in the heat supply system shown in Figure 2.1.1.2: Local (micro) district heat(65/35ºC) with 2,000 m2 solar collectors, central storage tank of 200 m3 and electrical

3 The distribution between new buildings and refurbished buildings can change in the future.




Final report 15

heat pump resulting in a solar fraction >30%; cooling is not decided yet. The reduction inprimary energy demand is about 433 MWh compared to existing district heating system(-35%) of Salzburg. The reduction in CO2 emissions compared to the existing districtheating is about 20 t/yr or 31%. Compared to natural gas use for heating, the reductionis 496 t/yr or 92%. The existing electricity is produced with 93% renewable energy,mostly hydroelectric.

The developers of the site, the City of Salzburg and other involved parties (private andpublic housing associations as well as the public Energy Company Salzburg AG) havesigned a "high quality agreement." The goal is to achieve within a five-year period anenergy-efficient, ecological and socially benign district. A process scheme for the projecttasks was designed and a steering group was established. In order to ensure highacceptance of the project, information activities were launched and an information officeestablished. Finally, technical working groups have been installed for detailed work onenergy supply and renovation.

One focus of "Stadtwerk Lehen" is to optimize the solar energy system for the conditionof available district heating. Once the general concept based on a large solar energysystem in combination with a heat pump was decided, several alternatives have been

considered and an optimal solution was found. One important issue was also how themicro-heating system could be planned and built considering possible supply of furtherobjects adjacent to the existing building stock.

An important development concerns the refurbishment of multistory buildings. Besidesinsulation of the building envelope, measures to reduce heat demand and air-ventilationrates have been defined. A study on cooling was also planned. Furthermore, the socialdevelopment of the area is an important concern for city planning. A study on that issuewill be undertaken by a special research program. 4)

Figure 2.1.1.1: Typical building in Lehen, before and after renovation

Monitoring is foreseen for 2011 and later and is seen as an instrument of quality control.Energy performance figures of residential buildings will be monitored. Furthermore,

monitoring aims also on individual tenants for tracking their energy use behavior. Thetenants should be able to easily see their energy consumption in relation to calculationand thus react if necessary.

4)In spring 2011, the investor decided for cost reasons to withdraw all innovative energy efficient refurbishmentmeasures and plans now for renovation by conventional standards.




Final report 16

The concept of Stadtwerk Lehen also includes intensive communication of the wholeproject. General public information activities are based on leaflets and press releases; inaddition, a book with a description of changes in the district was published. For inter-ested experts special presentations and documentations (e.g. for Concerto or the "Hausder Zukunft plus" programs) were arranged.

Figure 2.1.1.2: Heat supply concept for Salzburg Lehen with solar collector fields, storage

tank and micro-net for neighborhood-scale heat supply

TECHNICAL INFORMATION

The newly built area was also seen as a chance for the surrounding retrofit areas. Anenergy-efficient supply of these areas with the low-temperature micro-net of StadtwerkLehen became a concrete perspective for city planners. This causes an overall renovationas a requirement for the further project development.

Low-energy standard for new buildings

Achieving the targets for existing buildings required a discussion process concerningrenovation. A study was performed by an external expert for multifamily buildings, whoalso had no worries about possible conflicts of interest. The goal of this study was toshow the chances of renovation concerning improvements in energy consumption butalso related to issues of quality of life (quality of apartments, quality of public space,etc.) and economic benefits. With respect to energy performance, several variants of standards were analyzed:




Final report 17

- Standard renovation

- Factor 10 renovation

- Passive house - standard renovation

- Passive house - standard for addition of one or more stories to existing buildings

Related to these targets, standards for components of renovation have been defined, seeTable 2.1.1.1.

Table 2.1.1.1: New definition of thermal standards of main components for Lehen

Component

ExistingAlternative 1

Standard

Alternative 2

Factor 10

Alternative 3

Passive house

U-ValueInsulationthickness



U-Value

W/(m2 K) cm W/(m2 K) cm W/(m2 K) cm W/(m2 K)

Outside wall 1.015 16 0.180 20 0.138 25 0.114

Ceiling of

basement1.111 12 0.231 20 0.151 25 0.124

Ceiling of

highest floor0.812 20 0.143 25 0.119 30 0.101

Roof angle 1.127 27 0.154 30 0.131 35 0.113

Wall

basement1.722 16 0.194 20 0.146 25 0.119

Wall attic 1.722 16 0.194 20 0.146 25 0.119

Outside door 2.8 1.250 1.250 0.800

Inside door 2.8 1.250 1.250 0.800

Windows 0.9 0.85 0.800

Wall to

ground1.596 16 0.192 20 0.158 25 0.129

Table 2.1.1.2 shows the costs for renovation of components for the three types of

renovation analyzed (standard, Factor 10 and Passive house). Costs of variant 2 and 3are related costs to standard renovation.

Table 2.1.1.2: Costs for renovation – standard and alternatives (related to standard)

Renovation costs Alternative 1Standard

Alternative 2 –Factor 10 Additional

investment

Alternative 3 – Passivehouse Additional

investment

€/m2 €/m2 €/m2

Outside wall 79.45 4.90 5.82

Outside wall to ground 1.28 0.08 0.08

Ceiling of highest floor 21.38 1.84 1.91

Ceiling of basement 15.71 3.04 1.85

Wall to unheated room 4.28 0.45 0.53

Door to unheated room 4.66 0.00 2.16

Windows 64.19 4.44 9.87

Outside doors 3.83 0.00 1.81

Thermal bridges 2.68 0.00 1.98

Air tightness 3.30 0.26 0.13

Ventilation 32.00 35.00 0.00




Final report 18

Heating 104.56 -15.15 -6.13

Energy related additional costs 337.00 35 20

Other renovation costs 483.00 0 0

building site preparation,improvement of open areas,additional expenses

393.00 0 0

Total 1,213.00 1,250.00 1,270.00

High rate of renewable energy for energy supply

The challenge to integrate renewable energy into the existing supply system was solvedby following a strategy based on a solar energy-assisted district heating system. Butthere are additional improvements necessary to meet the goal of high share of renewableenergy. An increased solar fraction is achieved by installation of a heat pump in order toincrease efficiency of solar collector fields. In addition to that, a special micro-net forheat supply is also foreseen. This micro-net in combination with planning directives for allof the housing projects allows low distribution temperatures and thus higher solar gains.Based on the heat-supply concept, detailed simulations have been performed in order tooptimize the whole system.

Compared to this basic solution, several other solutions have been investigated (solar +heat pump, solar + heat pump + CHP, solar + heat pump with natural gas, increasedsolar field). Result shows that only a solution with solar + heat pump has lower primaryenergy demand compared to the basic solution. As a result of these simulations, thefollowing specific data were determined for implementation:

- solar collector fields on several buildings (2000 m² )

- Central storage tank 200 m³

- Electric heat pump to increase the efficiency of the solar heating system

- Heat distribution with low-temperature micro-net (65/35ºC)

- Back-up system: district heating- Solar fraction > 30%

- specific solar yield > 400 kWh/m²,yr.

Energy efficient pumps and lightning of public areas

To achieve the goal of optimized share of renewable energy, efficiency measures forelectricity consumption are also considered. In the newly built area, electricity use byindividuals (in residential and commercial buildings) is not affected, since there are noinstruments to influence the private electricity demand (household appliances, otherelectronic equipment). But the electricity demand of public areas (lighting) and heat

supply systems (pumps) of new construction is of general interest. Furthermore, theelectricity consumption for the heating system is also reduced by use of decentralized hotwater supply with district water heating units in each apartment. Electricity consumptionof public lighting and for pumps in the newly built area will be approximately 125,000kWh/a. It was decided among the partners to cover 30% of the total electricity demandof public lighting and pumps directly on the site. 500 m² PV modules integrated in thebuildings will produce about 40,000 kWh per year.




Final report 19

2.1.2. Canada

Regenerative Plan for Petite Rivière, Montreal


Development of a former recreation area for true sustainable living

Reference [2]

Location: 45° 30′ N, 73° 40′ W Degree days (20°C): 5173

Time frame: 2007 – 2020 (construction 2012 – 2020)

CASE DESCRIPTION

The project situated near the city of Montreal envisions a neighborhood of 24 ha (formercurling arena and golf course) that strengthens community, provides a healthier qualityof life, is economically viable and restores nature while staying within the limits of finiteresources. The project aims to develop a new neighborhood in the City of Montreal, being

planned so as to achieve 70% reduction in the ecological footprint through theapplication of good land-use practices and renewable technologies, making the solutionpractical and convenient for its residents while improving the quality of daily life.

The private developer’s Meadowbrooke Groupe Pacific vision for this site is thatsustainable development is possible, not just from a building perspective, but also from acommunity perspective. Groupe Pacific believes that it is possible to build an inclusivecommunity, where people from all walks of life can find a place to call home. Otherpartners are the City of Montreal - Department of Economic Development and UrbanPlanning (SMVTP) and the Borough of Lachine – Department of Urban Planning andCommercial Services. Furthermore, Hydro Quebec – HQ has a mandate to improveefficiency in the province and sees Petite Rivière as an opportunity to invest in market

leading efficiency efforts. Ecole Polytechnique Montreal (the university) is focused onresearch and innovation in combined energy systems. They are using the Petite Rivièredevelopment as a “living laboratory” to further develop the study of modeling, design andoptimization of energy systems in the built environment.

The neighborhood comprises 56 buildings with 1,461 dwellings replacing a land area of 237,000 m2. The residential area is 156,400 m2, and the commercial area 4600 m2. Thebuildings are a mix of two– to four-story structures, see section “Technical Information” further down.

The planning aims at zero carbon and zero waste in general. For the energy use in theresidential buildings, the plan foresees an annual heating load of 18 kWh/m2 and acooling load of 11 kWh/m2. The annual hot water demand per dwelling is planned to be

about 2000 kWh (19 kWh/m2) and the total electricity demand will be about 4500 kWh(42 kWh/m2) per dwelling and year.

Even though the need to provide comfortable and healthy conditions by mechanicalmeans has been reduced by the passive design of the buildings, some level of activeheating and cooling will still be required. Two options were considered, either generatingheating from a ground source and heat pump system or from an adjacent waste-to-energy system. Regardless of the external system design, within each building there is




Final report 20

potential for balancing the demands for heating and cooling simultaneously. Buildingorientation may be used to balance heating and cooling demands, approaching a naturalbalance across a number of buildings. In both options, heat may be recovered andbalanced between buildings, maintaining high standards of indoor environmental quality.

The development of the project has been an iterative process, involving the reworkingand revisiting of the planning schemes at periodic intervals. Between iterations, research

has been undertaken to expand and clarify the information available. At each iteration,the design team has explored numerous approaches and options. The iteration of theplan includes the potential for three levels of density in the same basic footprint, torespond to potential increased market interest over the build-out of the project.

The design development has been guided by principles such as: walkability, mixed use,connectivity, compactness, regeneration and community. In total, 18 extensive targetsare on the agenda (see Appendix A - Canada), among them also the questions of protection of land and water resources. An important issue is affordability. Although thisproject is located in an area with one of the higher average condominium price ranges onthe island of Montreal, the project’s goal is to provide 31% or more residential unitswithin the City of Montreal definition of affordable housing for first-time home buyers,

spread across all building typologies and tenure models. The costs for the new buildingsare projected at 1580 CAD/m2 (1185 €/m2). The total project cost including refurbishedbuildings and commercial buildings is projected at 264 M CAD (198 M€).

To date the public response is positive. While there is an element of NIMBYism 5) withinthe neighborhood, there is a growing feeling that the new design will provide morebenefit to the general public than the existing, somewhat poor quality and limited accessgolf course. The integration of the community within the local neighborhood, creation of jobs, retail and affordable properties are seen by the local community and city councilsalike as a benefit to the area.

Figure 2.1.2.1: The Petite Rivière Area in the City of Montreal borough of Lachine

(development overview).

5) Not In My BackYard




Final report 21


Performance targets for Petite Rivière

The following performance targets were defined for the project:

- Energy conservation strategies for the buildings rely on good orientation, blockstructure and solar access, which influence the existing and projected tree canopy

and habitat corridors.

- Housing affordability relies on density and access to public amenities, whichinfluence walkability and safety.

- Land-use diversity relies on successful habitat regeneration and water treatmentstrategies, which influence density and affordability.

- Proximity to daily needs and public spaces relies on walkability, central publicspace and plentiful park space, all of which influence habitat restoration andwatershed protection zones.

- Transit quality relies on train and bus access, which influence the dimension of shared streets, continuous wildlife corridors and continuous park space.

- Storm water infiltration and re-use strategies rely on natural wetland systems fortreatment, which influences connections to public amenities, habitat corridors andaffordability.

- Establishing natural habitat relies on the extent of public amenities required,which influences density and access to food-growing spaces.

Building design options

A 50% reduction in annual energy use for each building type from the outset is the mainaim which must be achieved. Six different housing blocks are defined based on thedensity levels, affordability targets and the needs and demands, i.e., four-storyresidential condo, two-story residential townhouses, three-story triplex, three-and-a-half-story stacked townhouses, four-story mixed use and four-story stacked townhouses.

These archetypes were developed to allow design decisions to be made to achieve this50% reduction in demand. Some variables contributing to energy loads are fixed by thesite plan – examples: orientation, massing, shading, prevailing winds, while otheraspects will be required of the builders and subject to further evaluation. The six differentbuilding archetypes were tested with five different solar orientations to assess theoptimum solar angle for energy efficiency. The results showed the importance of direction with the optimum orientation at 15° east of south. This orientation strategy wastransferred to the master plan along with the use of the natural landscape and deciduousplanting to further enhance the beneficial passive environmental control.

For each of the building designs, minimum insulation standards were set for the walls (R-value6) 25), floors (R value 30), roofs (R-value 41) and windows (R-value 3.75). Airinfiltration will be reduced through best practice envelope detailing to 1.5 ACH inconditions of 50 Pascal of depressurization. Glazing specification too will be optimized to

6) The United States thermal resistance values (R-values ) are approximately 5,681 the SI R-values. That meansthat the US R-value of 25[ft²·°F·h/BTU] corresponds to a SI standard U-value of 0,227 W/(m2 K).




Final report 22

balance summer and winter gains, ensuring that the overall energy consumption will beminimized, thereby maintaining the passive design approach.

Community Energy System Options

Even though the need to provide comfortable and healthy conditions by mechanical

means has been reduced by the passive design of the buildings, some level of activeheating and cooling will still be required. An analysis suggested that the most efficientmechanical systems will draw from a community-scale central energy system. Twooptions were considered, either generating heating from a ground source and heat pumpsystem or from an adjacent waste-to-energy system.

Regardless of the external system design, within each building there is potential forbalancing the demands for heating and cooling simultaneously. Building orientation maybe used to balance heating and cooling demands, approaching a natural balance across anumber of buildings. In both options heat may be recovered and balanced betweenbuildings, maintaining high standards of indoor environmental quality. These solutions forthe delivery of ventilation must address the inherent thermal loads associated with

heating or cooling fresh outside air. Additional research to maximize indoor air will beundertaken into this and other options including earth pipes, labyrinths, heat recovery,mixed-zone (north to south air-to-air transfer) and cross ventilation.

Electricity

Regulatory issues complicate the development of energy networks that links multiplebuildings within the province of Quebec. Hydro Quebec (HQ) is the provincial crowncorporation that has a monopoly on electricity sales in a regulated electrical market. HQis divided into three management entities: generation, transmission, and distribution.While both transmission and distribution are regulated by the provincial government,generation is not, meaning that while anyone can generate electricity, only HQ candistribute and sell it to users. Electricity on the Quebec provincial grid is primarily from

hydraulic generation, with only a small proportion of nuclear, natural gas, other refinedpetroleum products, wind, biomass, and solar. Canada’s greenhouse gas inventory showsthat in 2006, Quebec’s grid electricity resulted in the generation of 6 g CO2e/kWh,significantly lower than many of the alternative generation techniques. The price of electricity in Quebec is also regulated, making the province one of the lowest cost jurisdictions in North America. Pricing in 2010 for residential customers remains below$0.06/KWh (€0.045/KWh). Thus, with low energy prices for gas and a low-cost monopolymarket for electricity, it is a difficult market for renewable energy providers to penetrate.

The following summarizes how the regulatory and economic situation for electricityaffects the case study:

- Energy produced must be used within the same legal entity and cannot cross

property lines

- Renewable energy generation is substantially more expensive than grid electricity

- Grid electricity is “cleaner” than most jurisdictions in the world

- Hydro Quebec classifies their (large-scale) hydroelectric generation as renewableenergy




Final report 23

Given that Groupe Pacific intends to act as the land developer primarily and designspecifications that will allow others to develop the individual lots within the project, therequirements to transfer power across property lines are particularly onerous. Theproject goal of “zero carbon” also makes the option to build a large co-generation plant(or any form of combustion-based centralized renewable electricity generation to sellelectricity to the grid) impractical, and as a result, this has not been considered. Instead,

it is proposed to produce electricity in quantities that can be used locally within the zoneof the thermal energy production entity, described in detail below.

Thermal Energy

Because of the low regulated price of electricity and the simplicity of distribution andimplementation, most new developments in Quebec utilize electricity to meet the thermalneeds for domestic hot water (DHW), space heating, and space cooling. For example, ina condominium building, electrical resistance baseboard heating is the most commonapproach for heat, and air-to-air compression heat pumps are the most common form of cooling. In recent years, natural gas has started to gain some market share in Quebec forDHW and space heating, but still remains a less common solution.

The potential to capture and share energy among diverse building uses and adjacentindustry is significant, particularly if a “thermal loop system” is used as a primaryelement of the community infrastructure. However, obtaining the benefits of such asystem presents issues that the land developer must address:

1 Design. The conventional development process does not include communityscale engineering analysis or preliminary design for energy systems;developers tend to operate at the building scale.

2 Phasing. Long-term customer build-out increases the financial risk of purchasing heating and cooling equipment for the central system. This affectsthe required cost of raising capital. For effectiveness, the loop must beinstalled when the other services are installed in the streets and for the

developer this adds cost, risk, etc. This is often a reason that central energysystems are not pursued.

3 Economics. In Quebec, with inexpensive energy, it is easy to prove that thecentral thermal system will save energy, but harder to show that it will savemoney. Developers often see this as adding risk with limited or no potential forfinancial reward.

As in many provinces in Canada, thermal energy is not regulated in the province of Quebec, and can be produced and sold directly to consumers. The philosophy is that if the system is efficient enough, an economic opportunity may exist for an Energy ServicesCompany (ESCO) to design, build, finance, own, and operate the thermal system. Thesynchronization of ESCO, developer and the City of Montreal is critical, since even for the

piping to pass under publicly owned roads, easements must be secured from themunicipality and others. Considerable effort has therefore already been made during theplanning of the community to create a level of density and adjacency that will justify thecost of this thermal loop between buildings through long-term cost savings.

As noted earlier, heating for the loop may be developed from one of two options. In theinitial near-term option, Option 1, a two-pipe ambient system would be used to circulatelow temperature heat from a series of strategically placed borehole fields located in




Final report 24

community common spaces such as parks. The pattern and placements of the boreholeswould store heat seasonally. A second possible option would be to use heat recoveredfrom a sewer main that passes through the property. In either case, options for diurnalstorage will need to be considered because of the climate conditions in Montreal. Eachbuilding will use a heat exchanger and a liquid-to-liquid heat pump to either accept orreject heat from the ambient loop, allowing both heating and cooling to be possible from

the same loop. Building-integrated active solar thermal will also be explored tocomplement the GS/HP system. In either case, the heat pump would not be sized for thepeak load and thus a boiler would supplement the system. To comply with the emissionsrequirements, the developer would source biogas for this boiler system.

Using a ground source energy exchange could supply 71% of the energy load for heatingand 40% of the load for cooling. Since the orientation of each building creates thepotential for simultaneous heating and cooling loads, careful balancing of the loads isrequired to develop a natural balance and minimize the overall heating needs.

Domestic hot water (DHW) would be delivered by both the heat pump and the solarthermal panels integrated into the community’s building roofs. It is calculated that 87%of the annual DHW energy will be provided by this approach.

The second option is longer term and is dependent on the City of Montreal selecting theadjacent industrial land as their location of a proposed bio-digestion plant. The plantwould convert up to 40,000 tons per year of the city’s kitchen waste into biogas andcompost. The biogas would be piped to a central energy plant located on site where itwould generate electricity, heating and cooling – through modified biogas engines andabsorption chillers. The plant will need to be sized to meet the domestic hot water loadrequirements that are relatively constant throughout the year with the heating load beingprovided by modular boiler units. The system would be closer to the original zeroemissions goal of the project since it would deliver zero emission green power, heatingand cooling through the four-pipe system. However, for the moment, the future of thissolution is not clear due to political interventions against this project idea7).

7) The final selection as regards energy supply is to utilize a ground source heat pump for at least the first 3 years,supplemented by gas fired boilers during the winter months and cooling towers in the summer to limit the capitalcost of borehole heat exchanger field. Solar thermal can be collected on individual buildings in a scheme wheredevelopers would set aside a portion of the roof for solar collectors that are owned by the system operator. Afteryear 3 then two options are still being considered. The first requires biogas to become available through amunicipally / utility owned arrangement. Biogas will either be used directly in the boilers or through anindiustrial partner off-site to generate power (CHP) and shipped back to the site. The second option incorporatessewer heat with the biogas.




Final report 25

2.1.3. Denmark

Low-Energy Neighborhood in Lystrup, near Aarhus, North Jylland


Integration of sustainable solutions both for the end-user side (building sector) and the

energy supply side (district heating network).

Reference [3]

Location: 56°14' N; 10°15' E Degree days (20°C): 4568

Time frame: 2004 - 2011

CASE DESCRIPTION

A consortium among municipalities, industrial partners and research institutes was themain initiator of the “Lærkehaven” project for three building areas with new developmentof low-energy row-houses. The construction technology is based on prefabricated housestructures. In one of the areas, a low temperature heating system was also applied. Bothprojects received support from the EU.

The overall project deals with planning, realization and evaluation of a sustainablehousing area in Lystrup, 10 km north of Aarhus, the capital of Jylland, Denmark. A totalof 122 low-energy buildings in the three areas A, B C have been built or are underconstruction in the Lærkehaven district (see Technical information further down).

The project took advantage of extensive collaboration among different partners: Thehousing association, industrial partners, architectural and engineering consultants,research institutions and governmental agencies. The commitment of each partner led tothe implementation of various innovative solutions, so that Lærkehaven can be seen as aDanish showcase of state-of-the-art solutions for the building sector.

The neighborhood of Lærkehaven applies a sustainability concept in as many aspects aspossible for the buildings: Low emission of greenhouse gases, minimal use of energy,healthy indoor climate, renewable materials, industrial prefabricated wall and floorelements, low-budget construction. It was guaranteed that the annual rent does notexceed the maximum level regulated by law for social housing and should be based onhigh architectural quality and good common facilities. Furthermore a new design of anextreme low-temperature heat distribution system was demonstrated.

The 32 two-story houses of group A (to be completed 2011) are divided into two types of family houses, with a floor gross area of respectively 100 m2 and 110 m2 and extensiveuse of wood construction. The windows have a U-value of 0.65 W/(m2K) and the averageinsulation thickness is 400 mm. The heat demand (end energy) is 15 kWh/m2,yr.

The 33 houses (50 dwellings) of Area B (see Fig 2.1.3.1) have been planned by HerzogArchitects in Germany and are also built of wood. The primary energy demand(household electricity not included) of these houses is between 45 and 57 kWh/m 2,yr8).Additionally, 80 m2 PV cells are installed on a group of these houses.

8) Example calculation: Energy for heating, DHW and electricity in kWh/(m2.yr) multiplied by respectiveprimary energy factor PEF used in Denmark: 20*1 + 13.1*1 + 4.3*2.5 = approx. 44 kWh/(m2.yr).




Final report 26

The group C comprises 40 low-energy buildings with a heat consumption of 30kWh/m2,yr. The energy is supplied by a low-temperature 55/25ºC heating systemconnected to the main district heating. This new twin-pipe system is essentially based onflexible PEX pipes. Hot water is produced either directly in heat exchangers or inaccumulators in some cases. The initiators of the housing project (Ringaarden housingassociation) had to find solutions to satisfy the increasingly strict energy requirements.

In Denmark, the prescriptions are even stricter than required by EU. The use of renewable energy should be reduced by 30% in 2020 and 100% in 2060.

The residential area C was originally planned to be connected to the local district heating(DH) network in Lystrup, according to a traditional layout. However, over time the planwas changed in order to apply the innovative concept of low-temperature DH, in thecourse of a R&D project searching for a location for demonstration. The low-temperaturedistrict heating system can be considered unique in Europe.

The available construction costs for the residential area C are 1445 €/m2 (gross area).The investment cost and the rent paid by the tenants in all three different areas areabout 10% higher than the costs for similar housing areas. The investment cost for thelow-temperature DH network in the residential area C was 346,000 €, corresponding to

about 8,500 €/dwelling and 9,800 €/dwelling, respectively.

Despite the effort that was spent during the planning and implementation phases, thereis lack of monitoring and verification of the real energy performance of the buildingsalready occupied by the tenants (residential areas B and C). A separate project is nowplanned for evaluation. However, the tenants expressed general satisfaction about thequality of their dwellings, the comfort in the rooms, the architectural quality of thebuildings and the organization of the community.

Figure 2.1.3.1: Example of dwellings in residential area B




Final report 27


Requirements for new buildings in Denmark

The energy requirements in Denmark are not only an implementation of the EuropeanEnergy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), but they also impose stricter energyperformance requirements in accordance with the 2011 ruling Danish action plans of

increasing energy savings in new buildings by 25%, compared to the requirementsbefore 2006. The Building Regulation (BR08) sets requirements about primary energyuse for all types of buildings, see below:

- Housing: 70 + 2200/A [kWh/(m²,yr)]

- Non-domestic: 95 + 2200/A [kWh/(m²,yr)]

where A is the gross heated (conditioned) floor area [m2].

The energy requirements also include two classes of so-called low-energy buildings. ClassII has an energy demand of 75% or less if compared to a normal building, and class Ihas an energy demand of 50% or less if compared to a normal building. Low-energybuildings can be exempted from connecting to public networks with natural gas or DH,

which is otherwise mandatory in some areas. The energy framework is supplemented byspecific requirements such as U-values, minimum boiler efficiency, pipe insulation, heatrecovery, and fan power efficiency. Proof of compliance with the energy requirementsmust be made after the completion of the building in order to obtain the permit to usethe building.

District heating system in Denmark

In Denmark, DH covers more than 60% of the energy needed for space heating anddomestic hot water (DHW). In 2007, 80.5% of the heat was produced in combined heatand power plants. Heat recovered from waste incineration accounted for 20.4% of thetotal Danish district heat production. Most major cities in Denmark have extended DHnetworks, including transmission networks in operation with supply temperatures up to

125°C and pressure levels up to 25 bar and distribution networks operating with up to95°C and between 6 bar and 10 bar pressure. Nevertheless, most of the utilities operatetheir network at medium-low temperatures (Tsupply= 80°C and Treturn=40°C). In 2009, theheat loss accounted for 19.1% of the total delivered heat, while the average DH networkhad a share of heat loss of about 25%.

Strategy towards sustainability

The project tried to apply the sustainability concept in as many aspects as possible:

- Low emission of greenhouse gases (GHG)

- Minimal use of energy

- Healthy indoor climate- Renewable materials

- Industrial prefabricated wall and floor elements

- Low-budget constructions. The project must guarantee that the annual rent doesnot exceed the maximum level that in Denmark is regulated by law, in case of social housing.




Final report 28

- High architectural quality

- Good common facilities.

The vision is to combine the best European architecture with the latest advances insustainability. Lærkehaven is a housing project built in wood, with a simple and stronggeometry. The living rooms of the houses face south to exploit the light, passive solar

heat gains and the view. Floor-to-ceiling windows facing south, east and west absorb thesolar heat and ensure daylight everywhere in the room. External larch wood andexpanded metal shutters are used as solar shading devices. Facing north, the windowsare narrow to reduce the heat transmission towards outside.

Building design and specification

Department 33 (Residential Group B)

The architecture is based on simple geometries and repeated multi-units and it isadapted to the production method of offsite construction. The building has been designedbased on the following strategy towards sustainability:

- Highly insulated envelope: 425-450 mm of mineral wool

- Low-energy windows in north facades: double glazed windows with overall U-value of 1.18 W/(m2K)

- Low-energy windows in south, east and west facades: triple glazed windows withan overall U-value of 0.66 W/(m2K)

- Phase Change Material (PCM) ceiling panels for heat accumulation

- Wall convector heaters in the living rooms for comfort

- Balanced use of passive solar heat gain

- Movable shutter systems on south, west and east facades

- Tight constructions, tested by blower door test and by thermography: 0.5-1.1

l/(s m3)

- 3-Watt Light Emitting Diodes (LED) in kitchen, bathroom, hall and staircase.

- Photovoltaic (PV) solar cell system: 80 m2, monocrystalline solar cells, placed onthe community building

- Forest Steward Council (FSC) certified wood material.

Energy-saving initiatives

The 33 two-story houses have a consumption of energy corresponding to the low-energyclass 1 (LE 1, i.e., a consumption of energy of less than half of the requirements of theDanish Building Regulations 2008), while the 17 one-story buildings live up to the

requirements of LE 2 (a consumption of energy less than 75% of the requirements of thebuilding code). Innovative energy saving systems are used, including extensive use of LED lights and, for the first time in Denmark, Phase Change Material (PCM) ceiling panelsthat absorb heat during the day and emit it during the evening and night.

Minimal environmental strain

In comparison with new standard buildings in 2008, the houses in Lærkehaven save theenvironment from 40 tons of CO2 /year, solely thanks to the savings in the heat sector. In




Final report 29

the buildings the focus has not only been on the energy used in everyday life but also on “the embedded energy” used in the construction of the houses. About 80% of thematerials in Lærkehaven consist of renewable building materials. The main constructionmaterial is wood. The choice of materials means that there is a minor environmentalstrain linked to the disposal of the buildings if at some point they are no longer used.

Energy use and CO2 reduction

The CO2 reduction is calculated on the basis of the figures from the local DH system: 162kg CO2 /MWh. The solar cell array on the communal building saves 5670 kg CO2 /year.

Department 34 (Residential Group C)

The building has been designed based on the following strategy towards sustainability:

- 40 low-energy class 1 buildings, with expected energy consumption of 30kWh/(m2year)

- Insulation of the building envelope; roof: 450 mm; external walls: 335 mm;masonry: 300 mm

- Windows: U-value = 1.1 W/(m2K)

- Low-temperature DH: Tsupply= 55°C; Treturn=25°C

- Balanced ventilation

- Use of rainwater reservoir.

The residential group C in Lærkehaven consists of a common building and 40 dwellings,designed for elderly people. The department is the first residential area in Denmark, andone of the first in the world, where a low-temperature DH network is applied.

Department 35 (Residential Group A)

The residential group A consists of 32 two-story townhouses. The design of the dwellingsaccomplishes the German Passive house standard. The building material is essentially

wood, which is externally painted in white. The construction of the buildings is based onpre-fabricated elements, as previously chosen in Department 33. The building has beendesigned based on the following strategy towards sustainability:

- Extensive use of wood constructions

- Heating demand: 15 kWh/(m2,yr)

- Windows: U-value = 0.65 W/(m2K)

- Average insulation thickness: 400 mm

- Balanced ventilation with heat recovered (efficiency: 85%)

- Electric blinds on windows

- Air-to-air heat pump

Special research issues: the low-energy district heating network in Lærkehaven

The residential area C was selected as demonstration site for testing the low-temperatureDH concept. A relatively small size DH network was designed according to low tempera-ture operation in the supply side (55°C) and in the return pipe (25°C). The demon-stration project represents the first attempt to show the potential of the integration of




Final report 30

energy conservation policies in the building sector together with the use of an efficientlow-energy (and low-exergy) DH system.

The low-exergy concept

The application of the low-exergy concept to the DH technology aims at three maintargets. The first one is to guarantee comfort, with regards to delivery of domestic hot

water and space heating requirements, by exploiting low-grade energy sources andrenewable energy. The second objective is to match the exergy demand of suchapplications with the necessary exergy available in the supply system, by making thetemperature levels of the supply and demand closer to each other. Finally, it aims atreducing the heat loss in the distribution network, so that the total profitability is ensuredfrom the socio-economic point of view. The main design concepts are:

- Low-size media pipes. This is achieved by allowing a high pressure gradient in thebranch pipes connected to the unit with instantaneous domestic hot waterpreparation or by installing units with storage of DH water.

- Utilization of a circulation pump placed in the supply line.

- Low operational temperatures: down to 55°C in the supply line and 25°C in thereturn line.

- Twin pipes are used rather than single pipes. Furthermore flexible or semi-flexibleplastic pipes replace steel pipes, wherever possible.

District heating substations

Two types of DH substations are installed:

- Instantaneous Heat Exchanger Unit (IHEU): This type of substation utilizes a heatexchanger between the primary side (DH loop) and the secondary side (DHW) forinstantaneous production of DHW, while there is a direct system for space heating.

- District Heating Storage Unit (DHSU): The system includes a storage tank and a

heat exchanger. Heat is stored with DH fluid as medium. Domestic hot water(DHW) is produced by a heat exchanger, supplied from the tank.

The DHSU are all placed on the same street line (block 6 and 7), so that it is possible tomeasure both the performance of the unit itself and the implications at street level. Eachunit is located in a separate equipment room, which is not connected to the ventilationsystem with heat recovery. Therefore, it would have been important that the units werewell insulated. Nevertheless the IHEU units were not provided with insulation.

Network Dimensioning

The local network consists of flexible plastic twin pipes for dimensions up to DN32 and of steel twin pipes for larger dimensions.

Other necessary assumptions for the design are listed below:

- Maximum pressure level: 10 bar. It is reasonable to design the network accordingto a maximum hydraulic load that may reach pressure levels marginally below 10bar. In fact, 10 bar pressure systems must withstand 1.2 or 1.5 times the designpressure (depending on regulations/requirements in the contract). Moreover, thepeak load situation seldom happens (in Denmark: outdoor temperature=-12°C).




Final report 31

- Thermostatic bypass at the end of each street line

- Minimum temperature at the consumer: 50°C

- Supply temperature design from the plant: 55°C

- Design return temperature: 25°C

- Maximum speed: 2.0 m/s- Minimum differential pressure at the substation: 0.3 bar

- Supply pressure = 2.2 bar

- Return pressure = 1.6 bar.




Final report 32

2.1.4. Finland

Eco-efficient renewal and revitalization of a neighborhood, Riihimäki,

Peltosaari

Vision and objective:

Eco-efficient renewal and revitalization of a sunset neighborhood by technical,

architectural and socio-economic development

Reference [4] Location: 60°44′ N, 24°38′ E. Degree days (20°C): 5176

Time frame: 2009 – 2020

CASE DESCRIPTION

The Peltosaari neighborhood (Figure 2.1.4.1) was built during the 1970s and 1980s nextto Riihimäki city center about 70 kilometers north of Helsinki. Peltosaari has a direct

connection with railway and bus stations, and other major services. The largest amountof social housing owned by the city of Riihimäki is located in the western side of the area.Centralized social housing and biased population structure cause social problems. Forexample, the unemployment rate in Peltosaari (27%) is very high compared to any otherneighborhood in Finland. It has lost its position as an appealing and attractive place tolive. Socio-economic problems have increased, while property values have decreased.The socio-economic situation requires radical action to prevent further social exclusionand segregation. Peltosaari has today some 2800 inhabitants compared to the maximumoccupancy of 3600 inhabitants.

Figure 2.1.4.1: Peltosaari in the winter of 2009.

