A parametric method to assess the energy performance of historical urban settlements. Evaluation of the current energy performance and simulation of retrofit strategies for an Italian case study

Retrofit strategies at urban scale may play a strategic role in promoting the regeneration of existing towns and revitalizing the local building market, particularly in case of historical urban settlements where economic/societal changes have been amplified by natural calamities, accelerating depopulation and depletion of the local productive network. The paper presents the results of a statistical analysis and a detailed energy calculations applied to a historical town, partially abandoned after the 2009 Italian earthquake. In order to identify suitable retrofit guidelines, a baseline energy performance of the whole town was required. Given the use of the energy performance certificates (EPC) per each building was not feasible, a parametric approach was applied to the entire cluster to determine the town's baseline consumption and to test energy retrofit scenarios. This parametric energy calculation method, coherent to the Italian National legislation, was calibrated thanks to a bottom-up approach, allowing the calculation of the building's performance by surveying limited data, therefore easing the entire process and optimizing the Municipality's limited financial resources. The final results could allow the Municipality to endorse energy policies to revitalize the whole town.