Balancing energy performance and cultural heritage: outcomes from the Swedish Spara och bevara (Save and preserve) research programme

Extended abstract 7-028-26

Insights from the energy‑saving measures introduced after the 1973 oil crisis revealed tensions between improving energy performance in historic buildings and preserving cultural heritage. Rapid actions to reduce heating demands, such as façade insulation, window replacement, and new ventilation systems, were often carried out without understanding traditional construction, resulting in lost architectural features and structural damage. By the early 2000s, awareness of the challenges in balancing energy efficiency with heritage conservation had increased, but limited knowledge often resulted in either excessive caution or inappropriate interventions. To address this gap, the Swedish Energy Agency launched the Spara och bevara (Save and preserve) programme in 2007, establishing a new interdisciplinary field focused on energy efficiency in historic buildings and funding around 70 projects until its conclusion in 2024.

The programme showed that energy efficiency and heritage conservation can coexist, and that careful approaches reduce energy use and costs while supporting long‑term preservation. It also identified a need for improved technical solutions and decision‑support tools to balance energy performance with cultural values and building‑physics risks. An interdisciplinary systems approach that integrates life‑cycle and risk analyses is crucial for achieving sustainable results.

The Spara och bevara programme began with research on monumental heritage buildings but later expanded to post‑war and modern structures. Findings showed that apartment buildings and single-family houses built after the second World War accounted for a significant share of total energy use, while those built before 1900 contribute very little. Because effective energy efficiency requires not only building‑specific measures but also a broader stock‑level perspective, the research gradually shifted from individual buildings to local and regional building‑stock analyses. 

Overall, Spara och bevara demonstrates how a research programme can bridge goal conflicts and establish lasting structures for knowledge development in an area of significant societal importance. By drawing on lessons from the post‑1973 oil crisis and responding to today’s geopolitical pressures on the energy system, the topic of balancing energy performance in historic buildings remains relevant to the Swedish Energy Agency’s new research programme on resource‑efficient built environments.

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