Building renovation typically improves either the energy or the seismic performance of buildings, resulting in energy inefficient or earthquake-vulnerable buildings. This may yield environmental burden, economic loss and fatalities over time. All actors need to know the benefits of integrated seismic and energy renovation of buildings. Employing user-friendly assessment methods may overcome economic, technical and administrative barriers.
Methodologies for assessing the benefit of seismic and energy renovation are reviewed, serving as a reference to develop a simplified assessment method. A four-step method is developed to assess the seismic, energy, and environmental performance of renovated buildings in equivalent costs from a life cycle perspective.
Designers and practitioners can translate seismic, energy and environmental performances into equivalent costs without complex analyses. Different stakeholders, e.g. owners, investors, policy makers, can grasp the combined renovation improvement thanks to performance results expressed in economic terms.
The simplified assessment method is demonstrated through the application to four case studies, indicative of residential and public masonry and reinforced concrete buildings.
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Assessment methodologies for the combined seismic and energy retrofit of existing buildings