Energy consumption in historic buildings must be reduced for EU to become climate-neutral in 2050; they account for more than a third of the total energy consumption of buildings. The potential for energy savings in historic buildings related to internal insulation of external walls is 15-20 % and it will improve the indoor climate as draft close to the external walls will be reduced. However, authorities, building owners and building professionals need guidelines to handle internal thermal insulation in historic buildings in an effective and secure way, maintaining their architectural and cultural heritage.
RIBuild investigates how and under what conditions internal thermal insulation can be employed. Research activities include on-site case studies, simulations, development of decision tools and laboratory measurements of materials. Based on that, guidelines for setting the goal for renovation of a historic building , for determining whether a building is suitable for internal insulation or not, for a standardised simulation and testing methodology, with a catalogue of possible solutions depending on the construction type, climate etc., and for evaluating the energy saving potential and the environment impact, are developed.
The guidelines at www.ribuild.eu are targeted at authorities, building owners, building professionals and researchers. Information and guidance are given at different levels of detail, from videos explaining the basic concepts, risks and benefits using internal insulation, via short descriptions and checklists, to detailed guidelines and RIBuild research reports. The website also links to RIBuild datasets and scientific publications.
RIBuild developed two decision tools: For the building owner or building professional to get a list of feasible internal insulation solutions, targeted for the specific location, orientation and design of his building (Insulation Calculator Tool, ICT), and for detailed analysis of the environmental impact and cost/benefit, designed for specialists. Both are based on a probabilistic approach further developed in the project, to handle the uncertainties related to changing the design of a building, of which the information about existing building materials is limited. The ICT is a beta-version, not fully functional in its present state.
RIBuild is an important step to increase the understanding of internal insulation and the potential benefits, not only among building professionals, but also among building owners not being familiar with this way of improving the energy performance of a building. By making this complex field more understandable it might increase the number of buildings becoming internally insulated (in a correct way) helping EU to reach the goal of a carbon free society.
