Energy Retrofit in Historic Buildings: Problems, Strategies, and an Evaluation Framework

Efforts to improve the energy performance of historic buildings have attracted growing attention from both policymakers and researchers over the past few decades. Based on 318 publications from the Web of Science database, this study conducts a review analysis in the field of historic building energy retrofit. Bibliometric analysis shows a remarkably increasing trend in research on this topic since 2015 and reveals a research imbalance between developed regions (e.g., Europe) and developing regions. This review examines the retrofit approaches of historic buildings using both passive and active strategies and synthesizes the understanding of life cycle assessment carbon emissions across different systaem boundaries, emission stages, and carbon accounting approaches. The results show that previous studies tend to focus primarily on energy performance, yet predominantly rely on simulation studies of individual cases, limiting cross-regional comparisons and the broader transferability of findings. Therefore, a multi-objective evaluation framework is proposed, considering thermal comfort, energy use, and carbon emissions, enabling identification of suitable retrofit measures across different contexts. By examining the problems and strategies in this field, this study highlights the substantial potential of historic building energy retrofit and provides a basis for future evaluation and decision-making.