The impact of users’ lifestyle in zero-energy and emission buildings: an application of cost-benefit analysis

The increase in energy exploitation and air pollution have forced the European Union to deal with energy saving and CO2 emissions reduction. With specific reference to buildings, important targets by 2050 have been established, implementing 2020 energy saving goals, and the concept of NZEB (nearly zero energy building) has emerged. In this context, clear understanding of buildings energy performances achieves primary importance and the inclusion of new variables in the analysis such as the user behavior can offer some insights into the solution of the discrepancy between predicted and real energy performances. In the research, an apartment block settled in Turin (Northern Italy) is selected as case study, energy retrofit measures formulated and evaluated including different users’ lifestyles by means of Cost-Benefit Analysis.