The City of Riihimäki has recognized the need to renew the whole neighborhood of Peltosaari. The city has invested in research to find out the main socio-economic andtechnical problems as well as problems concerning the urban structure and connectionsto the city center. Several different R&D projects were performed to reach the adequatelevel of knowledge on the targets for the final decision-making. There is a common

understanding on the importance of the renewal and revitalization process. Dialoguebetween the city and inhabitants, architects, planners and builders has been an ongoingprocess.

Tools available for the city administration are master plan development, site release andrental agreements, other agreements between the city and site owners, organization of ideas and other competitions, co-operation initiatives with various stakeholders, andimplementation of innovative development ideas from different projects.




Final report 33

The residents of Peltosaari are well connected to the process. People have access tovarious working groups involved in the renewal process. Information on the process isavailable through different channels, e.g., a specific meeting place for the residents.

The research project EcoDrive - Eco-efficient renewal of neighborhoods [1] producedways and means to overcome the various technical and socio-economic problems anddeveloped solutions on how to renew and revitalize the neighborhood. Technical

possibilities of renewal are tackled by demonstration buildings and by demolition of buildings in poor technical condition. The building typology of Peltosaari and architecturaland usability shortcomings were also analyzed. From the roughly 65 apartment buildings,seven model buildings covering the building stock were created to show renovationmeasures and benefits accordingly. Various suggestions to improve the neighborhoodimage and attractiveness were suggested as well.

An old apartment house is renovated by a national competition winner on Passive houserenovation, Figure 2.1.4.2. The aim is to show technical possibilities to improve theenergy efficiency and overall performance as well as architecture of a block of apartments built in the 1970s.

Figure 2.1.4.2. Renewal aims at improving the appearance and eco-efficiency of thePeltosaari neighborhood as a whole.Top: Example of architectural improvements to be carried out in connection withrefurbishment [1].Bottom: Passive house refurbishment with prefabricated structures. The aim is to reducethe annual heating demand from about 150 kWh/m2 to 25 kWh/m2 [25].

An idea-competition on the renewal and revitalization of Peltosaari organized by the City

of Riihimäki with the Finnish Architects Union and The Housing Finance and DevelopmentCentre resulted in a total of 61 entries for public evaluation at the competition website.The competition jury had the possibility to follow public comments about the onlineentries during the evaluation process. The aim of the competition was to map differentpossible solutions. The competition entries serve for decision-making and planning of thenew Peltosaari. The basis of the competition was open for free ideas on the future




Final report 34

development. The competition award was selected with the following criteria (Figure2.1.4.3):

- Innovative town planning

- New appearance for Peltosaari

- Energy efficiency and eco-efficiency

- Transport system solutions

- Feasible basic solution

- Communal solutions for housing

- Development of existing environment and building stock

Figure 2.4.1.3. The winning entry 'Spinning Wheel' by architect Antti Huttunen (top left)and Peltosaari now with the railway station left to the settlement (top right). The master plan that serves as the basis of the renwal was developed from the competition entries(below). The red lines show the location of the seven buildings to be demolished [26].

The housing stock of Peltosaari comprises 103,000 m

2

of housing, a school and twocommercial buildings. The winning entry of the competition almost doubles the net floorarea of Peltosaari with new buildings as follows:

- Housing: 51,050 m2

- Commercial and office: 20,500 m2

- Commercial 22,300 m2

- Public 6400 m2

- Total new buildings 100,250 m2.


The buildings in Peltosaari are typical concrete buildings with four to eight stories. Thebuildings were classified by type, technical information, properties and technicalcondition, master plan and building surveys (Figure 2.1.4.4) in the area. The aim was tofind similarities that allow for description of the whole building stock of Peltosaari bymodel buildings. The assessment resulted in seven model buildings, which were used toshow the refurbishment possibilities.




Final report 35

At the same time, analysis of appearance of the area was carried out. This resulted insuggestions on how to improve the comfort and image of the area. The strengths of Peltosaari as a living milieu are uniform building stock, sunny and car-free innercourtyards, mature trees, and the physical dimensions of buildings and courtyards.

Architectural and cityscape challenges are materials and architecture of facades andbalconies, secondary spaces on the ground floor, lack of live storage space, and

monotonous architecture due to prefabricated building structures.

Figure 2.1.4.4: Infrared surveys in Peltosaari Technical surveys suggested the following refurbishment needs: energy supply andventilation systems, technical installations, windows, lifts to increase accessibility, repairof roofing damage. The majority of the buildings have electrical heating system. It isalso suggested that the present heating system should be replaced with district heatingas the main district heating net is already in the area. Ground source heat was alsoconsidered but the ground conditions do not allow heat pump heating.

Model building refurbishment

For each building type refurbishment technologies were considered including a costestimate of the required actions. Some of the buildings are in such poor technicalcondition that demolition and new construction is the best choice. The first modelbuilding refurbishment started in spring 2011. The aim is a Passive house refurbishment using prefabricated elements replacing the demolished facades of the building, see Figure2.1.4.2, lower row. The existing facade and thermal insulation of the concrete sandwichelements was dismantled, the surface of the inner concrete layer cleaned and newprefabricated insulation structure with embedded ventilation ducts and factory sprayedplaster base were installed. New windows are attached to the building high elements. Anew ventilation system with high heat recovery efficiency is installed in connection to the




Final report 36

facade renewal. Supply air channels are embedded in the pre-fabricated elements, thusreducing the disturbance for the inhabitants by rapid installation. The existing exhaust airsystem is used for exhaust ductwork. Technical data of the refurbishment are in Table2.1.4.1.

Table 2.1.4.1 Technical data in the model Passive house refurbishment

Old NewU-values W/m2KWallGround floorRoof WindowDoor

0.290.400.361.93.5

0.120.400.090.661.0

Air tightness, n50 1/h < 2 < 0,6

Ventilation system Mechanical exhaust ventilation Balanced ventilation

Ventilation heat recovery % - 75

Heating system Electric radiators District heat

Heating demand kWh/m2 135 19

Hot water kWh/m2 39 39

Electricity kWh/m2 26 33

Total energy kWh/m2 200 91

The first model building refurbishment is under construction. The monitoring will starttowards the end of the refurbishment process by typical air tightness measurements andthermography. Energy demand and indoor climate will be monitored.

Refurbishment costs

VTT's database on real estate business and housing trade is a unique tool for assessmentof asset value of neighborhoods. The database includes more than 700,000 trades, and

the number increases by 3000 trades per month. The differences in apartment prices in acity makes it possible to estimate the increased potential of asset values of individualbuildings or a whole neighborhood.

The value loss in Peltosaari is approximately 77 million € according to apartment tradeprices in Peltosaari and close-by apartment houses. If all the existing buildings arerenovated according to model building solutions, the energy savings total up to 11 GWh ayear corresponding to approximately 1 – 1.5 million € cost savings or more in theexisting building stock. By master plan renewal, infill and extensions, new work andrecreation buildings and a new image of the neighborhood, the value increase of theexisting building stock can be up to 100 million €. The winning competition entryproposes more than 100,000 m2 new buildings in the area. This would incur at least 35

million € income only from the value of building rights.

The value increase requires refurbishment of the building stock, demolition and re-building of the buildings in poor shape, new buildings, extensions and development of services and new work places, urban comfort and connections to the city center acrossthe railroad tracks. The whole renewal process of existing building stock costs roughly 80– 90 M€ corresponding to roughly 1,350,000 € per building or 850 €/m2, approximatelyone-third of which are costs of energy efficiency improvements. A precondition for a




Final report 37

successful renewal of the whole Peltosaari estate is development of the socioeconomicconditions in the neighborhood. The main focus should be in the improvement of theneighborhood's position in the regional markets and development of the population base.

Table 2.1.4.2 shows the estimated costs for model building refurbishment. The energy-efficiency measures are divided into two categories: measures that need to be done in

any case due to poor condition of the components, and energy efficiency improvements.Table 2.1.4.2: Estimated costs for Passive house refurbishment

Refurbishment area(Net floor area)

2714 m2 Necessary refurbishm.measures to improve thetechnical conditions of the building

Passive houserefurbishment

Investment cost (per netarea)

Façade renovation €/m2 55

Dismantling and cleaning €/m2 115

Insulation structures €/m2 115

Root refurbishment €/m2 15 20

New windows €/m2 70 70

New ventilation system €/m2 75 150

Refurbishment of technicalinstallations

€/m2 400 400

Indirect costs €/m2 60 85

Site profit 15% €/m2 100 145

VAT 22% €/m2 170 240

Total €/m2 945 1340

Energy efficiency improvement increases the necessary refurbishment cost by one third.

Value-added tax and contractor's profit are together more than the energy-efficiencyimprovement costs.




Final report 38

2.1.5. France

Low-energy building renovation in a historic area of the City Centre

Franklin, Mulhouse


Rehabilitation of rundown buildings within a historic preservation area with an objective

of a substantial reduction of energy use

Reference [5]:

Location: 47°44′ N; 7°20′ E Degree days (20°C): 3651

Time frame: 2005 - 2012

CASE DESCRIPTION

The project for the Franklin district of Mulhouse is the first French experiment in therenovation of old buildings to reach BBC9) standard in the context of a rundown urban

area with a historic character to be preserved. It incorporates firm energy objectives butshould at the same time find answers to social difficulties and respect the historiccharacteristics of the city. From the beginning, work was already performed since 2001as part of a vast program to renovate the city center which included public spaces,economic activity and housing. It is within this framework that the local authority decidedto renovate 40 of 120 particularly rundown buildings in line with low energy use targets.Most of the dwellings in question are identical terraced townhouses (i.e., adjoining ontwo sides) which contain two to four levels.

The original energy use of this historical city center was about450 kWh/m2,yr which according to the intention of the cityplanners should be brought down to about 50 kWh/m2,yr(calculated as primary energy). In order to reach these toughgoals several main measures were undertaken. Insulation wasreinforced for the walls and windows (triple glazing), takingsummer comfort into account. External insulation was preferredwhere possible but the historic character of the façades or theencroachment onto the pavements often rendered this solutionimpossible. Wall-mounted condensing gas boilers were used forthe radiator heating. The air exchange was ensured viamechanical ventilation with heat recovery, centralized for eachbuilding. Domestic hot water was supplied by solar waterheaters, from 5 to 7 m² per building, covering about 40% of the needs.

The city of Mulhouse delegated the project’s implementation and management to SERM,a local mixed enterprise for developments in the Mulhouse region. This entity wasmandated by the city of Mulhouse to carry out the operation in strict collaboration withthe local energy agency ALME. Within the framework of the available financial sources,

9) Bâtiment basse consomation (BBC) foresees maximum specific primary energy needs for space heatingdomestic hot water, cooling, lighting and auxiliary energy of 40-60 kWhprimary /(m

2a) depending on the climaticzone specified in the French energy regulation (“regulation thermique”).




Final report 39

SERM offered to help the owners for free: Firstly, by providing for a dossier allowing allavailable subsidies to be claimed. Secondly, by transferring the part directly subsidized tocompanies in the form of an upfront capital fund so that the owner would not have to payin advance.

It was clear from the beginning that such ambitious goals in a historical city cannot befinanced solely through the private market. Therefore the project management

succeeded to receive support from several public funds:

- EU contributed via FEDER research and benchmarking.

- The National Agency for Urban Renovation (ANRU) contributed funds devoted to justsuch urban renovation projects.

- A renovation organization OPAH (in form of a partnership between districts, localauthorities and the state) dedicates funds for renovation of buildings hazardous tohealth.

- Finally the municipality demarcated an architectural and urban heritage protectionzone (ZPPAUP) which made it possible for owners to deduct a part of the cost of therenovation work.

Franklin is a city planning operation which - with or without ambitious energy targets -was a necessity for the neighborhood. The first return of experience on this subject isencouraging. The quality of using the dwellings has been improved: Reduction of noiseproblems thanks to insulation, greater thermal comfort, etc. This is accompanied by asignificant lowering of costs for tenants who today pay rents similar to those in forceprior to renovation but with energy costs considerably reduced (heating costs down by afactor of 6). This advantage is vital because it sizably diminishes the vulnerability toenergy price. More generally, the whole set of energy efficiency measures offers anadded resale value for investors and improves the maintenance of the buildings overtime.

After completion, the contracts also included the obligation to measure energy use in thebuildings. The resulting energy use was on average 70 kWh/m2,yr (primary energy). Thetotal cost for the renovation was about 1550 €/m2, of which one-third is energy relatedcosts and two-thirds other renovation costs.

The main problems in the finished buildings remained air tightness and the system layoutof heating systems. In a first phase, the instructions for the refurbishment work and forthe installation process had not been followed by all contractors, for which reasontraining for local architects and craftsmen was provided as an integral part of the

Fig. 2.1.5.1: Example of façade of a historical building after renovation.






Final report 41

in air tightness. The average use of primary energy is about 70 kWh/m² of usablesurface area. Electricity consumption on the other hand was well managed, excludingthat which was consumed by general maintenance services. A malfunction linked toincorrect application of the engineering office’s instructions (e.g. continual running of pumps, ventilators) is strongly suspected and will be subject to further investigation.Finally, the thermal solar panels made it possible to attain the domestic hot water

objectives.Monitoring of the construction work will eventually allow the problems to be limitedwithout however managing to avoid them completely. The aim therefore was achieved,which represents a success. On another positive note, the companies involved becameaccustomed to the specific requirements of low-energy buildings and are today moreoperational than when the project started. Creating a skills center on low-energy building(“pole BBC”) is one of the means by which this is managed today. This center is in closecontact with the previously mentioned Alsace center for energy. Thus an importantaspect of the Franklin district remains its capacity-building aspect as a place for theapplication of energy-efficient building techniques. It makes it possible to crystallizeexperiences, to create a space for discussion and to draw on other similar experiences

from professionals. The benefits are threefold: acquire a recognized low-energy skill,bring this economic sector to life, and create jobs.




Final report 42

2.1.6. Germany

Project 1: Future-proof development concept for the residential sub-

district Karlsruhe-Rintheim


Development of an economically viable retrofit and energy supply concept by minimization of fossil energy consumption and ensuring future attractiveness for

inhabitants and investors

Reference [6]

Location: 49°01′N; 8°24′ E. Degree days (20°C): 3624

Time frame: 2008 - 2015

CASE DESCRIPTION

The municipally owned housing company Volkswohnung (VoWo) has run a long-term

refurbishment program since about 1995, spending some 25 M€ per year for refurbish-ment of buildings between 40 and 55 years old. Karlsruhe-Rintheim is an urban housingestate located in the northeast part of the City of Karlsruhe. This residentialneighborhood consists of 40 buildings, 90% of them multifamily houses, of which 30buildings are owned by VoWo. The total area is 250,000 m2, with a total residential areaof 77,000 m2

, of which 65,000 m2 belongs to VoWo with about 3500 residents. Thebuildings represent a mixture of four- to five-story buildings and multi-story buildings (upto 17 stories). Four of the buildings have been demolished (see lower part of Fig. 2.2.6.1,empty space between high rise buildings and school buildings) and will be replaced bynew buildings.

Figure 2.1.6.1: The Rintheim area and neighborhood before refurbishment.

Until recently, Rintheim was an aging, partly run-down residential quarter with dimprospects. In this situation, the most important argument to implement a long-termstrategy for the neighborhood as a whole was the expectation that an “integratedsustainability plan” for Rintheim would mean an increase in investment security. In 2003,




Final report 43

a refurbishment program was initiated by Volkswohnung, which aimed at a gradualmodernization of its building stock in Rintheim including energy retrofitting and moderni-zation of the technical equipment (sanitary, electric, communication, energy).

Figure 2.1.6.2: Example of a renovated five-story building (foreground; observe solar

panels on the roof). The high-rise building in the background is to renovated in 2012.

The energy conservation targets for the economic optimum are — according to a detailedoptimization calculation — in the range of qH = 40 – 50 kWhth /m

2 for the specific heatingdemand after retrofit, corresponding to an average heating demand reduction of 65%. Incombination with the very high efficiency of district heat supply, a total decrease of endenergy consumption (and CO2 emissions) of > 80% will be achieved after projectcompletion.

The economic optimum of energy conservation investments and annual energy costs wasevaluated using life-time analysis, based on the assumption that the long-term energyprice would be twice as high as the energy price of 1995, which then was 30 € per MWhend energy (natural gas). It turned out that the heating demand of 120–150 kWh th /m

2 before retrofit should be reduced to 40–50 kWhth /m

2. This standard could be achievedwith moderate insulation thickness (15–22 cm), double glazed coated windows (UW = 1.1W/(m2

K)), controlled mechanical exaust ventilation, strict quality control to avoid orremove air leakages and thermal bridges, and state-of-the-art technical buildingequipment (piping insulation, outdoor temperature control for heating supply, individualheat metering). The total end energy consumption of an unrefurbished building of some210 kWh/m2 (heating, DHW) could be decreased to below 85 kWh/m 2.

Technical achievements in the project are (1) application of new planning approachesand tools; (2) introduction of a neighborhood-wide energy controlling system includingfeedback to the tenants; (3) application of technical innovations in the refurbishment of two of the multi-family buildings; and (4) evaluation of practical experiences made by aseparate detailed assessment and evaluation study for application in future rehabilitationprojects.




Final report 44

Typical “standard refurbishment” cost of a multi-family building (VAT excluded) are:Maintenance measures: 340 €/m2; Energy measures: 170 €/m2; Modernization:190 €/m2. The rent increase due to modernization is 0.80–1.20 €/(m2.month) and thereduction of energy costs for the tenants is 0.60–0.80 €/(m2.month).

The measurement program for energy consumption (heating, DHW, electricity) on alllevels — components, flats, buildings, neighborhood — has been launched in summer

2010 and will be undertaken by Volkswohnung and the Technical University of Aachen.First detailed results and evaluations are available since autumn 2011.

All retrofit measures of the building stock are supported by a federal program for buildingretrofit investments operated by KfW (a state-owned bank) and accessible to everybuilding owner. Here, loans with reduced interest rates (reduction by 1%-3% from theregular interest rate, depending on the energy standard after retrofit) are offered forbuilding modernization investments. In addition to that, soft costs for the neighborhoodenergy plan development, investments in technical innovations for two buildings and theaccompanying measurement program are supported by 50% of the eligible costs, basedon a federal program on innovations in urban retrofit projects (“EnEff:Stadt”).


The Rintheim neighborhood sustainability project is primarily intended to convert anexisting neighborhood with outdated buildings and infrastructures into an attractiveurban district that is popular with its inhabitants and provides good perspectives for theinvestors, and at the same time follows sustainability criteria, such as drastic decreasedenergy consumption at affordable costs. These aims may be a question of best practiceprocedures and learning processes, but they are not a research project by definition.However, a part of the Rintheim project is intended to provide direct research results,according to the items listed below:

Application of new planning approaches and tools

For Rintheim, a simulation model called GOMBIS was used for dimensioning the districtheating net. Since in the case of Rintheim it was clear from the outset that the localdistrict heating supply would be served from the main district heating system of Karlsruhe, issues such as base load optimization, electric output, partial load efficiencyetc., were not of interest here. Therefore, system simulation was not really necessary.On the other hand, an implementation of the model in this pioneering project providesthe possibility to compare the real behavior with theoretical behavior of the system, tomonitor the energy balance of the whole neighborhood as a basis of continuous energycontrolling and to support future expansion projects, when customers adjacent to theneighborhood shall also be connected (in this case, the base load/peak load issue wouldbe of interest again).

To calculate the annual energy balance at building level, calculation procedures areestablished according to the national building codes. In Germany, these standards aredefined in the codes DIN V 4701, DIN V 4108 and DIN 18599, which are used tocalculate heating loads, DHW demand, annual thermal energy demand and systemperformance including primary energy consumption of buildings. The calculation rulesdefined herein are based on results of detailed building simulations.




Final report 45

Because of the detailed measurement program that is carried out for three buildings inRintheim, the measurements will be used to verify detailed simulation programsdeveloped by RWTH Aachen, and after verification, these tools will be used to verify thecalculation methods stipulated by the existing building codes.

The procedures of the abovementioned building codes deliver only energy loads orannual energy balances. To design the layout of components, such as fabric heat ducts or

radiators, design of radiator valves, circulation pumps, ventilation systems, solarcollector systems, or thermal bridges additional calculations are necessary, which todayare made by planners using specialized software packages that are commerciallyavailable and in use by most planning offices (such as “T-SOL,” a solar collectorsimulation and optimization software, which was used in Rintheim).

However, generic software that is capable to provide an economic optimization of thewhole building energy concept in an “integrated” manner (thickness of insulation of envelope surfaces, choice of window quality, ventilation system, comparison of differentsupply alternatives), is at the time of writing the report (2011) not available on theGerman market. This was the reason that VoWo developed its own optimization model,called V_ROM (“Volkswohnung Refurbishment Optimization Model”). The model was

programmed by a software engineer using Visual Basic and Excel, based on calculationprocedures and cost functions that were defined by VoWo’s planning department. So far,it is only used for VoWo’s own refurbishment projects.

Application of technical innovations for the refurbishment of multi-family

buildings that have evolved from R&D projects

Within the framework of this project, an innovative refurbishment strategy wasimplemented on two identical buildings in 2009 and 2010, which themselves are identicalto a third building that was refurbished according to VoWo`s retrofit standards in 2009.

One of the two buildings (called the “3-liter building”, because the intention was toachieve a low-energy building with 30 kWth /m

2 heating demand) was refurbished in a

more conventional manner, whereas for the second building (the “experimental building”)unconventional measures were also implemented. Both buildings (with 2 x 30 = 60 flats)undergo a two-year measurement program (until summer 2012) to investigate buildingcomponents, user behavior and energy balances. The measurement system wasimplemented by the “University of Applied Sciences” in Karlsruhe. The evaluation of theresults is done by the Technical University Aachen, where simulation programs usingMODELICA as a programming language have also been written and will be verified by themeasurement results.

The two buildings have been refurbished from November 2009 until September 2010.Tenants have moved back end of 2010. Among the technical components that have beeninstalled there are:

- LowEx components (radiant floor and ceiling heating systems, earth-coupled heatpumps, central and decentralized ventilation heat recovery systems)

- Micro pumps installed in radiators (2-3 W) that replace main pump installations inthe basement (developed by WILO, a major German pump manufacturer)

- Individual room heating control systems

- Solar collectors




Final report 46

- Vacuum wall insulation elements and other innovative insulation materials

- External shadings with light guidance

- Decentralized DHW generation with minimized energy losses

- Detailed energy balancing of all flats

- High-efficient windows.The experiences made with these measures during construction and operation will beevaluated and checked by VoWo for potential modification and further usability for theremaining retrofit projects in Rintheim.

Evaluation of practical experiences made by a detailed measurement and

evaluation project

Concerning improvement of heating demands, VoWo already has ample experience withenergy saving measures (envelopes, windows, ventilation, energy supply infrastructure)over a number of years. The results revealed that the heating demand has been reducedon average from 130 to 50 kWhth /m

2 – relating this to the local climate in Karlsruhe(long-term average degree days 3264 Kd10)), which means a reduction from 40

Wh/(Kd,m2) to 15 Wh/(Kd,m2).

In general, experience has shown that with “conventional integrated energy retrofitmeasures” for buildings that are typical for construction of new residential buildings inKarlsruhe after the war, a reduction of heating demand by 50–60% is possible (and wasverified by measurement of energy consumption before and after retrofit) and, inaddition, economically feasible. Thus, agreement between planning results and realconsumption is satisfying in general for these buildings.

The experiences during refurbishment and the following operation of the refurbishedbuildings are under evaluation and will be published autumn 2012.

10) Kd = Unit (Kelvin x day) for Degree day (abbreviated DD) (see also Chapter 2).




Final report 47

Project 2: A former military base on its way to a zero energy city –

Bad Aibling


Revitalization of a closed military base by refurbishment and new construction of energy

efficient residential and commercial areas

Reference [7]

Time frame: 2008 - 2014


CASE DESCRIPTION

This project is being developed by the owner of the estate B&O WohnungswirtschaftGmbH and Co. KG, which in 2006 purchased this former US military area. Refurbishmentis planned according to mixed standards, i.e., the German directive for new buildingsEnEV11), low-energy and Passive house standards, respectively, with total savings

significantly over 50% compared to the original situation. This objective will be achievedby innovative technologies, utilizing modern project management methods and modernplanning instruments. Additionally, the entire energy system of the city district will besystematically monitored.

On an area of 700,000 m2, about 50 buildings (60% built before world war II and 40%since 1945) are to be renovated. The buildings include 183 dwellings with 23,500 m2 living area, mostly two-story multifamily houses. Another building area of 34,500 m2 isfor commercial use, hotels and offices and 5,000 m2 for restaurants. Some of the existingbuildings have been demolished and new residential buildings will be added in the formof one- or two-family houses and some new types of multifamily houses in woodconstruction. The area is essentially divided into a northern living area and a southern

commercial area.The heat supply is based on an existing district heating net with energy supplied bybiomass and solar energy. Decentralized solar heating systems (700 m2) are placed onthe roofs of larger residential buildings and of the hotel. An additional 1200 m2 of collectors are planned. PV systems (3500 m2) are installed on the surface of severalcommercial buildings and a field with ca. 15,000 m2 ground-placed PV arrays (favouredby the German feed-in tariffs for renewable electricity) and a small hydro power plant areplanned. For heating, the existing wood chip boiler will be supplemented by a second onein new design and/or a natural gas fired peak-load boiler. During summertime, solarenergy in combination with heat pumps will supply the heat. In wintertime the biomassand wood chips together with heat pumps are used for heat supply.

Because of the special development process of the area with closure of the formermilitary barracks with high energy use and successive reopening of refurbished buildings,a comparison of the former energy use with the future use is not meaningful. Detailedplanning is so far only done for the northern area (essentially the residential buildings),which resulted in the following energy balances for the annual use of end energy: Heat

11) EnEV: Short for “ Energieeinsparverordnung “ : German regulation (by law) for Energy saving measures.




Final report 48

2351 MWh, electricity 885 MWh. Solar heat will contribute about 1475 MWh and PV will –after completion - produce more than 3000 MWh, i.e., there will be considerable energy “export” of solar electricity. The total end energy use will be about 85 kWh/m2 (heat) and33 kWh/m2 (electricity), respectively. All this energy will therefore be renewable and apart of it will be disposable as exported electricity, when the project is finished.

Starting with an analysis of the existing building structure, a development concept for the

entire neighborhood was envisaged including refurbishment or demolition of existingbuildings, complemented by areas for new housing. The area was divided in areas forliving and recreation (northern area), and commerce and sport (southern area). For thedifferent types and use of the buildings, energy standards were defined and energybalances calculated. A re-simulation of the district heating system was performed withthe energy system optimization model POLIS, simulating the operation of the existingheat supply scheme when alternative thermal energy sources can be employed. Since theexisting district heating grid is oversized due to the energy saving measures, the oldsystem can be operated with much lower temperatures compared to the previous mode.

Besides the innovative energy supply master plan, special issues are novel features onthe building side, where a new wooden house construction for multifamily houses is being

Figure 2.1.6.3: Development concept for the former military area of Bad Aibling




Final report 49

demonstrated. Another innovative building is the solar Decathlon house developed by theTechnical High School Rosenheim which is a 100% solar plus house. It serves as a show-case project. Also new types of porous house facades have been demonstrated enablingrecovery of wall heat losses through the air ventilation system as well as integrated wallheating systems.

The total project is under construction. Information on costs is available for special

project measures, but total costs on the basis of end user costs will be available afterevaluation and documentation in 2012.

Verification is planned by an Internet-based metering system utilizing the “MoniSoft” software developed by the University Karlsruhe. This system will be used for theevaluation of all relevant energy data of the system. For now, measurements andevaluation are concentrated on the solar heating network.

Public opinion is very positive. Besides a series of presentations at national andinternational conferences and seminars, much publicity has been given to the project inregional television and newspapers as well as trade journals [23].


The guiding idea for the conversion project was to meet the challenge of designing a planthat could be easily replicated, and that could ultimately be a model for a Zero EnergyCity. Goals were to be attained by:

- applying high energy-efficiency standards and using innovative technology;

- using modern methods of project management and modern planning tools in aconsistent and integrated planning process; and

- networking the energy generation and consumption areas;

- demonstrating new construction principles involving prefabricated wood panels;

- achieving a very low carbon foot-print for the whole neighborhood.

Essentially, the total project aims at being a showcase for energy conservation projectsas well for application of new building construction and refurbishment approaches as forsmart grid applications utilizing several energy sources.

The area

The plan for using the site was developed from the already existing building plan whichdated back to the original layout of the old military airfield in the 1930s. The project areawas divided into four areas of usage (see Figure 2.1.6.3).

The northern section is being converted into a residential area with apartments, aconference hotel, a wellness center and vacation apartments. A Waldorf school alreadyoccupies one of the residential buildings.

A landscape park will adjoin this area to the south. Some of the residential blocks in thisarea along the old access road have already been demolished and more will follow. Herenew single-family and duplex houses will be built to meet Passive house energy stand-ards. Additionally, several four-story and seven-story buildings will be erected usinginnovative, largely prefabricated wooden components.




Final report 50

A sports park will be opened in the southern area. Two former airplane hangars on thissite will be converted into a gymnasium and a place for public events. Next to thesebuildings are several large outdoor sports fields.

The technology park will be located to the west.

Energy characteristics

Energy standards for buildings in the model project are targeted to fall within thefollowing ranges (according to the 2007 EnEV):

- New buildings' standards will range from 50% of the EnEV new building standard to thestandard for Passive houses.

- Retrofitted buildings' standards will range from the EnEV new building standard tonearly the standard for Passive houses.

Based on the energy efficiency goals set for the 27 buildings served by the districtheating grid, the annual load duration curve indicates that the base load for hot water isvery low. The number of full load hours at maximum capacity is only 1450 hours/year.An analysis of all buildings within the model project area shows a large difference in the

level of needs between the north and south areas. In the northern area, highly efficientnew buildings will be constructed applying ambitious energy modernization standards.This will allow for low supply temperatures of about 55°C. In the southern area of thegrid, which services the model project area as well as other buildings, annual loadduration curves will be largely determined by a high swing in seasonal supplytemperature. Supply temperatures will be at levels between 65-75°C. This has suggesteddividing the grid so that each area can be serviced with its own supply temperature.

Options for heating supply systems and POLIS simulations

The district heating system of the whole area was simulated with the POLIS simulationprogram. The following energy supply plans were selected:

South grid: A small biogas-fired combined heating and power unit (CHP), a peak loadboiler fired by woodchips, and a large hot water storage tank to maintain supply forseveral days.

North grid: Solar heat feed-in to district heating grid (supply to cover 100% of needs insummer), decentralized heat pumps to reheat water for hot water supply and heating,and a peak load boiler fired by woodchips when solar heat runs out and the seasonalperformance factor for heat pumps is poor.

The plan outlined below was adopted to reach a Zero Energy City target in the north grid.During the summer, large-scale solar facilities feed the solar heat not consumed inbuildings into the heating grid. Several small decentralized storage tanks and a largercentral tank store solar heat and act as buffers, providing more efficient utilization.

Buildings with solar panels primarily meet their own heating needs. If heating is notneeded, the decentralized buffer tank absorbs solar energy. Once it is heated to capacity,surplus heat is conducted to the grid to supply heat to other buildings. Peaks in heatyield during hot summer months are, in a final step, transferred to a 60 m³ storage tankin the heating plant. Accordingly, grid temperature varies with the amount of solarenergy available. As soon as it is insufficient for hot water generation, heat pumps




Final report 51

integrated in the buildings reheat water in decentralized storage tanks. If heat pumpperformance factors drop below 4, then a woodchip-fired boiler is activated.

A well-designed contemporary boiler house

Plans are underway to build a 500 kW woodchip-fueled boiler house that

can be easily replicated elsewhere. It is designed to be attractive and adaptable to an

urban setting as a biomass-fueled heating plant.

Solar thermal facilities

Solar heat will play a major role in providing hot water and heating the buildings.

There are 716 m² of flat solar panels in operation (2011), and they will be joined byanother 1,270 m² of mostly flat panels, some evacuated tube solar collectors, and hybridmodules (for simultaneous heat and power generation). The solar collectors are locatedon buildings in the residential area and therefore connected to the northern grid.

Renewable energy generation with hydropower

A study showed that a small plant was technically feasible and would produce just under

50,000 kWh/year, with a return on capital of about 5%. B&O intends to implement withthis project.

Renewable energy generation with photovoltaic

Photovoltaic panels in open space

The open field in the conversion project area, where antennas formerly stood west of thelarge halls, offers an ideal space for setting up photovoltaic arrays:

- Field area in zoning plan: approx. 46,010 m²- Module area: approx. 17,176 m²- Peak capacity: approx. 2425 kWp - Annual yield (at 1080 kWh/kWp): approx. 2.6 GWh.

Renewable energy generation with rooftop photovoltaic (PV) arrays

While planning photovoltaic for Halls 305, 306, and 329, calculations showed that

arrays installed on these buildings could have a total usable capacity of about 433 kWpwith an annual yield of some 490 MWh. The following characteristics apply:

- Module inclination: approx. 30°- Module area: approx. 2,500 m²- Peak capacity: approx. 433 kWp - Annual yield (at 1,080 kWh/kWp): approx. 490 MWh.

Energy balances

Reflections on energy balances are restricted to the northern grid. The followingconclusions can be drawn:

- If PV facilities in the south grid are not taken into consideration because theyshould not figure into the energy balance for the north grid, a zero energy balancecannot be achieved. The north grid, encompassing 15 buildings and their supplystructure, does however have a primary energy balance that is 30% better thanthe passive house limit of 120 kWh/m2,yr primary energy. This is a very good




Final report 52

result for the project and can be attributed to the good energy-efficient standardsof most buildings, the exploitation of solar thermal energy, and the woodchip-firedboiler.

- If the large-scale PV facilities in the south grid are added to the calculation, thereis a clear surplus energy balance of some 290 kWh/m2,yr in energy gain providedthat household electricity consumption is omitted. If household consumption is

added to the calculation, the surplus energy value still amounts to about 160kWh/m2,yr.

Other special and innovative features of the project

The B&O Bad Aibling complex will boast other innovations to enhance the overall plan formodern and energy-efficient heating supply systems and to advance the concept of theenergy-efficient city approach.

New apartment buildings with prefabricated wooden elements

Several four-story and seven-story buildings for mixed use will be erected north of theMoosbach stream in the middle section of the project area (see visualization Figure2.1.6.4-left). The buildings' special feature is their load-bearing wood construction over

several floors, considered very innovative in Germany. These buildings will be cost-efficient with low heating needs, and even the manufacture of their elements will beenvironmentally friendly, consuming low amounts of energy. A high degree of prefabrication is considered an advanced feature, especially because this promises lowerbuilding costs in the future. The first four-story building was finished at the end of April2010, erected in just four days (see Fig. 2.1.6.4 left).

Figure 2.1.6.4: (Left): Visualization of prefabricated apartment buildingsconstructed of wood. (Right): The Solar Decathlon home, a winning project from a

competition evaluating ten design principles: Architecture, construction,solar technology, energy balance,comfort, communication, industrialization,marketing, innovation and sustainability.

Retrofitting – prefabricated wood elements with integrated panel heating

Retrofitting of occupied apartment buildings generally means noise and stress for theresidents. However, the amount of work to be done inside an apartment can be kept to aminimum by using innovative wooden façade elements that are mounted from theoutside and have integrated insulation and new built-in windows. This method can

incorporate HVAC components into outside wood elements that would otherwise beinstalled from inside. A special feature of this technology is the need for very accuratemeasuring of irregularities in the old façade that must be attached to the new elementsbeing fitted to the building. Building 353 has already been retrofitted using thistechnology, with panel heating mounted on the inside of some of the insulation elements.




