Towards more effective residential retrofit interventions

Abstract

Humanity is facing large scale environmental challenges emerging from the anthropogenic climate change. Greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) are widely considered to be the main driver of the changing climate. With the built environment currently being accountable for about 40% for our total GHG emissions there is a great urgency to act and change our current consumtion patterns. Whereas new buildings are already mostly able to achieve a high energy efficiency the biggest potential for CO2 reductions lies in retrofitting the existing housing stock. Yet current interventions aimed at retrofitting our built environment often seem to remain below their expectations. Actual solid evidence on their performance is scarce and inaccurate. One reason for the lack of information is seemingly the rather simplified and therfore inadequate approach to generate feedback. In order to provide more accurate evidence and thereby facilitate more effective decision-making this research investigates an alternative approach based on a more holistic thinking and the use of data innovation.