Effective retrofitting scenarios for energy efficiency and comfort: results of the design and evaluation activities within the OFFICE project

This paper describes the results of the evaluation of a set of retrofitting strategies designed for ten existing office buildings. The work was carried out by the Design and Evaluation Group in the project “OFFICE - Passive Retrofitting of Office Buildings to Improve thier Energy Performance and Indoor Working Conditions” funded by the European Commission under the JOULE III Programme. The objective of the OFFICE project was to promote passive solar and energy efficient retrofitting measures in office buildings. This was done by examining different low energy retrofitting measures in terms of energy, indoor environment, and economy, and by using this as a basis for the development of general retrofitting strategies and design guidelines. The ten European office buildings included in the project are situated in Denmark, England, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland, and the results show that it is possible to significantly reduce the use of purchased energy in existing office buildings in all these countries by using passive and low energy technologies.