The Role of Non-Energy Impact Assessment in Boosting Energy Efficiency and Urban Regeneration Projects: The RenOnBill Project and Experiences from Liguria Region

Abstract

Buildings play a significant role in terms of energy consumption and polluting emissions production across Europe and this huge contribution to consumption and environmental impact becomes even more alarming when attention is switched from single buildings to entire urban systems. Although great efforts have been made to support energy efficiency investments, distrust and suspicion are shared attitudes among private investors (and stakeholders in general) towards large-scale implementation of these kinds of projects. Within this framework, on-bill schemes were implemented in the United States more than 30 years ago. In particular, on-bill energy efficiency is a method of financing energy efficiency improvements that uses the utility bill as the repayment vehicle. A detailed analysis of on-bill schemes is currently addressed by the H2020 RenOnBill project, which focuses on these schemes to enhance and support large-scale investments for energy efficiency and deep residential stock renovation. In this study, firstly, the authors focus on assessment methodologies for non-energy benefits of retrofitting projects; then, a case study of the Liguria region (Italy) is examined in depth for its interesting legal framework regarding energy efficiency-led urban regeneration projects. The results deriving from the initial analysis of projects and the case study lead the authors to reiterate that, even today, projects based on energy efficiency usually focus exclusively on energy impacts and that energy performances and urban quality are addressed in separate ways.