HEREVEA tool for economic and environmental impact evaluation for sustainable planning policy in housing renovation

Abstract

Dwelling renovation has gained major importance in the European Union due to the current need for the urban regeneration of many cities, most of whose existing buildings (approximately 60%) were built in the 1960s to 1980s. These renovations require improvements in aspects such as structural integrity, accessibility, and the updating of deteriorated or obsolescent installations. This reveals that building renovations constitute a key factor in the future of the European building sector and must be included in strategies both for the reduction of this sector’s environmental impact and for climate change mitigation. In order to determine the effectiveness of renovations and their impact, the HEREVEA (Huella Ecológica de la Rehabilitacion de Viviendas en Andalucia or Ecological Footprint of the Renovation of Dwellings in Andalusia) model is proposed on data obtained from the project’s bill of quantities, its ecological footprint is assessed, and the economic-environmental feasibility of different proposals are evaluated simultaneously. The resulting model is integrated into a geographic information system, which allows georeferenced results. The tool can be used for sustainable and resilient planning policy-making at all government levels, and for the decision-making processes. In this paper, economic and environmental indicators are, for the first time, simultaneously assessed through statistical normalization obtained from 50 cases analyzed in the city of Seville. Furthermore, five case studies are assessed in detail in order to determine the sensitivity of the model. These renovations represent less than 30% of the cost and 6% of the ecological footprint of a new construction project. During the subsequent 25 years, the energy efficiency improvements could significantly reduce the CO2 emissions that are due to direct consumption.