About the project
ARV, named after the Norwegian word for “heritage” or “legacy” aims to create climate positive circular communities in Europe and increase the building renovation rate on the continent. The project’s work started in January 2022.
The ARV project aims to demonstrate and validate attractive, resilient and affordable solutions that significantly speed-up not only deep energy renovations in four different climatic zones in Europe but the deployment of energy and climate measures in the construction and energy industries. Since the project works towards the implementation of climate-positive circular communities in Europe, focusing on net zero-emission buildings and neighbourhoods, ARV will provide guidelines and a policy framework for future energy-efficient, circular and digital solutions in the construction industry.
Description of success
Firstly, the ARV demo in Palma developed and tested a method for cost-optimal retrofitting, which is a two-step methodology that aims to support the selection of cost-optimal solutions for retrofitting buildings in a large-scale renovation process. The methodology helps select the most appropriate combination of passive elements (e.g., adding different insulation materials with different thicknesses and/or windows) and active elements (e.g., heat pumps/multi-split air conditioning for heating, cooling, and Domestic Hot Water (DWH) and/or photovoltaics), to select the option with the best energy performance and economic parameters.
Secondly, VR and AR are being used during the development of the Oslo and Palma ARV demonstration buildings. These allow for better communication results in different scenarios. The development of VR and AR applications is targeted towards several distinct stakeholders (city planners and policymakers) and citizen user groups (e.g., school children, the common public, inhabitants and infrastructure users, and service personnel). The tool helps overcome the challenges of testing real-world scenarios.
Highlights
Cost-optimal retrofitting methodology that aims to produce at least a 50% reduction in the energy demand or significantly improve the thermal comfort conditions of the buildings.
Methodology to provide affordable housing that offers thermal comfort to the residents.
AR and VR visualisation and presentation tools that provide a greater sense of realism.
These tools overcome logistical challenges as they can provide real-view (AR) and full-scale visualisation (VR) of different scenarios in which diverse building and urban elements can be easily changed.
AR and VR users’ input and experiences facilitate active engagement.
Outputs
The key outputs of the retrofitting process focus on both technical and economic aspects, as well as stakeholder engagement and decision-making tools. These include:
Cost-optimal retrofitting method: This method supports the selection of the most appropriate technical solutions by considering both energy performance and economic parameters.
Investment estimates: Providing reasonable estimates of the investment required by end-users is crucial for making informed decisions about retrofitting buildings.
Detailed economic information: Key for public and private entities promoting large-scale retrofitting efforts, such as local public administrations and retrofitting agents, within the framework of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs).
AR and VR tools: These tools can visualize different solutions in full-scale, immersive, and realistic scenarios. They can streamline the evaluation and decision-making process for stakeholders while also raising awareness and engaging citizens in the co-creation process.
Impact
The cost-optimal retrofitting methodology impacts both the residents and the private entities working on retrofitting. By producing low-cost and low-energy solutions, retrofitting buildings becomes more cost-effective and offers residents a more comfortable living space.
The AR and VR tools increase investment in sustainable energy, and their inclusion leads to a higher potential for replicability. Moreover, using AR and VR tools guides better decision making by stakeholders (city planners and policy makers) and contributes to the education and engagement of citizens.
Lessons
The cost-optimal retrofitting method and its outcomes aim to enhance the skills and knowledge of stakeholders involved in large-scale retrofitting projects. Once adjusted to specific building archetypes within a district, this methodology and its tools can be replicated in other districts of the same city or applied to different municipalities. The method includes an economic model that estimates several key factors: the final investment for property owners based on varying levels of energy-performance-related grants (in Euros per dwelling), the monthly payment obligations for owners depending on the chosen funding scheme (in Euros per dwelling), and the global costs, which consider the initial investment, energy savings, and the costs of replacements and maintenance.
Virtual reality (VR) tools can be employed to gather and communicate various types of information, such as insights into circularity, life cycle assessments (LCA), and plus-energy buildings. These tools allow for full-scale visualisation with a high degree of realism, showcasing defined priority areas like the Llevant Innovation District and the Voldsløkka school.
Figure 1: The conceptual scheme adopted for integrated energy design. © ARV 2024
Figure 2: Pilot study participant using the AR tool at the Voldsløkka School, Oslo, Norway. © ARV 2024
