The energy efficiency is one of a  key factor of constructing houses even buildings. In most cases traditional knowledge who brought from past  is very interesting. I know some examples in tropical wet humid countries like Sri Lanka. We did not build houses on earth, in some cases on wooden piles or stones, to prevent from termite attack. Otherwise  buildings were constructed on ~1m - 2m height embankment. Then the water cannot go beyond the ground level and almost total embankment remain dry. Because they do not use large amount of cohesive material like clay. The kitchen was separated from the main building. It keeps the healthy indoor air quality in living rooms. It depend mainly on  the climate, geology and so many environmental factors.  I did not do any case study, but read these things from newspaper articles in Sri Lanka. Please Google and check for more information. Hope this would be a good study. Good Luck!    

I have authored a book titled "ARTISTIC NARRATIVE OF TECHNOLOGY" where energy efficiency is the key word. I analyzed about 850 paintings and engravings of the famous artists in this book mainly from the point of energy utilization patterns. Energy cost of the landscape is among the topics discussed. You may purchase it a a very moderate price from the YEDITEPE UNIVERSITY PRESS.

unfortunately this in in German:

http://www.aee-intec.at/0uploads/dateien528.pdf

http://www.lea-lb.de/media/0000000078.pdf

https://www.ar.ch/fileadmin/user_upload/Departement_Inneres_Kultur/Denkmalpflege/Energetische_Sanierungen.pdf

My book is in English

Please Look at following publications:- These papers are on historical residential buildings of Liege, Belgium.

Singh M. K., Mahapatra S., Teller J., An analysis on energy efficiency initiatives in the building stock of Liege, Belgium, Energy policy (2013); 62(11): 729-741.

Singh M. K., Mahapatra S., Teller J., Relation between indoor thermal environment and renovation in Liege residential buildings, Thermal Science (2014); 18(3) 889-902.

Singh M. K., Mahapatra S., Teller J., Study on indoor thermal comfort in the residential buildings of Liege, Belgium, CISBAT 2013, Lausanne 4-6 September 2013, Switzerland. Page number 481-486.

Dear Juste,

Energy efficiency in old buildings:

http://www.spab.org.uk/downloads/SPAB%20Briefing_Energy%20efficiency.pdf

Heritage significance assessments to evaluate retrofit impacts:

http://www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/industries-of-architecture-conference-position-paper.pdf

Heritage Energy Efficiency Tool (HEET):

http://www.oxford.gov.uk/PageRender/decP/HeritageEnergyEfficiencyTool.htm

Regards,

Vanessa

I finished my PhD in Oxford Brookes University dealing with this question. The subject was the traditional buildings in the World heritage City of Oporto, Portugal (The investigation of energy efficiency measures in the traditional buildings in Oporto World Heritage Site). You can see the abstract in: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/266556012_The_investigation_of_energy_efficiency_measures_in_the_traditional_buildings_in_Oporto_World_Heritage_Site

I didn't upload the full thesis yet, but if you are interested I can send it to you. In the literature review chapters you can retrieve all that may be of your interest.

best,

Thesis The investigation of energy efficiency measures in the tradi...

Thank you Bimo,

This is a very insightful publication.

Juste 

Thank you Alex,

Wow, you have a very important bibliography out there ! 

Juste

Dear Joaquim,

I am definitely interested in your thesis ! Could you send me a copy ? Thank you again,

Juste

Dear Joaquim,

I am definitely interested in your thesis ! Could you send me a copy ? Thank you again,

Juste

Dear Manoj,

You've done some very interesting research. Thank you for sharing ! 

Juste

Dear Manoj,

You've done some very interesting research. Thank you for sharing ! 

Juste

Hi Vanessa,

Thank you for the links ! The report on HEET is actually very insightful. Thank you again,

Juste

Dear Johannes,

I had some German classes long time ago, plus I could use Google for translation. The first PowerPoint presents a very good summary. Thank you for sharing,

Juste

 Dear Juste

Here it is

Best

https://www.dropbox.com/s/x3yzrqtmr06lw48/PhD%20Thesis%20Final_JFlores_ISBN.pdf?dl=0

Ho Joaquim,

Hi Joaquim,

Thank you for sharing.

Juste

https://www.hanze.nl/assets/kc-noorderruimte/duurzame-monumenten/Documents/Public/Maartenpublicaties/VieveenAdaptive.pdf

https://www.seai.ie/resources/publications/Energy_Efficiency_in_Traditional_Buildings.pdf

http://usir.salford.ac.uk/39842/3/1-s2.0-S1876610217302321-main.pdf