
Building Envelope
Category: Built Environment, Energy Efficiency
A building envelope consists of the walls, windows, foundation and roof and isolates the building’s climate from the exterior climate. The U.S. DOE claims that a building’s envelope accounts for “approximately 30% of the energy consumed in residential and commercial buildings and plays a key role in determining levels of comfort, natural lighting, ventilation, and how much energy is required to heat and cool a building.” Retrofitting a building’s envelope or designing a new building with the envelope in mind is essential to energy efficiency.
Benefits
- Increases indoor comfort
- Reduces energy bills
- Reduces carbon emissions
- Increases productivity of building users
- Can be subsidized with government rebate programs
Challenges
- Can decrease ventilation, increasing the risk of trapping harmful gasses within the building
- Expensive upfront cost

Impacts
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GHG Impact
Moderate
More InfoVaries based on the current state of building envelope. More emissions mitigated in less efficient buildings.
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Economic Impact
Neutral
More InfoDifficult to predict due to many variables including: age of building, quality of improvements, cost of energy, location of building, aspect of building.
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Feasibility
Difficult
More InfoWorks well alongside other retrofitting projects.
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Timeline
2-5 years
More InfoBuilding studies, cost-benefit scenarios are typical before implementation is started.
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Maintenance
Low / None
More InfoOnce installed, an updated envelope decreases the amount of maintenance required.
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Publicity
That's interesting
More InfoNot very creative, appears to be more routine, logical, cost saving solution rather than a sustainable one.