Embedding energy user's behaviour into multi-criteria analysis: providing scenarios to policy-makers to design effective renovation strategies of the housing stock

Nowadays, policy-makers are facing the challenge to design and implement effective housing renovation strategies both for the public and the private housing stock, able to support not only the technical and physical renovation, but also a change of paradigm in energy consumption. Indeed, energy transition takes place on a local level and needs to involve individuals. The importance of tackling behaviour change to improve energy efficiency, especially in case of building retrofit, is increasingly recognised, as well as the urgency to combine the renovation of the housing stock with informative and feedback strategies, in order to reduce the gap between expected and actual energy consumption. The paper presents a methodology based on multi-criteria assessment of different strategies, aiming at providing support to policy-makers for their decisions concerning the reduction of energy consumption in buildings. The methodology has been designed to explicitly incorporate the impact of user’s behaviour into the planning strategies and renovation measures to be assessed. Through the development of a multi-criteria analysis based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), this study demonstrates that, to increase the sustainability of cities and communities, a holistic approach is required, and considerations on citizens’ behaviour need to be embedded into energy renovation policies to address energy reduction targets.