Final report 53

Rosenheim University's Solar Decathlon Home

The Rosenheim University of Applied Sciences Rosenheim has assembled its SolarDecathlonHome on the B&O park grounds in the spring of 2011 (see Figure 2.1.6.4-right)testing new ventilation heat recovery installations. The German environment foundation(DBU) funded two test façades with pore ventilation mounted on Building 354. Drawingfresh air in through the pores of the exterior insulation can recover heat transmission

losses. The test façades in the B&O Park are made almost entirely of natural materials.Fiber boards made of hemp were used as porous insulation material.

Innovative HVAC–systems and methods for generating hot water

B&O is using the Bad Aibling model project to gain experience with a wide range of innovative building services that can be used in many other projects. This has synergeticeffects — various ventilation systems that all meet the most up-to-date standards can becompared within the model project. Likewise, it will be possible to test a variety of innovative, energy-saving methods for DHW whereby the hot water stations presentlyinstalled in each apartment in Building 356 are a special highlight because of theiroutstanding energy-saving qualities.

A full report on the installations and the results of the measurement campaign isexpected for the end of 2012.




Final report 54

2.1.7. Japan

Inter-building Thermal Transfer System for Extended use of Solar Heat,

Kumagaya, Tokyo


Solar energy for heating and cooling purposes, for both own use and export to

neighboring buildings

Reference [8]

Location: 36°08' N; 139°23' E Degree days (20°C): 2296 (Heating)

Time frame: 2008 -2012 Degree days (20°C): 492 (Cooling)

CASE DESCRIPTION

In 2008, a new Energy Conservation Law ruled that even newly constructed buildingswith a floor space of 2000 m2 or less have to take concrete measures for energy

conservation. Since then, voluntary joint projects of energy saving with dedicatedobjectives to interchange energy between several enterprises, have been recognized asimportant energy conservation measures.

Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd. replaced equipment for heating, cooling, and hot water supply in itsown office building built about 25 years ago. It was planned not only to use solar heat forheating, cooling, and hot water supply, but also to export heat between adjacentbuildings, in order to achieve higher energy saving and CO2 reduction levels than whatwould be the case when only taking measures for each individual building.

Kumagaya City is well known for hot summers, where the record maximum airtemperature of 40.9°C was set in 2007 in Japan. The city is also ranked as number 1 forthe annual number of clear days in Japan. Kumagaya municipality undertakes efforts to

utilize solar energy as a local energy resource and focuses on solar heat utilization in theaction plan for promoting global warming countermeasures in 2009. The “Kumagaya” project was backed up by such a local policy, and was realized to be the first project withan inter-building heat transfer system between private buildings with different ownersacross a public road.

Project initiator is Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd. A heating, cooling and hot water supply systemusing solar heat was recently developed and installed in its own office building called “Kumagaya building” (built 1986), when it was replacing energy equipment which was 25years old. In order to achieve higher levels of energy saving and carbon emissionreduction in the neighborhood, Tokyo Gas suggested inter-building heat transfer to theadjacent hotel “Maroudo Inn Kumagaya” which has a large heat demand throughout the

year and for which the pattern of hourly heat loads is different from that of the officebuilding.

Because this project is the first one with an inter-building thermal transfer systembetween private buildings, strong interest exists on the part of energy companies anddevelopers. One main observation from this “Kumagaya” project is that it is governedmainly by two dominant driving forces. One is that the municipality of Kumagaya startsto encourage and to support projects undertaking global warming countermeasures,




Final report 55

acting in response to the revision of national laws on energy conservation and promotionof global warming countermeasures. The other is that the building owner of Tokyo Gasplans to extend the use of renewable energy according to their mid-term business planwhen retrofitting heat equipment, and suggests a plan of domestic energy use forincreased energy saving and CO2 reduction by delivering energy to adjacent buildings.

The following system features are part of the project:

- Solar thermal panel (evacuated tube collectors) 47 kW

- Heating and cooling system: Solar heat absorption chiller 35 kW (cold); gas-firedabsorption chiller 141 kW (cold); domestic hot water heater: Condensing gas –boiler (87 kW)

- Thermal heat transfer system: Hot water circulation pipes, water storage tanks1000 + 450 l

- PV-system: 5 kW polycrystalline Silicon

- Micro cogeneration system (natural gas): 25 kW, 200 V; Heat recovery: 35 kWFuel Input: 75 kW.

Figure 2.1.7.1: System components of Kumagaya project

The energy system has been monitored since 2010. The control is achieved by a PC-based energy control system called Mieruka (see “Technical information” further down).The use of primary energy in the described system is reduced from 60 MWh to 17MWh/yr.




Final report 56


System features

The energy system of Kumagaya consists of the following main features:

Solar heat panels

The evacuated solar heat collectors are placed with low angle on the roof of the TokyoGas building in order to maximize heat collection. The collectors will supply hot water attemperatures of 80ºC, suitable for absorption cooling. The efficiency of heat collection is50% corresponding to 47 kW top heat. Such collectors are particularly suitable forbuildings with limited roof area as it is the case with the Kumagaya building.

Equipment for heating, cooling, and hot water supply

The hot water at high temperature is collected from the solar collectors and is sent to anabsorption chiller generating cold water for the period of cooling, or to a heat exchangerfor the period of heating. There is a storage tank for pre-heating hot water supply. Boththe absorption chiller and the (back-up) condensing boiler are controlled so as to usesolar heat preferentially.

Inter-building heat transfer system

The Kumagaya building is an office building that on an annual basis has only low heatdemand for hot water supply. In addition to that, the decrease of heating and coolingdemand in mild seasons like spring and fall and on weekends and holidays, causessurplus solar heat production. On the other hand, the adjacent hotel “Maroudo InnKumagaya” across a public road has large heat demand and a different pattern of heatload from that of an office building. Regarding the different load characteristics of thesetwo buildings, Tokyo Gas designed an inter-building heat transfer system for maximizingthe use of solar heat.

PV panels

PV panels are also installed to provide electricity for pumps transporting the hot waterbetween the buildings. The electricity from solar power generation will offset anadditional energy consumption and CO2 emission caused by inter-building heat transfer.

Figure 2.1.7.2: View of the

roof of “Kumagaya” building(PV panels on the left and

solar heat panels on the

right)




Final report 57

Natural gas engine with CHP

Because both the energy and the temperature of the collected heat from the solarcollectors vary according to the weather situation, it is necessary for stable operation tocompensate the eventual lack of heat with other energy production. In this project, asmall natural gas CHP plant, for which the generating efficiency is top class amongsmaller gas engines for the commercial sector, is installed for the auxiliary heat supply.

This micro CHP system is appropriate to a system using solar heat because of the usageof the waste heat from the gas engine and the ability to control the varying temperaturedelivered by the solar collectors. All of the electricity generated by the gas engine is usedonly in the Kumagaya building.

”Mieruka” control system

The Japanese term “Mieruka” means to identify problems and bring them to theforeground. The Mieruka system integrates measurement data on solar heat use, powergeneration from PV panels, operation status of the gas engine and heat from appliancesand displays them on a PC monitor. A system operator can easily check daily results of the operation, and control the operation according to weather or energy demand.




Final report 58

2.1.8. The Netherlands

Low exergy systems through remining abandoned coal mines,

Heerlen


Demonstration of the use of locally available low-value renewable energy sources,

specifically water from abandoned mines for heating and cooling of buildings.

References [9]


Time frame: 2006 – 2012

CASE DESCRIPTION

The project’s basic idea is to demonstrate the use of low-temperature heat. The systemis based on low-energy principles, and is facilitated by an integrated design of buildings

and energy concepts. The system takes low-temperature heat from abandoned coalmines at 800 m depth which is available at 35°C. For cooling purposes, water at 16 -18°C can be used from wells at 250 m. This heat/cold quality can be further improved byheat pumps or boilers for the climatization of buildings at suitable temperatures. Existingbuildings have been refurbished and new buildings have been designed as low-energysystems. Mining water at return temperatures around 25ºC is returned in a separate wellat 400 m.

Three areas have been supplied with different heat/cold supply systems:

Location Heerlerheide Centre: 33,000 m2 new residential area for 330 dwellings and20,000 m2 for other (commercial, public) use. The buildings use floor heating at max45ºC supply temperature. The supply temperature for cooling is 16ºC. A central solution

is applied with an energy station where mine water is exchanged and post-processed bymeans of electrical heat pumps; a secondary distribution grid connects to the buildings.Topping temperature levels and domestic hot water are prepared by condensing gasboilers (see Fig. 2.1.8.1).

Stadspark Oranje Nassau: The load comprises 110 apartments, 14,000 m2 commercialbuildings, 4000 m2 hotel, 19,000 m2 offices). Furthermore, a refurbished large officebuilding (43,500 m2) of the Dutch Central Office of Statistics (CBS) and a new officebuilding for CBS (21,000 m2) is connected to the mine water distribution system. Here,decentralized solutions are applied. In this part there are larger office buildings with theirown energy stations where the mine water is exchanged and post-processed, specificallyto the building’s needs, which can differ to a large extent.

Location ABP head office: This location concerns the retrofitting of the ABP head office of 41,000 m2. It will be connected to the mine water system. Post-processing takes place ina building-embedded energy central by means of heat pumps.

A three-step strategy was applied in addition to the overall prerequisite: Limit thetemperature levels of heat and cold supply (conform to the Second Law of Thermodynamics).




Final report 59

1: Limitation of energy demand

2: Maximize share of renewables

3: Maximize efficiency in using fossil fuels for remaining energy demand

Mine water circa 28°C

Source pumps with

primary grid

Energy Station withsecundary grid

(only heat delivery is shown)

To tertiairy net in complexes

W e l l e r E n e r g i e B V

G em e en t eH e er l en

Return well

Heat Generation (winter season)

Mine water ci rca 18°C

Primairydistribution grid

Secundary grid

Tertiairy

net

Figure 2.1.8.1 Heat generation principle in Heerlerheide (location A)

Both the buildings and the energy supply systems were simulated by TRNSYS in order tofind the right balance between supply and demand. For establishing the final energyconcepts, the following questions should be answered:

- Total heating and cooling demand, how to control and limit this demand

- The target values for the percentage of renewables in total energy demand

- The available amount of renewable energy from mine water (i.e., how much watercan be extracted) and other renewables

- The most efficient conversion technology for the (not sustainable) back-up system.

A special research issue concerns the energy rating in order to find a more sophisticatedassessment for the value of energy saving. One approach is a ranking which takesexergy use into consideration. This is achieved by plotting the exergetic efficiency as afunction of the primary energy factor (as a measure for energy saving), resulting in an

index for the use of low-value energy and savings of fossil fuels.The case studies indicate a reduction in energy costs and CO2 emissions of 20 to 40% incomparison to conventional, fossil-based heat and/or cold generation. The differencebetween the reference energy costs and the scenarios with mine water is in fact theavailable financial space for the mine water production costs and possible extrainvestments for LowEx buildings.




Final report 60

The mine-water project in Heerlen has demonstrated that it is technically andeconomically feasible to extract energy from the water in old mine galleries. Five wellsand an underground pipeline network measuring approximately 8 kilometers in lengthwere installed in Heerlen to supply and discharge water.

The heat and cold deliveries to Heerlerheide Centre have been monitored since May 2010and those to the CBS building since August 2009, showing that both heat and cold

production are even larger than expected.

One important finding from the project is the need of integration of the LowEx conceptalready at the first drafts of the building design and thereafter continuously convincingthe building parties about the concept, of course with regard to the actual buildingdesign. When planning the water flows from and to the mines, a strict separation shouldbe made between the distinct temperature levels for heating, cooling and DHW on theone hand and seasonal influences at the other hand.

Figure 2.1.8.2 Heerlerheide Centre, cultural building with energy station


The mine water energy concept in Heerlen is in principle as follows. Mine water isextracted from four different wells with different temperature levels. In the concession of the former ON III mine (location 1 Heerlerheide) mining took place to a level of 800 m.In this concession the warm wells (~ 30°C) can be found. In the former ON I mine(location 2 Heerlen SON) mining took place to a level of 400 m and here the relativelycold wells are situated. The extracted mine water is transported by a primary energy gridto local energy stations. In these energy stations heat exchange takes place between theprimary grid (wells to energy station) and the secondary grid (energy station tobuildings). The secondary energy grid provides low-temperature heating (35°C – 45°C)

and high temperature cooling (16 – 18°C) supply and one combined return (20 – 25°C)to an intermediate well.

The five well locations and energy stations will be connected by three pipelines of 7 kmeach. Warm water is transported from the warm wells at the north and cold water istransported from the shallow wells at the southern region to the energy stations. Returnwater of 20 – 25 °C is transported to an intermediate well (450 m). The temperaturelevels of the heating and cooling supply are “guarded” in the local energy stations by a




Final report 61

polygeneration concept consisting of electric heat pumps in combination with gas-firedhigh-efficiency boilers. The surplus of heat in buildings (for example, in summer, cooling,process heat) which cannot be used directly in the local energy stations can be lead backto the mine water volumes for storage. DHW is prepared in local substations in thebuildings by heat pumps, small-scale CHP or condensing gas boiler, depending on type of building and specific energy profile. The total system will be controlled by an intelligent

energy management system including telemetering of the energy uses/flows at the endusers.

The location of the wells has been determined as a result of geological research. The finaldetermination of the location took place in close collaboration with former miners, usingtheir knowledge about the underground circumstances at the time the mines wereabandoned. The drilling of the warm wells took place from February to June 2006. Thetwo warm wells and the first primary net (i.e., the connection between the two warmwells) was completed in June 2006, followed by a successful testing in July. The coldwells in the southern region were drilled from August to October 2007, see also diagramin Figure 2.1.8.3.

Figure 2.1.8.3: Schematic view of Heerlen coal mines and new installations

Integrated design approach versus traditional approach

The present development of energy-efficient buildings requires an integral designapproach. A few decades ago, energy-efficient design of buildings mostly focused onimproving a certain technique or apparatus. Nowadays an energy-efficient building,




Final report 62

supported by an energy-efficient installation, has to be combined into one integratedenergy-efficient concept with an optimal performance in terms of indoor climate, thermalcomfort, user satisfaction, etc. This calls for an integral design approach in which well-balanced choices are being made. This means that in sustainable building projects it iscrucial to consider the design and realization of the sources, the heat generation(especially with non-traditional solutions such as heat pumps, cogeneration, heat/cold

storage), distribution and emission together including all possible interactions with thebuilding, building properties and building users. Only this approach can lead to a set of well-defined performance criteria concerning energy performance, sustainability, indoorair quality, thermal comfort (365 days/year, winter and summer conditions), and health.Next it is necessary to have specific emphasis on investments and energy exploitation, aswell as communication to the end users. A traditional approach is often based on partialoptimization of the different disciplines. An integrated approach will achieve totaloptimization, taking into account all disciplines and their interaction.

In general the heating and cooling of buildings can be realized with very low-valueenergy, with medium temperatures close to required room temperatures. The better thebuilding properties (extremely high thermal insulation, high air tightness and suitable

emission systems), the closer the temperatures of heat and cold supply can be to roomtemperatures. In order to utilize these extreme moderated temperatures for heating andcooling, the buildings must comply with a number of boundary conditions such as:

- Limitation of heat losses (Uenvelope < 0.25 W/m2K, Uwindows < 1.5 W/m2K)

- Limitation of ventilation losses and leaks by air tight building (n50 < 1.0),mechanical ventilation with high efficiency heat recovery or state of art demand,controlled hybrid ventilation systems

- Limitation of solar and internal gains to limit cooling loads, integrating shadingand sun blinds in architectural design

- Application of combined low temperature heating and high temperature cooling

emission systems (thermally activated building components, floor and wallheating).

For some functions, higher temperatures will be necessary such as domestic hot waterproduction. Also lower temperatures may be necessary for certain functions (high coolingloads for some types of buildings, dehumidification of supply air, etc.). Another aspect tobe taken into account is that the use of geothermal energy and heat/cold storage as suchdoes not cover electricity use/sustainable electricity generation. Therefore additionalsustainable solutions have to be taken into account. Sustainable electricity generationcan be realized by cogeneration (such as biomass CHP). This combination can alsodeliver higher temperatures for DHW.

Balancing supply and demand side

For the elaboration of the final energy concepts the following questions should beanswered:

- Total heating and cooling demand, how to control and limit this demand

- The target values for percentage of renewables in total energy demand




Final report 63

- What is the available amount of renewable energy from mine water (i.e., howmuch water can be extracted) and other renewables

- What is the most efficient conversion technology for the (non-sustainable) back-up system?

This input is necessary for the integrated design process including buildings, sources and

energy systems, distribution and emission systems. An important tool for the assessmentof this process and balancing demand and supply side is the so-called energy profile of abuilding, expressed in a load-duration curve, based on dynamic calculations (usingTRNSYS) of the energy demands of the buildings. This curve is a profile representing theenergy demand over an entire year, including heating and cooling. This curve alsoprovides a good indication of the maximum capacities for heating and cooling as well asthe balance between heating and cooling demand. Important for balancing the supplyand the demand side is the tuning and balancing between the cold and heat sources, inthis case, the deep (warm) and shallow (cold) wells. Load duration curves give importantinformation about:

- The balance between cold and heat demands

- The effect of optimization (for example limiting heat losses by thermal insulationor heat recovery, etc.)

- The way to limit the installed capacity of heat pumps, CHP and other heatgeneration, and, on the other hand, how to increase the number of operationhours, in combination with storage, to increase efficiency and to decreaseinvestment costs.

In order to establish a balance between the rational use of energy needs on the buildingside and the renewable energy supply, a total annual heat-load duration curve of thetotal building plans in Heerlerheide Centre and SON was calculated by dynamicsimulations with TRNSYS.

The peak heating power is about 2.2 MW; this is about 20% lower than calculated withtraditional heat loss calculations and can be explained by the internal gains and heataccumulation as taken into account only in the TRNSYS calculations. The four heat pumpsin the Heerlerheide energy station will have a combined peak capacity of 700 kW th andthus cover up to 80% of the annual heat demand. Due to the small temperature step,the average COP of the heat pumps is ~ 5.6, but can rise up to 8 under favorablecircumstances. A total heating capacity of 2.7 MW gas-fired condensing boilers will beinstalled as back-up and for peak load (20% annual). The heat-load curve also shows aperiod of ~ 2000 hours/year without any heating or cooling demand. The maximumcooling demand is ~ 1 MW and can be mainly covered by the mine water and inversedheat pumps. The heat and chill generated in the energy station are supplied to theindividual buildings by district heating. The supply temperature for the floor heating

depends on the outdoor temperature and will be maximum 45°C at -10°C outside. Thecalculated seasonal average supply temperature will be 35°C and thus fits perfectly intothe principle of “low-temperature heating.” DHW is prepared by preheating the coldwater with the supply for central heating and then heating to 70°C with condensing high-efficiency boilers. In this way, the mine water heat pumps preheat about 30% of annualdemand for DHW.




Final report 64

All the dwellings at Heerlerheide will have floor heating and cooling. This requires goodinformation to the occupants about the typical thermal behavior of floor heating andcooling, including the restrictions on wall coverings. The ventilation of all dwellingsconsists of mechanical supply and exhaust with high-efficiency heat recovery (η = 90%).Commissioning of these systems is important to get properly functioning HVAC systemsunder all circumstances. The lack of an infrastructure for natural gas forces the

occupants to use electric cooking, a non-traditional solution in the Netherlands.Low-exergy distribution systems

In Heerlen different solutions for distribution systems have been applied. In Heerlerheide

Center, a central solution is applied with one central energy station where mine water isexchanged and post-processed with a secondary distribution grid to the buildings. In thebuildings there is a tertiary grid to the apartment. A special feature in Heerlerheide isthat apartments (social housing segment) have air conditioning. In Heerlen Center,

decentralised solutions are applied. In this part there are larger office buildings with theirown energy stations where the mine water is exchanged and post-processed, specificallyto the building needs (which can differ to a large extent).

Low-exergy building design concepts in practice to use low-temperature

geothermal resources

In general, the building design should be adapted to the use of the moderate supplytemperatures for heating and cooling. This means limitation of transmission losses andventilation losses and avoiding excessive peak loads. The latter is a special attentionpoint for the ventilation and infiltration losses. This means the application of (advanced)controlled ventilation systems like balanced mechanical ventilation with heat recovery oradvanced actively controlled natural ventilation systems. To avoid infiltration losses,buildings should have very good air tightness. Considering transmission losses, the levelof thermal insulation should be (in the Netherlands) better than the levels required bythe building regulations (Dutch Building Decree), however, not at Passive house level. InTable 2.1.8.1, a summarized overview is given of the measures to make a building “mine

water proof” (i.e., LowEx) for a moderate climate. It is crucial to design the buildings as “LowEx” as possible in order to be able to use direct heating and cooling. In that case itis theoretically possible to heat and cool buildings without the intervention of heatpumps. However, a back-up system is still favorable. In most cases, however, indirectheating and cooling is applicable where the final supply temperatures are post-processedby heat pumps. Heat-load duration curves give information about the hours in the yearthat this post-processing is necessary.

Indirect heating and cooling is always the case if emission systems other than floorheating/cooling or concrete core activation are applied, for example, low-temperatureenlarged radiators or low-temperature forced air systems (like in the new CBS office).




Final report 65

Table 2.1.8.1: Generic overview of measures to make buildings suitable for low-

temperature geothermal sources in comparison with state of the art

Building regs. NL Practice 2008 NL Mine water (LowEx)

Thermal insulation

U in [W/(m2

K)]

Envelope U = 0.37

Glazing U = 3.0

Envelope U = 0.30

Glazing U = 1.5

Envelope U < 0.25

Glazing U < 1.2Ventilation No systemrequirements

No systemrequirementsIn practice 50% MEand 50% MVHR12)

MVHR with η = 95%Or demand controllednatural ventilation

Air tightness n50 = 3 n50 < 2 n50 <1

Emission system No requirements Radiators Floor heating and cooling(residential)

Concrete core activation(non-residential)

HVAC

system/efficiency No requirements(but in EPR)

Condensing boilersη = 95%No cooling

Mine water with heatpumps (boiler back up)Sustainable cooling

Exergy rating by the PER-exergy diagram

Techniques for sustainable energy or renewables are often judged by their energysavings. A more sophisticated approach is a ranking on the savings of fossil fuels (andthus reduction in greenhouse gases) and the exergetic efficiency as an index for the useof low-value energy sources. Both aspects can be presented in a combined diagram asshown in Figure 2.1.8.4.

Figure 2.1.8.4: Primary Energy Ratio (PER)-EXERGY diagram

12) MVHR: Mechanical ventilation heat recovery; ME: ERP




Final report 66

The horizontal axis indicates for each system the primary energy ratio (PER). Theprimary energy ratio is the ratio of the useful energy output to the primary energy input,i.e., the energy contained in the fossil fuel. For electrically driven heat pumps a PER canalso be defined, by multiplying the COP with the power generation efficiency. The PERcan be calculated for nearly every energy system or device when the conversionefficiencies are known. PER values above 1 are only possible in energy systems which

use renewables, like a solar collector. The vertical axis is the exergetic value of thesystem, more specifically the total exergy score which is subject to the IEA ECBS-Annex49. It is calculated as:

factor qualityinput energy

factor qualityoutput energyusefullefficiency Exergetic

∗

∗=

Different symbols are used in the diagram for heating (red bullet), cooling (blue bullet)and DHW (light blue water drop). The size of the symbol can be used to indicate theaccuracy (or spreading in the results) of the calculations. This is useful to cover up thesometimes exaggerated expectations of the accuracy of such calculations. In practice,the external influences on the actual savings like losses and suboptimal control are much

bigger than the accuracy of the calculations.In general, a high PER means that only a small part of the useful energy is extractedfrom fossil fuels; high exergetic efficiency indicates a good match between the quality(temperature level) of the used and delivered energy.




Final report 67

2.1.9. Sweden

Refurbishment of multifamily houses to Passive house standard in

Brogården, Alingsås


Refurbishments of municipally owned buildings by letting reduced energy costs pay the

restoration

Reference [10]

Location: 57°56′ N, 12°32′ E. Degree days (20°C): 5045

Time frame: 2008 - 2014

CASE DESCRIPTION

The project is carried out by the municipality owned housing company Alingsåshemtargeted at people with limited incomes. The project foresees renovation of 300apartments in 16 buildings built in the early 1970s within the Swedish “Million Program” and which are in an urgent need of restoration. The project should consider the

sustainability in three aspects: economic, ecological and social. The final costs for thetenants should not deviate much from the existing costs. Reduction of energy costsshould pay for the renovation to Passive house standard.

The dwellings of Brogården consist of a suitable mixture of two-, three- and four-roomapartments, plus kitchen, halls and sanitary rooms. The neighborhood is a relatively opengreen area of 100,000 m2, of which 6,000 m2 are occupied by buildings (Figure 2.1.9.1).The total living area is 18,500 m2, resulting in an average dwelling size of about 60 m2.There are no nonresidential objects belonging to the area.

Figure 2.1.9.1: The buildings of Brogården before (left) and after the refurbishment

(right).

The project is performed as a partnership development between the housing company,an architect specializing in Passive houses and a building company with the aim of developing refurbishment processes for existing buildings. All participating contractorsare briefed and educated in the requirements of the Passive house standard. Thetenants, who are living in the neighboring buildings, are also involved through briefingsand regular information about the progress of the project and what they might expectafter returning to their apartments.




Final report 68

In principle the refurbishment of the houses comprises the replacement of the outer wallsby new air-tight walls avoiding thermal bridges. New balconies have also been hooked onoutside the wall structure. The heating system was exchanged from radiator heating tolow flow air heating system with heat recovery. At the end of 2010, five of the 16buildings were completed.

The annual energy use for heating and hot water is reduced in the first buildings by 100

kWh/m2,yr to 55 kWh/m2,yr (district heat) and the annual electricity use by 15 kWh/m2,yr to 44 kWh/m2,yr, thus reducing CO2 by 16 kg/m2 living area to 41 kg/m2,yr 13). Thereason for the relatively low CO2 saving is that the energy replaced (heating andelectricity as well) was already mainly based on renewable energy.

Main R&D issues are air tightness and the airborne low-flow heating system. Anotherimportant issue was the feedback process on novelties in which tenants and contractorscould respond on “do” and “don’t” items.

The total investments costs are about 1 MSEK (1 SEK = 0.1€) per apartment whichresulted in total cost increase (including energy) of in average 1,000 SEK/month for thetenants. The costs can be allocated to the following positions: 30% renovation, 50%increase of standard and comfort, 20% energy saving measures. This holds for the firststage of the project. Already the second and third stages showed a further cost reductionby 15%.

The anticipated energy conservation was confirmed by measurements performed for thefirst renovated (demonstration) building with 16 apartments. It was shown that the totaluse of bought energy was reduced by 60% compared to the state before renovation (seeFigure 2.1.9.2).

Figure 2.1.9.2 Measured annual bought energy before (2004) and after renovation for

the period 4/1/2009-4/1/2010.

13) This value is based on the fact that electricity is considered to be produced with coal power plants on themargin. With the real Swedish electricity mix, the annual reduction would only be about 5 kg/m2.




Final report 69


The project involves the extensive renovation of the buildings with Passive housetechniques, and includes the installation of new façades and roofs, thicker insulation andnew ventilation systems. Each building is protected during construction by a plastic caseto prevent moisture damage and ensure construction quality. The refurbished buildingsdo not use conventional heating systems and require very little energy for space heating.Under normal conditions the apartments are sufficiently warmed by passive solar heatand the heat generated from human occupants, electric lighting and domestic appliances.The apartments are more air-tight and better insulated than conventional buildings, andare equipped with highly efficient heat recovery ventilation systems. Small amounts of peak load energy and domestic hot water are supplied by district heating.

The C hall enge: Swedish Passive house r equi r ement s

The use of Passive houses in Sweden leads to heating characteristics which for climaticreasons deviate from the Passive house Standards developed e.g. for Germany. InSweden, the requirements are so far not Standard, but should be consideredrecommendations. The requirements regarding the peak load for space heating in

buildings are set to allow the use of ventilation system as the heating system at acomfortable air supply rate.

Therefore, the Swedish rules say that the supply air temperature should not exceed 52°C,in order to avoid pyrolysis of dust. For this reason, the peak load for space heating (Pmax)

is defined with reference to three climate zones: south, middle and north climate zone[17]. Because air is a very poor heat carrier, the peak load for space heating, Pmax,

should not exceed 10 W/m2 in the south climate zone and 14 W/m2 in the north climate

zone. For detached houses of less than 200 m2 living area, Pmax is allowed to be increased

by +2 W/m2. Internal heat gain of 4 W/m2 is included in the heat gain calculations, butsolar energy contribution is not (because the heat peak load occurs in the sun-deficientwinter time).

This abovementioned power criteria can be translated into energy demand criteria. In thesouthern zone, to which Alingsås belongs, the total demand of bought annual energy forheating, ventilation and domestic hot water (household energy not included) should not

exceed 50 kWh/m2. Fulfilling this low energy demand in existing buildings with energy

use of about 200 kWh/m2,yr and above is a real challenge, and maybe cannot be reachedin reality (at least not in refurbishment projects). This assumes that the buildings are wellinsulated and that thermal bridges can be interrupted. Air leakage must also be reduced,

and not exceed 0.3 l/s,m2 at ±50 Pa. Another important factor is of course the heat lossof walls and windows. The walls can be adequately insulated at the outside, but thewindows must have high technical standard and the overall heat loss value of pane plus

frame must be below 0.9 W/m2K. All these requirements resulted for Brogården in the

need of a redevelopment of the wall structure. The refurbishment w or k

The buildings have been examined regarding possible moisture problems and air leakage.Even though the brick façade is worn out, there was no trace of moisture in the woodenwall construction. The new wall construction is based on a steel frame which allows anincreased insulation area. For the outer protection, a new ceramic façade material is




Final report 70

chosen, which gives the buildings the same architectural expression as the old brickfaçade, with the ability to withstand the influences of the climate for a long time.

The floor of the balconies in the old construction is of the same concrete slab as the restof the floor. This causes a large thermal bridge that is eliminated by closing the façadeand attaching new balconies on the outside of the building.

All in all, the following measures were undertaken in the course of the refurbishmentwork:

- Thermal insulation on the ground floor and the outer walls

- Acoustic insulation on inner walls

- New façade material

- New windows

- Increased air tightness, building envelope

- New ventilation with exhaust air heat exchanger

- Energy-efficient household appliances

- Solar collectors for domestic hot water (providing 50% of DHW on annual basis)

- Replace balconies

- Entrance vestibules

- Increased access to indoor stores

- IT - access

- Individual monitoring; DHW and household electricity

- Handicap-accessible entrance staircases, elevators and doors.

The heating sy st em

In the original buildings, the apartments have an exhaust air ventilation system. Afterrenovation, the new system is an FTX system exchanging the heat from the exhaust airto the incoming fresh air. The incoming air is simultaneously filtered to remove dust andpollen. For the coldest days, topping with district heat is provided. Small radiatorsconnected to district heating are provided to supply peak heat on cold winter days. This isa special new feature for how district heat is used. DHW is supplied by district heat.

Electrical equi pment

Following the rebuilding as a Passive house, all electrical products will have the highestenergy performance. Energy-saving refrigerators, freezers and washing machines willdramatically reduce the consumption of electricity.

Bought ener gy

The amount of bought energy was measured in 2004. So far, the evaluation of the newconstruction is only based on simulations, but measurements are going on. The supply of solar heat to the tap water system is based on expectations. Measurements and simulation results are summarized in Table 2.1.9.1.




Final report 71

Table 2.1.9.1: Energy demand, bef or e and af ter renovation, if the proposed measures

will be a pplied.

Energy Demand

[kWh/m²,yr] Before After

(Measured average) (Calculated)

Space Heating 115 30

DHW 30 25

Household electricity 39 27

Electricity, common areas 20 13

Sum 204 95

It can be seen from Table 2.1.9.1 that the energy use is expected to be considerablydecreased. The energy use of 204 kWh/m2 is lower than normal values for houses built in

the Million Program, which could be 250 MWh/m2

for not refurbished buildings; thatmeans that the buildings in Brogården had a relatively good standard. The highestreduction belongs to the Passive house conversion which reduces the need for boughtenergy by 74%. The reduction of energy demand for domestic hot water is an estimatebased on experiences from other projects. (However, it should be said that theseexperiences are ambiguous. In some other projects, there has been a trend that the useof hot water increases due to increased living comfort by people. But it is hoped thatindividual metering will counteract this trend.)

The monitoring which was undertaken in 2010 for the first refurbished building confirmedthat these values of Table 2.1.9.1 have been even lower than the promised expectation(see Chapter 5.4).




Final report 72

2.1.10. United States

Working towards Net Zero Energy, Fort Irwin, Barstow, CA


Refurbishment of military facilities with the long-term goal to reach zero net energy and

zero GHG emission

Reference [11]

Location: 34°53′ N; 117°1′ W Degree days (20°C): 1546 (Heating)

Time frame: 2008 – 2014 Degree days (20°C): 927 (Cooling)

CASE DESCRIPTION

Fort Irwin, the home of the National Training Center, is a U.S. Army installation located37 miles northeast of Barstow, CA, in the High Mojave Desert midway between LasVegas, NV and Los Angeles, CA. The energy required to serve the needs of more than

1600 buildings located on the installation is conveyed over long distances. Electric poweris transmitted from distant generators through the power grid; LPG for heating andDomestic Hot Water (DHW) is trucked to Fort Irwin in bulk. The costs associated with fueltransport raise already high energy costs. Current policies and directives require energyuse reduction with the goal by 2030 (Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007) toeventually eliminate fossil fuel use by new buildings and buildings undergoing majorrenovations.

For that reason the Engineer Research and Development Center, ConstructionEngineering Research Laboratory (ERDC-CERL) conducted an energy study with a focuson a representative group of buildings physically located close to each other. Theinvestigated project cluster comprises five barracks buildings, each with about 2900 m2 living surface and a dining room, with about 1200 m2 surface, out of an area with totally1600 buildings.

The standard procedure is to renovate existing Barracks at Ft. Irwin after 25 years duty.A study was performed in order to analyze different levels of ambition regarding renewal,energy efficiency measures and heat supply. The long-term goal is to achieve net-zeroenergy use, i.e., zero primary use in the military facilities. Hence the task consists of three parts:

1) The renovation of buildings according to the military upgrading standards, reducingthe energy use of the buildings.

2) Rehabilitation/replacement of existing HVAC installation with more efficientproducts (DOAS VAV system), light bulbs, modern DHW equipment.

3) Installation of solar thermal/biomass heat supply boiler for the heat distributionsystem. Such a system leaves the electricity supply to the main which is mostlygenerated by fossil fuels. For this reason, PV installations on the roof of the diningroom are also foreseen.




Final report 73

Energy characteristics

The Engineers from ERDC-CERL conducted an energy study for Ft. Irwin with supportfrom a group of industry experts focusing on a representative group (cluster) of fivebuildings plus a dining room physically located close to each other. The integratedoptimization process used in this study is being developed under the Army research anddevelopment project “Modeling Net Zero Energy (NZE) Installations”. The modeling of the

buildings, the systems within the buildings, and the systems supporting the buildings wasdone by using the eQuest building energy analysis tool. The process includes optimizationof each building clustered together to meet its economic energy efficient option. Thebuilding cluster is thereafter also energy optimized taking advantage of the diversificationbetween energy intensities, scheduling, and waste energy streams utilization. Theoptimized cluster minimizes the amount of energy from renewable sources needed tomake the building cluster net zero.

After Energy Conservation Measure (ECM) implementation, the use of supplied electricitywill be reduced from 2904 to 1462 MWh/yr, the use of heat from boilers to the heatingsystem will be reduced from 2560 MWh to 1190 MWh, were the fuel is LPG. This latterenergy could be supplied instead by a combined heating and power biomass plant. A

total of 18 planned PV panels could even produce 5240 KWh of renewable electricity.

The results of the holistic energy systems analysis focusing on this cluster of buildingscan be applied to the development of an advanced installation-wide energy master planwith an execution strategy for renovation projects by building clusters.

