De-Risking the Energy Efficient Renovation of Commercial Office Buildings through Technical-Financial Risk Assessment

Annalisa Andaloro,Giulia Paoletti,Graziano Salvalai,Linda Tso,Gabriele Fregonese

doi:10.3390/su14021011

Annalisa Andaloro, Giulia Paoletti + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su14021011

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Journal: Sustainability	Publication Date: Jan 17, 2022
Citations: 5	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Eurac Research, Politecnico di Milano

Abstract

Energy efficiency in the building sector plays a key role in supporting European and global commitments against the current climate crisis. A massive adoption of deep renovation measures would allow a global reduction of energy need up to 36%, based on estimations. However, the market for building renovation is still limited, due to uncertainties associated with risk evaluation. This paper aims to suggest a method to evaluate the financial impacts of technical risks related to energy efficiency investments. Key performance indicators (KPIs) necessary to evaluate the investment risk associated with energy renovation have been defined based on an analysis of the correlation between technical and financial risks, and their originating factors or root causes. The evaluation has been carried out thanks to the EEnvest tool: a web-based search and match platform, developed within the EEnvest collaborative research project funded by the European Commission (EC). This evaluation methodology has then been applied to a case study, an office building located in Rome, for whom an energy efficient renovation project was already in place to reduce energy needs. The investment risk of the renovation project is calculated for two different scenarios: with and without risk mitigation measures being applied during the design, installation and operation phases. The results show the different technical and financial risk trends of these two scenarios, highlighting the benefits obtained by the implementation of mitigation measures.

Highlights

Received: 4 November 2021The European Union (EU) set a range of commitments with regards to climate action, in line with the Paris climate conference in 2015
The risk is the effect of uncertainty on the achievement of the objectives intended as a state, even partial, of lack of information related to the knowledge of an event [9]
The technical risk connected to the building sector and in particular to the energy renovation processes is a complex theme because it includes a wide number of topics, issues and parameters, spanning from building physics to design, construction, and operation phase

Summary

Introduction

Received: 4 November 2021The European Union (EU) set a range of commitments with regards to climate action, in line with the Paris climate conference in 2015. (ii) increased use of renewable energy sources equal to at least 40%; and (iii) improved energy security, competitiveness and overall sustainability of all Union member states. In this scenario, the EU Directive 2018/2002 [1] sets ambitious energy efficiency targets and is supported by the EU Directive 2018/2001 that establishes a 32% binding target for the integration of energy generated by renewable sources [2]. Several studies have underlined the role of energy efficiency measures in the building sector to achieve such objectives. Focusing on the construction industry, risk is identified by technical factors that might negatively affect the quality and performance of the building. The risk is the effect of uncertainty on the achievement of the objectives intended as a state, even partial, of lack of information related to the knowledge of an event [9]

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