The concept model of sustainable buildings refurbishment/koncepcinis darnaus visuomeniniu pastatu atnaujinimo modelis.(Report)

ABSTRACT. Sustainable development principles reaching many spheres of human activities, public buildings refurbishment is not an exemption in this case. Buildings refurbishment supports excellent opportunities to reduce energy consumption in buildings as well as encourages other sustainable refurbishment principles implementation--citizens' healthcare, environment protection, rational resources use, information about sustainable refurbishment dissemination and stakeholders groups' awareness. During the pilot refurbishment FP-6 project Brita in PuBs, authors of this article have developed conceptual sustainable public buildings refurbishment model. Model was created basing on sustainable development principles, their consideration in decision making process and model efficiency influencing factors. In order to demonstrate models' application possibilities following the healthcare principle, practical case study of Vilnius Gediminas Technical University main building pollution mapping is given at the end of this article.

KEYWORDS: Sustainable development; Building refurbishment; Healthcare; FP-6 Project Brita in PuBs

KONCEPCINIS DARNAUS VISUOMENINIU PASTATU ATNAUJINIMO MODELIS

SANTRAUKA

Darnios pletros principai skverbiasi i daugeli veiklos krypciu, neaplenkdami ir visuomeniniu pastatu atnaujinimo proceso. Pastatu atnaujinimas--tai puiki galimybe ne tik sumazinti suvartojamos pastate energijos apimtis, bet ir uztikrinti kitus darnios renovacijos principus--rupinimasi gyventoju sveikata, aplinkos tausojima, racionalu istekliu naudojima, taip pat ir informacijos apie darnia pastatu renovacija prieinamuma. Vykdant demonstracini FP-6 projekta Brita in PuBs, straipsnio autoriai sukure koncepcini darnios visuomeniniu pastatu renovacijos modeli, kuriame atsizvelgiama i darnios pletros principus, ju taikyma priimant sprendimus ir modelio efektyvuma veikiancius veiksnius. Siekiant pademonstruoti modelio realizavimo galimybes, paskutiniame straipsnio skyriuje rupinimosi sveikata principas iliustruojamas renovuojamo VGTU centrinio pastato uzterstumo zemelapio sudarymu.

1. INTRODUCTION

The building sector accounts for 40% of the final energy consumption in Lithuania and EU countries (Statistics Lithuania, 2006; Eurostat, 2007). Housing, working and leisure places lightening, heating, cooling and water heating energy consumption is higher than in transport or even industrial sectors. Furthermore, this consumption continues to grow as well as buildings energy proportion in final consumption and C[O.sub.2] emission to environment increase.

Recently the issues considering climate change often discussed in Europe, much attention is paid on energy consumption questions. These problems inspired new strategic documents as Buildings Energy Efficiency Directive, Green Book considering energy use efficiency, Energy Efficiency Action Plans and European Energetic Tools establishment.

The aforementioned documents emphasize the importance of understanding that buildings refurbishment not only decreases energy consumption but also improves whole condition of the building: its exploitation, noise insulation conditions, exterior, and comfort; prolongs buildings life cycle, increases value of the buildings, reduces negative impact to environment and guarantees healthy living and working conditions. Satisfaction of these requirements is obligatory in sustainable refurbishment provision.

Sustainable refurbishment initiatives are supported by European Commission. Vilnius Gediminas Technical University participates in the pilot FP-6 buildings retrofit project Brita in PuBs (Bringing Retrofit Innovation to Application in Public Buildings). The Brita in PuBs project on Eco-buildings aims at increasing the market penetration of innovative and effective retrofit solutions to improve energy efficiency and implement renewables, with moderate additional costs (Brita in PuBs project, http://www.brita-in-pubs.eu/). The sustainable refurbishment model developed under participation in this project is introduced in this article. In order to demonstrate models' application possibilities following the healthcare principle, practical case study of Vilnius Gediminas Technical University main building pollution mapping is given at the end of this article.

2. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PRINCIPLES AND MODELS OF BUILDINGS REFURBISHMENT

The energy requirements of present civilizations are a key issue for sustainable development. Regarding the limited supply of nonrenewable energy resources and the emission of greenhouse gases affecting global climate, it had been postulated that a sustainable energy system cannot be reached merely by substituting less sustainable resources by more sustainable ones, but also requires an overall reduction of present energy consumption levels, primarily in industrialized countries (Imboden and Jaeger, 1999; Imboden, 2000).

