TOBUS: A decision-making tool for selecting office building upgrading solutions

• Research unit: EU RFP
• Project number: 97.0584-2

Key words (English)

Retrofit; office building; decision-aid tool; environment; energy

Alternative project number (English)

EU project number: JOR3-CT98-0235

Research programs (English)

EU-programme: 4. Frame Research Programme - 5.1 Nonnuclear energies

Short description (English)

See abstract

Partners and International Organizations (English)

CSTB, Coordinator (F);A+M (CH); SETEC (F); SBI (DK); COWI consult (DK); NOA (EL); TNO (NL)

Abstract (English)

The main objective of the project is to develop an evaluation tool for the assessment of retrofitting needs of office buildings in European countries and the costs to meet these needs in compliance with improved energy performance and indoor environment. The tool encompasses an integral approach, where all problems are treated in their interdependence and at the same level of depth.
The TOBUS method, starts on the very beginning of a refurbishment process and ends with the decision of a refurbishment strategy. TOBUS helps to prepare the planning but does not enter into this phase.
TOBUS assists experts with two tasks:
q Diagnosis: Evaluation of the general state of office buildings with respect to deterioration, functional obsolescence, energy consumption and indoor environment quality (IEQ).
q Actions: Definition of retrofitting actions and their respective costs to improve the office building condition but also the energy performance and IEQ.
The final result is a computer-based prototype of programme addressing the multidisciplinary and multi-professional problems associated with the retrofitting of office buildings. It is an extension to office buildings of the successful EPIQR tool, developed in a former EU project for planning the retrofit of dwellings. New in TOBUS are not only the adaptation of the databases to office buildings, but the consideration of obsolescence of services and indoor environment problems in the diagnosis, and an improvement of the prediction of the energy saving potential.
Switzerland has taken an important part in this project: Amstein & Waltert has lead task one, defining the specifications of the evaluation tool, and also in charge of evaluating the cost of the retrofitting actions, while EPFL wrote the computer assisted tool.
The European project is now finished. The prototype of computer programme as well as the final report were sent to the EU delegate in Brussels, who expresses his full satisfaction about these results. The work continues at the LESO for a few months, to prepare the Swiss version of the tool.

References in databases (English)

Swiss Database: Euro-DB of the
State Secretariat for Education and Research
Hallwylstrasse 4
CH-3003 Berne, Switzerland
Tel. [phone]
Swiss Project-Number: 97.0584-2