A Multi-Step Approach to Assess the Lifecycle Economic Impact of Seismic Risk on Optimal Energy Retrofit

Gerardo Maria Mauro, Costantino Menna, Umberto Vitiello, Domenico Asprone, Fabrizio Ascione, Nicola Bianco, Andrea Prota and Giuseppe Peter Vanoli
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Gerardo Maria Mauro: Department of Industrial Engineering, Università degli studi di Napoli Federico II, Piazzale Tecchio 80, 80125 Naples, Italy
Costantino Menna: Department of Structures for Engineering and Architecture, Università degli studi di Napoli Federico II, Via Claudio 21, 80125 Naples, Italy
Umberto Vitiello: Department of Structures for Engineering and Architecture, Università degli studi di Napoli Federico II, Via Claudio 21, 80125 Naples, Italy
Domenico Asprone: Department of Structures for Engineering and Architecture, Università degli studi di Napoli Federico II, Via Claudio 21, 80125 Naples, Italy
Fabrizio Ascione: Department of Industrial Engineering, Università degli studi di Napoli Federico II, Piazzale Tecchio 80, 80125 Naples, Italy
Nicola Bianco: Department of Industrial Engineering, Università degli studi di Napoli Federico II, Piazzale Tecchio 80, 80125 Naples, Italy
Andrea Prota: Department of Structures for Engineering and Architecture, Università degli studi di Napoli Federico II, Via Claudio 21, 80125 Naples, Italy
Giuseppe Peter Vanoli: Department of Medicine, Università degli studi del Molise, Via Cesare Gazzani 47, 86100 Campobasso, Italy

Sustainability, 2017, vol. 9, issue 6, 1-21

Abstract: Most European buildings built before 1980s were constructed without any design concern for energy efficiency and environmental sustainability. In addition to this issue, over the last decades, the essential need of safer buildings has progressively attracted the interest of scientific community and government institutions. However, the strong interaction between energy and structural aspects in building retrofit design has never been handled via robust and reliable approaches. The present study explores this knowledge gap by introducing a novel multi-step approach that addresses the retrofit of existing buildings by integrating energy, structural and economic aspects. To this end, a multi-stage energy optimization is carried out by implementing a genetic algorithm and a smart research strategy. Thus, the cost-optimal energy retrofit solution is identified and the impact of the expected economic losses due to seismic damage is assessed throughout the building lifecycle. The methodology is applied to a multi-story residential building, considering the effects of two different building locations, namely Milan and Norcia. These latter are characterized by similar climatic conditions but by a different level of seismic risk, which is higher for Norcia. The outcomes show that the estimated seismic economic losses associated with the energy retrofit solutions are strongly affected by the building location. Thus, the selection of the optimal energy retrofit measures should be related to the building structural behavior in order to achieve reliable economic and sustainability benefits.

Keywords: building simulation; building retrofit; expected economic loss; seismic risk; energy retrofit measures; multi-objective optimization; cost-optimal analysis; lifecycle; sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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