LAUSR

Abstract In China, residential building is a major energy consumer and retrofitting of existing residential buildings is considered as an effective method in achieving energy savings. This study examined a high-rise residential building located in northern China. The target-building’s electricity consumption and indoor temperature were gathered and analysed. DesignBuilder software was used to conduct a numerical study on the target-building where we studied the feasibility and energy-saving potentials in retrofitting the target-building to Passivhaus standard. It was found that the energy consumption of the building reduced by 96% for heating and 8.7% for cooling; totally reduced by 78.9%. The cost for the retrofitting was estimated approximately as 18.4 years using the simple payback period method and the current price of the materials in the market. The residents could start to get profit for the remaining lifetime of the building.