A decision support tool for the co-design of energy and seismic retrofitting solutions within the e-SAFE project

The innovation project e-SAFE, funded by the EU under the H2020 Pro-gramme, is developing a new deep renovation system for non-historical rein-forced concrete (RC) framed buildings, which combines energy efficiency and improved seismic resistance. The present paper describes the main func-tionalities of a Decision Support System (e-DSS) that is being developed by e-SAFE experts, aimed at guiding the technicians and the building owners through a conscious preliminary co-design activity, and leading to the choice of the most suitable renovation solution amongst those envisaged by the e-SAFE portfolio. The e-DSS allows assessing – with a reasonable degree of approximation – the energy performance of the building before and after the proposed renovation action, the environmental benefits in terms of decar-bonization (i.e. reduction in CO2 emission for space heating, space cooling and DHW preparation), the expected costs and time for the building renova-tion and the expected time of Return of the Investment (ROI), based also on the savings in the annual operating costs. The paper explains the criteria used by the tool to identify those solutions that are not suitable for the se-lected building, and discusses the degree of approximation behind the calcu-lation of energy, cost and environmental performance.