Embodied Energy Policies to Reuse Existing Buildings

Abstract

When dealing with the existing stock of buildings, energy strategies usually focus on the improvement of their performance by means of technical upgrading. However, taking architecture as a resource helps raising another question: to what extent the embodied energy in already built structures could be a key factor to develop sustainable strategies based on an adaptive reuse and a subsequent extension of their lifespan.The aim of this paper is to discuss on the benefits and architectural implications of a public policy addressed to establish a protocol on reusing existing buildings in order to take advantage of their embodied energy.