Figure 2.1.11.1: Buildings comprising the cluster used for the analysis: 1 - barracks, 2 -

Central Energy Plant, 3- Dining facility




Final report 74

The costs can be split in conventional upgrading costs for the cluster (USD 29.4 M) andmarginal costs for additional energy saving measures. For different options, the followingcosts were found:

Table 2.1.11.1: Cost for different energy conservation measures at Fort Irwin

Alternative 1: Heating Option A — solar thermal, Alternative 2: Heating Option B — solar

thermal & biomass, Alternative 3: Heating Option C – biomass, Alternative 4: PV Barracks and Alternative 5: PV DFAC

It was found that it is possible to reduce the energy consumed to heat, cool, andventilate the cluster facilities by 44-49% of electrical use and 30-59% of heating use withpayback times of 6 to 10 years, depending on the alternative chosen. The remainingenergy is supplied by grid electricity and LPG.

The following measures were included in the analysis:

- Envelope rehabilitation

- HVAC rehabilitation

- Upgrading project chiller plant rehabilitation.

For the improved energy-saving alternatives towards net-zero solutions, solar panels forDHW and eventually heating, PV systems and biomass heating systems are alsoconsidered. Significant renewable opportunities were identified to supply much of theremaining energy requirements. A total of 11,000 tons/yr of biomass are generated atFort Irwin. Since this biomass has energy value and must be disposed of in some way, itmay potentially be used for heating and even for electrical generation in a combined heatand power plant. In total, renewable energy generation of 1414 MWh of thermal energyand 41.6 MWh of electrical were identified within the cluster.


Barracks buildings in the Army inventory typically get a major renovation at an age of approximately 25 yrs old under the BUP. The funding amount per barracks isapproximately $5 to $7 million. This study attempts to reduce the building’s energy useto the energy usage level of a newly constructed building. The building envelope shouldbe improved by adding insulation to the walls and roof, by installing tight fitting and wellinsulated doors, and by replacing windows with ones that have a low heat transfer and a

Alternative

Total Cost

$ Millions

IncrementalCost $

Millions

% Electrical

Savings

% LPG

Savings

Savings

$k/yr

SimplePayback

(yrs)

Typical renovation 29.4 29.4 6% 5% 27 1.089

1 31.7 2.4 48% 59% 242 10.0

2 30.9 1.6 48% 58% 240 6.7

3 30.7 1.3 49% 58% 242 5.4

4 29.9 0.48 45% 30% 171 2.8

5 30.7 1.4 44% 30% 168 8.3




Final report 75

minimum solar heat gain. The lighting, HVAC, and domestic water energy systems needto use high efficient equipment and effective controls. Appliances and equipment used inthe barracks should be energy star rated to minimize their energy use.

The analysis for cost effectiveness of achieving Net-Zero energy use of the buildingcluster assumes that the major building upgrade has already been accomplished underthe BUP. The subject barracks buildings in this cluster would therefore already have had

a major improvement in their efficiency of energy use and a significant investment wouldhave been made in the buildings. The recommendations in this report would build onthese improvements to achieve buildings that would be ready to apply renewable energysystems for the achievement of Net-Zero energy use. To minimize the cost of theseadditional improvements, it is expected that they would be accomplished during the BUPbuilding upgrade. In the present study, a catalog of various energy saving measures hasbeen proposed for a large spectrum of Energy Conservation Measures of the buildingsbelonging to the cluster.

- Barracks Buildings

- Dining Facility 271

- Central Energy Plant 263

This catalog for energy saving measures is listed in Appendix A - USA.

Energy savings estimates

The estimated energy use of the five barracks and dining facility as operating during thesite visit was 3.1 GWh/yr and 26.9 MWh of LPG gas. Some of these buildings arescheduled for a major upgrade, which is understood to include increased insulation in thewalls and roof, new windows, and improvements to the lighting and HVAC system. Theenergy savings, if all five barracks and the dining facility were upgraded, isapproximately 6% of the estimated energy use before refurbishment.

As part of the evaluations to determine the most appropriate Net-Zero ready barracksbuildings, four HVAC options were explored. These improvements were modeled and the

resulting estimated annual energy use savings as the result of the various upgradesrange from 51-59% for electrical use and 37-47% for LPG gas.

It is possible to further reduce the net energy consumed by more improvements to thebuilding envelope, the HVAC, domestic hot water, lighting, and other energy usingsystems. These levels of savings were achieved while improving occupant comfort andsubstantially reducing the potential for biological growth in the facilities and achieving apayback period of less than 15 years based on the incremental costs for the more energyefficient upgrade. In many climates, the cost to mitigate mold/mildew in barracksfacilities far exceeds the total annual energy cost of the facilities. This benefit alone couldbe the driving factor to use the proposed designs, even if there were no energy savings.

Net-Zero energy building

For a “Net-Zero” energy-using building group, the resulting energy use would need to besatisfied by renewable energy sources. These sources could include energy generated bysolar, wind, hydro power, biomass, waste products and geothermal energy sources. Forthe location of Fort Irwin, the energy sources of solar and waste products seem to be themost attractive for satisfying the energy demands of this building group. The followingRenewable Energy Sources (RES) for the Cluster have been analyzed: Heating Option A:




Final report 76

Solar thermal systems for domestic hot water; Heating Option B: Solar thermal systemsfor domestic hot water and biomass system for building space heating; Heating Option C:Biomass for domestic hot water and building heating, optionally standalone photovoltaicsystem. The analysis covers the present conditions, solution measures, energy saving,investment costs and payback time.

Table 2.1.11.1 above shows the levels of savings that may be achieved while

simultaneously improving occupant comfort and substantially reducing the potential forbiological (mold) growth in these facilities. In many climates, the costs to mitigatebiological growth in barracks facilities can exceed the total annual energy costs of thefacilities. This benefit alone could be the driving factor to use the proposed designs, evenif there were no energy savings.

Since the proposed energy efficiency work includes the implementation of DOAS and highefficiency dehumidification systems that would dramatically reduce the potential forbiological growth, the lifecycle cost of these systems is far lower than typical designsbeing built alternatively. The cost savings associated with reducing biological growthproblems is difficult to quantify, but in many climates, the costs and associated savingsare not trivial; costs associated with biological growth remediation and manpower

displacement and relocation can far exceed the energy costs for the life of the facility.






Final report 78

and organizational struggles. So far, surprisingly low levels of deviations have beenreported, with 0.5 - 1 year being the average delay in all of the projects, see Table 2.2.1.

Table 2.2.1 Delay of project schedules - summary

Project schedule Years of delay

Bro-

gården

Frank-

lin

Heer-

len

Kuma-

gaya

LehenRint-

heim

Lys-

trup

Petite

Rivière

Average

Planning 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 1

Implementation 0 ?3) 0

1) 0 0

2) 1 1 n/a 0

1)

Monitoring 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 n/a 0

1) Some objects were not realized

2) Holds for new construction at low-energy level. No schedule for refurbishment

3) Realization follows different schedules according to the plans of individual clients

The largest deviation is reported for Lystrup were changes in the planning of the heat

delivery system and involved a search for new funds which resulted in a delay of 1–2years. Other deviations from the initial plans occur, however, namely that parts of theprojects are not implemented at all. This is, for example, the case with the low-energyrefurbishment of existing buildings in Lehen, which for cost reasons has been abandoned.Also in Heerlen, some of the originally planned objects have not been built.

Some delays are also reported from the planning process of the Canadian Petite Rivière project, where political interventions are disturbing the initial planning. In Brogården, theinitial planning was delayed by the search for suitable renovation methods.

However, there are seemingly not many severe delays emerging from the reportedprojects, which could be an indication that these kinds of projects are of high concern inthe eyes of most decision makers.






Final report 80

Table 3.1: Drivers or driving forces of the Subtask B Case study projects

Municipa-

lity

Utility Investor/

owner/

developer

Subsidies

or other

enablers

Market-

driven

Show-case

projects

Lehen x x x x x

Petite

Rivière

x x x

Lystrup x x x x

Franklin x x x x

Rintheim x x x x x

B. Aibling x x x x

Heerlen x x x x x x

Brogården x x x

Fort Irwin x x

Peltosaari x x x x

Kumagaya x x x

At the point of time of this analysis, it can be seen that two important drivers are takingthe initiatives for the projects of Subtask B: The city offices and the investors/ownersthemselves, i.e., both public and private organizations. Of course, available subsidies arefacilitating the realization of the projects. On the other hand, other stakeholders andutilities only played a less dominant role for initiating projects. Municipalities are veryoften also the owner or shareholders in public housing companies, therefore acoordination exists among them in projects initiated by municipalities. The role of utilities, subsidies and other players on the market will be discussed in the next chapters.

3.2.1. The role of utilitiesThe role of utilities (district heating companies) might be ambiguous in this contextbecause district heating in its classic form means selling heat and in some cases alsoelectricity - through cogeneration. In back pressure turbines used often for cogeneration,the amount of electricity is directly proportional to the amount of heat generated, i.e.,with decreasing heat load, less electricity is produced, which is directly counter-productive for the reduction of CO2 emissions in such power systems where the alternategeneration is by coal-fired steam plants.

Energy conservation objects might be very difficult customers for some utilities becauseof low energy load but possibly high capacity demand from them. Furthermore, theprospects of energy competition by feeding energy from plus-houses to the network will

in the future add further complications to the district heating business.

In the Subtask B case studies we can see two main roles for utilities:

a) Utility projects: In some cases, the utility is the developer of an infrastructure forheating/cooling delivery to the neighborhood in a kind of energy contractingproject. Examples for that can be seen in Heerlen and in the Kumagaya project.




Final report 81

Here too the utility acts as a driver of the project. In both cases, the utility iseager to develop a business model around the project idea.

b) Neighborhood projects: District heating is the chosen solution for heat supply. Theutility is not the driver, but an important stakeholder in the project. In some casesof refurbishment projects, the utility already delivered heat to the area before

refurbishment, but got involved through the negotiations of heat delivery for anew heat demand, or it has its established structure close to the neighborhood tobe developed and can deliver heat at competitive price levels. In this case, driversof the project are often the municipality or the private developer. Examples forthat we can see in the projects of Rintheim, Bad Aibling, Lehen, Brogården, Petite

Rivière and Peltosaari .

Whereas today utilities undertake major efforts to achieve an increased customerconnection rate, in the future it could happen that they will exclude customers with largedemand capacity and low annual energy demand from connection (or put a high fixedprice on the connection). For example, the houses in Brogården are connected to districtheating (as was the case already before refurbishment) where the only load of the

refurbished houses is a small winter load. However, in this case it was not so difficult toagree upon the business because the municipality of Alingsås is the shareholder of boththe Alingsås DH utility and the residential company Alingsåshem operating Brogården.

Another example for the link between district heating and energy saving issues is theproject in Rintheim, where the desired energy standard after refurbishment wasoptimized with respect to the future expected local district heating distribution costs(based on cost increase by a factor of 2), which resulted in an appreciable, but limitedreduction of energy use for the refurbished buildings. In spite of that, in connection withthe very good energy performance of district heating, the total saving in terms of primary energy consumption is larger than 80 %.

On the other hand, energy saving projects can be the initiator of local district heating

networks, normally not operated by utilities but by local energy service companies or theinvestors themselves. In Kumagaya, Tokyo Gas Company is the initiator of a local districtheating and cooling project, expecting an exemplary business model for energy servicesthat can be expanded on other cases also.

In Petite Rivière the use of a thermal energy network is considered a logical and practicalmechanism to balance heat supply and demand between different buildings in theneighborhood. The involvement of the electricity utility (Hydro Quebec) is necessary asthe heating is provided by combined heat and power generation, since the transmissionof electricity between properties has to involve the local utility as the holder of theelectricity concession.

3.2.2. The role of the market

The Subtask B case studies have shown that although all the newly constructed orrefurbished dwellings in neighborhoods are offered in an open market, most of theSubtask B case study projects had a “pioneering character” (that was one criterion toselect them), either to accomplish raised energy standards (energy demand, renewables)or to implement technical innovations or both and therefore enjoy some kind of




Final report 82

subsidies. Hence, market forces are only partially acting as drivers in these cases. Forthe time being, most countries are planning for transition towards higher energyefficiency and development projects of low-energy buildings and neighborhoods areundertaken to test different methods and the costs of energy conservation. Severalinitiatives and stimulation measures are sometimes combined to finance these projects.The main reason is of course that projects with ambitious energy saving goals turn out to

be costly or at least exhibit long amortization times and hence are not yet trulycompetitive on the market.

For the future, it is expected that the Energy Performance of Building (EPBD) regulationswill pave the way for more stringent energy conservation in buildings, including wholeneighborhoods and cities, than is the case today. (Near) Passive house standards (near-zero-energy-buildings) will govern the future construction market and radical energyconservation will also be required in the sector of existing housing.

Generally, we find that refurbishment of residential buildings to high energy-savingstandards costs about half compared to new construction (see Table 6.1) and these costsmust be covered at least to a large part by energy saving. This philosophy is the maindriving force for many owners and shareholders, as the examples of Rintheim, Bad

Aibling, Brogården, and Ft. Irwin show, in which the total monthly cost (rent + monthlyenergy cost) for the tenants or other end users is – if at all - only increased by a smallamount, very often motivated by increased comfort and also in one example (Brogården)larger living area. However, this only works nowadays, when energy prices are relativelyhigh, as it the case in the last couple of years. This is the reason, why – while many of the necessary energy conservation technologies have been proven since years – progresstowards significant energy saving on a broad scale has only began recently.

Hence, while Subtask B case studies are driven by “stakeholders” in the form of specificrequirements, with the help of subsidies, this cannot be generalized to otherneighborhood projects, where little or no or subsidies are available. Here, the “market” will be the driver in the sense that the solution offered is required to be economically

viable for customers (tenants, property buyer, etc.). This will be influenced byexpectations about future energy prices and by the development of the costs of andpractical experiences with energy conservation technologies.

3.2.3. The role of subsidies

As can be seen in Table 3.1, subsidies play an important role in Subtask B case studyprojects. Subsidies can be received on an international (EU), national or even municipallevel. We have to distinguish between subsidies for planning and development efforts,which normally correspond only to a small percentage of the total project volume, andconstruction-directed subsidies, which belong to the implementation phase, and which

normally are part of national, regional or local housing development programs. In thecontext of Subtask B, we are focusing on subsidies as a supplementary starting aid to theproject. In such projects, the national or local administrations have a good chance toinfluence the outcome of the projects by relatively small subsidies to these upfront softcosts in the planning phase. Such subsidies are often not real costs at all for the publicsector because of possible gains in some other areas (decreased oil import, VAT income,increased employment, etc.).




Final report 83

Subsidies received in these projects do not necessarily need to be directed to energysaving or reduction of CO2 emissions. The reasons for subsidies can be other strategictargets in the view of the donator of subsidies, for which the Franklin project in Mulhouseis an excellent example. The project management (City of Mulhouse together with privatecompanies) has combined different sources of funding available for the Franklin project,in this case from five different sources, which reduced the final costs for the tenants

considerably. These sources were the National Agency for Urban Renovation (ANRU); afund (OPAH) for buildings with a risk being potentially hazardous to health; a localmunicipal fund for buildings within a demarcated architectural and urban heritageprotection zone (ZPPAUP). Additionally, the European Union contributed financing via theEuropean Regional Development Fund (FEDER) for initiating preliminary research andbenchmarking studies. It was also a partner in the program “ Alsace énergivie” led by theRegion of Alsace in partnership with ADEME funding organizational promotion of theproject. The engineering and the project’s technical support assistance was provided bythe local energy agency ALME.

EU funding also played an essential role in other STB projects. The project in Lehen

participated in the EU CONCERTO initiative. The Lystrup project is a partner in the EU

“City of tomorrow and cultural heritage” program which helped to finance the new-development part of the project. Also in Heerlen, an EU grant was very valuable tofinance the “Remining” energy system of the project. In the Rintheim project, measuresto increase the energy awareness of tenants in social housing are subsidized within EU’s “Intelligent Energy for Europe” – program in addition to the R&D subsidy received fromthe federal German “EnEff:Stadt” program.

One important role in the more recently started European projects has the EuropeanEnergy Performance of Building Directive (EPBD) and the energy targets directive for2020 (“20-20-20”) which means greenhouse gas emission to be reduced by 20%, shareof 20% renewable in energy use and reduced primary energy by 20%, all by 2020. Thesedirectives and similar earlier energy efficiency initiatives in turn stimulate Europeancountries to initiate projects such those presented in Subtask B, with national fundcontributions for at least research and pre-design studies. National funds havecontributed to more or less all the European projects. The Canadian project for theneighborhood Petite Rivière is so far only in the planning phase and to date no subsidieshave been provided for construction purposes. Money was provided to the developer bythe Federal Government for purposes of advancing aspects of the design, allowing thedeveloper to reduce the technical risk associated with areas of innovation.

3.3. Project organization structures in urban development

Beside the driving forces and the decision makers themselves it can be interesting to seewhich structures can be identified behind the different projects in STB. One reason for

this comparison is to see whether there are any successful constellations which are of special interest for future development projects.

From Table 3.2, it can be seen that most of the projects are either coordinated byhousing and development companies or by public administrations such as city or militaryplanning offices. As can be seen from Table 3.3 in the next chapter, the need forrefurbishment is the main driving force in seven of eleven projects and social




Final report 84

development of the neighborhood is a main or secondary goal in almost all projects. Aswe will discuss later, the refurbishment towards low-energy standards is for most of thecompanies one way to get the tenants’ monthly costs for housing under control. In someprojects, the housing companies are municipality-owned, having the objectives from theirshareholders to ensure that housing is available to all inhabitants of the city. In mostcountries, such housing companies are no longer non-profit organizations, although it is

up to the municipality to define the amount of the profit.




Final report 85

Table 3.2: Project organization structures of Subtask B case study projects

Type of cooperation

Initiator Investor Coordinator Other

Lehen Developmentcoordinated by amunicipaldepartment

City of Salzburg– Planning office

Social housingassociations,utility,commercial

developers

City of Salzburg(local coordin.)SIR – regionalnon-profit

organization(EU-coordin.)

Utility, Socialhousingcompanies,Private

developers

PetiteRivière

Developmentprivatelycoordinated

MeadowbrookGroup PacificInc.



City of Montreal+ Borough of Lachine Dept.urban planning

Lystrup Developmentcoordinated by acooperativehousingcompany

HousingAssociationRinggaarden

HousingAssociationRinggaarden

HousingAssociation

MunicipalitiesIndustries,consult.architects,DH companies

Peltosaari Developmentcoordinated by amunicipaldepartment

City of Riihimäki City of Riihimäki,The HousingFinance andDevelopmentCentre ARA,Housingassociations

City of Riihimäki Consultants,thermalinsulationmanufacturer,private homeowners

Franklin Developmentcoordinated bypublicly owneddevelopmentcompany

Mulhouse - Cityplanning office

Private investors+ differentgrants

Publicly owneddevelopmentcompany

Local energyagency

Public andprivate buildingowner

Rintheim Developmentcoordinated bysocial housingcompany

VolkswohnungGmbH (housingcompany)

VolkswohnungGmbH (housingcompany)

Housingcompany

Utility

Private buildingowner

Kumagaya Developmentcoordinated byGas Utility

Tokyo Gas Co.,Ltd.; MaroudoInn Kumagaya

Tokyo Gas Co.,Ltd.

Tokyo Gas Co.KumagayaMunicipalGovernment

Ministry of Land,Infrastructure,Transport andTourism

Bad Aibling Developmentprivatelycoordinated

Privatedeveloper

Private investor+ Government(for showcases)

Privatedeveloper

Industries

Heerlen A municipaldepartment,housing assoc.and private realestate developer

Municipalitydepartment

Municipality of Heerlen, housingassoc. Weller,real estatedeveloperIPMMC andbuilding ownerABP/APG

Municipaldepartment

Public andprivate buildingowner

Old miner’sunion

Brogården Developmentcoordinated bysocial housingcompany

Municipallyowned housingcompany



Construction,consultants andArchitect Comp.Utility

Fort Irwin Military camprefurbishment

ERDC-CERL ERDC-CERL Consultants

In addition to the municipal planning offices and public or private investors/owners of thebuildings, we note even other stakeholders of importance acting in neighborhooddevelopment projects: Utilities and the industrial sector, and those who are responsiblefor the outcome of the work: construction companies, architects, consultants and




Final report 86

contractors. We have learned from the case studies that these project partners have amajor responsibility for the success and final result of the development project.

3.4. Important goals

Although the goals of this Annex 51 and of STB in particular are to show examples of successful projects for energy saving and reduction of CO2 emissions, in most of theprojects presented here, this is not the only objective. In Table 3.3, a summarycontaining the various project objectives is shown.

Table 3.3: Objectives in Subtask B case study projects

Reduction of

primary energy

Building

Refurbish

ment

Sustain-

ability

Neighborhood

development

Quality

of life

Conser-

vation

RES Commer-

cial

Hou-

sing

Lehen x x x x x x x

Pt. Rivière x x x x x

Lystrup x x x

Franklin x x x x

Rintheim x x x x

B. Aibling x x x x x x

Heerlen x x x x x

Brogården x x x x

Ft. Irwin x x x military

Peltosaari x (x) x x x x

Kumagaya x x x x

It can be seen that all projects have multiple goals and some of them have quite a few,as it is the case with Bad Aibling. Neighborhood development and building refurbishmentare other important goals of the STB projects. Some projects intend to apply a muchbroader outlook on sustainability as defined by energy and environment. These aspectsmight even include water management, sustainable transportation or affordability. Thegreatest expression of this is in the Canadian project of Petite Rivière (see furthersection 4.4).

3.4.1. Energy saving pays

From Table 3.3 it is evident that all projects have multiple objectives. It is obvious thatreduction of primary energy use is the main goal for the projects; otherwise they wouldnot appear in this list. This goal will be reached either by energy-saving measures in thebuildings and/or by addition of renewable energy systems. However, these mainobjectives are combined with other goals. In the course of integrated project objectives,many goals can in reality exist at the same time. Indeed, energy efficiency can even be asecondary goal, with a different primary goal such as building renovation. One example is




Final report 87

Brogården, where the starting point for the energy renovation was the decrepit status of the building façades plus other deficiencies such as the ventilation system or noise level.

Hence the key-issue for Brogården and other refurbishment projects in Rintheim, Ft.

Irwin and Franklin was to let refurbishment to low-energy standard pay (at least

partially) for the investment costs.

Besides energy saving, this effect of reduced energy use has the advantage for thebuilding owners and tenants that future operation costs and rents will become morepredictable. In these times of uncertain energy supply and unpredictable energy costs,there is a big advantage for the real estate business to reduce these uncertainties andreplace them to major extent by fixed costs. Today, many housing companies arethinking that this will be the future recipe for getting control over costs. However, theoutcome will be different for different projects and stakeholders, depending on type of building, and type of energy system and fuel to be replaced. In a broad perspective,projects must be economic and cannot rely on subsidies from third parties. Hence theenergy standards for the different developments must be based on cost optimization andwill certainly be different for refurbishment projects and new developments.

3.4.2. Neighborhood development

From Table 3.3 above we can see that neighborhood development is an importantobjective in most of the Subtask B case study projects. When it comes to revitalization of rundown areas and neighborhoods or the redevelopment of industrial brownfield areas,energy-saving measures and sustainability issues are an important part of selling theconcept to both the public and future tenants. In all such projects, where high renovationinvestments have to be made, energy saving is one important way to pay for it, becauseit allows to increase the rents without (significantly) increasing the total costs for thetenants. In STB, in principle all projects have more or less adopted this strategy. Thereason of course is that each investor sees the advantage of minimizing risk when

adopting energy-saving strategies. The only problem is that not all measures are equallyeasily amortized and hence optimization such as in Rintheim has to be applied or longamortization periods have to be accepted. The latter seems to be the case in most of theparticipating projects.

Special cases of neighborhood development should be mentioned. In Bad Aibling,Germany, a former military base is being converted into a mixed residential commercialarea, forming a park landscape. The project in its final phase will also include PV systemfor electricity export to the grid and thus be a net zero or even a plus energy neighbor-hood. Similarly, the Canadian project Petite Rivière has high ambitions to form a truesustainable neighborhood in form of a park landscape in all aspects, including energy,transportation, waste, land use, household water, and social environment. This will

replace a former golf and curling area.The important feature of Petite Rivière is that the developer realized the holisticrequirement of the task – that energy consumption is not simply a feature of the buildingdesign but also incorporates the way that the development is used. A special issue,which is treated in the pre-design study of Petite Rivière, is housing affordability. Thatmeans that all those items mentioned above should not affect the final cost to thetenants.




Final report 88

3.4.3. Examples of profitable neighborhood projects

In some projects, the advantages of ecologic rehabilitation of neighborhoods becameparticularly obvious. The following examples show that refurbishment of a wholeneighborhood is a prerequisite for the recovery of invested capital which was degradedby the decline of the area.

In Rintheim, the original idea was to apply a long-term refurbishment program for therenovation of 36 buildings owned by Volkswohnung. In 2008, when 9 of the 36residential buildings had already been modernized, talks of the local energy supplier witha close-by located refinery resulted into a decision to use the refinery’s large waste heatcapacity to supply the base load of the city district heating system (400 MWth peakload). To make full use of the available waste heat, the utility extended its municipaldistrict heating system and offered to connect also the Rintheim neighborhood. For thisreason, the modernization of the neighborhood hat to be speeded up to enable a quickconnection of the renovated buildings to a new secondary low-temperature districtheating system. Therefore, the plan of individual refurbishment was changed into aneighborhood-development project.

Using this opportunity, a decision was taken by Volkswohnung to develop a sustainabilityplan for the whole neighborhood to improve its attractiveness for the residents and toensure at the same time the long-term return of the large refurbishment investments.This sustainability plan ought to cover not only the modernization of the buildings, butalso a customer oriented redesign of the flats, serving the demands of aged tenants andyoung families as well, a development plan of the spaces between the buildings to offerattractive outdoor quality for the residents and for children, improved commercial andmedical services and a traffic/parking plan. With regard to energy supply, an economicoptimum of primary energy conservation and CO2-mitigation was achieved, using anintegrated life-cycle approach. The total investments are estimated to be about 50 M€ for77 000 m2 living area, including 3 M€ for the district heating system.

A still more stringent example for the advantage of neighborhood development incomparison to conventional building refurbishment is that of Peltosaari in Finland. As it isdescribed in chapter 2.1.4, Peltosaari converted in the last decennia into a problematicliving area. It has lost its position as an appealing and attractive place to live. Socio-economic problems have increased, and the value of the property has decreased at thesame time. The value loss for properties in the neighborhood of Peltosaari was estimatedto approximately 77 million € according to apartment trade prices of Peltosaari and close-by apartment houses. If all the existing buildings are renovated according to modelbuilding solutions, the energy savings would amount to 11 GWh a year corresponding toapproximately 1 - 1,5 million € cost savings or more in the existing building stock. Thearea will be complemented with infill and extensions of new office, commercial andleisure buildings. The new image of the neighborhood is expected to increase the value of

the existing building stock to about 100 M€. The winning competition entry suggests formore than 100 000 m2 new buildings in the area in the case that the existing part isrenovated. This would incur at least 35 million € income only from the value of buildingrights. Hence the renovation of Peltosaari is a win/win deal for all involved participants.




Final report 89

3.5. How decisions are being made

3.5.1. The initial spark

As for many other types of projects or innovations, visionary ideas very often can betraced back to individuals. One person in the possession of authority, capability forpersuasion and broadmindedness, i.e., a charismatic initiator generates an idea which

after some initial efforts by this person can be taken up by organizations or committeesin order to elaborate further schemes, details and schedules. Later on, very often suchideas seem to be simple, common knowledge and their applications become routine.They might be taken up by steering committees or working groups or similar workingteams to get the details developed and finally put the project in place.

Examples of such initiating processes can be discerned in some of our STB projects.

As to single persons, we know about the case in Brogården where the managing directorwas the initiator who could persuade his board of shareholders (mainly elected officials)that the refurbishment of the buildings is necessary and that Passive house standardwould be a way to pay for it. As an attester, the manager could count on a Passive houseexpert from nearby and so the project started. A working group was formed and aninterested construction company and some other contractors, along with the managingdirector of Alingsåshem and the Passive house expert, formed a planning task force tofurther develop the idea into a working concept and guide it towards the planning phase.

Another project where the ignition process is known is that of Bad Aibling. The initiatorwas the CEO of the housing services company (“B&O”), offering turnkey refurbishment of existing buildings of housing companies. He purchased the military base of the formerU.S. Intelligence Station, to move the administration of his company to thisneighborhood and develop a “showcase neighborhood” demonstrating a variety of approaches to refurbishment, new building construction and sustainable energy supply.The neighborhood is offered as a normal property development, with a regular return of investments, and as a technical innovation demonstration site for building construction

and technical equipment as well.

A further example is the idea for the energy transformation of the active U.S. militarybase in Fort Irwin (CA) towards net-zero energy. It is based on the concern of aresponsible energy management about uncontrollable future energy costs and regulatedby the new U.S. Army energy directive (EISA 2007) on the one hand, (requiringelimination of fossil energy use in the Army by 2030), and on the other hand by seekingfor pioneering U.S. Army installations to demonstrate the implementation of thisrequirement using a concrete example. An important insight was that the ordinaryrenovation budget for buildings and service systems (after 25 years use) could – if correctly done - pay for most of the investments necessary to achieve some energyreduction. In further detailed analyzes, however, it was shown that only a 10% increase

of these ordinary refurbishment investments was needed to achieve a 50% energyreduction and that the use of local biomass and bio-wastes could result in a net-zeroenergy system with very reasonable payback times (around 10 years) even with ratherlow energy prices compared to prices in Europe. Detailed analyzes are still going on, butit is obvious that a single idea and its further refinement by experienced people can leadto a dramatic change in the energy use of a well settled and thoroughly organizedoperation like a military base.




Final report 90

In the case of Petite Rivière in Montreal the initial spark came from senior managementat the development company. Recognizing the need for sustainability within acommunity, the development company created a specialized team to undertake thedesign. This had the effect of magnifying the influence of the developer. With the entiredesign team fully aware and in agreement with the design goals, decisions within theteam were easier to develop and public naysayers, outside of the development, had

difficulty in creating dissent.The Heerlen project started after a lecture at Technical University Delft 14) through whichthe energy coordinator of the municipality got inspired. She secured support within themunicipality to use this knowledge in the development of the district Stadspark OranjeNassau (SON, new development). Thereafter, an Energy Vision for this district wasproduced. In 2002/2003 a feasibility study was made. This resulted in the report “Cleanenergy from a trusted source.” This report was the starting point for a pilot study in2004-2008 for the use of mine water as a sustainable source.

It can be seen from these examples that even if the initial spark originates from anidentified person or group of persons, the process of decision making sooner or later istaken over by a group of experts who can fill in the basic ideas with facts and solutions

according to the diversity of problems to be solved. Visions have to be transferred tofeasible plans based on economic grounds. Subsidies or funds can in some particularcases help to realize visions, which give the technique a push and can displace borderlines or also serve as a starting aid, but in the longer term the project must be viablealso in economic terms. Similar findings have been reported from the Subtask A projects.

3.5.2. The role of public and private stakeholders

However, in many projects — and we think this is the rule — the generator of the ideacannot be identified as belonging to a specific group and the project starts somehow withan acting group, very often being some responsible entities within the group of owners

such as boards of shareholders, steering committees, institutions, planning offices, etc.An example is the Finnish case study of Peltosaari . This project was initiated by the Cityof Riihimäki . There is not very much land area to be developed due to poor groundconditions. Peltosaari was seen as a possibility for infill construction and extensions. InPeltosaari, 50% of the buildings belong to social housing operated by a city-ownedcompany. The other 50% is owned by private housing corporations. A number of buildings have already been refurbished, although energy efficiency has not been thetarget of refurbishment. The city's strategy is that when a public owner starts theactivities, this draws public attention and private owners will follow. The technicaldepartment and city planning office had the major role in formulating the targets andscope of the project. Political decision-makers were involved on several occasions in the

project who then assisted the city administration to include the Peltosaari project in thecity's development strategy.

In Lehen it was SIR (Salzburger Institut für Raumordnung und Wohnen), a nonprofitorganization of the Federal State of Salzburg, who organized the EU CONCERTOapplication (together with the City of Salzburg, the local utility Salzburg AG and a couple

14 )Lecture given by Kees Duijvestein.




Final report 91

of housing organizations). They succeeded in getting EU support and thus the StadtwerkLehen project was initiated. Other housing companies, investors, architects andcontractors joined the project and formed a steering group chaired by the municipality of Salzburg. The main target of the steering group is to ensure fulfillment of qualityagreement and to discuss contractual issues.

In Lystrup, the initiators of the Lærkehaven housing project faced the issue of finding

solutions to satisfy the increasingly strict Danish energy requirements following the EU’senergy conservation directives for new buildings. Because of the long lead time forconstruction and energy projects, the decision makers in the housing association feltforced to act now in order to be ready to meet the future.

The city of Mulhouse delegated the Franklin project’s implementation and managementtask to a local mixed enterprise for developments in the Mulhouse region, SERM, whichwas mandated by the city of Mulhouse to carry out the operation in collaboration with thelocal energy agency, ALME. Investors had to be found who were willing to take theresponsibility for the restoration work. The resulting incremental costs for investors werecompensated by the community authority through subsidies and tax benefits. Additio-nally, the investor and his project manager received free assistance from ALME through-

out the realization of the project in order to respond to their enquiries and to ensureconformance for the intended work.

In the German project Rintheim, the board of shareholders of the municipally ownedhousing company VoWo has raised the question about the future cost for energy supplyin the housing sector and, in particular, about the investment risks to be faced if a largescale, ambitious refurbishment program was initiated. Therefore it initiated anoptimization study for total life-time costs including an assumed increase of energy costsby a factor of 2. When the local utility came up with the offer to construct a transportpipe from the city-wide district heating scheme to Rintheim in order to be able toincrease the demand capacity for industrial waste heat, it became clear that therefurbishment program had to be stepped up in order to achieve a rapid supply rate of

the buildings in Rintheim. Therefore, instead of a step-by-step refurbishment approach of individual buildings over many years, a fast implementation was decided on, involving inaddition a neighborhood upgrading plan. The decisions were made in co-operation withthe municipality of Karlsruhe, which was also urging the participation of local residents indecisions concerning activities such as development of ideas for landscaping concepts,organization of care for children and the elderly, school homework assistance, localrecreation events, etc.

The second German project in Bad Aibling deals with the revitalization of a former U.S.military base. Here we find in B&O a private company which in 2006 purchased thecomplete area of 700,000 m2 with about 50 buildings in order to develop it into a mixedresidential/commercial landscape. The goal was a zero-energy or plus energy concept for

the total area, which could be used as a multiplier for other developments undertaken bythe same company. As it is the case in Rintheim, this project also participates in theGerman Federal R&D program ENEFF:Stadt for energy-efficient city environments andshould therefore exhibit innovative energy technologies resulting in high primary energyefficiency and low exergy use. Thus the project includes a broad collection of new energysystems and efficiency measures, which is remarkable for a private initiative (althoughheavily subsidized by public organizations).




Final report 92

3.5.3. The cooperation of stakeholders

By definition, “stakeholders are groups without whose support the organization or projectwould cease to exist” [Wikipedia]. During the time an urban or neighborhooddevelopment project is under discussion and on the path to implementation, this group

grows in number of actors. We should remember that we are discussing projects in themagnitude of tens and even hundreds of million EUR (or USD) and hence there is anincreasing amount of diverging interests and stakeholders with different concerns whichhave to be united and directed into a common route. Hence all these stakeholdergroups/parties/ persons/companies/institutions/consumers are very important andtherefore an intensive accompanying communication effort takes place. In the analysiswork done for CONCERTO [14], a list of stakeholders was compiled and used in a PIPdiagram. In Table 3.4 we can see a list of important stakeholders actually participating inour STB projects.

