Refurbishment of building envelopes on a district level

Article presents advantages and options for renovation of buildings, which appear when we approach the refurbishment process on a bigger level - district level. This approach is being investigated in the scope of the EU program - Horizon 2020 within the project called MODER. Project MODER tackles mobilization of innovative design tools for refurbishment of buildings on a district level. In this aspect, different tools and measures are being evaluated. Regarding building envelopes, we evaluated thermal insulation, and installation of appropriate windows in various European countries. Scope of the project exceeds common measures on buildings (facade refurbishment, installation of solar panels, shading and use of renewable energy sources for heating and cooling). Article presents some of the advantages that derive from refurbishment of building envelops on a district level, tools we need, and can already be used, and gives some insight in the business models that need to be formed, validated and used. Tools that are being developed in order to help with decision-making process and visualization of measures of district refurbishment are D-ECA tool (District Energy Concept Advisor – developed by Fraunhofer IBP), and 3D visualization platform (developed by VTT).