Systematic review reveals deep retrofits outperform single measures in existing buildings, highlighting overlooked operational strategies and simulated performance gaps.
Key Points
To synthesize the current state of knowledge on sustainable retrofitting of existing buildings across retrofit technologies, management strategies, and digital decision-support tools.
Conducted a systematic review synthesizing evidence across residential, commercial, and industrial building sectors.
Categorized retrofit interventions into passive envelope improvements and active systems, including HVAC upgrades, lighting, renewables, and intelligent controls.
Deep retrofit strategies consistently achieved greater energy reductions than single-measure interventions, with outcomes depending heavily on baseline building characteristics and climatic conditions.
Zero-capital operational strategies delivered substantial energy savings but remain largely unaddressed in current policy frameworks.
A persistent performance gap was identified between simulated energy models and measured post-retrofit building performance.