Assessment of passive and active buildings resilience to gas supply disruption in winter across European climates

Abstract

The energy performance of buildings is strongly influenced by several foreseeable and unforeseeable events during the operation phase, including natural hazards or energy supply disruptions. The increase of these events has raised attention on resilience, identified as the capability of buildings to react to such events guaranteeing the continuation of their operations.This paper investigates the resilience of residential reference buildings sited in different European climates (Athens, Berlin, Madrid, Turin, Stockholm). It simulates an eventual disruption of gas supply during winter carrying out energy dynamic simulations. Proposing new metrics to assess the building resilience, this paper quantifies the passive and active resilience of the main building components, both envelope and HVAC systems. It also analyses the effect of retrofit interventions on building resilience depending on climate. Results enlighten possible emergency interventions with backup electricity solutions to be activated to guarantee minimum services during the disruptive event associated with climate or geopolitical issues. The importance of increasing self-sufficiency in buildings through renewable energy sources is emphasized to favour the continuation of services in case of energy supply interruption. Finally, the link with energy security and independence is outlined together with possible strategies to increase the building stock resilience in Europe.