The Integrated Renovation Process: application to family homes

The potential for primary energy savings is greatest in the building sector. A very relevant way to save energy is to increase the rates and depths of building renovations. In order to reach such goals, building owners need to be convinced to invest in high-performance sustainable renovation. With the purpose of overcoming such barriers, a new scheme was proposed: the Integrated Renovation Process. In this paper, the scheme is applied to two single-family homes and is called the Integrated Renovation Process for Homes (IRP4homes). In both case studies, the newly developed methodology successfully led the project stakeholders to overcome most informational barriers to sustainable home renovation such as lack of knowledge, lack of interest, lack of support, and lack of social and emotional understanding. The homeowners were able to perceive the new and numerous qualities they were getting in their newly renovated home. Most homeowners’ needs, preferences and personal values were fulfilled. Eventually, all homeowners selected a high-performance renovation scenario.