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Net-Zero Retrofit of the Building Stock

Net-Zero Retrofit of the Building Stock

How might the building stock transition towards net zero? How big a change is achievable? What factors determine both the overall potential as well as the transition process?

This special issue explores how the building stock might transition towards net zero, and what key theoretical and practical factors are going to determine the overall potential and shape the transition process. Papers address both the technical and socio-economic questions around retrofit potential, exploring the drivers and barriers to greater uptake of retrofits, and how policy, knowledge-sharing and more concerted engagement between stakeholders could be used to improve the rate of uptake needed to meet the long-term emissions reduction targets.

Guest editors: Daniel Godoy-Shimizu and Philip Steadman

Despite a wide range of academic backgrounds, timeframes, geographical contexts, and types and scales of retrofits, common threads arise in this special issue. These include the need for consistent long-term policy, with a greater focus on public engagement and a collaborative approach across stakeholders, and increased provision of reliable, open, consistent advice based on trustworthy data.

Taken as a whole, these papers illustrate what a monumental task it will be to turn the long-term building retrofit goals from ambitious words into successful actions. Tripling energy retrofits and on-site renewables by 2030, as well as reducing demand and improving performance, will require increased collaboration across a wide range of institutions and disciplines. Given the scale of the task, the issues raised in this special issue will all need to be addressed, through research, policy and practice, in order to efficiently transition the global built environment towards net zero.

Urban stock models have primarily focused on evaluating the energy or emissions pathways towards net zero, often treating occupant behaviour using simple, fixed assumptions or rules. Instead, the challenges for research, policy and practice will be to engage with the complex dynamics that influence how building users choose to install retrofits, for example, or modelling how public engagement might work and change over time.

Table of Contents

Net-zero retrofit of the building stock [editorial]
D. Godoy-Shimizu & P. Steadman

Local area energy mapping approach for high-density heat pump deployment
R. Gupta, M. Gregg & C. Liu

HVAC characterisation of existing Canadian buildings for decarbonisation retrofit identification
J. Adebisi & J. J. McArthur

A systemic decision-making model for energy retrofits
C. Schünemann, M. Dshemuchadse & S. Scherbaum

Market transformations: gas conversion as a blueprint for net zero retrofit
A. Gillich

Beyond the building: governance challenges in social housing retrofit
H. Charles

Learning to sail a building: a people-first approach to retrofit
B. Bordass, R. Pender, K. Steele & A. Graham

A strategic niche management framework to scale deep energy retrofits
T. H. King & M. Jemtrud

Preserving buildings: emission reductions from circular economy strategies in Austria
N. Alaux, V. Kulmer, J. Vogel & A. Passer

Implementing and operating net zero buildings in South Africa
R. Terblanche, C. May & J. Steward


Latest Peer-Reviewed Journal Content

Journal Content

Urban form metrics for building occupancy modelling: applications and impacts
D Reiter, M Jehling & R Hecht

Retrofit realism: affordable low-carbon policies for existing homes
N Eyre & R Khosla

Inside offsite: everyday dwelling in factory-built apartments
L Dorignon & R Horne

MMC for housing: sectoral perception on governance challenges
J Morgan, C Goodier, R Schmidt-III & K Ayinla

Reorganising specification practice for component reuse: an exploratory study
S Gao, K Jones, J Xu & J Glass

Kitchen retrofits to support food practices and wellbeing
F J Andrews, A Sal Moslehian, E Warner & R Tucker

From strategy to delivery: a comparative analysis of MMC roadmaps
G Goldman, D Sorokine, F Suerich-Gulick, C Carbone & M Jemtrud

Thermal comfort, ventilation and mosquito-borne disease risk in Zanzibar hospitals
O Sloan Wood, J B Knudsen, K L Schiøler, E Lupenza, M Msellem & F Saleh

Reusing precast concrete elements in construction: assessing the economic conditions
O Vigren, H Westerlind & T Malmqvist

Institutional readiness for industrialised social housing in Vietnam
T Q Nguyen, B N Nguyen, T H Q To & Z Aziz

Prefabrication for housing retrofit: governance, innovation and resident experience
E Pikas, K Kuusk, P Pihelo, R Liias, J Pukk & T Kalamees

Reframing heat pump transitions: a care perspective
J van der Haer, R Schelwald & F de Haan

Urban informal settlements in Africa: transforming adaptation governance
K Buyana & H Sseviiri

Reusing concrete products in indoor environments: chemical hazard assessment
K Tähtinen, A Helin, E Parshintsev & H Hovi

Negotiating net-zero carbon: an ANT analysis of two buildings
L Schweber & M Green

Design for disassembly: a review of public policy proposals
O Vorobjev, U Uotila, T Joensuu & A Saari

Retrofitting Norwegian residential buildings: an archetype-based dynamic stock model
L S A Rousseau, S Amini, S Akin & E G Hertwich

Decolonising time: vernacular villages and the politics of heritage temporality
R Al-Rabady

Commutes to alternative workplaces: GHG emissions and physical activity
J Taylor, L Thoen, A Espinosa Mireles De Villafranca, P Anashin, J Vanhatalo, D Milián Bernal & I Okkonen

Nine ‘myths’ about the building stock of Great Britain
S Evans, P Steadman, A Neto-Bradley, D Humphrey, R Liddiard,H Shamsi, J Palmer & G Simons


See all peer reviewed articles

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