The listing in Table 3.4 shows that a large group of stakeholders is participating in urbandevelopment projects. Hence a normal way to manage this spectrum is to build steering

committees or working groups who meet on a regular basis in order to treat the tasksassumed by various stakeholders.

In the Lehen project , two working groups have been formed, one for Energy supply , andone for Building renovation. Their main task was to find an acceptable solution for acommon agreement of quality for the future work. In these groups, both the concepts ingeneral but also technical solutions in detail were discussed and agreed upon. To easethe coordination of the total project, a steering group was also established, chaired bythe City of Salzburg with members from all stakeholders, including architects. The maintarget of the steering group is to ensure fulfillment of the quality agreement andcontractual issues concerning housing associations, utilities, and so on.




Final report 93

Table 3.4: Stakeholders in Subtask B Projects

Gov. orRegionalAuthority/Dept.Agency

Local/CityAuthor.OfficesAgency

Utility ESCO Univer-sity in-stitute

Techn.Consul-tants

Archi-tects

Developers/Housing Com-panies

ConstructionCompanies

Te-nants

Pri-

vate

Public Con-

struct

Lehen x x x x x x(part-ly)

Pt. Rivière x x x x x x x

Lystrup x x x x x x x x x x x

Franklin x x x x x

Rintheim x x x x x x

B. Aibling x x x x x x x

Heerlen x x x x xMi-ners

Brogården x x x x x x x x

Ft. Irwin x x

Peltosaari x x x x x x x x

Kumagaya x x x x

The Petite Rivière project was directed through an early decision by the proprietor towardthe framework of “One Planet” (an Internet-based framework guiding with simple stepsto a healthier, happier and more sustainable lifestyle). Using this framework early in thedevelopment process provided the flexibility required in the design of the system.Everything was open to discussion and no preordained street layouts, setbacks or other

design criteria were imposed. To understand the linkages between the various compo-nents making up Petite Rivière meant the creation of a working team and a consistent,well understood goal and purpose. The use of design charrettes (detailed, hands-ondesign meetings) was important here, not only to develop the design and designalternatives but also to develop the working relationships between the various players.Team building was an important instrument, especially when the project faced challengesfrom political and other engineering circles.

The Danish project Lærkehaven in Lystrup took advantage of the extensive collaborationamong different partners: The housing association, industrial partners, architectural andengineering consultants, research institutions and governmental agencies. Thecommitment of each partner led to the implementation of various innovative solutions, sothat it can be seen as a Danish showcase of state-of-the-art solutions for the buildingsector (low-energy houses) and the energy supply sector (low-energy DH, solar cellfacility). The buildings were selected by means of an international architecturalcompetition and the import of products, technologies and know-how from abroad(prefabricated building envelopes) ensured high standards and reasonable economy.

In the Franklin project in Mulhouse , the central role was played by a local mixedenterprise for developments in the Mulhouse region, SERM, which mediated the




Final report 94

information about subsidies available to them. In the eyes of many participants and thecity management as well, the Franklin district was intended above all to be a cityplanning experiment for renovating a historical city center. To follow its progress and todevelop it was therefore the driving force for the management of the project. This is avery unusual approach, but the positive outcome of the renovation scheme could clearlybe demonstrated.

The main development of the project in Rintheim is done by VoWo’s own planningdepartment, responsible for building design and project management. Additional planningtasks (technical building equipment, district heating system, landscape planning) areforwarded to external consultants, which are chosen based on their provenexperience/expertise and capacity. Later on, the cooperation was extended to includeother housing companies as well as the municipality of Karlsruhe itself for objects of public interest such as schools, green areas, parking lots and playgrounds, etc. VoWoalso has a stock of local or regional partners with whom a mutual trust in quality of workand exchange of experiences has been established. For construction work, according toEuropean procurement rules, a tender is issued and contracts are forwarded based onthe best value for money (which does not necessarily mean lowest bid).

In Bad Aibling, the project initiator and owner of the assets developed working groupscorresponding to the different tasks of the project. The main objective was the zero-energy level of the area and hence all sub-projects have to serve this purpose. Besidesthe low-energy standards and renewable energy technologies applied, the projectmanagement itself and the use of effective planning instruments are important issues.

Brogården is primarily a partnership project between proprietor Alingsåshem and aconstruction company (Skanska) acting as the general contractor under the supervisionof a passive-house architect. Both companies have worked together in previousrefurbishment projects of similar size in Alingsås and have a continuous dialog about thetechnical developments, costs and further search for solutions. An important factor wasthe education of all workmen and contractors in the concepts of passive house

construction. The work is organized in a modern horizontal organization with broadresponsibility to the employees. It is planned jointly and the weekly planning is visualizedon posters to everybody.

The U.S. project in Fort Irwin is so far only in the planning phase. That means there areonly a few stakeholders involved, essentially the military Engineer Research andDevelopment Center, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (ERDC-CERL) with asupport from a group of external industry experts. They conducted an energy study witha focus on a representative group (cluster) of buildings physically located close to eachother. This study serves as technology/cost evaluation for further decisions towards net-zero camps.

In the Japanese “Kumagaya” project there are mainly two driving partners. One is the

municipality of Kumagaya starting to encourage and support projects dealing with globalwarming countermeasures in response to the revision of laws related to energyconservation and global warming countermeasures. The other is Tokyo Gas, who as theowner of an office building develops extended use of renewable energy as part of theirmid-term business plan. The utility invests in retrofitting heat equipment and suggestsgeneration of surplus energy for export to adjacent buildings.




Final report 95

The Peltosaari project combined different pre-studies on technical and socioeconomicdevelopment. These pre-studies were the basis for decision-making and extensive co-operation between the city, research institutes, industries and people living in Peltosaari.The project itself is very open to anybody interested in the development.

3.6. Decision steps in STB projectsThe decisions to implement neighborhood projects in the STB projects analyzed hereoriginated either from an idea of a single person (who can be identified) or by an ideafrom an anonymous person/group which is further discussed in working groups, steeringcommittees or the like. However generated, the ideas have sooner or later been taken upand further analyzed by a task group, analyzing technical and economic aspects of it.Over time this task group assembled a number of stakeholders in the project, i.e., everyparty who could have legitimate interest in the realization and outcome of the projectand who was able to contribute positively to it. Examples of stakeholders are politicaladministration, funds, investors, utilities and ESCOs, consultants and architects, buildersand contractors and similar organizations as well as tenants and tenant organizations.

Urban development is a complex process if there are a large number of stakeholdersaddressed, each with their own interests. The implementation of a detailed showcasestudy can be very helpful to show the possibilities of total renovation and its options forthe overall refurbishment of a district. Energy saving is not always the main driving forcefor the project, as other goals, such as renovation of buildings or revitalization of anarea, could be the main reasons for the project. Other important objectives could be thesocial development of an area or the implementation of a broad sustainability program.In most of these projects, energy saving is simply one way to finance the measures to betaken and to gain control over future operation cost regarding building owners as well astenants. Such multiple goals haven been identified for all STB projects, see Table 3.3.

One important issue for the working group during the initialization process, but also

during the following implementation process, is quality control. It turned out — in lessonsfrom earlier projects — that rigorous goals, e.g., regarding energy standards andsustainability might not be met if a quality agreement was not set up for all the involvedparties. It was also important for the project steering committees to assure themselvesthat the participating contractors and workers get the necessary quality agreementinformation and know what it means for their work.

During the development of the project idea and increasingly deeper analyses of theplans, the working group had to increase the number of participants for generating thedetails. Therefore in some projects, parallel working groups were formed which from theinitial outlines successively moved the task into the phase of detailed planning (seesection 3.7). These working groups had in some cases been coordinated and supervised

by steering committees or advisory groups. Normally these report to controllers, boardsof shareholders, regional administrations, investors or similar actors who are responsiblevis-à-vis financiers. Because of the large budgets usually involved in developmentprojects of neighborhood size, the decision-making process and its control involved alarger group of people for which efficient leadership is an important precondition.

According to the CONCERTO experience, a list of relationships between stakeholders withthe most frequent interaction between them can be established. As to the STB projects,




Final report 96

we can identify a series of mechanisms for the decisions steps in the initial phase of theproject, Table 3.5.

Table 3.5: Steps of decisions in the initial project phase

Ignition Decision process Quality assessment

(planning)

Implementation

Lehen Master plan (City) Joint decision makingRequirements setting

Quality agreementRequirements of EUfunding

Quality control

Pet. Rivière Managementdecision

Team building –Design charrettesJoint decision taking

Approval bymunicipal planningdepartment

Lystrup Managementdecision

Team buildingConsultation

Bidding procedure Delivery control

Franklin City decision Public/privatepartnershipConsultationFundraising

Quality requirements Information

Rintheim Management

decision

Cost optimization

Partnership with ESCO

Trusted Cooperation

Quality requirements

Quality control

B. Aibling Managementdecision

Consultation

Heerlen Vision Joint decision making

Pilot project

International project Business model

Brogården Managementdecision

ConsultationJoint decision makingRequirements setting

Quality assuranceInformation

Internal trainingExternal trainingQuality control

Kumagaya Carbon reductionaction plan of Kumagaya

Joint decision of building owners

Municipal governmentendorsement

Quality assurance

Information

Business model

Ft. Irwin Managementdecision

Consultation

Peltosaari Managementdecision backed upwith a number of pre-studies

Continuous discussionbetween the city andother stakeholders toreach a commonlyaccepted target

Approvals, biddingprocesses, openness

Business model

As we can see from the table above, in most of the projects involved here we are dealingwith the start signal given by the management of a private or semiprivate enterprise.Only in two cases (Lehen and Franklin) was the start signal given by city administration.The details were worked out in working groups, sometimes several of them acting in

parallel, in this case controlled by a steering committee, which also made the importantdecisions. In some cases, the implementation led to development of a business model.Quality control turned out to be a very important item during the implementation phase,because experience (for example from some projects in Subtask A) showed that withouta stringent control of the targets agreed upon in the decision-making process, targetedresults would not be reached. In the case of Kumagaya the decision was made by themanagement based on a new law on energy conservation.




Final report 97

3.7. Importance of quality control

One import issue for the steering committees — besides finding the right combination of measures for all objectives and especially with respect to energy saving issues — was toachieve the envisioned standards. This means that, based on experience from other

projects, it was important to find an agreement for the technical solutions and the kind of labor which is carried out to achieve these solutions. As an example, Passive housestandards in a building means that uncontrolled air leaks must be avoided in order toenable the energy of the vented air to be recovered in heat exchangers. That means thatevery worker and carpenter has to avoid to damage the air tightness-lining of thebuilding. And this must be made clear to everyone participating in the building process.Hence the solution for this example of Brogården was the application of an assurance

program (in this case adopted from another EU cooperation). The aim of the EU'sSQUARE project is to develop a quality management system that ensures efficient use of energy and an improved indoor environment in renovated and converted social housingstock in European countries.

Similarly in Lehen, to achieve the targets for new buildings, the maximum specificheating demand was contracted through a "quality agreement" among all partners. Thearchitectural design had to respect these guidelines in the detailed planning as well theachievement of goals concerning specific heating demand. As there is also a financialincentive from a funding system, the achievement of goals concerning specific heatingdemand had to be secured. The city of Salzburg and the regional utility signed a qualityagreement. A steering group is supervising the fulfillment of the targets. To evaluateresidential building projects, a sustainability check following guidelines elaborated by theCity of Salzburg will be applied.

In the Danish Lystrup project the quality control for the new building was embedded inthe bidding process. The desired quality standards were part of the bidding procedure,which means that the winner of the tender had a given quality to guarantee. This of course was then checked on-site as part of the delivery procedure. In fact, the control of the construction along the whole process and the industrial prefabrication conditionsensure a high quality of the products.

The necessity of quality control and quality agreements was shown in the experience of the Franklin project in Mulhouse. There no revolutionary technology was used, but someof the contractors were not familiar with the importance of technical standards for low-energy systems. Some of the engineering offices did not distinguish between low-energybuildings and traditional buildings in their approach. That notably led to an over-sizing of the heating installations, thus resulting in poor efficiency. This soon became visible in thedelivered energy performance. Explanatory information didn’t work out very well, notablybecause of working power fluctuations in the involved companies. This lack of care led in

some examples to a poor air tightness of the building envelope. After having identifiedthese problems, low-energy standard measures have been added to the contractualconditions.

The quality assurance tactic in VoWo’s project of Rintheim is to implement therefurbishment program — although decided in principle — step by step, making use of the experience from preceding projects to improve quality and efficiency of work. Low-




Final report 98

energy standard should be achieved with continuous on-site quality control to avoid orremove air leakages and thermal bridges, and to ensure proper application of state-of-the-art technical building equipment.

3.8. Lessons learned from decision-making processes

We have learned from experiences in new development projects such as in Canada(Petite Rivière) and Denmark that the implementation of a really ambitious neighborhoodconcept will require the involvement of all stakeholders from the very beginning in atransparent decision-making process whose task is to lead to an agreement amongeveryone. This process will need to be organized by a responsible person who is incharge for the whole process and who is able to delegate duties and subtasks to otherstakeholders. It also requires a (voluntary or formally defined) commitment from allstakeholders to common targets and transparent co-operation throughout the planningand construction phase (see Chapter 4). This of course is facilitated in projects whereonly one main proprietor exists, as is the case in Bad Aibling, Petite Rivière and Ft. Irwin.A close relationship on the other hand between different actors can result in difficulties

regarding quality control. In those cases where subsidies are based on certain building orequipment standards, an ex-post assessment of the quality sometimes makes it difficultto deal with non-compliance.




Final report 99

4. Design and Planning processes

4.1. Planning principles, tools and decision aids for

development and refurbishment projects

As we have seen in Chapter 3 about decision-making processes, an initial idea or vision isusually the starting point for all development projects. This idea is taken up by workinggroups with the task of refining these original ideas, examining the underlyingassumptions, testing alternatives and producing supported facts about environments,social aspects, energy savings, cost data and so on. In any case, in an initial state of theplanning phase, the working team would arrive at a point where it could quantify targetobjectives for the project. In Table 3.3, objectives for the different STB projects arelisted. From this table we can see that practically all projects have multiple objectives.Hence the planning process can normally not be carried with focus to only one singleobjective. However, only in very rare cases are planning tools available that can treat alldesired project objectives. In most of the projects, energy calculations were done withenergy or building simulation tools, sometime with a very detailed tool for one building orone system, such as TRNSYS. Alternatively, optimization tools were used in which energy

simulations were done with lower resolution in order to get an optimal economicoverview of the system. Other objectives such as sustainability or neighborhooddevelopment were then often treated as traditional planning instruments with at best theuse of simple aids such as priority lists, exergy factors, life-cycle factors, etc. Acomprehensive planning tool for neighborhood development was not used in any of the

Subtask B cases and probably does not exist.

The kind of planning tools and the way they were used in the STB projects are listed inTable 4.1.

In principle, we can see from Table 4.1 that the planning procedure in most casesinvolves several planning tools combined with or accompanied by traditional planningmethods based on soft decision guidelines or the like. In general, we can distinguish

between two ways for the planning methods:

a) Conventional (tool-supported) planning: The planning is based on traditionaldecision procedures but certain decisions are supported by calculation processes(simulations, optimizations).

b) Integrated planning: Special planning efforts are directed towards cost-optimaldecisions concerning the total system complex consisting of buildings and energysupply system. However, conventional planning tools are generally used in theexamples. Special tools for integrated planning are to our knowledge not used in

the cases.

It turns out that tool-supported planning is the dominant method for STB projects,

however, the border line between these two types of planning methods is not alwaysclearly distinguishable. Most of the cases are planned following the conventional, tool-supported planning method. However, in some case-studies we can see that specialefforts have been spent on an integrated optimization between energy supply and energydemand of the neighborhood. These cases are described under the caption “Integratedplanning”.






Final report 101

normally can provide. System simulations with TRNSYS resulted (from the study of fivealternative schemes) in a solar heating system with (daily) heat storage embedded in alow-temperature DH (65/35ºC) system. A heat pump assists the system in order to makebetter use of the heat storage capacity. The working group "Renovation" has on the otherhand to deal with the big challenge of initiating the renovation process. Supported by thecommercial planning software PHPP (Passive House Planning Package, by Passivhaus-

Institut, Darmstadt, Germany), the cost effectiveness of different measures in buildingscould be shown, but the acceptance of the consequences for the buildings grew onlyslowly as far as the proprietors were concerned. Since comprehensive renovationactivities may lead to bigger changes in the whole area such as additional stories, changeof apartment types, change in social structure, etc., the socioeconomic aspects of therenovation process also have to be considered. This is an issue which is at least equallyfar-reaching in the long-term consequences for the area than optimization of the energysupply for the neighborhood.

This type of planning is based mostly on argumentative skillfulness. In such anargumentative planning process, soft issues such as welfare or the social inclusivity of anarea can also be considered and within the development plan. This is done by means of

arguments for and against different options, e.g., probability for increased criminality orhooliganism of a district against investments in a healthier and safer environment. Thiscannot always be done solely by economic analysis, and instead one has to rely on the judgments of experts. Individual aspects can also play an important role, e.g., olderpeople want to stay in their apartments, younger people may prefer solutions withdemolition and new buildings with more adequate design of the apartments. Theseaspects are of public interest and can lead to a high priority also in political discussion. Asa result of an information and consultation process with the tenants (information events,questionnaire), at least one principal concept was decided upon by the city council in theStadtwerk Lehen project, including parts of demolition and new buildings as well as partsof renovation.

The architectural competition included concrete quality criteria, defined by target valuesof energy performance criteria, U-values and size of solar collector fields, in order to getseveral proposals with higher ambitions. Experience showed that on the one hand allproposals proposed fulfillment of quality criteria, but on the other hand most did notshow details clearly enough of the way to achieve these goals. Thus it was difficult for the jury to evaluate the different proposals along quality criteria lines.

The Danish STB project is a new development area for 105 dwellings distributed in threeareas in Laerkehaven, Lystrup, near Aarhus. The plan of the community is consideredmixed housing types with single-family houses, houses for elderly people (“+55housing”) and dwellings for singles as well. The first area was built 2006 – 2008, thesecond between 2008 and 2010, and the third will start to be built in 2011. The totalproject started with an international architect competition, held in 2003. The winning

prizes were awarded to wooden prefabricated houses from Danish and Germanarchitecture companies.

The targets of the project are twofold:

- The buildings will serve as showcase buildings, to demonstrate that low-energybuildings are also feasible in the social housing sector.




Final report 102

- The heat demand to the neighborhood is supplied by a low-temperature districtheating scheme, using biomass.

This combination of low-energy buildings and district heating supply is among the first of its type in Denmark. Therefore the lack of experience was a difficulty at the beginning.The problem was overcome by relying on highly-qualified expertise groups in eachsector, such as top architectural firms for designing the buildings, building component

producers from abroad to supply cost-effective solutions, and a Danish R&D group indistrict heating to develop and implement innovative solutions. In the beginning of theproject there were disputes between different stakeholders concerning the conflict of energy saving and investment costs. The project was rather dominated by researchissues and finally, the planning responsibility was shifted to an external R&D project (theEUDP project), also bringing along more capital to be invested in energy-savingmeasures. However, the final outcome was successful, since it was demonstrated notonly that the low-temperature DH concept is applicable to low-energy buildings, but alsothat the final long-term economy (30-year period of amortization) improved incomparison to the original design solutions.

The Franklin district in Mulhouse was built by the leaders of the Mulhouse textile industry

between 1880 and 1910 to house their workers. It had become a largely rundown andimpoverished area, which resulted in a widespread lack of renovation of buildings, someof these becoming outdated without a corresponding fall in dwelling rents. In 2004, thecity therefore launched a consultation process as part of the city center’s renovation. Thelocal authority wanted to preserve the working-class identity of the area whileimplementing a thorough renovation which would have a practical impact on the urbanenvironment and on the inhabitants’ quality of life. The main responsibility for theplanning and realization of the project was put in the hands of the mixed enterpriseSERM, which coordinated the whole project. Eventually a low-energy building standard(BBC15) was set as target.

The use of planning tools Pleiades and Comfie is limited to the calculation of energy use

of individual buildings. An initial comparison based on the dynamic simulation allowedassessment of different combinations of existing efficiency technologies in order to definethe targets which would be possible to apply. To reach BBC level, several key measureswere defined. For example, insulation was reinforced for the walls and triple glazedwindows were applied. External insulation was preferred where possible but the historiccharacter of the façades or the encroachment onto the pavements often rendered thissolution impossible. It was very clear from the beginning that these sensitive buildingswere costly to renovate and hence a big effort of the management was spent on raisingfunds. Aided by these funds, the refurbishment work could be carried out as planned.

The Peltosaari project in Finland is based on systematic collection of data from differentsources into one file, including all the necessary technical data for each of the buildings in

Peltosaari. An approach to analyze the whole building stock was developed as well. Theresidents’ opinions and social issues were studied as a part of the approach. ThePeltosaari project clearly showed that technical refurbishment, although a very expensiveprocess, is far easier than tackling the socioeconomic issues. The main question waswhether social development of neighborhoods was possible at all. The planning anddecision process is still ongoing in this case.

15 See footnote to section 2.1.5.




Final report 103

In Sweden, the Passive house refurbishment project Brogården in Alingsås aims to createa sustainable area of housing that promotes social integration. The project’s mainprinciples are accessibility, social neighborhood, and sustainability. The project startedwith a survey of the area to illustrate Brogården's qualities and its “soul.” Through thissurvey, inadequacies in these aspects could be identified. Based on this, analyses of Brogården’s needs were conducted. Customer focus groups with residents were

organized, and also contacts were made with municipal care services for the elderly, childcare services and schools, as well as with the Social Welfare Administration.

In practice, the idea of sustainability was threefold: Economy, Sustainability and SocialWelfare, i.e., according to the sustainability criteria postulated in 1981 by Lester R.Brown [20]. However, the challenge of the project is the refurbishment to SwedishPassive house standards (which are different from those in Germany16)). The complianceof new building construction components with the requirements of Passive housestandards was already proven in other projects. Here, however, the innovation concernsthe objects of refurbishment. Alternative planning solutions were also provided forreasons of comparison. The advantages and disadvantages of the favored new designwere continuously checked against their costs and technical aspects. If one method or

component did not result in a better solution, it was dropped and an alternative wasinvestigated. The target was to decrease heat losses to a level where the heat can besupplied via an air heating system without the need for air-conditioning.

The planning process is mostly based on communication and iteration. Design tools forthe building construction details have been used, but have never dominated the designprocess. Instead a continuous dialog between architect, client and suppliers has beenemployed in which details of simulations have been discussed and agreed upon orrejected. This makes every involved party part of the progress.

4.1.2. Integrated planning

An integrated planning approach is described in the Dutch case study project of Heerlen,where the planners were conscious from the very beginning of the necessity forintegrated planning to achieve their goals.

In established planning practice, building and energy design mostly focus on improving acertain technique or component. However, an energy-efficient building using an energy-efficient installation has to be combined into a single integrated energy efficiency conceptstriving for optimal performance in terms of indoor climate, thermal comfort, usersatisfaction, etc. This requires an integral design approach in which well-balanced designchoices have to be made. This means that in sustainable building projects it is crucial toconsider the design and realization of heat generation (especially with non-traditionalsolutions such as heat pumps, cogeneration, heat/cold storage), distribution and

emission in a holistic way, including all possible interactions with the building, buildingproperties and building users. Only this approach can lead to a set of well-definedperformance criteria concerning energy performance, sustainability, indoor air quality,thermal comfort (365 days/year, winter and summer conditions), and health. Besidesthis, it is necessary to put specific emphasis on investments and energy exploitation, aswell as communication to the end users. A traditional approach is often based on partial

16) See section 2.1.9.




Final report 104

optimization of the different disciplines. An integrated approach will achieve a holisticoptimization, taking into account all disciplines and their interaction. The basis is a set of unambiguous, well-defined performance criteria.

The design strategy applied in the Heerlen approach is called Trias Energetica. It is athree step approach that gives a strategy to establish priorities for realizing an optimalsustainable energy solution, containing the following steps:

Step 1: Limitation of energy demand

Step 2: Maximizing share of renewables

Step3: Maximizing efficiency of using fossil fuels for remaining energy demand

Due to the low-temperature geothermal energy supply on which this project is based,there is an important request on the system: limit the temperature levels of heat andcold supply corresponding to the Second Law of Thermodynamics.

In principle, the heating and cooling of buildings can be realized with very low-valueenergy, with medium temperatures close to the required room temperatures. The betterthe building properties (extreme good thermal insulation, good air tightness and suitable

heat transfer systems), the closer the temperatures of heat and cold supply can be toroom temperatures. In order to utilize such moderate temperatures for heating andcooling, the buildings must comply with a number of boundary conditions such as:

- Low heat losses

- Limitation of ventilation losses by air tight buildings, mechanical ventilation with high-efficiency heat recovery or state of the art demand-controlled hybrid ventilationsystems.

- Limitation of solar and internal gains in summer to limit cooling loads (integratingshading and sun blinds in architectural design).

- Application of combined low-temperature heating and high-temperature cooling space

heat transfer systems.In general, the building design should be adapted to the use of the moderate supplytemperatures for heating and cooling. This means limitations of transmission losses andventilation losses and avoiding excessive peak loads must be part of the planning of thebuildings service system. Considering transmission losses, the level of thermal insulationshould be better than the levels required by the existing regulations (Dutch BuildingDecree), but lower than Passive house level. It is crucial to design the buildings as “LowEx” as possible in order to be able to use direct heating and cooling. In that case itis theoretically possible to heat and cool buildings — without the intervention of heatpumps — by floor heating, oversized radiators or low-temperature forced air systems(like in the new Central Office of Statistics (CBS) in Herleen).

All the system solutions were simulated with TRNSYS in order to see that the chosensolutions work properly in principle. Optimization of such a system is a very subtleprocess. In fact, the optimum between reducing the energy demands to allow LowExsolutions and the possibility of earning back the (extra) investments made for allowingLowEx energy sources by “selling” enough energy is fragile. Therefore a clear businessmodel and financial concept must also be developed for such a system in order to besuccessful.




Final report 105

The German project in Rintheim, Karlsruhe is thoroughly planned by the owner of mostof the multifamily buildings in this residential neighborhood, Volkswohnung. This housingcompany has its own planning department and developed its own simulation andoptimization models. There was no initial planning target other than to refurbish thebuildings at minimum total cost. The final outcome should be the result of a modelcalculation to derive this total cost minimum. This optimization — using the known cost

structure and calculated energy benefits of every measure — was able to evaluate theleast cost combination of energy retrofit measures for every residential building inRintheim, including envelope insulation, window replacement, ventilation heat recovery,solar collectors, and so on. Hence a classical optimization procedure was applied in orderto receive an integrated cost optimization, adding operational and investment costs inincremental steps.

Other components of the planning process are landscape and traffic planning. This istraditionally done by an urban planner. Participation by local residents takes placeperiodically. The plans are submitted to a “neighborhood meeting” and to the responsibleadvisory boards for final discussion and decision. The planning process also includes theenergy supply to buildings in the neighborhood other than those owned by VoWo. For the

case of district heating planning, a number of suitable tools with different level of resolution are available.

The military base area of Bad Aibling (the second German project) comprises a livingarea, an office area and a common area (hotel, kindergarten and school). Some newlybuilt one- and two-family detached houses and some new wooden multifamily residenceswill also be added. The general objective foresees the development of a zero-energyurban development for the total area. One requirement from the proprietor was the useof solar energy. The total energy concept was simulated and several alternatives wereevaluated regarding costs and CO2 emissions. The resulting optimal strategy was oncemore optimized with the program POLIS in order to investigate for stability and to includesome options which occurred during the initial planning phase. It turned out that the heatsupply could be carried out with much lower temperatures compared to the previous use,i.e., around 85 ºC supply temperature at most. Also some special technical projects wereadded to the planning and the area was divided in four development sections. Thefollowing main energy targets have been selected:

- New construction on the energy use basis of 50% with respect to the currentenergy standard for buildings (2011).

- Refurbishment on different standards, all between ruling building standard (2011)and Passive house standard.

The reason for this mix of energy-saving standards is to have the possibility of comparingand gaining experience from the different methods and techniques, i.e., the techniquesused in different standards will be used as showcases for further projects. The heat

distribution system was separated in a north and south system and for each branch twoalternatives haven been studied with the program POLIS. In the north branch, the mainoption is thermal solar energy directly fed to the DH net combined with heat storage. Thebase load is supplied by a biogas and/or wood chips boiler. In the south branch, oil- orwood chips boilers will supply energy. Solar electricity on a plus level will be produced bya large PV plant. However, the final decision has not yet been made.






Final report 107

also guiding the development work: a central plaza, walkability, connections, phasing, acontinuous park, block structure and density. The planning work started with theinvolvement of a wide variety of professionals in the development of the designstrategies, working through a series of themed charrettes, and by discussion andengagement of key stakeholders. The design work is supported by a number of Canadianplanning tools such as TRNSYS and RETscreen.

4.2. Policy instruments

As we can see from the STB project evaluation, most of the projects are in some way theresult of national or EU policies or directives as far as the requirements for energy savingor reduction of CO2 emissions are concerned. However, in many projects, targets havebeen set that reach far beyond these policy requirements. They involve measures forsustainability or for the use of renewable energy, for social housing, for revitalization of urban areas, development of brownfields, and so on. Hence national policies are mergedwith local or regional policies, i.e., local political issues for the welfare of the inhabitantsof the area. In some cases, only the vision of a proprietary is the main driver, but in this

case one is very eager to adapt it to local policies in order to participate on the availablepublic goodwill in the form of subsidies for the case in question.

In Subtask A, the role and the type of policy instruments found in actual literature isdiscussed and commented. A general classification of policy instruments found in theliterature is summarized in Table 7 of the STA report [13]. Since this overview was verycomplex and its use for project comparison turned out to be difficult, the STA reportproposed a simplified policy classification according to the following main topics:

Target setting

Sticks/Regulatory schemes

Carrots/Subsidy schemes

Promotion17)

In the STA report this classification was further divided into subclasses in order to fit thepolicy instruments found in the different projects. Thus for the STB projects, thefollowing classification can be found (Table 4.2):

What we can see from Table 4.2 is simply the fact that the STB projects are reacting onthe national efforts for saving energy and thus reduce greenhouse emissions. Funds forinitiating these projects are available and most projects are planned to be used asshowcases for broader applications in the respective country later on. In Japan, theproject is utility-driven and also testing a new business model for plus energy systems.

17) Called Tambourin in Subtask A.




Final report 108

Table 4.2: Policy classification of the Subtask B Case study projects

Target settings Sticks/ regulatoryschemes

Carrots Promotion

Lehen Quality agreement- Energy efficiency- Ecology- Social development

Spatial & urban plan.Contractual agreem.Building regulation -- (LEK figures)

Energy certification

EU-Concerto programgrant; Austria -Building of the futureplus program; State

of Salzburg: Fundingof social housing

InformationPromotion

PetiteRivière

70% reduction of ecological footprints.Net-zero primaryenergy

7 performanceindicators (sustaina-bility); 6 urban designprinciples

EQCI - funds One Planetframework

Lystrup Sustainable buildingSustainable heatsupply

Danish building regul.EPDP – (Stricter thanEU-directive)

EU-fundsDanish funds

Showcase projectsDemonstration

Franklin Revitalization of historical area

BBC – ( French energylevel)Evaluation mandatory

Five different sourcesfor fundsFree professionalguidance

Showcase projects

Peltosaari Communitydevelopmentand emphasis onEnergy-efficiency

EPBD requirements onrefurbishment

Increased buildingrights

Pilot buildings,regular seminarsfor both industriesand the people

Rintheim BuildingrefurbishmentNeighborhooddevelopment

Minimum life timecosts for tenants

National R&D fundsfor innovativetechniques

Sustainability PlanRintheim – Publicinterest

Bad Aibling NeighborhoodrevitalizationNet-zero prim. Energy– optional plus energyTechnical innovationsCentral heat supply

For buildings: Lowerthan German EnergyStandard EnEV-2007down to Passivehouse standard

National R&D fundsfor innovativetechniques

Showcase projectsInformationDemonstration

Kumagaya Energy conservationby production andexport of renewableenergy

Revised energyconservation law;Action plan for globalwarming counter-measures

Interesting businessmodel

Pilot project

Heerlen LOWEX use of local

geothermal energysource

Limitation of energy

demandMax use of REMax efficiency onfossil supply (aux.)

EU funds

Business development

Demonstration

Brogården Refurbishment toPassive housestandard

Passive housestandard

National LIP fundsControlled futureenergy costs

PromotionEvaluationDemonstration

Ft. Irwin Zero-net energy byenergy saving andrenewable energysupply

Energy directives forbuildings and fossilfuel use

Renovation fundsavailable

Demonstration forother militarybases

Innovative policy instruments

The federal state Salzburg (Austria) applies a funding system for newly built socialhousing and renovation which covers more than the half of the total housing sector. This

funding system offers additional money, depending on thermal quality of buildings andadditional measures concerning efficiency and use of renewable energy. In order toachieve additional funding, efforts for saving primary energy must be much higher thanregulations require. But on the other hand, the benefits are lasting. Thus, for socialhousing, high thermal standards were achieved within the last 15 years.

For an overview of policy instruments, see Annex 51 guidebook, Chapter 2.




Final report 109

4.3. Social aspects

Table 3.2 (Chapter 3) indicates that (social) housing companies are playing an importantrole as initiator and coordinator of the projects in Subtask B. It was also found that theobjectives in many projects are very often interconnected by the following pillars of sustainability (as formulated originally in the Brundtland report18) [21]):

Economy : In total, the project must be economically sound, otherwise the company willnot survive and the tenants will be the loser. Or the tenants will move out and thehousing company will be the loser.

Ecology: Environmental sustainability is one of the main issues which has becomefashionable for many projects, but in the long term will be a necessity in all constructionwork.

Social welfare: The housing companies are either legally or morally obliged to keep therent for tenants at a certain level.

However, in many projects, for example in Lehen, Rintheim and Franklin, it turned outthat refurbishment is a must in order to increase the image and level of living quality of

the entire neighborhood. Renovated buildings are a precondition for revitalization, butrenovated buildings will at the same time set a standard for lower energy use, improvingthe neighborhood image and helping to control future living costs. Over a 30-year period,energy costs turn out to be a very large part of regular tenant expenses. To rehabilitate aneighborhood without a recalculated, revised energy plan is virtually unthinkable today.

However, the most surprising result is that for energy-saving investments more or lesspay for themselves, if one allows for reasonable amortization times, which in many casesare 20–30 years, and if the energy conservation target is optimized, as is the case inLehen, Rintheim, Bad Aibling, Heerlen and Lystrup. However, we have also seen a studyfrom Ft. Irwin, where payback times are on the order of 10 years or so, probably due tothree main components: high energy consumption before refurbishment, suitable climaticconditions, and a strong ordinary refurbishment budget.

But the most important point is that a face-lifted neighborhood in the long term is a win-win situation for most people, except perhaps for people with very low incomes19). Theliving quality increases, and the experience of tenants of living in an attractive areaincreases their self-esteem. The tenants have better control of monthly living costs, andfewer cost fluctuations over the year because of the lower number of variable energycosts. The tenants may also in most of the refurbishment projects experience increasedindoor comfort, because of a better controlled indoor climate. And they are living in thefeeling that the municipality/proprietor cares and this increases their perception of security. From some projects (Brogården, Rintheim) we know that a number of softqualities achieved by the upgrading of their neighborhoods represent essential argumentsfor the tenants to accept a moderate increase in their monthly rent after refurbishment.

