Application of multi-criteria analysis in the process of energy renewal of residential buildings

Abstract

The subject of this paper is multi-criteria analysis of the selection of the best group of measures for energy efficiency improvement of multifamily housing. Selection of the optimal sets of measures for energy efficiency improvement is made on the basis of multi-criteria optimization using the method of multi-criteria compromise ranking of alternative solutions - AHP method (Analytical Hierarchical Process). The goal of the analysis is to select the best combination of measures for energy renewal of the existing building, or the best variant of a series of offered favourable variants in terms of adopted criteria and defined limitations. For the purpose of energy renewal of the existing building and according to recommendations of national regulations, five measures for energy efficiency improvement was adopted. The measures include the thermal performances improvement of non-transparent and transparent parts of the thermal envelope of the building and the use of renewable energy sources, respectively integration of solar thermal collectors into the building envelope. For multi-criteria optimization, a set of the following five criteria is adopted, according to which alternatives are evaluated: annual final energy consumption for heating; annual primary energy consumption for heating; annual CO2 emissions; investment costs for energy renovation of buildings and return period of investment means. The aim of this study is to demonstrate the efficacy of AHP method in practice when is necessary to reach an optimal decision in selecting the best measures for improving the energy performance of buildings. Finally, ranking of alternatives is done according to selected scenarios of different combinations of criteria weight.