Effectiveness of methods to calculate the greenhouse gas emission reduction of residential refurbishments

The building stock of 2020 largely exists today! The enormous task of the next decade is to retrofit and refurbish these buildings to reduce Greenhouse Gas (GhG) emissions. These retrofitting strategies are of particular relevance for the future of the current inefficient model of the Australian suburb. This paper considers the methods that are used to calculate residential refurbishment savings in GhG emissions e.g. using actual calculations in case studies, and using thermal modelling software, and provides examples. It also includes a residential performance upgrade case study, which used thermal modelling research to select the most practical and cost-effective strategies. This research is currently being applied to the case study, and logged and modelled temperatures are compared. The comparison of methods provides guidance for a research methodology for practical and cost-effective strategies to lower GhG emissions of residential buildings in Australia. The paper incorporates crossdisciplinary approaches in practice and academia, and considers the integration of architecture, engineering, building and science.