Twelve Years of Energy Efficiency in Historic Buildings in Sweden

The Swedish National Research programme for Energy Efficiency in historic buildings was initiated in 2006 by the Swedish Energy Agency. This article gives an overview of the programme: objectives, projects and the general results of the programme. The research programme aims to develop knowledge, methods and technical solutions that contribute to energy efficiency in historically valuable buildings without destroying or damaging the historical value of the buildings, including decoration, furnishings, interiors or equipment. The programme is not limited to listed and monumental buildings but covers a wider range of historic buildings that account for a large part of the energy use in the building sector. For one and two-family houses, around 25 % of the energy use is associated with buildings built before 1945. The same number for multifamily houses is around 15 %. The programme is currently in its third consecutive four-year-stage. Previous four-year-stages were completed in 2010 and 2014. Over time, the scope of the programme and the projects have developed from mainly dealing with indoor climate control in monumental buildings towards addressing more general issues in the much larger stock of non-listed buildings. Technical research, based on quantitative analysis, dominate throughout all three stages, however most projects have had interdisciplinary components. The results from the programme have been presented in 31 journal papers, 67 conference papers, five books and five PhD theses. The projects have also contributed to CEN standards and resulted in a number of Bachelors and Master’s theses. An equally important long-term effect of the programme is that the number of Swedish researchers in the field have increased from practically none in 2007 to 18 senior researchers and twelve PhD students from ten universities in 2014. The research programme on Energy Efficiency in historic buildings is unique in an international context. Hopefully it can serve as an example for other countries on how to address an important interdisciplinary research challenge.