Assessing energetic self-sufficiency and low environmental impact in Pontes, Portugal

The region of Castro Laboreiro has a major potential for nature tourism. Local population has decreased leaving behind empty villages. This article suggests a vernacular village retrofit, where the historical and formal built conditions can be made compatible with three environmental aims: high energy efficiency; materials with low environmental impact; and energy self-sufficiency, based on renewable energy generation. The case study focused on a vernacular house in Pontes village in Castro Laboreiro, where a licensed retrofit project, complied with the first cited environmental aim. The final intent is to apply these aims for the whole village. Tools like RCCTE ( DL 80/2006) were used for simulating high efficient buildings and obtain low building consumption needs. To achieve energy autonomy for the whole village, a hybrid eolic and photovoltaic system was designed. Finally, BEDEC-iTec database was used, to determine alternative construction solutions to accomplish 50 to 60% lower embodied energy and CO2 eq. emissions.