Abstract
Achieving sustainable urban environments is a challenging goal—especially in existing cities with high percentages of old and obsolete buildings. This work analyzes the contribution of roof refurbishment to sustainability, considering that most roofs are currently underused. Many potential benefits of refurbishment can be achieved, such as the improvement of the energy performance of the buildings and the use of a wasted space for increasing green areas or for social purposes. In order to estimate the degree of the improvement, a vulnerable area in Castellón (east Spain) was selected as a case study. A thorough analysis of the residential building stock was undertaken. Using georeferenced information from the Cadastral Office we classified them according to typology, year of construction and roof type. Some refurbishment solutions were proposed and their applicability to the actual buildings was analyzed under different criteria. The theoretical benefits obtained in the neighborhood such as energy and carbon emissions savings were evaluated, together with the increase of green areas. Moreover, other social uses were suggested for neglected urban spaces in the area. Finally, a more accurate analysis was performed combining different solutions in a specific building, according to its particular characteristics.
Highlights
The 11th Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) proposed by the United Nations, focus on cities and sustainable communities to make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
The existent constructive solutions of roofs were analyzed with the georeferenced information from the Cadastral Office of the actual buildings
The actual constructive solution is crucial for suggesting adequate refurbishment solutions in practical applicability terms. refurbishment solutions were assigned depending on the roofing system
Summary
The 11th Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) proposed by the United Nations, focus on cities and sustainable communities to make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. To this end, in recent years, many policies have been designed. The European Union—through the energy performance directives of buildings (EPBD) and their transpositions into the national regulations of State Members—actively works to reduce both carbon emissions and the energy used in buildings. The EPBD establishes that all new buildings constructed from 2021 (public buildings from 2019) must be nearly zero-energy (NZEB). Most of the energy required must be covered by renewable sources (sunlight, wind, rain, etc.), including those produced on-site or nearby, and nearly zero or very little energy must be provided by non renewable energy sources (essentially coal, petroleum and natural gas)
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