A methodology to assess energy-demand savings and cost effectiveness of retrofitting in existing Swedish residential buildings

Swedish residential buildings are typically retrofitted on a case-by-case basis. Large numbers of building consultants are involved in the decision-making, and stakeholders find it difficult to quantify the sustainable profits from retrofits and to make an efficient selection of the optimal alternative. The present paper presents an approach to design and assess energy-demand retrofitting scenarios. This aims to contribute to retrofitting decision-making regarding the main archetypes of existing Swedish residential buildings and to the evaluation of their long-term cost effectiveness. The approach combines energy-demand modeling and retrofit option rankings with life-cycle cost analysis (LCCA). Four types of typical Swedish residential buildings are used to demonstrate the model. Retrofits in the archetypes are defined, analyzed and ranked to indicate the long-term energy savings and economic profits. The model indicates that the energy saving potential of retrofitting is 36-54% in the archetypes. However, retrofits with the largest energy-saving potential are not always the most cost effective. The long-term profits of retrofitting are largely dominated by the building types. The finding can contribute to the standardization of future retrofitting designs on municipality scale in Sweden.