Resetting the zero-energy renovation market
Many ageing buildings suffer from draft and cold walls. They also waste energy due to lack of insulation and old installations. This is a major societal issue that has proven very difficult to solve for various reasons. The 2nd Skin Façade System – developed by researchers at the Delft University of Technology and supported by Climate-KIC BTA (Building Technologies Accelerator) – tackles this issue. 2nd Skin is a light weight, prefabricated “envelope” system that is attached to the exterior of a building, acting as its second skin. The modular system allows housing corporations to renovate a building and make it energy neutral in one complete phase, or to refurbish the property step-by-step. The advantage of the latter is that it doesn’t require a full upfront investment, an approach that is more in line with many property owners’ finances.
2nd Skin:
- Keeps the refurbishment costs at an acceptable level because of the industrial, scalable approach;
- Creates little hassle for the occupants not only during the refurbishment, but also during maintenance work, as most of the work is done on the exterior;
- Saves roughly 68 kg CO2 e/m2/year compared to regular renovations.