Abstract
Starting from the oil crisis that occurred in the early 1970s, the issue of energy efficiency has occupied an ever more prominent place in the economic, political, and academic debate. In this context, the construction industry has been considered among the sectors that have the greatest potential for the reduction of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as for the use of energy from renewable sources. With regard to the European situation that is the focus of this research, the first regulations on building energy performances date back to the mid-seventies. These regulations, which had a significant spread until the 1980s, have focused on the definition of minimum requirements for the building elements. Over the years, the introduction of new regulations has established a series of economic instruments for the promotion of energy-saving technologies. During the last decade, the use of incentive programs has strengthened. Meanwhile, what has been gradually better recognized is the role played by the refurbishment of existing buildings in reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, as stressed by the most recent Directive 2010/31/EU on the energy performance of buildings. Under this framework, the incentive policies intended to achieve energy improvements in buildings face a twofold challenge. On the one hand, they have to stimulate the increase of the rate of building renovation; on the other, they should ensure the achievement of minimum performance standards, according to the EU’s goals. Given these premises, this research aims to verify, using a Discounted Cash Flow Analysis, the suitability of the tax rebates currently in force in Italy to stimulate private investments and to be an effective tool to reduce the EU’s energy consumption. The investment costs of 14 refurbishment alternatives, applied to seven single-family houses located in Italy, are estimated. The cost appraisal considers the retrofit expenses and all the ancillary costs that affect the decision-making process of a private investor, as well as the effect of the tax rebates. The results we achieve underline that the analyzed programs are not completely able to stimulate the enhancement of minimum energy standards in buildings. Indeed, the maximum amount of works eligible for the deduction is too high, if linked to an actual increase in global energy performance. This mechanism makes more profitable the exploitation of incentives related to the adoption of specific technologies, which, however, do not guarantee the overall increase of the buildings’ performances.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Antoniucci, V., D’Alpaos, C., & Marella, G. (2015). Energy saving in tall buildings: from urban planning regulation to smart grid building solutions. International Journal for Housing Science and Its Applications, 39(2), 101–110.
Berardi, U. (2013). Stakeholders’ influence on the adoption of energy-saving technologies in Italian homes. Energy Policy, 60, 520–530.
Bonifaci, P., & Copiello, S. (2015a). Price premium for buildings energy efficiency: Empirical findings from a hedonic model. Valori e Valutazioni, 14, 5–15.
Bonifaci, P., & Copiello, S. (2015b). Real estate market and building energy performance: Data for a mass appraisal approach. Data in Brief, 5, 1060–1065.
Bonifaci, P., Copiello, S., & Stanghellini, S. (2016). Assessing policy measures on building energy efficiency through a multi-actor multi-criteria analysis. In CESB 2016—Central Europe towards Sustainable Building 2016: Innovations for sustainable future (pp. 1343–1350).
Copiello, S. (2016). A discounted cash flow variant to detect the optimal amount of additional burdens in Public-Private Partnership transactions. MethodsX, 3, 195–204.
Copiello, S., & Bonifaci, P. (2015). Green housing: Toward a new energy efficiency paradox? Cities, 49, 76–87.
Corrado, V., Ballarini, I., & Corgnati, S. P. (2014). Bulding Typology Brochure—Italy: fascicolo sulla tipologia edilizia italiana. Politecnico di Torino—Dipartimento Energia—Gruppo di ricerca TEBE.
Lee, W. L., & Yik, F. W. H. (2004). Regulatory and voluntary approaches for enhancing building energy efficiency. Progress in Energy and Combustion Science, 30(5), 477–499.
Moroni, S., Antoniucci, V., & Bisello, A. (2016). Energy sprawl, land taking and distributed generation: towards a multi-layered density. Energy Policy, 98, 266–273.
Murphy, L., Meijer, F., & Visscher, H. (2012). A qualitative evaluation of policy instruments used to improve energy performance of existing private dwellings in the Netherlands. Energy Policy, 45, 459–468.
Myers, G., Reed, R., & Robinson, J. (2005). Sustainable property—the future of the New Zealand. Pacific Rim Property Research Journal, 14(3), 298–321.
Wong, S., & Abe, N. (2014). Stakeholders’ perspectives of a building environmental assessment method: The case of CASBEE. Building and Environment, 82, 502–516.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this paper
Cite this paper
Bonifaci, P., Copiello, S. (2018). Incentive Policies for Residential Buildings Energy Retrofit: An Analysis of Tax Rebate Programs in Italy. In: Bisello, A., Vettorato, D., Laconte, P., Costa, S. (eds) Smart and Sustainable Planning for Cities and Regions. SSPCR 2017. Green Energy and Technology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75774-2_19
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75774-2_19
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-75773-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-75774-2
eBook Packages: EnergyEnergy (R0)