An energetic analysis of a multifunctional façade system for energy efficient retrofitting of residential buildings in cold climates of Finland and Russia

Retrofitting of external walls and building facades of residential buildings is often considered as the most energy efficient renovation measure. This paper presents a multifunctional energy efficient facade system for multi-family apartment building retrofitting, the “Meefs” system which is still under development in a concept phase, and analyses its energetic features based on building typologies to cold climate apartment buildings in Finland and in Russia. Both in Finland and in Russia, the majorities of the apartment building stocks were built after the II World War. Major capital repairs are needed in both building stocks in the coming years. At the same time, energy efficiency of buildings could be improved which would make them more sustainable. The apartment building stocks in both countries consist of typical buildings of this construction period. Therefore prefabricated facade products, such as the “Meefs” system, could beneficially be adapted to retrofit them. In addition, as shown in this paper, the Meefs system would provide considerable energy savings. However, adapting the system to Russian buildings would require changes to building energy systems as well.