Costs-Benefits Analysis of Building Renovation

The renovation of existing buildings represents a high potential for energy savings and the reduction of environmental impacts. Taking into account the direct and indirect benefits of building renovation is instrumental for the implementation of large-scale building renovation projects. Among the benefits that can be achieved, a reduction in costs is of particular interest for both investors and citizens. In order to implement cost-effective refurbishment measures, suitable procedures, tools and economic indicators should be used. This chapter investigates the cost-benefit approach to building energy refurbishment by introducing cost analysis methods, with particular focus on cost-optimisation. An example of a cost-effective analysis is then presented (for a case study). A cost-optimisation procedure is applied to identify the best packages of energy efficiency measures for building retrofitting; the main economic indicators are calculated and discussed.