The issues of sustainable refurbishment have been intensively tackled for years in the Central Europe and other countries: Austria, Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands. Scandinavian countries, though, have already developed different strategies of integral refurbishment in Denmark, Sweden, etc. The field of housing structures refurbishment is taking a central place in the efforts for integral refurbishment and revitalization of larger areas, especially in larger housing estates (Ruano, 2002).

According to Sobotka and Wyatt (1998), the rules of sustainable development must refer to the building sector as a building object in its life cycle (regarded as product life chains), starting with obtaining raw materials for the production of the building itself and their evaluation, through to demolition of the building.

Sunikka (2003) concludes that the real potential for sustainable building and C[O.sub.2] reduction lies in management of the existing stock of residential buildings. According to Papadopoulos et al. (2002), Gorgolewski (1995), Hong et al. (2006) the energy efficient refurbishment of existing buildings is an important tool for the reduction of energy consumption in the building sector, the improvement of prevailing indoor thermal comfort conditions and also for the improvement of environmental conditions in urban areas. At the same time, it is technical, economic and social problem posed by the manner in which many cities have been built and the restrictions imposed by economic constrains that tantalize most countries in South-Eastern Europe.

Recently, more attention is paid to sustainable, complex refurbishment satisfying integrated social, technical, economic, ecological needs of various stakeholders groups. Sobotka and Wyatt (1998) apply the principles of the "sustainable development" to refurbishment of panel buildings. Keeping and Shiers (1996) are considering environment friendly "green refurbishment" of commercial buildings, Kincaid (2000) reviews adaptability potential for buildings and infrastructure in sustainable cities.

Baldwin (1996) presents the following main goals of sustainable building on the basis of a document written in the UK containing indicators of sustainable development:

1. Minimization of climatic changes and risks to human health and biodegradation in consequence of economic activities, that is:

* to reduce climatic changes through the reduction of C[O.sub.2] emissions to the atmosphere due to energy consumption in buildings;

* to reduce emission of chemical compounds which cause thinning of the ozone layer;

* to minimize waste through:

--recycling or re-use of materials,

--collecting and segregating office and domestic recyclable waste such as paper and plastic;

--elimination or reduction of waste on construction sites;

* to take care of wildlife habitats through preventing building on ecologically valuable sites and to protect and enhance local ecology; to build in areas of little ecological value; to re-use existing buildings, perhaps changing their function;

* to take care of the indoor environment in buildings, eliminating the risk of health loss by better air ventilation of space, minimizing sickness rate with respiratory system diseases, avoiding potentially harmful building materials, minimizing noise, etc.;

* to protect against radioactivity (radon).

2. Optimal use of non-renewable (finite) resources, i.e. energy, land, minerals and other natural resources.

3. Employing renewable resources such as solar energy for heating of houses, wind and water for energy accumulation. Use wood as the main building material.

4. Building such objects which will enable future generations to meet their needs in the domain of quality, durability, flexibility, adaptability and town planning.

According to Keeping and Shiers (1996) the benefits of "green refurbishment" include:

* lower energy costs through the use of simpler, low-tech heating and power installations;

* lower maintenance costs due to simple building services, which are easily accessible, and low-tech equipment, which is cheaper to repair or replace; and

* "healthier" buildings have been demonstrated to reduce absenteeism.

Sitar et al. (2006) emphasize the following integrated sustainable refurbishment principles:

* improvement of living conditions and provision of user-friendly apartments, increasing flexibility of the whole building concept and its parts, according to the current and future needs of inhabitants;

* decrease energy use and related building operational expenses;

* increased use of environment-friendly materials and renewable energy sources;

* economically favorable and innovative planning, building and using measures.

The aforementioned definitions and factors state that sustainable refurbishment is mostly related to technical-ecological aspects of building life cycle. Definitely it also involves satisfaction of social (healthy housing, etc.) and economic (energy saving, low maintenance costs, etc.) needs. Integration of these needs makes the concept of sustainable development implemented.