Il Sole 24 Ore, Piercarlo Rolando: public residential building and energy poverty

13 giu 2022

The creation zero-emition buildings

"Featured today in Il Sole 24 Ore Public housing and fuel poverty: a problem arises by Piercarlo Rolando

Public housing in Italy is home to about 1.4 million tenants. Significant upgrading work has never been carried out in most buildings (Federcasa data).

A recent study analyzed the criticality of the most fragile strata of the population and the state of public housing buildings. (Nomisma-Federcasa May 2020: Size of pre- and post-emergency housing distress Covid-19)
 
The need emerged to repurpose existing buildings in municipalities, and unused, to be made available for new allocations. 

The focus shifts from reducing consumption, to creating zero-emission buildings, which is only possible through substantial reduction of consumption, through complete and integral retrofitting of the building envelope to reduce energy loss, replacement of the heat generation system (heating, domestic hot water), currently predominantly natural gas boilers with electric heat pump generators, and installation of renewable energy systems.

The complete decarbonization of the building stock will only be possible by combining two tools: the 110% Superbonus for building upgrading and the installation of neighborhood or condominium renewable generation systems, taking advantage of energy communities to optimize the use of the energy produced.

Energy communities go beyond meeting energy needs. In fact, they incentivize the emergence of new socioeconomic models characterized by circularity. In an energy community, actors are engaged in the different stages of energy production, consumption and exchange, according to the principles of environmental, social and economic responsibility and active participation in all energy processes."