Affordability assessment of passive retrofitting measures for residential buildings using life cycle assessment

Abstract

Climate change impacts have been increasingly noticeable worldwide, especially as energy concerns have increased. Because buildings consume significant amounts of energy, sustainably retrofitting existing buildings has become essential. However, several countries are pretty concerned about the affordability of retrofitting and energy conservation measures. Therefore, this research assesses the affordability of selected passive heating and cooling retrofitting strategies using the residual approach methodology. Specifically, this work studies the effects and efficiency of retrofitting the residential buildings in Irbid, Jordan, through life cycle analysis, where dynamic thermal simulation (IES-VE) is employed. This strategy determines the required heating and cooling loads, the life cycle carbon dioxide emissions, and the economic feasibility of retrofitting using the Net Present Value methodology. The results show that passive building retrofitting can generate considerable economic and environmental benefits. Additionally, the affordability assessment reveals that retrofitting measures are affordable for 73–78% of Jordanian households. Furthermore, retrofitting makes the energy required for building conditioning affordable for 82.8–85.8% of households. This affordability assessment proved that the initial investment cost of retrofitting is the major obstacle to implementing it, especially for low-income households, despite the long-term economic and environmental benefits of this process. Thus, governmental financial support for the retrofitting projects would support achieving the sustainable development goals and mitigating climate change impacts.