The Economic Challenges of Deep Energy Renovation-Differences, Similarities, and Possible Solutions in Northern Europe: Estonia and Denmark

摘要

The International Energy Agency's Energy in Buildings and Communities Programme Annex 61 focuses on developing and demonstrating financial and technical concepts for deep energy retrofits of public buildings. A first and important step to define the methodology is to examine the economic aspects of deep energy retrofits in each of the participating countries. Estonia, Germany, Canada, Austria, and Denmark have conducted a series of simulations in order to determine the economic conditions in the renovation of a pre-1980s building. The calculations are divided into three scenarios, corresponding to: (1) minor renovation (i.e., the minimum requirements of building codes or similar), (2) major renovation (i.e., a 50% reduction in site energy use), and (3) advanced level: reducing the site energy use to an advanced level which is to be defined on the national level. This can be the new building requirement renovation (i.e., reducing the site energy use to a level corresponding to that of a new building that fulfills the present requirements in national building regulations or specific standards like the passive house standard). The analysis shows how deep renovation solutions and economic conditions differ from country to country and emphasizes the individual economic challenges of deep energy renovation. The analysis will be used in developing and demonstrating new and alternative funding mechanisms for deep renovation projects. This paper describes results for northern Europe (particularly Estonia and Denmark).