Buildings are responsible for up to 35 percent of the total energy consumption in many of the IEA participating countries. Housing accounts for the greatest part of the energy use in this sector. Renovating existing housing offers an enormous energy saving potential. The Task objective is to develop a solid knowledge base on how to renovate housings to a very high energy standard and to develop strategies which support market penetrations of such renovations. Task 37 will include both technical R&D and market implementation as equal priority areas.

The Task will begin by analyzing the building stock in order to identify building segments with the greatest multiplication and energy saving potential. Examples of building segments are year of construction, type of buildings, type of envelope and components. Within these segments important topics for discussions are: - ownership and decision structures, inhabitants and their characteristics and actual groups of retrofit market players.

In parallel, exemplary renovation projects achieving substantial primary energy savings while creating superior living quality, will be analyzed. Important aspects are both energy performance and the owner’s motivations behind the renovation. Drawing on this experience package of measures in combination with the most updated research front, new and innovative concepts and components will be developed.

Insights from this international collaboration will be conveyed to targeted national end users in a deliberate strategy to increase the market penetration of advanced housing renovations. Contributors and participants in this Task will be:

• Universities and research institutes active in the building sector
• National and regional government planning authorities
• Market players (industry, institutions and others) in the building sector