Overcoming the inertia of building energy retrofit at municipal level: The Italian challenge

Municipalities play an important role in reducing energy and environmental problems by improving their energy systems towards more sustainable paradigms. In Europe, one of the major sources for potential energy savings is in buildings. A widespread retrofit strategy is needed to drastically decrease the energy demand in the existing buildings. To that end, a proactive role of the local authorities and effective municipal energy plans are necessary. We analyzed the composition of the Italian municipalities and the main features of their building stock. We investigated the most important barriers that slow down or block local energy refurbishment with particular regard to small and medium Italian municipalities. We checked our approach also by sending a questionnaire to a sample of these municipalities. We suggest how to overcome the barriers related to the first phases of effective energy plans providing a scheme for data collection and suggesting a new Municipal Energy Model. Further, we proposed a reform of the municipal technical office in order to improve the technical competence about energy issues related to the built environment. Data availability and suitable awareness are the basis for developing a new tool to scout promising renovation projects and to monitor implemented measures. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.