Multi-active Façades for Renovation of Million Program Houses

Abstract

Sweden faces an upcoming period where thousands of buildings built during the million program period will be in need of a façade renovation. There is a large energy-saving potential in these buildings, since they are often poorly insulated and often have a ventilation system without heat recovery. Performing energy-efficient renovation measures to a building are expensive, which results in that the property owner does not undergo the renovation. This in return can lead to that the façades of the million program houses deteriorate.

The aim of this master’s thesis was to map developed multi-active façade systems on the market, to determine if integrating multi-active façade systems to million program houses is a more energy and cost efficient solution compared to integrating traditional renovation measures separately.

In order to accomplish this, a thorough market review was performed to determine the quantity of multi-active façades in Europe. Two prefabricated multi-active façade systems and one that is mounted on site were chosen to perform a deeper investigation of their energy performance and Life Cycle Cost. The analyses were performed by integrating the multi-active façade systems to a typical million program house located in Landskrona, which was used as a reference house. The condition of the façades of the reference house was better than expected, which means they are not in an immediate need of renovation. The multi-active façade systems were compared to both traditional renovation measures and the current status of the reference house.

The multi-active façade systems reduced the energy use of the reference house as much as the traditional renovation measures. The total energy use was reduced by approximately 60 % and the heating demand by approximately 80 %. The most energy-efficient renovation measure to integrate was the balanced ventilation system with heat recovery, which also improved the indoor climate in the apartments. The energy-efficient measures did not, however, pay themselves off in the form of reduced energy use and thus lower running costs. This master thesis found that neither integrating multi-active facade systems nor mounting traditional renovation measures are directly profitable. Profitability can only be achieved when there is a need to renovate the façade and the costs can be covered by the maintenance cost, and not as an energy measure. One of the multi-active façade systems did, however, have the same cost over a 40 year period as traditional renovation measures. If the property owner could raise the rent with 316 – 699 SEK/month, all the renovation solutions would be profitable to carry though. The advantages of installing a multi-active façade system contribute to low disturbance for the tenants because of only few visits inside the apartments. Also, the construction time becomes shorter on site and the tenants do not need any compensation.

Popular Abstract

Multi-active façades for renovation of million program houses

There is a large energy-saving potential in buildings built during the million program period, since they are often poorly insulated and often have a ventilation system without heat recovery. A multi-active façade system can reduce the energy use by approximately 60 % and is as cost-efficient to integrate as traditional renovation measures. The advantage of multi-active facades is that it prevents evacuation of tenants during the renovation period.

Sweden faces an upcoming period where thousands of buildings built during the million program period will be in need of a façade renovation. Performing energy-efficient renova-tion measures to a building are expensive, which results in that the property owner does not undergo the renovation. This in return can lead to that the façades of the million program houses deteriorate.
A multi-active façade is a wall construction where both passive and active components are integrated. Passive components should fulfill the requirements for thermal, fire and moisture properties. Active components are components which distribute and produce energy, such as ventilation system, heat exchanger, PV-system etc. A thorough market review was performed to determine the quantity of multi-active façades in Europe. Two prefabricated multi-active façade systems, GAP³ Solutions and SmartTES, and one that is built on site, Smartfront, were chosen to perform a deeper investigation of their energy performance and LCC. The analyses were performed by integrating the multi-active façade systems to a typical million program house located in Landskrona, which was used as a reference house. The condition of the façades of the reference house was better than expected, which means they are not in an immediate need of renovation. The multi-active façade systems were compared to both traditional renovation measures and the current status of the reference house.
The multi-active façade systems reduced the energy use of the reference house as much as the traditional renovation measures. The total energy use was reduced by approximately 60 % and the heating demand by approximately 80 %. The most energy-efficient renovation measure to integrate was the balanced ventilation system with heat recovery, which also improved the indoor climate in the apartments. The energy-efficient measures, however, did not pay themselves off in the form of reduced energy use and thus lower running costs. It was found that neither integrating multi-active facade systems nor mounting traditional renovation measures is directly profitable. Profitability can only be achieved when there is a need to renovate the façade and the costs can be covered by the maintenance cost, and not as an energy measure. Smartfront, however, have the same cost over a 40 year period as traditional renovation measures. If the property owner could raise the rent with 316 – 699 SEK/month, all the renovation solutions would be profitable to carry though. The advantages of installing a multi-active façade system contribute to low disturbance for the tenants because of only few visits inside the apartments. Also, the construction time becomes shorter on site and the tenants do not need any compensation.
It is important to see energy- efficient renovation measures not only as possibility to earn money, but also as contributing to a sustainable building sector. Renovating a building so it has a low energy use is a way of securing the building’s running cost. This is if the future energy prices will increase, or if the government introduces new penalty charges for buildings that exceed the energy use limit.
In extensive renovations the Swedish regulations require that the apartments should follow the accessibility regulations, regulations which can be expensive to perform. This contributes to that the property owner avoids renovation of their buildings which can lead to the overall condition of the million program houses deteriorates. A solution could be to revise the regulations regarding the million program houses since Sweden has several hundred thousand houses which are constructed in the same way. This may lead to more property owners undergoing more extensive energy-efficient renovations which reduce the energy use significantly. In return, this contributes to Sweden reducing the total energy use in the building sector and having a greater possibility to reach the future energy goal of 2050.

Linn Adolfsson & Charlotte Andersson
June 2016

• author: Adolfsson, Linn and Andersson, Charlotte
• supervisor: Åke Blomsterberg; Emma Karlsson
• organization: Division of Energy and Building Design
• alternative title: An Analysis from Energy and Life Cycle Cost Perspectives
• course: AEBM01 20161
• year: 2016
• type: H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
• subject: Technology and Engineering
• keywords: Million program house, Multi-active façade, Traditional renovation measures, LCC analysis, Energy calculations
• language: English
• id: 8884596
• date added to LUP: 2016-07-04 11:18:10
• date last changed: 2017-07-05 09:37:00