Research and practice: Improving the energy efficiency of historic buildings
In an effort to combat climate change, the EU has undertaken to reduce its emissions of greenhouse gases by 20 per cent by the year 2020 [1], a commitment that is well above that agreed in the Kyoto Protocol. Within the European Union around 160 million buildings are responsible for around 40 per cent of primary energy consumption, accounting for a considerable proportion of CO2 emissions. Most of that energy consumption goes on space heating: in private households the figure is around 71 per cent (ill. 3) [2], in industrial and office buildings, the per centage proportion is smaller. These figures illustrate very well the potential there is in buildings for saving energy and reducing CO2 emissions [3-5].