We can illustrate the social dimension of the increased living quality by the Brogården project, which created a sustainable area of housing that also promotes socialintegration. Customer focus groups with residents were formed, as well as a partnership

18) See also Reference [20].19) In the case of Brogården, tenants with very low incomes, for whom the increase in monthly costs was anunsolvable problem, had the possibility to move to smaller dwellings, which of course reduced their experienceof increased quality of life.




Final report 110

with the elderly care services, municipal management, child care services and schools,association activities and the Social Welfare Administration. The customer focus groupswere arranged through meetings with an idea workshop for residents. It is veryimportant that families and single people meet each other and — if possible — maintainthe physical neighborhood. Another important factor is the improved accessibility forhandicapped people. That means that elderly people can stay in their familiar

environment longer.Questions relating to “social factors” also have a high priority in Peltosaari. Roughly 50%of the city of Riihimäki’s social housing is in Peltosaari. Such an high percentage is not asustainable basis for a sound development of the neighborhood. It is clear that successfulimplementation of the project requires improvements in the social sector as well. Onepossible solution to reduce the amount of social housing in Peltosaari is to distribute it toother parts of the city.

Regarding the development of the neighborhood Lehen, the City of Salzburg/planningdepartment was confronted with social problems. The social structure in the districtchanged and led to social and ethno-cultural areas of conflict. However, the planningdepartment realized that "crisis there is opportunity." The potential of this district is built

on its location close to the city center and on urban quality. Realizing the potential of thisurban area development of projects has resulted in a new design of Lehen. First urbandevelopment projects already realized in the neighborhood are:

- "Fallnhauser- Areal": Residential buildings with focus on architectural design

- "Neue Mitte Lehen": Residential buildings and city library on the area of the formersoccer stadium, developed with the approach to define a new centre of Lehen

- Establishment of a train station as part of the new city-train concept.

A second important issue was the relocation of the former soccer stadium. The citylibrary was built on this area as an approach to creating a new urban center for thedistrict. Another key project was seen in the development of the area of the former

energy utility. In parallel to first conceptual discussions, a revision of the 10-year"community development plan" was advocated also with a focus on "sustainability."

The Franklin quarter in the city of Mulhouse was experiencing social difficulties and theinhabitants saw their everyday surroundings in a process of slow but continuousdeterioration. For this reason, the city decided to combine urban renovation and low-energy use concepts by launching one of the first projects in France involving renewableenergy in a historic city area formed by the legacy of the city’s working-class past. Hencethe refurbishment project was at the same time a project for regaining the value of a cityarea and the revitalization of living and business in the neighborhood which now is athriving urban center.

Until recently, Rintheim was an aging, partly rundown residential area with dimprospects. In this situation, the most important argument to conceive and implement along-term strategy for the neighborhood was the expectation that by an “integratedsustainability plan” an increase in investment security would be gained compared tosingle, ad hoc improvement measures, independent from others and not contributing to aholistic urban development plan. Facing big uncertainties concerning demographic/economic developments and fluctuations in population, it was understood that anattractive urban development of Rintheim as a whole, serving the needs of perspective




Final report 111

tenants concerning their required quality of life, would provide the best security for themajor investments that would be necessary in Rintheim. Having convinced all otherstakeholders in Rintheim of this idea, it became easy to streamline their decisions andtheir schedules with the “big picture.”

Energy conservation or climate change strategy for the neighborhood was not the explicittarget in Rintheim. However, due to the unsatisfactory building quality and increasing

energy prices, the energy issue triggered a discussion of whether there was a bettersolution than simply investment in individual building retrofit. Understanding that biginvestments would become necessary anyway, it was a small step to the conclusion thata sustainable neighborhood plan — despite higher investments — would allow for moresecurity than a small-scale approach. The objective was therefore to increase theattractiveness of the whole residential estate in terms of living costs and living quality toensure that there is a continuing demand by tenants over the lifetime of the refurbishedbuildings. Regarding the business terms for VoWo, it was expected that this strategywould limit the financial risks for the investors and therefore reduce the investmentbarriers for third parties.

Summarizing, we find that the above examples illustrate the interwoven dependencies

for refurbishment projects: Energy is but one part in a bigger framework of urbandevelopment leading to revitalized neighborhoods which before were deemed to be onthe way to being slums.

4.4. Sustainability rating

Since the objective of most of the projects presented in this Subtask B is to generate apositive impact on the environment, not only through energy-saving measures but alsoregarding other sustainability aspects, it is of interest to see which type of sustainabilityaspects are included in the respective projects. For this reason, we follow a methodpresented in the Subtask A report [13], where a simple rating method called DCBA was

described.

The DCBA method was originally developed by BOOM and Builddesk, for the rating of asustainable neighborhood Ecolonia in Alphen aan den Rijn in 1993 (NL) [18]. While theDCBA method (named according to the four possible scores) originally was intended tobe used as a design method, we use it here for project evaluation purposes, whichresults in a comparison of several case study projects. Table 4.3 shows the score-definitions of the rating method:

Table 4.3: Sustainability rating definitions

D The normal situation, where there is no environmental concern at all

C Corrected normal consumption, where the environment is taken into account

B Damage restricted to a minimum, taking the environment as the point of departure

A The absolute best situation, where maximum sustainability is reached as regards to aparticular aspect

NA Not available or not applicable




Final report 112

Hence degree D is the BAU situation, whereas A is given to measures with very lowimpact on the society or surroundings. The evaluated items are listed in Table 4.4 andbelong to a broad spectrum of sustainability issues, from energy to economy, includingthe tenant’s quality of life.

Table 4.4: Sustainability ratings of case studies

SUSTAINABILITY

RATINGIssues Bro-

gårdenFrank-lin

Heer-len

Kuma-gaya

Lehen Lys-trup

Rint-heim

Aver-age

Energy A A A A B A B A

CO2 emissions A B A A A A A A

Water B C C B NA C D C

Green areas B NA C C B B B B

Waste management C NA C NA NA C D C

Building materials B B C C C B B BC

Construction methods B B C C D A NA BC

Transportation C NA D NA B C B C

Living quality B B A NA B A B B

Social aspects andtenants’ well-being B A A NA B A B AB

Economy B B B B C C A B

Average B

The rating is done by the respective contributors of the case studies, which might resultin hardly-comparable results due to the fact of individual conclusions about the

contributor’s own case study. However, we feel that we can derive some general trendsregarding the case study projects. Table 4.4 shows the result for the project evaluationaccording to the self-assessments by the project representatives of each case study.

The result of this evaluation is a score column for each project. The scores can beaveraged by row or by column of Table 4.4 by assigning a value of one to four for eachletter. However, because each of the case studies was generated for different goals andwith different ambitions, it is more meaningful to make an analysis for all projectstogether. The result is shown in Table 4.5.

We find in general that the project management also acted to some extent by carefullyconsidering construction methods and construction materials, waste management andneighborhoods. It becomes obvious that the developers attached weight on improving

the situation for their tenants in combination with the reduction of CO2 emissions. Itemsof lower priority in the case studies were water management and transportation. We canstate that the Subtask B case study projects were generally not broadly planned to alsoconsider these aspects, which also depends strongly on the kind of case study that isunder consideration: an existing neighborhood or a greenfield development.




Final report 113

Table 4.5: Total rating of 6 cases

Items 6 Case studies Average

Score D C B A Score

Energy A

CO2 emissions A

Water C

Green areas B

Waste management C

Building materials BC

Construction methods BC

Transportation C

Quality of life B

Social aspects andtenants well-being

A

Economy B

Total average B

The average of all projects is score B. This means — which one might also expect — thatin general the projects were quite successful for reaching sustainability goals, but not allaspects of sustainability were explicitly addressed in these projects.

4.5. Lessons learned from the case studies regarding the

planning process

As can be seen from the description of planning processes in the different countries, innone of the projects can we talk about the exclusive use of “one” planning tool turningthe process of neighborhood planning into a computerized application. In some cases theplanning was rather conventional decision making, supported by some tools for

simulation or optimization; in other cases, tools were used for more subtle guidancetowards an integrated planning process. The main reason is that most of the projectshave multiple objectives and no single tool exists for solving all the multidimensionalproblems connected with it. Tools for decision making are often used in projects with afew involved parties. In projects with a couple of players, decision making is morecomplex. But in these cases, simple tools for decision makers are generally missing. Thatis also the reason for development of the district–energy advisor in Subtask D.

Important efforts in the planning process are directed towards the well-being of thetenants. Most of the case studies contributed to STB are organized by public housingassociations or the like. That means that the tenants are a target group for which certainregulations regarding the upper limit of their monthly rent are in effect. This implies in

general a tradeoff between how much can be paid for the amortization of fixed costs andhow much for variable (energy) costs. This limits the investment that can be made inhousing projects. One can argue that this is short-sighted because of increasing energycosts in the future. However, it turned out (for example Rintheim) that even doubling theenergy prices will not favor an extreme low-energy standard in buildings to berefurbished. This is especially the case when district heating including renewable energyis available next door. This is an important finding because it can be expected that even




Final report 114

a significant supply of heat from renewable systems such as solar energy, municipalwastes or biomass will not increase variable energy costs really significantly [15]20) compared with the situation today.

Another example is given by the social housing company of Brogården in Sweden whichperforms refurbishment to Passive house standard. However, there the tenants have topay a monthly bill increased by about 10 % and the payback time is nearly 30 years. The

company is owned by the municipality and therefore we can sense here some indirectpublic support for this type of housing, at least as the goodwill for long payback terms isconcerned. Many other refurbishment or new development projects are cost-neutral fortenants. However, they are subsidized for different purposes and therefore not reallyeconomically comparable to market-driven projects. One example can be seen from theDanish project in Lystrup, where the social housing company started an ambitious low-energy project without giving planners clear directives. The result were technicallyinteresting projects but (for the market of social housing) unaffordable solutions. Theproblem could be solved by raising additional funds linked to other objectives, as wasalso the case in Heerlen.

An interesting result can be seen in the U.S. Ft. Irwin project, where the renovation costs

towards net-zero (primary) energy in comparison to standard renovation measures resultin payback times around 10 years or lower. This phenomenon, we think, has to do withtraditional U.S. energy use and a sufficient budget for renovation besides some othersupporting circumstances such as the climate.

It is quite obvious from the Subtask B projects that policy instruments have a biginfluence on target setting and the achievements of the case studies. In many countries,for several reasons there exists a larger or smaller stable of funds which are available forprojects that comprise a portion of novelties or interesting issues in terms of energyconservation, renewables or other aspects of sustainability. Project managers often areeager to acquire such funding possibilities, partly because the intended novelties increasethe risk of project success and partly because it was the sole way of making the project

interesting for stakeholders and/or tenants at the outset. Hence, the availability of thevarious policy instruments and the initiative of the project organizations to acquire themare an important success factor for many projects including novel technical or otherfeatures.

20 ) Whereas the costs of thermal solar energy have decreased continuously in the last decades and already noware in many countries within a factor of 2 compared to conventional district heating costs, the heat costs frombiomass fuels are often lower than from conventional heat sources. However, with increasing demand, thebiomass prices might increase, varying locally quite strongly, whereas solar energy costs rather will furtherdecrease with increasing demand.




Final report 115

5. Implementation phase

Most of the projects of Subtask B cases were in construction at the time this report isbeing written, which means that they are subject to a continuous learning process. Henceit is from these projects that experience about the transition point from planning intoimplementation is available. Therefore, we evaluate these learning processes and extract

some experiences that can be generalized for future projects.

5.1. Educating working labor

Doing low-energy refurbishment or new construction works deviates quite a bit fromconventional construction. Cold bridges, air tightness, insulation quality, air flows, low-temperature heating and many other features suddenly become important. For examplein Passive houses, it matters how and where nails are placed or feed-throughs are put inthe wall construction. Experienced workmen have to accept a new way of thinking andthus it turns out that information and education are an important and necessaryprecondition for a successful low-energy execution of the construction. Therefore,

planners and architects will have an educational task to transfer the basic knowledge of this technology to the workmen who in the end will be executing the job with the desiredquality label. Of course it is important, as we have seen in Chapter 4, that the conceptsof energy saving and the final plans are carefully elaborated, but it will not work outbetter than the labor force is capable of effectuating it.

In some projects, the information, education and training of the labor force was animportant initial phase for the whole task. We can illustrate that by means of somepractical examples, starting with the Passive house refurbishment in Brogården. Theproject started with a briefing by all the participating contractors in order to introduce theideas of Passive houses and the importance of certain key measures in the work. Animportant factor was education in the idea of Passive house construction. All carpenters,

plumbers, electricians and others contributing to the project listened to information aboutPassive houses, energy and moisture issues in building projects and discussed how theywanted to work in the project and what the special goals should be. The work isorganized in a modern horizontal organization with broad responsibility of the employees.It is planned together and the weekly planning is visualized in a table to everybody. Thismakes everyone part of the progress. One of the key challenges for the constructionwork and the people is insulation quality and air tightness. This involves every workmantaking responsibility. Many details have been developed by the workers on-site. This of course is only possible if they understand the principles of the design on a large scaleand the final goals of the project. At most four buildings are under reconstruction withinone year, giving the project teams a good opportunity to adjust its methods by learningfrom experience and at the same time reducing costs according to a learning curve.

In Rintheim, for construction work a tender is issued and contracts are forwarded basedon the best value for money. Also here, no more than three buildings are refurbishedwithin one year. If new technologies are used where little practical experience isavailable, assistance from the manufacturers is requested. Whereas the principal decisionof the executive board to implement the whole refurbishment program in Rintheim wasalready made in 2008, detailed decisions for individual buildings are made step by step,




Final report 116

making use of the experiences made with preceding projects to improve quality andefficiency of work.

In the preliminary phases of the Mulhouse Franklin project, we can see a good exampleof the negative effects when information and training of the workmen involved isinsufficient. Although no revolutionary technology was used, in 2004 it was unusual formany people compared to traditional refurbishment work in France. Some of the

engineering offices did not distinguish in their approach between low-energy buildingsand traditional buildings. Even after trainings offered to architects and craftsmen, casesof oversizing of heating installations and therefore poor heating efficiency were stillreported. Moreover, some of the building professionals had not been informed about theinstallation quality required to achieve the low-energy objectives. This problem is alsoknown in traditional construction, yet its consequences become more visible when itcomes to achieving low levels of heat consumption. Explanatory information had indeedbeen put together, but it didn’t work very well, notably because of turnover amongworkmen of involved companies. This lack of care led in some examples to a poor airtightness of the building envelope. After having recognized the reasons for the problemsafter the first applications, this issue has been added to the contractual conditions of

subsequent projects in Franklin.The low-energy project of Lystrup is among the first of its type in Denmark. Thereforethe lack of experience was a barrier at the beginning. The obstacle was overcome by theselection of highly qualified expertise groups for each construction sector, such as toparchitectural firms for designing the buildings, building component manufacturers fromabroad for cost-effective solutions and a Danish R&D group for district heating toimplement innovative solutions. A conflict between two different goals arose during theplanning and implementation process. The first target pertained to the high expectationsabout reaching the “climate goal.” The second objective belonged to the need to findcost-effective solutions. In particular, the costs for tenants of social housing (similar tothe projects mentioned before) are limited to an upper limit and can therefore come inconflict with the original energy efficiency intentions. In other words, traditional heatingby electricity, gas and biomass is still too cheap. Hence this ambivalence delayed theproject planning of Lystrup and ended up finally with a low-temperature district heatingsystem and additional fundraising. The conclusion from this experience is that it isessential that the planned investments match the targets on energy conservation andefficiency, exploitation of renewable energy and limitation of CO2 emissions, and viceversa, already in the initial planning phase.

In Salzburg Lehen, the main effort was put at communication of the two planning teamsfor building and energy supply. In both groups, the planning had to be performed fortheir own issue, but then the groups met in order to learn from each other’s planningresults and deduce inputs to their own problem solving. Another aspect of learning isrelated to the quality criteria and the proposed projects by the architects. For example,

there were problems in the ongoing planning process related to limited space for solarcollectors due to space needs of other facilities (e.g., roof stations of elevators). Planninggroups had to learn to solve such competitive problems by finding compromises. Theapproach was designated as fruitful and effective.




Final report 117

5.2. How tenants are affected

Tenants are the category of customers at whom most of the efforts described in thispaper are directed. Their role varies considerably, depending on which stage of a projectthey will be involved in the development or purchase process. Conventionally, there is noinvolvement in the planning process. Tenants hoping to rent a dwelling are primarilylooking at advertisements provided through the real estate market to search for suitableobjects for rent. In the best case, they have the possibility to change wall paper orappliances. Extra equipment is up to them to acquire. Of course on the market, one canusually choose between different standards (also for energy use), locations and sizes of apartment, but this regulates itself through the amount of rent.

A smaller group of people, however, have the opportunity to plan with a little longer timeframe and are able to choose among a larger variety of options, and in rarecircumstances they have a chance to put claims on their desired accommodations. Thelatter is often the case for buyers of newly constructed detached houses. In this marketsegment, the future owner usually participates in the design and planning of his/her newdwelling. This holds also in a certain fashionable segments of new construction of multifamily buildings, where the owner can interact during the planning phase in order to

customize the dwelling. However, in general, the energy properties of multifamily housesare very rarely negotiable; normally they exist as a precondition according to the visionof the owner and architect.

The exceptions are refurbishment projects. In this segment, the tenants are deeplyaffected by the work and the owner in general has to take care of his tenants in aninsightful and respectful way. Companies related to social housing in particular very oftenhave a police of close communication with their tenants due to the requirements set bythe authorities for whom they work. Therefore, in this sector we find very good examplesfor the interaction between owner and tenants and the involvement of tenants in therefurbishment process and the further development of their living situation.

Generally, we can discern between three different kinds of tenant involvement in therefurbishment process:

Before the construction work starts Evaluation of wishes, proposals and

problems

During construction Care for the tenants during the building

phase; information about progress of the

refurbishment work

After completion Evaluation of the tenants’ experiences

regarding the new accommodations

For all of these three items, we find some good examples in STB projects.

5.2.1. Evaluation of wishes, proposals and problems of the tenants

The refurbishment process in an occupied building has a very serious impact on theintegrity and everyday life of the tenants. They either have to live with the inconvenienceof having construction work and workers close to them or they must temporarily moveout of their own dwelling into a substitute solution. In any event, the housing company




Final report 118

will need to offer compensation and use psychology to keep the tenants content. Oneway of course is to try to find out what the tenants wish for their future living and toconvince them that they really will end up with improved living quality after they havemoved back into the refurbished dwelling.

In this context we can mention the refurbishment program of the buildings in Brogården,

Alingsås21). The buildings are renovated one by one with the tenants temporarily moving

to unoccupied dwellings in other buildings in the same area. The project started with therenovation of the first building with 18 apartments intending to serve as a demonstrationand motivate the tenants to accept the inconvenience during the refurbishment.Communication with Brogården residents was a vital component of the project. Thetenants were informed about the special features and financial consequences of therefurbishment work. The organization plan foresees that the buildings should berenovated in a certain time sequence and the first building will serve as bothdemonstration and training object for the contractors. Three buildings at most are underreconstruction at the same time. The duration of the refurbishment work is about 8–12months per building.

An important feature is the continuous feedback from the housing company Alingsåshem

to the tenants and vice versa. For this reason, Alingsåshem publishes an informationfolder on a monthly basis and holds regularly information meetings with the tenants. Themain vendors and planners participate with detailed explanations about the newtechniques used in the refurbishment process. A demonstration apartment was alsocreated in the first completed building, which allowed Brogården residents to visit andunderstand how their apartments would be redeveloped. The tenants can express theirdegree of satisfaction with the different measures and their own situation. Those tenantswho move back to their own apartments have the possibility of choosing wall paper andfloor covers, and can choose among different standards for appliances and otheraccommodations.

In the refurbishment project of Rintheim, the tenants, the other building owners in the

neighborhood and the municipality are involved in a broad participation process tounderstand the common wishes and priorities in terms of infrastructure and open spacedevelopment of the neighborhood. The objective was to increase the attractiveness of thewhole residential estate in terms of living quality to ensure that there is continuingdemand from tenants over the lifetime of the refurbished buildings due to the generalattractivity (e. g. urban architecture, decent open spaces, access to parking andpublic/commercial services within the immediate reach of the dwellers) of the wholeneighborhood. It is also expected that providing specific advice for energy-savingpotentials will motivate tenants faced with high energy consumption to improve theirenergy use behavior. On the local level, there are periodic meetings and workshops withtenants and stakeholders in Rintheim, partially public. Results also find their way intolocal newspapers. The owner has recently also started the development of an “energy

portal” for tenants, where the energy consumption for heating and DHW is measured andevaluated on a monthly basis and presented to the tenants. Using a password, tenants

21) The buildings belong to the municipally owned housing association Alingsåshem, whose objective is toprovide dwellings to the inhabitants of the city. The profitability of the organization is controlled by themunicipality, but should be close to that of the free market. In Sweden, the monthly rents are controlled by theSwedish Union of Tenants (Hyresgästföreningen). Low-income tenants have a right to get rent support from thegovernment.




Final report 119

are able to open their individual (mainly graphical) energy presentation, illustratingconsumption of heating energy, DHW, cold water, and electricity, on a monthly andyearly basis.

In the project of Lehen, Salzburg, it became evident that the renovation of existingbuilding stock needed a high commitment from tenants. These are not or not onlyinterested in energy optimization, but many other questions related to living comfort are

of high relevance for the tenants. Knowing the specific interests of the tenants isessential for investors and planners and became an important target for research in thisproject. The prospect of improved quality of life is an important motivation for thetenants during the inconvenience of the renovation period. In fact, modernization meansmore than just renovation and offers additional possibilities to address the expectationsof the tenants beyond pure energy issues.

In the case of the Franklin district one main objective of the city administration was tokeep the rent level stable. Because the district was a low-income area, this was regardedimportant to avoid a gentrification process. Eventually subsidies for the ambitiousrenovation projects were calculated to offset the additional costs of the renovationmeasures when compared to standard renovations. Even though the city succeeded in

maintaining a stable rent level, it must be noted that some of the tenants moved away asthe renovation resulted in many inconveniences and the owners changed often, as thework required major investments that were difficult to bear even with subsidies.

The City of Riihimäki established a “housing clinic” for the tenants of Peltosaari . The aimis to keep the residents aware of every decision made for the development and at thesame time get feedback from the residents. The idea competition was also open to allstakeholders. The Competition Jury was able to see the residents' opinions on-line duringthe evaluation process. A number of resident seminars were also organized. Theseminars focused on presenting all the results achieved in various studies and again getimmediate feedback from the residents. The seminars served especially in closing theknowledge gap between the Peltosaari project management and the residents.

5.2.2. Taking care of tenants during the building phase

Taking care of tenants during the building phase is less documented in the case studies.Very often, the refurbishment work was done with the tenants in-situ. This works in thesort of projects where only windows have to be replaced and wall insulation is added onthe outside of buildings. Work involving equipment for heating and ventilation can also beperformed without the tenants having to move out. In Brogården and in Rintheim, therefurbishment work was so extensive that it was necessary to temporarily move thetenants to empty apartments. An important measure is continuous communication aboutprogress, improvements, ways of cost reduction and general communication about the

importance of the project. Another important factor is information from the tenants aboutexpectations and the operation of any new systems, which might be especially differentfrom before in low-energy and Passive houses. For example: living in houses withimproved air tightness calls for awareness about opening windows and doors, the way of simply putting up shelves on the wall or choice of temperature settings for heating. Inother words, it demands an increased awareness about the living procedures in suchhouses, without which the energy goals would not be reached. This education process is




Final report 120

part of the care-taking for tenants and needs a great deal of commitment from theowner’s part.

In the Franklin project we have seen an example of the importance of thiscommunication between owner and tenant. Once the buildings were finished and theoccupants had taken possession of them, the project manager ALME supported thetenants by informing them about the aims of this low-energy renovation and by

explaining how to operate the devices. But there was a variety of equipment and in somecases, the information included poorly written instructions, resulting in suspicionregarding the measuring devices in the apartments and unworkable procedures. Theresult was that in the beginning of the project a much higher energy use than expectedwas observed, which could be readjusted after the causes for the communicationproblems had been eliminated.

Some of the Peltosaari buildings are in bad technical condition, and will be demolished.Therefore, temporary accommodation is needed at least for the residents in thedemolished buildings. Some buildings also require larger refurbishment efforts, and thustemporary accommodation is required for their tenants as well.

5.2.3. Tenant life in the new or refurbished buildings

How do the tenants so far experience their part in the case study projects? For most of the tenants, the total rent (energy and rental costs) has slightly increased, typically by10%. However, their quality of life should have also increased, but this is a subjectiveimpression. So finally it is up to the tenant to decide, if he/she is getting more value outof the new living situation. In our examples from the Subtask B case studies, theanswers from tenants (based so far only on experience from Sweden and Denmark) arepredominantly positive.

In Brogården, most of the tenants returned to their own refurbished dwellings, whilesome preferred a smaller one, thus compensating for the cost increase. However, manyhave experienced that daily life is different than it was before. Some people mentionedthat it took a while until they understood the degree of change in their lives, bothfinancially and with regard to their living. But in the long term, they think, it will be totheir advantage. The room temperature is constant and the room climate feelscomfortable. Because of the (low flow) ventilation system, no odors whatsoever areexperienced. However, some tenants claimed too low room temperature winter time,which was obviously a problem in the first completed buildings. The prevailing under-pressure in the building exerts a certain resistance for opening windows or balconydoors. The apartments are much quieter now and the new equipment contributes to amore comfortable life, as does the outward appearance of the renovated buildings. Thebiggest change is financial; the rent is higher and energy use (which earlier was included

in the rent) now has to be paid in addition. That means that a bath in the tub now costs~1 €, which is a new experience for Swedish tenants in the social welfare system. On theother hand the energy costs are lower than before and compensate partly for theincreased rent (increase around 1000 SEK (=110 €) per month for a three-roomapartment).

Because Brogården is a housing area for people with a special need for security andsocial cooperation, the tenants experienced that their living situation will improve due to




Final report 121

the increase in housing comfort and the possibility of returning to a somewhat better life.The knowledge of also contributing to a better environment and the publicity given to therefurbishment project also increased their self-esteem.

In the new development area Laerkehaven in Lystrup, the tenants expressed generalsatisfaction about the quality of their dwellings, the comfort in the rooms, thearchitectural quality of the building and the organization of the community. The media

described the project as successful. The information campaign by the mass media andthe organized events were important to attract people to the area. The tenantsappreciated the architecture and expressed satisfaction about living in what theythemselves considered a “sustainable community.” The recognition of the existence of amarket in Denmark for sustainable, energy-efficient and environmentally friendly houseswas — from the housing association point of view — an additional motivation for startingthe project. In fact, the completed dwellings were fully occupied by tenants faster than inother newly established areas, despite the crisis in the housing sector during that period.The people involved in the project agree in saying that the “neighborhood approach” (i.e., to develop a complete neighborhood as a whole) is more profitable and achievesbetter results than the “local approach” (i.e., developing an area building by building).

In Rintheim, the refurbishment project was awarded a prize for Sustainable Cities. Thisaward attracted interest from local broadcasting and TV stations and of course thetenants. Also, the issues of tenant acceptance and experiences with new technicalequipment and financial effects are frequently addressed. During planned future polls,the sustainability idea will be further developed. The tenants will be asked about theiruse of various modes of transportation to be able to provide full household energybalances. This is expected to further engage the tenants in the ideas of sustainable cities.

In Lehen, public presentation of the energy efficiency results led to a political discussionand growing public acceptance, including from the tenants. Besides the politicaldiscussion there is also the issue of tenant involvement. Since greater renovationactivities may lead to bigger changes in the whole area (taller buildings, change of

apartment types, social structure, etc.) the socioeconomic aspects of the renovationprocess are important. The tenants are not only interested in energy optimization; forthem, quality of life is also an important motivation. Finding out these specific interestsof the tenants is one of the essential questions taken care of by a questionnaire. Thefeedback from tenants changed the renovation project. In the end, the renovationconcept is based on a mixture of demolition/new construction and renovation.

5.3. Monitoring, evaluation, verification

5.3.1. Monitoring of individual projects

Among the presented Subtask B projects, only five are so far in a state where at least

one significant building, either new or refurbished, is being monitored and evaluated. Forprojects in planning or just started up of course no monitoring is reported, and in somecases, monitoring is not even planned. Here we describe briefly the achievements of theevaluated projects.




Final report 122

Brogården

The content of this section is based on the doctoral thesis by Ulla Jansson from LundUniversity/17/.

The first building in Brogården was constructed in 2008 and ready to be occupied inFebruary 2009. In April 2009 a planned first monitoring project was started, in which the

energy use in each of the 16 apartments has been measured individually. Heat for spaceheating (supplied energy to the air heating system) and for domestic hot water wasdelivered and measured by the local district heating company. Use of householdelectricity was also measured individually. The building’s common electricity was alsomeasured. Energy use measurements were collected and evaluated for a one-yearperiod, April 1, 2009 – March 31, 2010. The received data was then also recalculated fora normal year.

Measurements of actual energy use in the same building has already been made in 2004.Figure 2.1.9.2 shows that the annual energy use including the common buildingelectricity was reduced by 60% from 215 kWh/m2,yr bought energy to 88 kWh/m2,yr.According to Swedish Passive House Directives, household energy should not be includedin the energy use calculation. Since this energy was on average 20.5 kWh/m2,yr, the

resulting energy use is 68 kWh/m2,yr. The upper limit of bought energy for Passive housestandard in the given climate zone (Sweden zone 3) is 50 kWh/m2,yr. Hence true Passivehouse standard is not reached in this first house and will probably not be reached in anyof the other refurbished buildings. However, the owner Alingsåshem is very satisfied withthe achieved results. As can be expected, the energy use varies widely in the differentapartments.

Figure 5.1: Total annual bought energy, broken down by different uses during the

measuring period 4/1/2009-4/1/2010.

Figure 5.1 shows all the measured energies delivered to the 16 dwellings. The totalenergy use varies within a factor of 2, indicating the spread of user behavior.




Final report 123

The results of bought energy can be recalculated for energy use in a normal year,resulting in the following values:

Space heating: 26.6 kWh/m2

DHW: 16.1 kWh/m2

Electricity (common): 23.2 kWh/m2

Total: 65.9 kWh/m2.

The total use of primary energy (including household electricity) for this first building wasreduced from 254,4 kWh/m2,yr to 96,4 kWh/m2,yr, i.e., by 62%.

Some of the tenants of the refurbished apartments were interviewed. There was amixture of positive and negative feed-back. The reason is that the people are well awareof the increased rental costs on the one hand and some shortcomings on the other hand.The biggest problem was a sense by some people of too low temperature in winter on thebottom floor and too high temperatures on the upper floors in summer. Auxiliary electricappliances have sometimes been used for top-heating wintertime (which shows up in thehousehold electricity consumption). One — for Sweden not so common — experience is

that people in multifamily houses are becoming more aware of energy use because theyhave to pay for the consumed kWh. Earlier, they only had to pay a fixed price for heat.On the positive side was the impression of really modern living — in most cases – in thelarger dwellings (5 m2 increase on average for everyone). In summary, one can statethat for everyone there is a learning process of living in passive (low-energy) houses.

Lystrup

The content of this section is based on two reports prepared under grants from theDanish Energy Agency (Energistyrelsen), presenting the evaluation of a low-temperaturedistrict heating system as used in Lystrup [18], [19].

The project has completed the first demonstration of a new concept for energy-efficient

district heating (DH) for low-energy buildings where the supplied district heatingtemperature delivered to the consumer is down to 50°C. The concept involves new typesof DH building substations and DH twin pipes in very small dimensions. Thedemonstration area is Department 34 of the housing association BoligforeningenRinggarden near Aarhus in Denmark, which consists of seven townhouses with a total of 40 dwellings, low-energy building, class 1 according to the Danish building code and built2009-2010. The dwellings have a built area of 87-110 m2, and are inhabited by mostlyelderly people without children or families with small children.

A large measurement program was conducted during weeks 26-47, 2010 focusing on 1)energy consumption and operation temperatures; 2) simultaneity and simultaneityfactors; and 3) heat loss from district heating network and electricity consumption of the

network booster pump. DH consumption by the individual consumer is measured andcombined with measurements of temperature in individual homes. It is confirmed that itis reasonable to assume a room temperature of at least 22°C in the theoreticalcalculation of heating demand.

Based on an energy signature, the annual consumption per dwelling was estimated atapproximately 5.8 MWh for a reference year, corresponding to a measured heat linedensity of 0.3 MWh/m and a heat density of 14 kWh/m2,yr field area. The results also




Final report 124

show that it is possible to supply customers with temperatures just above 50°C, with aDH supply temperature to the area of about 56°C. Detailed measurements show that thedomestic hot water can be produced at temperatures of just 3°C below the primarysupply temperature, e.g., 47°C at a DH supply temperature of 50°C. In the measuringperiod an average domestic hot water temperature of 40-45°C was achieved.

The simultaneity factors of two types of DH building substations, district heating tank

unit at the primary side (FVB) and a unit with direct water heat exchanger (GVV),respectively, were analyzed. Graphs were drafted for the simultaneity factor up to 10users. Factor e (1), corresponding to the heat power of one consumer, is determined at4.7 kW of FVB units and 24.3 kW for GVV units. The Factor e (1) for GVV is much lowerthan shown in previous work (32.3 kW) and which is used for normal design. This resultmust also be seen in relation to housing type and inhabitants.

Figure 5.2: District heating consumption in weeks 26 – 38 (summer period) for two typesof DHW units: Heat accumulators on primary side (FVB) and direct heat exchangers(GVV) for Lystrup, area C. Hot water production and heat use (including heat losses frominstallations) are shown. It turned out that the accumulator system FVB has four timeshigher heat losses than direct heat exchanger systems (GVV).Domestic hot water: Heating and heat losses from installations:

The measured heat loss for the entire network is very low and in line with expected heatloss calculated in the design phase. Estimated heat losses in this low temperaturenetwork are approximately 50,000 kWh/year, i.e. about 17 % of the totally deliveredenergy. Had the same network been laid out with a traditional design with single pipesand a temperature set of 80/40°C, the corresponding calculated heat loss would beapprox. 200,000 kWh. This means that heat loss compared to a conventional network isreduced by approximately 75%. On the other hand, an increase in electricityconsumption for booster pumping estimated at approx. 2,600 kWh per year must beadded. The annual heat loss is on average around 1.2 MWh per dwelling corresponding toapproximately 17% of the energy supplied to the area.




Final report 125

In short, the demonstration showed that the low-temperature DH concept works, whichis also confirmed by the fact that there were no complaints from residents about too lowheating or hot water temperatures.

Rintheim

The refurbishment of the neighborhood in Rintheim is in progress since 2005. The localdistrict heating net was installed 2008 and the buildings are successively connected todistrict heating, replacing individual gas boilers. The state before refurbishment wasestablished by measurements performed 1998.

Hence the progress of these energy saving efforts can be seen in Table 5.1, weremeasured values from 1998, 2008 and 2011 are compared with the targeted values.

Table 5.1: Energy efficiency measures in progress in Rintheim

Heating

Aux.

elec-

tricity

Use of PE

(primary

energy)

Fossil

PE

House-

hold

electri-

city

Total

PE

Total

fossil

PE

CO2

Hea-

ting

CO2

total

kWhth /

m2

MWhel /MWhth

kWhPE /

m2

kWhPE fossil/

m2

kWhel /m2

kWhPE /m2

kWhfossil/m2

kgCO2 /m2

kgCO2 /m2

Before

Refurbish-

ment 155,4 0,08 211,8 211,8 29 298 293 42,5 61,0

Measured

2008 84,5 0,016 180,2 180,2 33 278 266 35,9 54,5

Measured

2011 72,9 0,027 114,7 114,4 30 204 188 24,5 43,9

Goal 64,7 40 156 9,4

By 2011, the supplied energy for heating was more than halved, from 155,4 to 72,9

kWh/m2. Because of the increased auxiliary energy, however, the fossil primary energy isonly reduced by 46 %. The supply of total fossil primary energy (including householdelectricity) was cut by 36 %. There is a good chance to reach the targeted values whenthe refurbishment program will be finished in 2014.

