Lisbon’s historic City Hall cuts energy consumption by 36 percent

The City Hall houses the Municipal Chamber of Lisbon, the Mayor and staff of over 100 people.
The City Hall houses the Municipal Chamber of Lisbon, the Mayor and staff of over 100 people. Image: Husond Wikimedia CC BY SA 3.0

This development could pave the way for energy saving initiatives in other cities. Interventions that were used in the City Hall to achieve energy-efficiency were installation of solar panels, switching to LED lighting, replacing the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system and deploying energy management tools.

The 19th century built City Hall was one amongst the five highest energy consuming buildings owned by the municipality. To preserve the architectural character and original features of the building, the City Hall released the plans for a full energy retrofit of the building in 2016 under EU Horizon 2020 Sharing Cities programme.

This was achieved with the use of a 3D model of the building which helped in establishing the building’s baseline characteristics: building materials, occupancy and usage patterns, lighting systems, temperatures and equipment power usage (including heating and cooling systems). Combined with dynamic energy and weather simulation software, the analysis helped to determine the most suitable approach and package of retrofit solutions.

To read further on how this project can change the stereotype of difficulty of adaptation for heritage buildings, log on to Cities Today.

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