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Combined Energy and Seismic Renovation of the Building Stock: Technologies, Constraints, and Performances

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Green Building".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 December 2023) | Viewed by 3717

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture (DICAR), University of Catania, 95125 Catania, Italy
Interests: seismic engineering; seismic upgrading; r.c. structures; steel structures; computational modelling

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Guest Editor
Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture (DICAR), University of Catania, Via Santa Sofia 64, 95125 Catania, Italy
Interests: building physics; energy efficiency; thermal comfort; renewable energy; daylighting
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Guest Editor
Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture (DICAr), University of Catania, Viale Andrea Doria 6, 95127 Catania, Italy
Interests: sustainable architecture; building technology; heritage conservation; architectural history; building renovation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture (DICAR), University of Catania, 95125 Catania, Italy
Interests: building technology; building renovation; sustainable retrofitting; integrated design process

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In recent years, great efforts have been made to encourage the deep energy renovation of buildings in order to meet the decarbonization goals set by various governments worldwide.

However, energy inefficiency is certainly not the only problem faced by the existing building stock. Indeed, numerous countries spread all over the continents are earthquake-prone areas, where buildings have to sustain seismic forces and to comply with the updates of local seismic zonation and seismic codes, often requiring seismic upgrading interventions. 

Therefore, in case of a destructive earthquake, any renovation solution that aims to address only energy efficiency will be unsustainable from social, economic and environmental points of view. In such cases, energy renovation actions should be strategically combined with seismic retrofitting, while also addressing technological and architectural issues to ensure the higher attractiveness and applicability of combined renovation actions.

In light of this holistic and sustainable approach to buildings’ renovation, this Special Issue aims to advance the knowledge about major renovations addressing both the energy and seismic upgrade of buildings, with a particular focus on:

  • The description of the barriers that limit the extensive undertaking of combined retrofitting interventions, and the proposal of solutions to overcome them;
  • The analysis of the current retrofit solutions, and of their architectural and technological constraints;
  • The development of novel retrofit schemes that integrate seismic, energy and architectural retrofitting;
  • The expected performances (either monitored or modelled) in terms of energy savings and improved seismic resistance;
  • The presentation of exemplary case studies

Dr. Francesca Barbagallo
Dr. Vincenzo Costanzo
Prof. Dr. Giuseppe Margani
Dr. Carola Tardo
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • energy renovation
  • seismic upgrading
  • sustainable renovation
  • decarbonization
  • building stock
  • reinforced concrete structures
  • seismic energy dissipation
  • friction dampers

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

37 pages, 16460 KiB  
Article
Seismic–Energy Retrofit as Information-Value: Axiological Programming for the Ecological Transition
by Maria Rosa Trovato, Vittoria Ventura, Monia Lanzafame, Salvatore Giuffrida and Ludovica Nasca
Sustainability 2024, 16(6), 2435; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16062435 - 15 Mar 2024
Viewed by 1655
Abstract
The research deals with the issue of the seismic and energy retrofit of historic building fabrics having as reference a historic district of Syracuse (Italy). The prospect of the ecological transition on the one hand and the public support funding on the other [...] Read more.
The research deals with the issue of the seismic and energy retrofit of historic building fabrics having as reference a historic district of Syracuse (Italy). The prospect of the ecological transition on the one hand and the public support funding on the other claim for a valuation programming approach implying the creation of multiple scenarios, each of which is inspired by a different and complementary degree of “saliency and urgency”. These two dimensions of “being worth” by a building aggregation having an its own shape and belonging to a larger and more complex urban system need to be addressed according to some axiological reference, in this case, the concerns of the efficiency and fairness of public spending. This experience concerns the creation of a value-based programming pattern of the seismic–energy retrofit process framed in a Building Information Modelling (BIM) environment aimed at identifying the best intervention strategy among the several ones that can be generated in the logic of the parametric design. Both seismic and energy retrofit expected performances, in fact, can be scaled, complementing the extension and intensity of the interventions. This experiment takes advantage of the BIM multidimensional logic in line with the multiple scales and purposes implied by the relationships between individual/communal axiological profiles and present/future prospects. The experiment consists of the creation of an additive cost-oriented design platform based on which the different and progressive combinations of intensity and extension of the interventions can be compared and selected. Full article
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18 pages, 5850 KiB  
Article
Moisture-Related Risks in Wood-Based Retrofit Solutions in a Mediterranean Climate: Design Recommendations
by Alessandra Urso, Vincenzo Costanzo, Francesco Nocera and Gianpiero Evola
Sustainability 2022, 14(22), 14706; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142214706 - 8 Nov 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1278
Abstract
Nowadays, advanced hygrothermal simulation tools are available and they are widely used to predict moisture-related risks in building components, such as mold growth and increased conductive heat losses. This paper takes advantage of these capabilities to analyze moisture-related risks in the innovative wood-based [...] Read more.
Nowadays, advanced hygrothermal simulation tools are available and they are widely used to predict moisture-related risks in building components, such as mold growth and increased conductive heat losses. This paper takes advantage of these capabilities to analyze moisture-related risks in the innovative wood-based retrofit solutions, developed in the ongoing H2020 “e-SAFE” project. In particular, simulations carried out through the Delphin software for the warm Mediterranean climate of Catania (Italy) allowed assessing the effectiveness of several insulating materials used in the wall assembly and the moisture-related performance determined by adopting either a waterproof membrane or a vapor barrier in convenient positions. The results show that the solutions with highly permeable and highly moisture-capacitive insulation (e.g., wood fiber) are mold free, but at the expense of increased heat losses by up to 12%, compared to dry materials). In some circumstances, foam glass or extruded polyurethane could be preferable, due to their high resistance to mold growth and their flat sorption curve. The vapor-open waterproof membrane applied to the outer side of the insulation is suggested, while a vapor barrier on the outer side of the existing wall worsens mold-related issues. Full article
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