Assessing and Developing Circular Deep Renovation Interventions towards Decarbonisation: The Italian Pilot Case of “Corte Palazzo” in Argelato

Abstract

Decarbonisation in the construction sector, consisting of a process based on the abandonment of fossil resources and the achievement of greater resource efficiency, is increasing in both new construction and renovation. The concept of circularity is seen as a strategy to reach this goal. The direct environmental impact of building designs can be quantitatively evaluated by assessing total mass, embodied energy, and embodied CO2 in combination with circularity criteria, such as design for disassembly, materials and product origin, as well as recovering potential. This paper presents a method for easily assessing these parameters, thus obtaining a Building Circularity Indicator. To validate the method, its application in a pilot case of a manor villa located in Argelato (Bologna, Italy) is provided in the framework of the European Horizon 2020 project “DRIVE 0—Driving decarbonization of the EU building stock by enhancing a consumer-centred and locally based circular renovation process”. The deep renovation intervention developed is aimed at increasing energy performance by pursuing a circular approach that has rarely been tackled in protected heritage. Furthermore, the benefits of a circular versus a linear strategy are demonstrated through an LCA as well as LCC analyses assessing the environmental and economic impact of the intervention. The research results validate the proposed method as a tool to support operators in the construction sector.

Assessing the circular re-design of prefabricated building envelope elements for carbon neutral renovation

“…Designing out these materials is complex as these layers have specific functionalities (like fire safety), which are hard to meet with materials with a low(er) embodied carbon footprint. This is in line with the study by Mazzoli et al (2022) showing that prefab multi-layered elements, required to meet the criteria of demount ability, reusability, and durability, have a greater embodied carbon due to the presence of larger quantities of materials and higher density.…”

Methods and tools to address GHG emissions in the early design stage of building renovations: A state-of-the-art review

“…Mazzoli et al [11] proposed a methodology (EASY) that combines circularity criteria with LCA , embodied energy and embodied carbon (author's terminology), and Life Cycle Cost (LCC). The study uses the software "One-click LCA" to calculate emissions and provides results to compare to the emissions provided by the EASY methodology.…”

Facing the Constraints to the Deep Energy Renovation Process of Residential Built Stock in European Markets

“…This short review highlights the importance of considering among the potential market constraints all the different factors that affect the performance of the deep energy retrofitting markets, including the interactions between the various stakeholders involved, from the building owners to the construction companies, the technicians and the installers, the solutions providers, the governmental agencies both at local and regional levels and, more generally, investors, analysts, and policy-makers [26,27]. Many European projects [28][29][30][31][32] have developed a wealth of technical solutions and tools aimed at boosting a massive deployment of DERPs, but one of the main barriers remains the absence of effective go-to market strategies that can capitalize on such outcomes.…”