| Summary: |
A significant portion of the Portuguese building stock consists of structures built before the introduction of the first seismic design codes in the country, in the early 1980s. As a result, many of these structures have not been designed to withstand the demands from potential earthquakes and pose a significant risk in terms of economic and human losses. In addition, it is well-known how many of the Portuguese buildings are energy deficient, requiring important renovation interventions to increase their energy performance, hence level of comfort, and reduce the associated environmental impact. For these reasons, the main goal of SERENE is to propose and demonstrate a framework to integrate, in an optimal manner, the seismic and energy retrofitting of existing buildings, with a view to minimise the resulting economic and environmental impacts.
The seismic performance of the existing building stock can be improved by demolishing and replacing the most at risk structures or by retrofitting to improve their performance. Demolition of existing buildings is not generally considered an acceptable solution given the high costs, as well as the interruption that it causes to the occupying residents and business. In addition, there are significant environmental concerns associated with demolition and reconstruction. The building sector contributes approximately 40% of the total energy use and greenhouse gas emissions in the EU. Construction and demolition waste is also significant in the EU, contributing over approximately 25% to 30% of the EU's total waste. It is thus easy to see why retrofitting is the preferred option for improving the seismic performance of existing buildings.
Furthermore, an equally large share of the Portuguese building stock is actually both earthquake-prone and heavily energy-consuming, hence in need for a comprehensive strategy of renovation, due to its structural vulnerability and significant impact on the environment, as demonstrated in  |
Summary
A significant portion of the Portuguese building stock consists of structures built before the introduction of the first seismic design codes in the country, in the early 1980s. As a result, many of these structures have not been designed to withstand the demands from potential earthquakes and pose a significant risk in terms of economic and human losses. In addition, it is well-known how many of the Portuguese buildings are energy deficient, requiring important renovation interventions to increase their energy performance, hence level of comfort, and reduce the associated environmental impact. For these reasons, the main goal of SERENE is to propose and demonstrate a framework to integrate, in an optimal manner, the seismic and energy retrofitting of existing buildings, with a view to minimise the resulting economic and environmental impacts.
The seismic performance of the existing building stock can be improved by demolishing and replacing the most at risk structures or by retrofitting to improve their performance. Demolition of existing buildings is not generally considered an acceptable solution given the high costs, as well as the interruption that it causes to the occupying residents and business. In addition, there are significant environmental concerns associated with demolition and reconstruction. The building sector contributes approximately 40% of the total energy use and greenhouse gas emissions in the EU. Construction and demolition waste is also significant in the EU, contributing over approximately 25% to 30% of the EU's total waste. It is thus easy to see why retrofitting is the preferred option for improving the seismic performance of existing buildings.
Furthermore, an equally large share of the Portuguese building stock is actually both earthquake-prone and heavily energy-consuming, hence in need for a comprehensive strategy of renovation, due to its structural vulnerability and significant impact on the environment, as demonstrated in past FCT-funded research projects, carried out by this team, such as PRISE and MitRisk. Nevertheless, retrofit interventions on existing buildings tend to be solely aimed at reducing either energy consumption or seismic vulnerability alone, hence, current EU policies are pushing towards a sustainable renovation of existing buildings, aiming at the mitigation of both their seismic vulnerability and at the improvement of their energy efficiency. The assessment of a building's environmental impact (EI) is also becoming increasingly important, as owners and developers work to comply with new EI regulations. It follows, then, that it is necessary to also consider the EI, with other criteria, when determining optimal retrofit solutions.
SERENE aims to provide a scientifically-solid framework to identify optimal combinations of currently available building retrofitting interventions that will increase both the energy and seismic performances of residential buildings in Portugal. It will achieve so using multi-criteria decision-making optimization settled on life-cycle performance metrics that will rely on advanced and ad-hoc hazard, exposure and vulnerability models for different building structural typologies. The focus is therefore to identify combinations of existing seismic and energy retrofitting strategies that guarantee the minimisation of economic and environmental impacts thus targeting increased sustainability and best use of resources. The research scope of SERENE is therefore fully in line with the country's Sustainable Development plan for the 2030 Agenda.
SERENE can be seen as a natural and necessary follow-up of the MitRisk project. In fact, following a good understanding of seismic risk and retrofitting needs of the building stock in Portugal, the addition of the energy efficiency layer to the problem is a very necessary step to guarantee an optimal use of limited resources and a short-term reduction in the energy consumption, seismic losses and environmental impact in the country. Accordingly, the project will be carried out by renowned institutions in the country, with consolidated experience in risk assessment and loss estimation of existing buildings, and features the participation and support of two European leading institutions, IUSS Pavia, through its ROSE programme, and the EUCENTRE, with long-term leading experience in the field of seismic risk and recent experience in the integration of seismic and energy performance of existing structures. SERENE will provide advanced seismic risk models, necessary to define structural retrofitting needs that can be integrated with energy efficiency renovation strategies, promoting sustainability and environmental impact mitigation. The project will focus on residential buildings and attention will also be paid to dissemination of outputs for wider societal exploitation. In addition to the engineering community, the beneficiaries will also be public and private decision-makers (e.g. governmental bodies). |