This article draws attention to rebound effects, which are responsible for missing the planned energy savings after an increase in efficiency. For residential buildings wide scientific studies to rebound effects after a thermal retrofit already exist. This article presents first findings to rebound effects in non-residential buildings.

It presents a methodology for the determination of rebound effects and their causes in non-residential buildings. In addition to the mathematical calculation of the rebound effects semi-structured-interviews to identify the causes were conducted. This article focuses on four office and administrative buildings with regard to their actual and calculated building heat pre- and post-thermal-retrofit consumption and comes to the conclusion that even in non-residential buildings rebound effects are to be expected. However, the causes differ significantly compared to residential buildings.