Bad Aibling

Distribution heat losses

One problem in Bad Aibling is the different present use of the district heating net incomparison to the original (military) use of the area. Before refurbishment, the designnet capacity was 18 MW, while for the time being it is 0.5 MW. This means that the net isheavily oversized with disproportional high heat losses. First measurements of supplied

heat performed in the northern part of the heat distribution network showed that someparts of the grid do not work properly because of too low water flows. But as can beexpected, the relative heat losses, especially in summer, are unacceptably high. Suchproblems can be experienced in many nets of refurbished areas with strongly reducedheat demand.




Final report 126

Monitoring Solarnetz 1

During the summer of 2009, the test net Solarnetz 1 (Solar Net 1) was taken into opera-tion, in the form of a web-based graphic display monitoring system. Weather data andenergy balance data of the buildings are displayed in real time. The visualization systemcan be accessed via Internet and is simply comprehensible for laymen.

Monitoring of the total Project areaA new system for monitoring and evaluation of more than 1500 data points has beeninstalled in the settlement and will be continuously evaluated (since 2010) by HochschuleRosenheim by means of the Monisoft software (see Figure 5.3). Detailed energy balanceswill soon be available, but the following conclusions can already be drawn:

- If PV facilities in the south grid are not taken into consideration, because theyshould not figure into the energy balance for the north grid, a zero energy balancecannot be achieved.

- The north grid, encompassing 15 buildings and their supply structure, doeshowever have a primary energy balance (due to solar and wood chips heatproduction plants) that is 30% better than the Passive house limit of 120kWh/m2,year (the EnEV standard). This is a very good result for the project andcan be attributed to the good energy-efficiency standards of most buildings, theexploitation of solar thermal energy, and the woodchip-fired boiler.

- If the large-scale PV facilities in the south grid are added to the calculation, thereis a clear surplus energy balance of some 290 kWh/m2,year in energy gainprovided that household consumption is left out (and calculations are done usingEnEV parameters). If household consumption is added to the calculation, thesurplus energy value still achieves about 160 kWh/m2,year.

Figure 5.3: The Monisoft metering and evaluation system at Bad Aibling




Final report 127

Heerlen

District Heerlerheide is monitored continuously as of winter 2008/2009. Monitoring takesplace since the beginning of 2009 both for the distribution system and the energy use inthe buildings. In January 2009, the average outdoor temperature was 10°C; peaks in thesupply temperature did not exceed 40°C; in week 3, 2009, extreme outdoortemperatures were reached of -18°C; even then the supply temperature did not exceed

36°C.

The delivery of chill was only needed for some three months and is not representative forthis period (135 GJ). Regarding heat supply, about 40% of the demand or 4000 GJ weredelivered to Heerlerheide Centre.

The CBS building has been monitored since September 2009. In July 2009 the CBS officebuilding was provided with its own power station, producing both heating and cooling.The station is connected to the cold and warm mine water sources of the parish propertyMijnwater NV. Because the building is designed for low-temperature heating and high-temperature cooling, the mine water is theoretically able to provide 85% of the building’sheating and cooling needs. The remaining heating and cooling, for peak periods at highertemperatures as well as backup, is provided by conventional gas-fired boilers and air-cooled compression chillers.

By using a remote connection with several sensors within the power station, monitoringhas taken place. The monitoring of the energy use and evaluation of the building’sheating and cooling energetic performance is divided by two periods, the entire periodthe station is operational (September 2009 – January 2010) and a whole year (February2010 – January 2011).

Mine water

Mine water is the main energy source for cooling and heating the CBS building. This minewater is produced by two different wells in the proximity of the CBS building, where thedeep well provides warm mine water at 27.5°C, and the shallow well cold mine water at

18°C. The warm mine water junction throughput is 37.3 m3 /h, resulting in a maximumthroughput of 27,200 m3 /month whereas the cold minewater junction has a throughputof 18.5 m3 /h, meaning 13,500 m3 /month. In the monitored period only warm or coldmine water is supplied at a certain moment, where in the spring the switch is made fromwarm to cold water and in autumn vice versa. In the future, switching between bothtemperatures will be possible, by using a pressure retaining installation in the mine waterpiping system. Figure 5.4 shows the amount of energy supplied by the mine water,compared to the average monthly.

Heat generation

The heat in the CBS power station is mainly extracted from the mine water. By means of heat-pumps the temperature of the mine water is increased in order to meet demandtemperatures. Gas-fired boilers are used for peaking and backup. Figure 5.5 shows theheat production over the entire monitoring period, separated for mine water (heat pump)and boilers. Figure 5.5 shows a significantly lower heat production during the winter of 2010/2011 in comparison to the previous winter of 2009/2010. The amount of heatproduced by the heat pump is increased, causing the amount of used gas to drop as aresult. This is partly caused by the time the mine water was available.




Final report 128

Cold generation

Similarly, the CBS power station uses the cold mine water as its main source of cooling,with an additional compression chiller. The mine water temperatures are decreased usinga heat pump. Figure 5.6 shows the chill production over the length of the monitoringperiod.

For the reference period February 2010 - January 2011 the following amounts of energyhave been supplied to the CBS building:

Heating: 4377 GJ

Cooling: 2110 GJ.

Figure 5.4: The total use of mine water




Final report 129

Figure 5.5: Heat generation by mine water

Figure 5.6: Cold generation through mine water supply




Final report 130

Kumagaya

The Kumagaya project is the first example in Japan of an inter-building thermal transfersystem between private buildings of different proprietors across a public road.Therefore, there is a strong interest from energy companies and developers for this typeof project.

Figure 5.7: Energy use before and after the renovation of the energy supply system and

the energy export to another building in Kumagaya. The system includes solar heating

and micro-cogeneration.

Figure 5.7 shows the results of expected energy saving. The use of primary energy isreduced by 78% (from 284 to 61 GJ/yr) compared to that of before retrofitting. Thisreduction stems from four different categories of energy saving effects:

1. The replacement of gas absorption chillers2. The solar heat use in Kumagaya building3. The inter-building surplus solar transfer4. The inter-building use of recovered exhaust heat of gas cogeneration.

Because the gas cogeneration is so operated as to make maximum use from solarheat, its operating time depends on the season.

5.3.2. Energy efficiency in some of the case studies

The saving of supplied (end-) energy in five refurbishment projects is shown in Figure5.8. In these projects, the results are based on measurements or calculations from singleobjects, i.e., they are believed to be typical for the total neighborhood. Results for the

total neighborhoods are not available at this moment. The end energy includes heating,domestic hot water, and the electricity to operate and light the buildings’ commonequipment and premises, but not household electricity (except the case for Rintheim- el).




Final report 131

Figure 5.8: Specific end energy use before and after refurbishment in five Annex 51 projects (typical values). (Solid colored staples are based on measurements. Dashed staples are based on calculations).

As it can be seen, in all of the projects except the US-project Fort Irwin, there is aremarkable reduction of supplied energy from about 200 kWh/m2 to 70 – 80 kWh/m2, i.e. by roughly a factor 2.5. This reduction factor 2.5 holds also for the planned US-project, however starting from another consumption level. The corresponding reduction

of primary energy, however, differs largely from country to country, depending on thenational primary energy factors, but the use of primary energy is also greatly reduced.These results are described in more detail in the Annex 51 Guidebook [22].

5.4. Achievements of goals

The case studies described in this report are mainly based on case study forms and casestudy evaluation reports supplied by the STB participants at the beginning of the STBproject, when the projects very often have been in an initial phase and when theexpected outcome of the work was not yet completely elaborated. Since then, more thantwo years afterwards, more project details are known and it is time to scrutinize how the

achievements compare with the anticipated work.

We do this with a method similar to that described in section 4.4 (Sustainability rating).Again, four score definitions have been defined for the evaluation, summarized in Table5.2.

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

Franklin Rintheim

(heat)

Rintheim

(heat + el)

Brogården Lehen Fort Irwin Peltosaari

k W h / m 2 , y r

Supplied energy in Annex 51

refurbishment projects

Before

After




Final report 132

Table 5.2: Goal achievement categories

D Goal not achieved at all or to a very low extent (less than 20%)

C Goal achieved only to smaller extent (less than 40%)

B Goal achieved to large extent (50 – 80%)

A Goal almost fully or fully achieved (90 – 100%)

NA Not available or not applicable

The analysis is based on the judgments given by the project participants in relation tothe initial project goals. Hence the achievements are absolutely not on a comparablelevel, because the project ambitions are not comparable. They might also to some extentbe seen with some degree of partiality, but we do not think that intentional bias fornational projects is a major problem in Annex 51.

Table 5.3 shows the results for a number of projects and an average rating for the

different items to be evaluated. The results are not to be taken as absolute goals, but arerelated to the individual objectives of each project.

Table 5.3: Rating of achievements of goals for individual projects

ACHIEVEMENT OF

GOALS

Issues Bro-

gården

Frank-

lin

Heer-

len

Kuma-

gayaLehen Lys-

trup

Aver-

age

Energy A A B A A-D A A

CO2 emissions A A B A A-D A A

Neighborhooddevelopment

B B A NA B B B

Construction methods,

materials

B A A NA NA B AB

Light house effect B B B NA B B

Quality of life of tenants B A A NA B A

Economy C A A B C B

Total B A A A B B AB

As far as achievements of energy efficiency and CO2 emissions are concerned, these arefor some cases verified by the monitoring described above in section 5.4. It can be seenthat most of the projects are considered to have reached their goals to a large extent. Asto energy goals and reduction of CO2 emissions, the expectations have even been highlyfulfilled (this is also the reason why they are included in this survey). The only question

mark might be the economy, where some of the projects are only satisfying to a lowerextent. This is the price to be paid for being in the forefront of development.




Final report 133

5.5. SWOT analysis

A SWOT analysis containing the classical categories STRENGTH, WEAKNESS,OPPORTUNITIES and THREATS was carried out among the participants representing theSTB case studies. For each of the categories above, a maximum of only three answers

should be given, forcing the respondents to make prioritization of items for each project.From the answers, which are shown in Appendix B, a structure of items emerged whichenabled the following classification of important items:

- Public organizations and politics

- Leadership and project organization

- Environmental, energy and technical issues

- Economy

- Social impact regarding tenants and neighborhood.

Here follow some opinions of general validity excerpted from the answers sortedaccording two main views: Strength/weakness and Opportunity/Threat, respectively,(see also Appendix B).

5.5.1. Strength/weakness

Public organizations and politics

The public sector plays an important role in initiating non-commercial projects by givinggrants to the projects. A defined guiding regulatory set-up is also seen as very helpful inmany projects. In positive cases, the municipalities have a strong role in stimulating thedeveloping projects (Rintheim, Brogården, Lehen). Sometimes however, the legislation isnot in synchronization with the needs of development projects. In special cases,(Heerlen, Petite Rivière), political scuffles can also be a major hindrance for developmentprojects.

Leadership and project organization

The quality of leadership and project management is an important factor for the success,especially in development projects. Some kind of early agreement of all parties on acommon level of quality also plays a decisive role for the outcome of the project. Veryoften the courage of single leading persons to defend economically doubtful decisions ismentioned, by seeing possibilities for good business in the longer term (Brogården,

Lystrup, Heerlen, Petite Rivière).

In some cases it was felt that the original project organization formed for projectdevelopment must be changed when the project enters the deployment stage (Heerlen,

Lystrup). In certain cases this problem was overcome by making a cooperation contract

between owner and general contractor from the very beginning.

Environmental, energy and other technical issues

Most of the projects are strictly confined to energy issues. However in some projects amore holistic view of sustainability is also applied (Lystrup, Petite Rivière, Lehen).

Monitoring plays an important role in verifying the project goals. In Brogården, thisforced the management to apply individual energy use measurements for households.




Final report 134

Economy

There are several ways to implement the new technologies. In some projects,optimization including future cost development has shown an optimal way to implementenergy-saving measures (Bad Aibling, Mulhouse, Rintheim, Fort Irwin). In other projects,higher costs have been accepted in order to demonstrate the possibility of futuretechniques, hoping that the learning curve will bring down costs later on (Brogården). In

some cases, additional funds had to be raised (Lystrup).

Another dilemma also appeared: Energy-saving measures can reduce the economy of projects to the point that it is not always worthwhile to distribute the (mostlysustainable) energy in district heating systems. Hence a delicate optimization betweenheat supply and heat use must be achieved (Heerlen, Rintheim, Lystrup, Lehen).

Social impact regarding tenants and neighborhood

Socially weak groups of people got an increased standard of living and increased self-awareness by being part of the projects in newly built or refurbished homes (Rintheim,

Brogården, Lystrup). In some projects, the total neighborhood got a lift and some kind of revival.

In particular cases, however, higher monthly rents resulted in problems for a low-incomeportion of the tenants (Brogården).

Reports by the mass media and organized PR events were important features to attractpeople to the area. Many tenants appreciated the new way of living by consideringthemselves part of a sustainable community.

Tenants have to learn to live in dwellings with low-energy or Passive house standard.Many experiences are different from living in conventional dwellings. Hence informationexchange in both directions, from and to tenants is a very important ingredient as newaccommodation is concerned.

5.5.2. Opportunity/threat


Legislation is seen as an important prerequisite for development and refurbishmentprojects. But local administration through far-sighted planning can also do a lot tostimulate the low-energy sector. Municipalities have a chance to support low-energyconstruction by initiatives and city planning measures. Especially important is theelimination of hurdles and restrictions caused by local vested interests.

Many case studies showed that there is a conflict between visionary people advocatingextreme energy-saving principles and clients who have to pay for the investment (finallypaid by the tenants).

Therefore, for future projects some important questions have to be answered:

− Which instruments do cities have to make committed targets binding for the

participating parties?

− Who is ordering/paying for common tasks like energy planning for a whole

neighborhood or community?




Final report 135

− Who defines the practical boundaries of community projects and with which

criteria?


It is very important to concentrate leadership and experts for energy-saving projects to acertain specialized task force in city planning departments and to give them the

opportunity of continuously working with these problems. They can share resources andknow-how as well as planning instruments and tools and apply them on a stream of projects. This would result in a better project economy in the long term.

Because of the nature of the case study projects, most of them have strong demon-stration effects for the further development of the building sector towards low-energyand low CO2 emission issues. As an example, in Sweden the work has impact on theenergy standard of 350,000 dwellings. For the IEA countries as a whole, we are talkingabout tens of millions of dwellings.


In many energy conservation and refurbishment projects an increased standard of life forgroup of socially weakly rooted tenants was observed. Other advantages were theincreased neighborhood quality and the security of invested capital. Therefore cityplanners should include these aspects on the benefit account of the projects.

The information campaign by the mass media and the organized events were importantto attract people to the area. The tenants appreciated the architecture and expressedsatisfaction for living in what they themselves considered a “sustainable community.”

5.6. Lesson learned from the implementation process

Involvement of tenants

In contrast to the situation in conventional projects, work with energy efficiency in

refurbishment projects needs the involvement of tenants in a completely different way.In the good old days the tenants could choose their level of thermal comfort, paying arelatively small sum for the energy he/she used (and which had more than doubledduring the last five years due to soaring energy prices). Energy effective systems, suchas presented by low-energy buildings or Passive houses need commitment and a certaindegree of technical understanding on the part of tenants, as it involves changes in userbehavior or handling control devices. Therefore, information and education is part of theowner’s strategy towards the tenants.

In refurbishment projects, it is very important that the owner and tenants build up arelationship of mutual trust. The refurbishment operations often imply a drastic impacton the life of the tenants which must be encountered by the landlord with a mixture of

empathy and incentives in order to preserve the satisfaction and good will of the tenants.The expected increase in quality of life both inside the four walls of the individualapartment and of the area as a whole is for many people — but not all — an importantincentive. Increased rents might be an impediment. A basis for continued regularinformation and receptivity to proposals and ideas on the part of tenants is an importantingredient for successful projects. Every measure and every instruction must becomprehensible by the tenants to reach tough energy-saving goals. This is particularly




Final report 136

important in cases where reduced energy costs have been used as an argument toaccept increased rents.

Furthermore, it has also turned out that information to the public, reported in the massmedia, also gives the tenants a clue about the importance of their dwellings and theirliving situation. In many cases it was recognized that the awareness of being part of anew, innovative system, which received public attention, also increased the self-respect

of the people involved.

Monitoring, evaluation and verification

One important finding is that monitoring and consequent evaluation of the anticipatedenergy goals and cost structures should be an essential component of energyconservation projects. A good idea is to start energy monitoring quite early inneighborhood projects in order to get feedback on the effectiveness of the appliedmeasures. This early evaluation can result in larger projects in changes to the initiallychosen methods or techniques and lead to cost savings and/or quality improvements andfinally give the project the anticipated success.

The monitoring so far performed in the case studies shows that all the projects reached

their energy performance goals in the cases of low-energy buildings as well as in Passivehouses. In some cases, some method adjustments induced by monitoring results had tobe undertaken in order to reach the goals.

Monitoring is also important for the verification of tools used for planning, design andoptimization. In some projects it was shown that although tools were detailed andcarefully developed, the coincidental interaction of different parameters can lead toerroneous results. Hence only qualified monitoring can give clues in such cases.

Achievement of goals

It can be seen that most of the projects are considered to have reached their goals atleast to a large extent. As to energy goals and reduction of CO2 emissions, the

expectations have even been highly fulfilled. Sustainability projects are very often carriedout with goals other than energy efficiency. These goals too (not discussed in this report)were very often successfully accomplished. One question mark might be the economy,where some of the projects of a showcase character had difficulties reaching affordablelevels.




Final report 137

6. Economic considerations

6.1. How energy efficiency pays for increased comfort

In Chapter 3 we discussed that besides relieving environmental impacts most of theprojects had two very distinct goals: To let energy efficiency pay for at least part of therefurbishment and improve the housing comfort of tenants – a very sound andunderstandable deal, in which uncertain future costs of energy are replaced byinvestments in energy savings for improved quality of life. We have seen thesetendencies in the projects of Lehen, Rintheim, Brogården and Franklin as well. In otherprojects with modern new buildings of low-energy or Passive house standard, we can findthat energy savings by and large pay for the use of more costly renewable energy, as theexamples of Lystrup, Heerlen and Bad Aibling show. Also in the military project of Ft.

Irwin, the possibility to abandon a considerable use of fossil energy and replace it by areduced use of renewable energy with payback times of around ten years or less wasshown. This effect of reduced energy use has the advantage for the shareholders of housing companies, that future operation costs and rents will be more predictable.

Tables 6.1 – 6.3 present summaries regarding the costs involved for refurbishment or

new construction as well as for renewable energy systems in the Subtask B case studiesaccording to the STB evaluation studies and STB case study forms, respectively.

In these tables, investment costs are presented as specific costs per m 2 or as total costsfor the various projects. Energy costs are also given, if not otherwise indicated, in theform of end costs for the user, VAT excluded.

6.1.1. Costs of refurbishment

The costs of refurbishment were relatively comparable in the reported projects, despitedifferent economic conditions in the different countries. We can note that the range forinvestment costs is about between 1200 and 1400 €/m2 for ambitious refurbishment,

i.e., refurbishment with energy standards for (near) Passive house in Sweden andcomplicated city conditions as for Franklin. For less ambitious modernization, the costsare between 800 €/m2 (Rintheim) and 1100 €/m2 (Lehen).

These total costs can be differentiated according to the goals of the refurbishment. Ageneral distinction can be made according to the following cost categories:

- maintenance

- modernization (increase of comfort)

- energy use measures (building-related)

- energy supply-related measures

Maintenance means that the measures were necessary to retain the function of thebuilding and the building’s equipment at a minimum level of acceptable standard for thetenants. However, with increasing standard of living, tenants often demand an increasedlevel of comfort and modernization of equipment, i.e. this measure will improve thequality of the accomodation. Furthermore, part of the refurbishment deals with improvingenergy efficiency, i.e., improved insulation, windows, heat recovery, heating systems,and so on. This is energy use related. And finally, part of the investment belongs to the




Final report 138

Table 6.1: Cost summary for Subtask B case study projects – Specific cost per m2

dwelling area

(VAT not included)

Lehen PetiteRivière

Lys-trup

Frank-lin

Pelto-saari

Rint-heim

BadAibling

Kuma-gaya

Heer-len

Bro-gården

Ft.Irw

Refurbishment of existing

residential buildings

€/m2 1250 -

2000

919

1450 -

1551

945

1340 3)

800 n/a 1210

Refurbishment of existing

other buildings

€/m2 1125 1000 1700 144

Energy-related

investment costs

(Energy saving and

energy supply)

€/m2 337

372 2)

392 3)

524 200

490 3)

290 5) 75 –

200

240 657)

New residential buildings €/m2 1700

1180

4)

1180 1445 1600 -

1800

1400 -

1750

2000 -

2500New other buildings €/m2 1125 1460

Remarks

2) Factor 10 standard 5) incl. DH adaption 1 M = 1 Million

3) Passive house standard 6) Barracks + dining incl. HVAC

4) Limit for social housing 7) Margin for net-zero extension

Note: Exchange rates among currencies have drastically changed during 2010. The figures in this table reflect the values valid at the




Final report 139

Table 6.2: Cost summary for Subtask B case study projects – Total investments

(VAT not included)

Lehen Petite

Rivière

Lys-

trup

Frank-

lin

Pelto-

saari

Rint-

heim

Bad

Aibling

Kuma-

gaya

Heer-

len

Bro-

gården

Ft.

Irw

Total investment new

buildings

€ 35 M 6 M 150 M

Total investment

refurbishment

€ 43 M 1.6 M 0.4 M 51 M 15 M

Total investment

Energy system

€ 4.2 M1)

2.0 M2)

11.3 M 0.35 M 0.55 M DH

2.6 M

1.0 M 9.7 M 5 M 0.9

0.1

Total investment € 85 M 198 M 2.1 M >40 M >40 M 1.4 M 17.9 M

4)

20 M

Remarks

1) PV 1 M = 1 Million

2) DH

3) Biomass

4) Belonging to the Mine water project





Final report 140

Table 6.3: Cost summary for Subtask B case study projects – Tenant’s cost

(VAT not included)

Lehen Petite

Rivière

Lys-

trup

Frank-

lin

Pelto-

saari

Rint-

heim

Bad

Aibling

Kuma-

gaya

Heer-

len

Bro-

gården

Ft.

Irw

Tenants monthly rent €/m2 9 - 11 5.5 - 6 4 6)

5.2-5.6

7)

6.5 –

8.1

8

Energy costs reduction

per month

€/m2 0.3 -

0.5

0.6 –

0.80.3 –

0.4

0.1 1.1

Net cost increase per

month (energy + rent)

€/m2 0.5 -

0.63)

0.67 None 0.8–

1.0

Cost of supplied heat1) €/ MWh 42 39

4)

54 5)

1402)

63 1)

100 –

15010)

70 –

80

64 60 40

53

Cost of supplied

electricity 1)

€/ MWh 173,8 2008)

2808)

1901)

99 100 220

Remarks

1) without fees and taxes 5) LT secondary net 9) Biomass

2) solar energy 6) Before retrofit 10) Solar + Biomass

3) compared to normal social housing 7) After retrofit

4) Bought from primary DH net 8) PV

1 M = 1 Million





Final report 141

heat and electricity supply system, for instance renewable heat supply such as solarenergy and biomass, piping for heat distribution systems, heat pumps, PV systems andso on. Energy-supply related measures include also investments for district heating sub-stations, gas boilers and local heat storages. In Figure 6.1, cost examples for some of theprojects are depicted.

The cost allocation, however, was not very detailed in most of the cases. Especiallymaintenance and modernization was in most projects combined to one post as it was thecase with energy supply and energy use measures. But the trends of the case projectcosts are distinctly depictured.

Figure 6.1: Example of cost allocation in refurbishment projects (cost level 2010) (The

costs aim at the total refurbishment costs. For some projects, a detailed breakdown was

not available, hence energy use costs include both energy use and energy supply costs

and modernization includes also maintenance costs).

It can be seen that energy-related costs are in general only a minor part of the totalrefurbishment costs, whereas modernization costs or maintenance costs dominate. Sincemost of the refurbishment projects shown here belong to the social housing segment, thetotal height of the bars in the diagram in Figure 6.1 indicates the upper level of what

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

1800

€ / m 2

Cost distribution in refurbishment projects

Modernisation

Maintenance

Energy supply rel.

Energy use related






Final report 143

that investments in energy saving can both pay costs for renewable energy and formodernization of dwellings.

6.2. Total monthly costs of tenants

A very encouraging result is reported from Franklin, where refurbishment work reducedenergy costs for some buildings by a factor of 8, while the tenants pay rents similar thoseprior to renovation. As a consequence, it was also found that the whole set of energyefficiency measures offers an added resale value for investors and increases themaintenance of the buildings over time. In Lystrup it was found that the rents are about10% higher than for conventional social housing, an increase which is totally or at leastpartly compensated by 25%–50% lower energy use, worth roughly 0.4 – 0.5 €/m2,month.

For Rintheim it was shown that the tenant’s costs are only slightly increased afterrefurbishment. Figure 6.3 shows an optimization calculated for one typical building inRintheim, where the cost minimum occurs for an energy demand of about 70kWhEE /m

2,yr or, including windows replacement, 50 kWh/m2. In this situation the

additional monthly rent costs would be 0.8 – 1.2 €/m2 and the energy saving worth 0.6 –0.8 €/m2 per average month, which corresponds to a cost increase for living in therefurbished dwellings by 0.2 – 0.4 €/m2 per month. For Lehen, similar rent increases areexpected. A corresponding calculation for Brogården with refurbishment to Passive housestandard resulted in a monthly increase in rent of 0.8 -1.0 €/m2. In this case the maincost increase was due to a considerable modernization of the dwellings.

Figure 6.3: Retrofit cost curve for a typical multi-family building in Rintheim as a functionof improved heating energy standard (kWhEE /m

2 ) achieved by least-cost combinations of measures (gas price: 70 €/MWhEE ).




Final report 144

6.3. A study for military barracks (Fort Irwin)

Interesting results are also presented in a United States case study [12] about potentialenergy efficiency measures in the military base of Ft. Irwin. U.S. federal agencies arerequired by law to eliminate fossil fuel use in new and renovated facilities by 2030, andto reduce overall facility energy usage by 30% by 2015 (EISA 2007). U.S. Armyannouncements are to achieve five net-zero energy installations by 2021, 25 net-zeroenergy installations by 2031 and for all installations to achieve net-zero energy status by2058.

In Fort Irwin, the U.S. Army is operating essentially small campuses or clusters of buildings. The Army’s future building energy requirements foresee a mixture of ultra-lowand high-energy intensity facilities. Achieving net-zero energy in an economically feasibleway in these clusters of buildings will require a seamless blend of energy conservationmeasures in individual buildings, building system automation, utility management andcontrol, power delivery systems with the capability to offer integration of onsite powergeneration (including renewable energy sources) and energy storage.

Each building is optimized for energy efficiency to the economic energy efficiency

optimum and then renewables are added until the building is “net zero.” This processworks for buildings with low energy intensity, such as barracks and administrativebuildings. When the mission of the building requires high energy intensity such as in adining facility, data center, etc., this optimization process either will not end up with anet-zero energy building, or large amounts of renewables would have to be addedresulting in overall technical solutions that are not cost effective. However, whenbuildings are clustered together, after each building is designed to its economic energy-efficient optimum, the building cluster is also energy optimized taking advantage of thediversification between energy intensities, scheduling, and waste energy stream use. Theoptimized cluster will then minimize the amount of renewables needed to make thebuilding cluster net-zero.

This process was applied on a cluster of five barracks and a dining facility, using 3.1 GWhelectricity and 2.7 GWh of LPG per year. In an economic analysis, different options werecost-optimized in order to see what the way towards net-zero fossil energy would cost.Table 6.4 shows some of the results:

Table 6.4: Energy saving in a model cluster of five barracks and dining room at Ft. Irwin

AlternativeTotal Cost$ Millions

IncrementalCost $Millions

ElectricalSavings

LPGSavings

Savings$k/yr

SimplePayback(years)

Typical renovation 29.4 6 % 5 % 27

1 31.7 2.4 48 % 59 % 242 10.0

2 30.9 1.6 48 % 58 % 240 6.7

3 30.7 1.3 49 % 58 % 242 5.4

The typical BAU renovation would only bring 6% efficiency. However, additional use of solar collectors on the barracks for DHW production and a biomass wood-waste heatingplant would further reduce the use of fossil energy according to different options.Electricity is saved through installation of new HVAC systems. The remaining heatingneeds could then be further supplied by an extended biomass plant and electricity from aPV plant (however not economically feasible today).




Final report 145

6.4. The costs of renewable energy

The study of Ft. Irwin, but also of the other STB case studies gives an important insightregarding the strategy towards zero emissions: First reduce the use of energy according

to optimum criteria and then supply renewable energy. This strategy assumes thatrenewable energy is more expensive than conventional energy (from fossil fuels). Thisstatement holds true only to a certain extent today and will in the near future beoutdated. Anyhow, it cannot be meaningful and it definitely does not conform tosustainability to spend more energy than necessary on energy supply when the economicconsequences are the same or even better with energy saving. Therefore, it could be of interest to see what the costs are for delivered renewable energy in the STB case studyprojects.

In many projects the delivered renewable heat is produced by solar heating systems orsolid biomass or biogas plants. Electrical heat pumps are also used in some cases. One of the projects deals with geothermal heat from abandoned coal mines. As a reference,conventional district heating can be used, which is based on a fossil dominated mix inGermany and Denmark, and on biomass in Sweden. This conventional district heatingresults in DH prices between 55 and 80 €/MWh (VAT included) depending on the country

and system (Table 6.3). Renewable energy production costs in centralized systems aresaid to be 40 – 150 €/MWh where the lower costs are calculated for biomass at Ft. Irwin and the highest costs for a certain option in Bad Aibling. This latter cost level is rather anexception and solar heat costs in Europe are reportedly often at a level of 70 – 100€/MWh (end user price), whereas the end user price for biomass heat is 60 – 80 €/MWh[16]. Hence although there might yet be a slight trend to somewhat higher costs forrenewable energy, there is no longer a drastic difference compared to conventional fossil-based heat.

An interesting reflection was shown in the Rintheim project, where a local secondarynetwork was planned to connect the buildings of the refurbishment area to an existingmain district heating network. Figure 6.4 shows the impact of energy efficiency for the

refurbished area. Because the investments for district heating are given by the necessarypeak power, energy saving does not reduce the investments costs for pipes andsubstations per used kWh very much. Hence the result is that total specific costs of delivered energy are increasing with decreasing heating demand, which is an importantreason that energy efficiency measures in existing district heating areas often do not leadto the anticipated energy saving (which has been experienced in some projects of Subtask A).

Figure 6.4: Distribution costs of district heating supply in Rintheimas a function of the averageretrofit heat demand for different heating standards qH (kWh/m2 ).






Final report 147

7. Conclusions and key findings

For Annex 51, through the evaluation of the demonstration projects which are presentedin the eleven case studies from 10 different countries, conclusions in terms of practicalexperiences, planning methods and descriptions of supportive local and legislativeframework conditions applicable for neighborhood or urban energy projects can be

drawn. It is one objective of Subtask B to gather experience from these projects and toassess information about methods, models used and technical solutions implemented. Itis particularly valuable to see whether the described solutions have also been evaluatedbased on measurements and which of these solutions can be recommended in the future.Of course one important feature is economy for which any project finally has to bescrutinized.

The projects in the eleven case studies cover quite different aspects of energyconservation in neighborhoods, dealing with refurbishment, new building constructionand application of new energy technologies based essentially on renewable energysources. Several of these features are often combined in the same system. Basically wecan discern the following system configurations for neighborhood projects:

- Refurbishment of buildings with existing heating system- Refurbishment with new heating systems

- Mix of refurbished buildings and newly constructed buildings with new heatingsystems

- New buildings connected to new heating systems (new neighborhooddevelopment).

From the different case studies, a number of main conclusions can be drawn. Conclusionswhich we feel are important under the specific circumstances or local conditions of thecase studies are listed in section 7.1. Conclusions which are of more general relevancewill be listed in section 7.2 under key findings.

7.1. Conclusions from individual case studies

The project organization

The more the planning concept deviates from BAU22) solutions, the more it is necessaryfor the project consortium to act as a team. The visionary clients, investors or plannershave to convince the participating stakeholders of their concepts and have to achieve abroad acceptance for measures that are beyond daily practice. The roles of the partnersand their individual responsibilities must be well defined. Otherwise the project will end intime-consuming dissent and/or counterproductive activities. Related to that it must beclarified who in the municipality takes the role of bringing the stakeholders together, who

is paying for project organization and the use of decision-making tools.

Very early during the implementation process, a quality agreement contract should beestablished, which obliges all parties (planners, vendors, craftsmen, etc.) to the commongoal, including rules in case of non-compliance. The method for quality assurance,

22) BAU – Business As Usual




Final report 148

developed in the EU-financed SQUARE23) project [24] could be used for similarrefurbishment projects in any place.

A possible example of cooperation is a partnership where the owner and generalcontractor share the responsibility for the project by minimizing risks. Such anagreement gives both partners economic and technical incentives through expected costreduction due to the ongoing learning process occurring in a neighborhood development

with a large number of similar buildings.

Design and Planning

Far-sighted visions are often the starting point for alterations of habits and developmentof new, trail-blazing technologies, which is also a prerequisite for essential improvementsin the sustainable development of neighborhoods and urban areas. Whereas such newideas can and should be demonstrated in special projects of showcase character, it isimportant to evaluate which parts and solutions or accomplishments in such pilot projectscan be applied to real applications in the daily urban development activities, marketunder conditions and without subsidies (if the subsidies are not part of a nationalincentive or research program).

An important conclusion from some of the projects was that it is more economical todevelop a whole neighborhood instead of doing refurbishments or renewals of singleobjects. In particular it is beneficial to develop an overall energy concept for the wholearea applying intense communication between the several planners of the buildings. Theimprovement of a whole district or neighborhood can increase the local attractiveness of the area, the quality of life of the tenants and finally improve the security of the capitalinvested.

As a rule, an integrated planning process, considering energy conservation and low CO2 emissions as well as the aspects of heat supply and heat demands together withconstructive building measures, will result in the most economical solutions. Integrated

planning is therefore a method which can be further recommended for neighborhooddevelopment tasks. It is also important to coordinate short-term planning with themunicipalities’ long-term strategies in order to avoid local sub-optimizations forneighborhoods.

Examples from some projects showed that the driving force can be a social vision of shareholders in the housing company or of the developer, namely to apply a holistic viewincluding economy, health, sustainability and quality of life of the residents/users. Insome cases, especially within the public housing sector, the company management wasencouraged by their owners to look at overall benefits for society rather than themaximum profit for the company, thus extending the notion of economic optimum from apurely economic to a societal perspective.

23) A QA system is a very useful tool to enable your organization to retrofit and manage a large number of dwellings in a systematic and controlled way, thus harvesting the great potential for improvements. The overallobjective of the SQUARE QA system is to ascertain that all predefined requirements on indoor environment andenergy use performance are reached, i.e. that none of them is reached on too high expense of another. It is basedon a policy for retrofit actions, indoor environment and energy use defined by the organization, and includes allthe steps in the renovation process, i.e. the planning, design, construction and management phases. See also theSQUARE home page http://www.iee-square.eu.




Final report 149

Planning tools for simulation, optimization and for decision trees are commonly used inthe planning process. However a tool for integrated planning of neighborhoods could notbe identified and is probably not very common. See further chapter 7.2. for moreinformation on planning tools.

