Opportunities and challenges in sustainably retrofitting the large panel concrete building stock

The building sector is one of the key consumers of energy in Europe, where energy use in buildings has seen overall a rising trend over the past 20 years. In 2009, European households were responsible for 68% of the total final energy use in buildings. Energy in households is mainly consumed by heating, cooling, hot water, cooking and appliances. The dominant energy end-use (responsible for around 70%) in homes is space heating. Gas is the most common fuel used in buildings while oil use is highest in North & West Europe. The highest use of coal in the residential sector is in Central & Eastern Europe, where also district heating has the highest share of all regions. Renewable energy sources (solar heat, biomass, geothermal and wastes) have a share of 21%, 12% and 9% in total final consumption in Central & Eastern, South and North & West regions, respectively (BPIE, 2011).
The papers collected in this volume have been presented and debated in the frame of an International Seminar entitled “Opportunities in sustainably retrofitting of large panel reinforced concrete building stock”. A significant part of the printed contribution summarizes the research activity developed at The Politehnica University of Timisoara, focused on the rehabilitation of prefabricated large panel reinforced concrete blocks of flats; a building configuration intensively applied in Romania and in Timisoara, in the period 1962-1989.