Energetic audit of a residential house in mid-Sweden

Abstract

Lately, the topic of sustainability is booming, and one of the main concerns is to make buildings more energy efficient. For this purpose, energy audit is a great tool that helps to realise the weaknesses of each building and helps to improve them. This topic has been used and studied in recent years, and the main objective of this study is to perform a complete energy audit of a residential house in mid-Sweden, considering its age. With all the data obtained from the house and the bills, calculations are made by hand to see the weak points of the house and improve them. The main heat losses of the building are the transmission losses. The final suggestions are to change the windows of the building and try to avoid thermal bridges. These two measures have high initial investment costs, and their economic profitability depends on them. However, from the energetic point of view both measures are interesting. It is also recommended not to use electric radiators, as they are much less energy efficient. The installation of solar panels is studied, with satisfactory results, reaching the conclusion that they are highly recommended for this type of house. Even though Sweden is not the country with more sun, the solar PV panels work efficiently in cold countries