Technologies

In the Subtask B case study projects, a broad spectrum of renewable energy supplysystems and energy-saving techniques have been combined with energy-efficientbuildings. Examples for energy supply are biomass heating plants in combination withdecentralized solar energy systems; heat pumps feeding heat either into district heatingnetworks or supplying energy directly to buildings; PV systems dimensioned for surpluselectricity export. Newly built and refurbished buildings can exhibit different energystandards, from existing building code standards to Passive house standard, serving as amodel for city planning purposes. New technologies for building construction, facades andair ventilation systems are tested. The use of primary energy has been reduced in someprojects by 80%, compared to the previous situation, although reduction to about 50%–70% has been shown to be the most cost-attractive for the time being.

By introducing district heating and cooling systems, the need for peak load capacities canbe reduced, using all the advantages of large-scale operation instead of the use of detached systems for every building. In neighborhoods of sufficient density, this measureimproves considerably the economy of the neighborhood’s energy system.

The use of district heating systems has been shown to be very successful in many of theanalysed cases. Especially combined heating and power plants were shown to reduceeffectively the use of primary energy. In other projects, low–temperature district heatingsystems have been demonstrated, especially in connection with renewable energy suchas solar energy or geothermal energy. Electrical heat pumps were also shown toeffectively support the use of low temperature heat sources.

Integrated energy solutions demonstrate that vastly improved energy efficiency andgreenhouse gas reduction are feasible not only in a dedicated research project but also inthe context of a normal-scale development using proven technical approaches.

Passive houses are playing a key-role in three of the analyzed cases. It is obvious, thatPassive houses can reach very low energy use figures as far as supplied energy isconcerned. However, concerning the level of primary energy saving, it depends more onthe overall energy system of the neighborhood and the system boundary considered,how much reduction of primary energy can be attributed to Passive houses. Furthermore,it was shown that both new developed Passive houses as well as refurbishment topassive house standard can be achieved at very attractive costs (see also economicconsideration in next section).

Economic considerations

Demonstration projects backed by subsidies are very important as showcases fortechnologies. Such showcases demonstrate the synergies between traditional urbanrenewal, the possible applications of energy efficiency and other sustainability measuresand -to a certain extent - the policy pursued on the scale of an entire agglomeration. It






Final report 151

Critical issues

For commercial buildings it is more difficult to reach high energy standard because of absence of political driving forces (such as aspects of social welfare are for neighborhooddevelopment). A number of reasons contribute to this problem, but two perhaps standout the most: Commercial buildings very often have a higher ROI demand (return oninvestment) and normally the time of occupancy is shorter, thus favoring higher

operation costs (for heating and cooling) instead of high investments (for energyconservation measures). Also very often, industrial premises only need peak power inwinter because of waste supply of internal process energy during working time. Henceenergy conservation in the industrial sector has to start in the industrial process routinesbefore it is meaningful to apply it to buildings.

Some critical issues had to be overcome: Slight increase of rents had to be accepted aswell as sometimes decreased profitability of refurbishment projects or long pay-backperiods of 20 or more years. This depends quite strongly on type of shareholder andcompany.

Evaluation – Verification

Monitoring is treated in most of the projects as a separate project and not seen as anintegral part of the energy conservation project. The reason for that is that most of theSubtask B projects are showcase projects where evaluation and monitoring is part of theevaluation task carried out by universities or similar institutions. Instead we recommendthat verification of the anticipated energy goals and cost structures should be anessential component of the energy conservation projects.

A good idea is to start energy monitoring quite early in neighborhood projects in order toget feedback on the effectiveness of the applied measures. In at least one project(Brogården), this early evaluation has resulted in changes to the applied insulationtechniques and to essential cost saving during the ongoing project and hence to a better

final quality for the tenants, besides the improved environmental results.When discussing energy-optimized communities, monitoring figures should show theresults by relevant indicators/figures. Since community projects involve multiple aspects,there must be a set of parameters indicating overall quality. Such parameters caninclude: average energy performance of buildings, non-renewable primary energydemand, share of local energy production, etc. For the moment, there is no standardizedand accepted set of such parameters/indicators/figures for monitoring of communities.

The social component

An important feature in refurbishment projects is the participation of the tenants by

means of a two-way communication with the owner. This gives the owner feedback aboutthe tenants´ wishes and complaints but also facilitates the tenant’s understanding of theimplications for their future life in these buildings. In the long run, this communicationalso facilitated the acceptance of increased rent by the tenants.

In the Brogården case study project, the tenants appreciated the architecture andexpressed satisfaction for living in what they themselves considered a “sustainablecommunity.” In this example, where some of the tenants preferred security and social




Final report 152

cooperation, the tenants experienced that their living situation improved due to theincrease in housing comfort and decrease in energy costs. The recognition of alsocontributing to a better environment and the publicity given to the refurbishment projectalso increased their self-respect.

In the special case of the Mine water project in Heerlen (NL), the project became a greatsuccess socially, giving the former miners and the community a feeling of becoming

energy pioneers. The showcase effect raised by the media in respect to global warming,together with the modern look of buildings, added some glamour to the area, which waspositively accounted for by the former miners living in this area.

The showcase effect

In many case studies, during and after implementation, the projects exhibiting a pilotcharacter gained a lot of attention from the mass media, politicians and other decisionmakers. In some cases, special PR events have taken place. These projects, serving asshowcases for technical examples of energy conservation measures and sustainabilitystrategies, generated a large amount of goodwill. Besides the social implications, namely

to support the self-respect of the tenants in the respective area through their participa-tion in modern or novel technologies, the projects are seen in many countries as sign-boards for planned refurbishing or new developments with a huge replication potential.

The information campaigns by the mass media and the organized events were alsoimportant to attract new tenants to the area. Many people appreciated the “advanced” architecture and expressed satisfaction for living in what they considered a “sustainablecommunity.”

7.2. Key findings from Subtask B for Annex 51

The Planning Process- Most of the Subtask B case studies have a “pioneering character” (that was one

criterion to select them), either to deliver raised energy standards (energydemand, renewables) or to implement technical innovations or both. Because of this, almost all case studies are subsidized.

- Because of the subsidies, external stakeholders can influence the investors tofulfill additional requirements (energy targets, innovations, evaluation andlearning processes) and investors accept these requirements.

- While Subtask B case studies are driven by “stakeholders” in the form of specificrequirements and by subsidies, access to these drivers cannot be generalized toother neighborhood projects, where little or no subsidies are available. Here, the

“market” will be the driver in the sense that the solution offered is required to beeconomically viable for customers (tenants, property buyer, etc.).

- Since a widespread market adoption of ambitious neighborhood or district energyconcepts will in general have little public funding available, economic optimization(long-term, LCA) will be necessary in any case. Otherwise, there will be noimplementation. That means for instance that energy demand should not bereduced as far as technically possible, but as far as is economically viable. In




Final report 153

addition, energy supply has to be integrated into the “whole system” optimization.Here, utilities or local ESCOs may be involved, who have the flexibility andpractical know-how to cope with low energy demand density and/or highcapitalized costs.

- In the case of rented buildings, there are split incentives between tenants (whohave the advantage of energy savings and comfort improvements), and

investors/landlords, who may have the advantage of fewer empty apartments,and improved long-term marketability (and therefore, investment or loansecurities). To enable investments, the capital return in form of higher rents(perhaps equalized by lower energy costs) must be achievable for the investor,which might be supported by neighborhood development activities (urbanarchitecture attractiveness, local services, recreation, transportation) beyondenergy refurbishment, employing a “holistic neighborhood approach.” Here, co-operation with the municipality and urban planners is an essential requirementand has to be organized.

- At the beginning of a planning process, the overall concept has to be developed.Based on this general decisions will be made. In order to insure high quality of

concept/decision tools for optimization and decision-making shall be used.

- When planning for a reduction of energy use in neighborhoods, we see that low-exergy concepts, taking advantage of energy cascading and low temperatureapplications, will become increasingly interesting. Such systems, however, mustbe carefully planned even in the first steps of building and energy system designand discussed with the other stakeholders of the project in detail. In fact, theidentification of the optimum between reducing energy demand to allow low-energy solutions and the possibility of earning back the (extra) investments done(for energy conservation measures) by “selling” enough energy is quite narrowand not very stable.

-We have learned from experience in new development projects that theimplementation of a really ambitious neighborhood concept will require theinvolvement of all stakeholders from the very beginning in a transparent decision-making process that needs to lead to an agreement among all. This processshould be organized by a responsible person who is in charge for the wholeprocess and who is able to delegate duties and subtasks to other stakeholders. Itwill also require a (voluntary or formally defined) commitment from all stake-holders to common targets and transparent co-operation throughout the planningand construction phase.

- Search for all possibilities of local energy supply in the area to be developed, tryto create support among the citizens, which results in political commitment andcommitment from administrations.

- There is a change noticeable within the municipality and other potential partnerswithin development projects, acknowledging the need for energy transitionprocesses immediately or in the long run. Hence it will be easier in the future todeal with these questions when discussing with city planning offices and similarorganizations.




Final report 154

Quality control

- One important issue for the project stakeholders during the initialization processbut also during and following the execution process is quality control. It turnedout — in lessons from Subtask B projects — that rigorous goals, e.g., regardingenergy standards and sustainability, might not be met if a quality agreement wasnot set up for all involved partners. It was also important for the project steering

bodies to assure themselves that the participating vendors and tradesmen get thenecessary quality agreement information and understand what it means for theirwork.

Planning tools

- While PC-based planning tools for buildings are available and widely used byplanners and architects, planning tools for whole neighborhoods are not. Theavailability of such tools for neighborhood planning in the early planning stagewould be of great usefulness. However, in the long term, this planning has to beintegrated into the wider planning aspect of a general sustainability target forneighborhoods and cities. Energy saving is — with respect to the threat of globalwarming — a key issue these days supported by national and internationalgovernments and legislation. But other problems, such as water and air quality aswell as transportation, to mention a few, are of great importance in the localcontext and planning processes for neighborhoods must deal with these issues aswell. Therefore, a model for multi-criteria optimization is also desirable, includingall aspects of sustainability. Probably such a model must be of modular design,leaving it to the planner to investigate the different aspects of sustainability forthe analyzed neighborhood or city and the mutual interaction among them. 24)

- As can be seen from the description of planning processes in the differentcountries, in none of the projects can we speak of the exclusive use of “one” planning tool making the process of neighborhood planning a computationalapplication. In some cases the planning was rather conventional decision-making,

supported by some tools for simulation or optimization; in other cases, tools wereused for more subtle guidance through the planning process. Even in projects withan integral design approach, several tools were often used in parallel. The mainreason is that most of the projects have multiple objectives and no single tool ispractically available for solving all the multidimensional problems connected withit. Therefore, a “District Energy Concept adviser,” as prepared within Annex 51,would be a needed tool for neighborhood planning but must be supplemented byplanning tools for non-energy objectives.

- Important efforts in the planning process are directed towards the well-being of the tenants. Most of the case studies contributed to STB are organized by socialhousing companies or similar entities. That means that the tenants are a target

group for which certain regulations regarding the upper limit of their monthly rentis effective. This implies in general a tradeoff between how much can be paid forthe amortization of fixed costs and how much for flexible (energy) costs. Thisarrangement limits the amount of investment that can be spent on housingprojects.

24) More details of planning methods will be treated in the Guidebook, Chapter 4 [22].




Final report 155

Policy instruments

- It is quite obvious from the Subtask B projects that policy instruments have a biginfluence on the outcome and achievements of the project contract. In manycountries funding schemes are available which might be applicable to projects thatcomprise novel approaches or interesting issues such as sustainability in severalaspects. Project managers are often eager to acquire such funding possibilities,

partly because the novelty of the project increases the risk of project success andpartly because it was a promising way to increase the interest of the tenants inthe project. Hence the availability of subsidies and other policy instruments suchas tax reduction or simply local or national regulations are important successfactors for many projects. However, these policy instruments are ad hoc andcannot be accounted for in all cases of neighborhood development.

Cost/benefit

- The conclusion from Subtask B projects is that it is essential that the plannedinvestments match the targets on energy conservation and efficiency, exploitationof renewable energy and limitation of CO2 emissions, and vice versa, already inthe initial planning phase. In these case studies it was quite evident that we havea trade-off between energy saving and energy supply measures. Supplied energyis often based on renewable energy at somewhat higher costs than fossil fuels(which is not true in all cases) and constructive energy-saving measures becomesuccessively more expensive as more measures are added. That means that anoptimum must be evaluated, which should be carefully verified, before decisionsfor implementation are made. Tools for this optimization are commonly available.

Involvement of tenants

- Energy-effective systems, such as presented by low-energy buildings or Passivehouses need a good deal of involvement from the tenants. Partly they have tounderstand the systems and control equipment to some degree to enable them to

check that it works properly, and partly they must consciously follow theinstructions that result in a successful energy-saving strategy. Therefore,information and education are part of the owner’s strategy towards the tenants.

- Furthermore, in refurbishment projects, it is very important that the owner andthe tenant build a relationship of mutual trust. The refurbishment work oftenimplies a drastic impact on the life of the tenants which must be encountered bythe owner with a shrewd mixture of empathy and incentives in order to maintain apositive attitude of the tenants. Increased housing costs might be an impediment.Continued regular information and accessibility for proposals and ideas on the partof tenants is an important ingredient for successful projects. Every measure andevery instruction must be comprehensible by the tenants to be able to achievetough energy-saving goals. The latter is very important in cases where reducedenergy costs have been used to compensate for accepting increased rent.

- Information to the public, reported in the mass media, also gives the tenants aclue about the importance of their dwellings and their living situation. In manycases it was recognized that the awareness of being a part of a new andinnovative system, which received public attention, also increased the self-respectof the people involved.




Final report 156

7.3. Proposal for further research

The following issues are seen as important subjects for further research when developingsustainable neighborhoods:

a) Definition of neighborhood/communities – criteria: Whereas discrete buildings canbe easily built on an energy efficient and economical way, many other

sustainability issues such as transportation, water and waste handling, socialwelfare can, a. o. can be better treated on neighborhood or quarter level. What isthe most cost-efficient size for area development economics? What size andcomplexity should be aimed for?

b) Data sources: Which data sources are available on neighborhood/community levelfor achieving a first step of sustainable community planning, i. e. establishing aenergy resource and demand inventory for the neighborhood to be developed?

c) Decision-making: What are the relevant benchmarking indicators for energy-optimized communities, and for sustainable communities? How can decision-making processes be supported by these indicators?

d) Planning Tools: Development of a simple-to-use optimization tool forneighborhoods (and communities) including different sustainability aspects ishighly desirable.

e) Coordination with other sustainability goals: How should energy-efficientneighborhood development be coordinated with all the other sustainability issuessuch as transport, water and waste treatment, clean air, etc.? Can a priority orhierarchy list be developed? What synergy effects arise from such coordination?




Final report 157

8. Recommendations for Subtask D

Evaluation of projects

- Cost structures and cost functions shall be evaluated and compared with the datafrom other case studies.

- Demand calculations and practical measurement results of demand (heating,cooling, DHW, electricity) shall be compared in detail to verify theoretical models.Also different calculation methods used in the case studies shall be described/compared.

- Estimate of embodied energies and comparison with annual energy consumption(new and refurbished buildings) would be of interest.

- Match economic analysis made by using life-cycle calculations with realinvestment decision-making.

- Evaluate measures and practical results described in case studies to save

electricity.- Explore experiences from motivation approaches for energy users to save energy

and on potential influence by concrete feedback to user behavior.

- Before starting a refurbishment or new development project, a clear businessmodel and financial forecast showing the economic and energetic return of thesystem should be established.




Final report 158

9. References[1] Helmut Strasser, SIR Austria: Case Study for Austria: Stadtwerk Lehen, Salzburg.STB Evaluation Study 2010.

[2] Ken Church, National resources Canada: Case study for Canada: Petit RivièreRegenerative Plan. STB Evaluation Study 2010.

[3] Alessandro Dalla Rosa , Sven Svendsen, Technical University of Denmark: Case studyfor Denmark: Low-Energy Neighborhood in Lystrup, Denmark . STB Evaluation Study2010.

[4] [1] Lahti, Pekka; Nieminen, Jyri et al.: Riihimäen Peltosaari - Lähiön ekotehokasuudistaminen [Peltosaari in Riihimäki – Eco-efficient renwal of a neighborhood]. 2010.VTT, Espoo. 107 6. + app. 13 p. VTT Tiedotteita - Research Notes : 2526.http://www.vtt.fi/inf/pdf/tiedotteet/2010/T2526.pdf

[5] Benoit Boutaud, Andreas Koch, Pascal Girault, European Institute for EnergyResearch, Karlsruhe, Germany: Case study for France: The Franklin district of Mulhouse:First French experience of low energy building renovation in a historic area of the city centre. STB Evaluation Study 2011.

[6] Reinhard Jank, Volkswohnung Karlsruhe, Case study 1 for Germany: Future-proof development concept for the Karlsruhe-Rintheim residential sub-district. STB EvaluationStudy 2010.

[7] Alfred Kerschberger, Astrid Kloos, RK-Stuttgart+++Architektur und Energy Design:Konversion - Von der Militärbrache zur Nullenergiestadt - Das B&O - Parkgelände Bad Aibling auf dem Weg in die Zukunft ; Kurzbericht. Schlussbericht – Phase Konzeption,2010.

[8] Ryota Kuzuki, Michinobu Furukawa: “Kumagaya” Project: Inter-building Thermal Transfer System for Extended Use of Solar Heat . STB Evaluation Study 2011.

[9] Peter Op ‘t Veld, Zbigniew Malolepszy, Klara Bojadgieva, Jure Vertsek, Cauberg-Huygen Consulting Engineers, Maastricht: Geothermal Developement of Low Temperature Resources in European Coal Mining Fields in practice: The EC REMINING-

Lowex project. Proceedings World Geothermal Congress 2010, Bali, Indonesia.[10] Heimo Zinko: Passive house refurbishment in Alingsås. STB Evaluation Study 2010.

[12] Alexander Zhivov et al., U.S. Army Engineer Research & Development Center;Champaign, IL, USA: Fort Irwin – W orking towards Net Zero Energy. Building ClusterAnalysis – Case Study. 2010.

[13] Annex 51 - Subtask A: Description of the state-of-the-art of energy efficient projectson the scale of neighborhood ; Discussion Paper – 7th February 2011

[14] Di Nucci, M.-R. and O. Pol (2010). Planning and implementation process assessment report - CONCERTO report. Vienna, Austrian Institute of Technology.

[15] M. P. de Wit, A.P.C. Faail; Biomass Resources - Potential and Related Costs. Assessment of EU27, Switzerland, Norway and Ukraine. Refuel Work Package 3 final

report. Copernicus Institute, Utech University, 2008.[16] J.O Dalenbäck: Success factor in Solar District Heating. WP2 – Micro AnalysesReport D2.1. Intelligent Energy Europe 2010. CIT Energy Management AB, Gothenburg,Sweden.

[17] Ulla Jansson. Passive houses in Sweden - From design to evaluation of four de-monstration projects. Division of Energy and Building Design, Department of Architecture




Final report 159

and Built Environment, Lund University, Faculty of Engineering LTH, 2010 Report EBD-T--10/12

[18] Jakob Worm: CO2 reductions in low energy buildings and communities by implementation of low temperature district heating systems. Demonstration cases inBoligforeningen Ringgården and EnergyFlexHouse. Hovedrapport, Energistyrelsen - EUDP2008-II . Juni 2011. Journalnr. 63011-0152.

[19] Christian Holm Christiansen et al.: Demonstration af lavenergifjernvarme til Lavenergibyggeri i energyflexhouse ; Delrapport 1 Energistyrelsen - EUDP 2008-II; Maj2011. Demonstration af lavenergifjernvarme til Lavenergibyggeri i boligforeningenringgårdens afd. 34 i Lystrup; Delrapport 2 Energistyrelsen - EUDP 2008-II; Maj 2011.

[20] Lester R. Brown: Building a Sustainable Society (1981)

[21] Gro Harlem Brundtland: Report of the World Commission on Environment andDevelopment: Our Common Future). 1992.

[22] Annex 51, Subtask D: Guidebook to Successful Urban Energy Planning” . Inpreparation, to be published 2013.

[23] “bauen mit holz” Heft 3, Experimentelles Bauen: Nullenergiestadt, 2009).

[24] SQUARE - A System for Quality Assurance when Retrofitting Existing buildings to

Energy efficient buildings. www.iee-square.eu[25] Innova: Passive house refurbishment of an apartment building of 170’s.http://parocfi.virtual35.nebula.fi/innova/etusivu.html

[26] Peltosaari project. http://www.riihimaki.fi/Riihimaki/Tekninen-keskus/Peltosaari-projekti/




Final report 160

Appendix A

Energy performance measures in some case studies

Performance targets of the Canadian case study for Petite Rivière:

P1. Energy consumption in buildings: A 50% reduction in annual energy use for each

building type from the outset must be achieved. P2. Neighborhood use of renewable and waste energy: Neighborhood scale energy

systems are to meet the needs of the community with clean energy that emits zerogreenhouse gas emissions by 2020. Given the economic and legislative barriers inQuebec.

P3. Housing affordability: Although this project is located in an area with one of thehigher average condominium price ranges on the island of Montreal, the projectsgoal is to provide 31% or more residential units within the City of Montrealdefinition of affordable housing25.

P4. Land use diversity: Designed to be a multi-functional, mixed-use and compactcommunity, the project is to achieve a 4:1 ratio of residential land to mixed-useland, and evenly balance public open space and natural habitat.

P5. Proximity of daily destinations: 100% of residents will have walking-distance accessto either new or existing grocery and prepared foods, and 85% will have suchaccess to pharmacy.

P6. Jobs proximity: It is intended that employment opportunities should be created tosurround the development. This will be significant if the goal is to minimize thecarbon impact of travel to work.

P7. Proximity to civic amenities: Currently there are several existing civic amenitiessurrounding the site. The project will enhance the connectivity and access to thesevia the use of public and alternative transport.

P8. Transit supportive density: Phasing of the development will allow the site to buildtoward a residential density of 372 occupants per hectare, considered sufficient tosupport the extension of existing public transportation routes and an inter-modalhub (bus/train).

P9. Transit proximity and quality: It is intended that alternative and public transitoptions will be installed on the development site with a goal that 100% of occupants and jobs be within five minutes of a transit access point.

P10. Pedestrian route connectivity and safety: The principles of shared space design willbe employed to create streets which are convivial and flexible, tied to pedestrianpathways traversing the natural areas of the site, and which extend into the

surrounding communities.P11. On-site stormwater infiltration: The project will reduce run-off by increasing site

permeability, site retention capacity and designing the system for the re-use of storm water.

25 Housing expenses less than 30% of pre-tax income.




Final report 161

P12. Potable water use reduction: Water-efficiency and additional non-potable re-usefeatures will reduce annual residential consumption by 60%-70%.

P13. Tree canopy intensity: Maintaining the site’s existing trees will preserve one of theproject’s greatest assets, and has been designated as one of the primary organizingelements of the plan. The project will cover 37% of the site with tree canopy in 10years, 66% of which will be from existing trees.

P14. Open space proximity and quality: The project will give 100% of its dwellingsimmediate access to a variety of public outdoor spaces by weaving parkland intoregenerating ecosystems, water treatment zones and urban agriculture space.These spaces will then be interconnected by pedestrian and cycling paths.

P15. Natural habitat protected, restored, enhanced or created: By dedicating land to thecreation of a variety of interconnected, diverse and self-sustaining ecosystems, andby protecting, restoring and enhancing the small areas of existing habitat, theproject will increase existing habitat on site by more than 700%.

P16. Agricultural land protected: Urban agricultural land will be created as wild parklandand local gardens.

P17. Access to locally produced food: The project will give residents and neighborsaccess to locally produced food by dedicating land and building surfaces to foodproduction, and creating collective orchards.

P18. Watershed protection: The site’s existing water courses will be protected anddeveloped to collect and eliminate pollutants from harmful landscape practices.




Final report 162

Energy saving measures in the analyzed building cluster and energy

plant of Ft. Irwin, USA

Barracks Buildings

The following possible improvements were identified for the barracks:

- Upgrade the external insulation of the walls to R-42.

- Install a new roof using a cool roof surface and R-39 insulation.

- Install triple-pane, LowEx, operable windows.

- Install window and door monitoring switches that turn heating or cooling off whenthe switch is activated (i.e., when the door or window is open).

- Install more efficient lighting to reduce the load to 5 W/m2.

- Assume Army influence on plug loads to get down to 6 W/m2.

- Install efficient laundry equipment (EnergyStar) to reduce the electric load by50%.

- Duct all bathroom exhausts to common roof-mounted exhaust fans withcontinuous operation, mainly to prevent mold growth in the bathrooms. Install aheat recovery unit to recover heat from exhaust air to outside air entering theDOAS AHU.

- Replace the existing two-pipe fan coil units with these system types:

- DOAS (dedicated outdoor air system) with Radiant Heating and Cooling (directand indirect evaporative cooling)

- DOAS-VAV (variable air volume) System with Direct Evaporative Cooling

ECMs – Dining Facility 271

Besides similar measures for thermal insulation as for the barracks above, the followingmeasures have been investigated:

- Reduce infiltration to 0.1 ACH by sealing unwanted openings in the building.

- Install more efficient lighting to reduce the load to 10 W/m2 in the dining area,and install controls to reduce lighting by 50% when unoccupied.

- Install skylights in dining and serving areas and controls so lights may beswitched off when natural light is adequate.

- Change cooking equipment to electric, which is three times more efficient thangas or steam-heated appliances.

- Improve kitchen hood performance by adding wings to the hoods and air flowcontrol.

- Install a heat recovery unit in the kitchen exhaust system.

- Reduce DHW energy use by 50% by improving the dishwashing machine anddrain water heat recovery as well as refrigeration equipment heat recovery.




Final report 163

- Readjust the dining and serving area space temperatures to 75°F (24°C) whenoccupied and cooling and to 70°F (21°C) when occupied and heating. Whenunoccupied, the temperature set-point would be 78°F (25.5°C) cooling and 68°F(20°C) heating.

- Replace existing MAUs and AHU with units having evaporative coolers followed bycooling coils that reduce the cooling energy use.

- Reduce the dining area miscellaneous load by turning off the TV when the space isunoccupied.

ECMs – Central Energy Plant 263

The modifications to the Central Energy Plant to reduce energy use are:

- Replace the boilers with (92%) more efficient boilers.

- Control hot water supply temperature vs. outdoor temperature with a maximumof 160°F (71°C) and a minimum of 100°F (38°C).

- Install VFDs for variable hot water loop flow.

- Chiller plant upgrade project - Install a downsized, high-efficiency VSD centrifugal chiller designed to operate

properly at high lift conditions (for Thermal Energy Storage system chargecycles).

- There is also a project being considered separately that may add a chilled waterThermal Energy Storage system to cool the complex.

- The chiller shall be designed for variable flow evaporator and condenser systems.

- Convert the chilled water piping/pumping system to be a primary-only, variableflow design.

- Install a new variable speed condenser water pump.

- Install a new high surface area, low fan horsepower (hp), variable speed, high wetbulb rated, cooling tower system. The cooling tower (CT) should be rated at 78 °F(25.5°C) wet bulb temperature, with a maximum of 0.05 brake horsepower (BHP)per rated ton of heat rejection.

- The CT should be designed to operate with flow down to 30% of the design flow.

- Install a cooling tower condenser water filtration system. A sub-1 micron sandfilter system is recommended to reduce the volume of fine solids while minimizingthe impact to labor.

- Install a chilled water filtration system. A sub-1 micron sand filter system isrecommended to reduce the volume of fine solids while minimizing the impact to

labor.

- Install a heating hot water filtration system. A sub-1 micron sand filter system isrecommended to reduce the volume of fine solids while minimizing the impact tolabor.

- Install a refrigerant monitor and refrigerant exhaust system for the new chiller forcode compliance.




Final report 164

- Modify the chilled water piping for the new design/chiller.

- Modify the condenser water piping for the new design/chiller.

- Install a 20-ton heat recovery chiller (set up for 135 °F water) and a storage tankfor domestic hot water needs. This measure was initially deleted from the project,as it is expected that there will be a solar thermal heating system, or a waste heat

recovery system that would be implemented along with the system upgrades. If no form of “free” heating is available for the project, this would be a viable option.

- Integrate the heat recovery system into the existing heating system.

- This measure was initially deleted from the project, as it is expected that therewill be a solar thermal heating system, or a waste heat recovery system thatwould be implemented along with the system upgrades. If no form of “free” heating is available for the project, this would be a viable option.

- Interface the proposed new chilled water Thermal Energy Storage Tank with theappropriate TES piping/pumping systems.

- Install Load Based Optimization System (LOBOS) controls for the heating and

cooling central plant systems.- Upgrade the DDC Controls in the plant.

- Install an energy monitoring/evaluation system.




Final report 165

Appendix B

SWOT Analysis - Part 1

STRENGTH WEAKNESS


Strong public support from NGOs and now the general

public (PR)

City Hall under a veil of scandal and therefore strong anti-

developer sentiment (PR)

Original application for design approval rejected because of

“excessive” infrastructure costs (PR)

Corporate work by the municipality is contrary to their

regular tasks (HE)


The project is controlled by two charismatic managers

communicating their ideas about Passive houses and low

energy construction to both workmen and tenants (BG)

The project goal was very early directed towards Passive

house technology, other alternatives were not thoroughly

analyzed (BG)

Strong goal-oriented organization of work involving the

executing construction company and contractors (BG)

The project is driven by a determined developer with a

solid understanding of land-use planning and municipal lawas well as of the goals and desires for the development (PR)

Original intent of local biogas production eliminated when

City Hall did not approve the site. Nearest biogas site is 3kmfrom development (PR)

The flexibility of the decision makers (mainly the board of

the housing association) and their readiness to adapt the

plan to the contingency was decisive for the success of the

project (LY)

The project benefited from the extensive collaboration

among different partners: the housing association,

industrial partners, architectural and engineering

consultants, research institutions and governmental

agencies (LY)

Strong leadership politically and in administration in the

initial phase of the project (HE)

Organization structure of the energy exploitation in the

operational phase of the project (HE)

Dedicated project management entity (SERM) has the

opportunity to pool and manage the knowledge of the

rehabilitation scheme (FR)

Bottleneck of Mine water was the organization of

contracting the demand for heat on time (HE)

Quality agreement with defined targets, quality criteria (as

a result of participation in EU Concerto program) were

binding for all involved parties. Being the basis for getting

EU funding, quality criteria became very important in whole

process. (LE)

Project was steered by a steering group with members of

all involved organizations (politics, city planning

department, involved housing associations, energy supplier,

…), with regular meetings. These helped to overcome a lot

of barriers during the development process (e.g. energy

concept based on solar energy/heat pump/district heating

and own low-temperature micro-net was not compatible

with existing regulations for social housing) (LE)

Environmental, energy and technical issues

Holistic view, dealing with energy efficiency both in the

building sector and in the energy supply sector (LY)

Discussion / decision for renovation of existing building

stock took a lot of time and was not only based on technical

facts but also on social issues (renovation or demolishment

and new build) with participation of politicians and public

medias. (LE)

Reached a high level of energy efficiency despite obstacles

(renovation, historic protection area, ambitious objectives)

(FR)

Although goals were clear from beginning (quality agree-

ment) it was difficult to motivate architects to achieve

better thermal standards than required (e.g. Passive house




Final report 166

standards) (LE)

Engagement of energy supplier to realize an innovative

energy concept (LE)

Ideas of best-practice mobility concept were not realized

(LE)

Economy

Win/win-contract between owner and general contractor

stimulates cost reduction due to learning curve during the

construction process (of five years for 18 buildings) (BG)

Refurbishment costs might be high, at least in the initial

project phase (long payback time) (BG)

It was necessary to enlarge the capital investment (also

with public subsidies) in order to fully implement the

energy plan for the area (LY)

The buildings (customers) were 25% more energy efficient

then calculated which makes the business case for the mine

water project less of a success (HE)

The project is dependent on several public funding

instruments and can only be partly replicated (FR)


Large social impact, positive answer to post mining

problems (HE)

Tenants have to be taught how to live in energy-efficient

buildings, otherwise the potential for energy-saving is not

entirely exploited (LY)

Socially a big success, broad support from citizens (HE)Good use of potential of the area, therefore broad support

(HE)

Positive communication (HE)

Improvement of the well-being of tenants (FR)Sometimes lack of influence of tenants concerning behavior

(FR)

1) Some objects were not realized




Final report 167

SWOT Analysis - Part 2

OPPORTUNITIES THREATS


The Danish building regulation sets strict energy

requirements for the buildings and gives information also

about future energy standards. The long-term energy policyrequires the decision makers in the housing association to

act now to be ready to meet the challenge (LY)

City Hall may still have cold feet and reject the proposal

(PR)

Project and objectives biased and threatened by different

political interests (HE)

Municipalities can do little; stricter legislation is needed to

achieve the energy transition. Otherwise there are too

many restrictions by vested interests (HE)

Energy exploitation and green business making is not a

municipal core task. Renewable energy exploitation is still

an unknown phenomena (HE)


Tasks of detailed community planning need sufficient

material and personal resources in city planning

departments. Without these, continuos project workcannot be effected.

Environmental, energy and technical issues

The project serves as a pilot project for the necessary

refurbishment of buildings constructed 50 years ago during

the Swedish “Million Program” - large multiplication factor

(BR)

Alignment with Gaz Metropolitaine which owns the nearest

biogas site. Willing to run a dedicated pipeline to the

development (PR)

There will a large potential in Denmark for technologies

developed in the project, if the technology is adapted toinclude existing buildings as well and the vast, existing

district heating networks (LY)

- To some extent the Danish building-type manufacture’s

tradition is a barrier for planning the community as a

whole, more than as a collection of individual building

units. In fact the tendency in the sector, related to low-

energy buildings, is to provide solutions based upon

individual energy supply systems, mainly heat pumps, and

the building types are often not developed with a friendly

interface to district energy systems (“district-heating-

ready”) (LY)

The operation of the low-temperature DH network and the

substations have been monitored. The data acquisition

system allowed solutions to the main issues that occurred

during the first period of operation and suggested future

improvements (LY)

- Long pay-back periods threat such projects, if economy

plays the most important role in the decision-making

process (LY)

Experiences can be used in other areas with mining, 30

mine water projects in Europe already initiated (HE)

Mine water project can be expanded to other areas in

Heerlen, the infrastructure is a backbone for further

expansions in region, potential for new customers, demandside as well as feed-in of renewables (HE)

Play the part of reference for next projects (FR)

Combine urban and environmental issues within the same

project (PR)

Slow marketplace limiting cost increases due to planning

delays (PR)




Final report 168

Positive side effects like impact on economic situation,

embedding in education (HE)

Creation of a regional pool of competencies in low-energy

construction (FR)

Project serves as a pilot project for further municipal (and

national) projects on community level (LE)

Energy concept serves as an example for improvement of

CO2 balance in districts with existing district heating system

but can also initiate discussion about further strategies for

optimization / improvements of municipal district heating

systems (LE)

Realization of further projects without any binding

organizational structure (in Salzburg –Lehen funding of EU

Concerto project lead to common quality criteria and clear

organization of teamwork). For further projects questions

will be:

- What instruments do cities have to make engaged

targets binding, by whom will common tasks like

energy planning for the whole community be

ordered/paid - who defines the useful boundaries of communities,

by what criteria (LE) Social impact regarding tenants and neighborhood

Increased standard of living for group of socially weakly

rooted tenants (BR)

The information campaign by the mass media and the

organized events were important to attract people to the

area. The tenants appreciated the architecture and

expressed satisfaction for living in what they themselves

considered a “sustainable community” (LY)




Final report 169



Date post:	14-Apr-2018
Category:	Documents
Upload:	roma38
View:	216 times
Download:	0 times

STB Final Report Final JAN2013

Documents