Energy needs and vulnerability estimation at an urban scale for residential neighbourhoods heating in Madrid (Spain)

Urban areas renovation may lead to problematic situations associated with financing of the works in absence of a detailed analysis of the distribution of resources. An analysis of the needs and the obstacles in achieving buildings refurbishment to improve their energy efficiency must be observed. Buildings requiring energy refurbishment will be those with poor construction quality, not adapted to the new energy efficiency requirements. People with insufficient resources to deal with such actions will inhabit many of them. This paper proposes a model for energy needs assessment at an urban scale with the objective set on the refurbishment of residential buildings neighbourhoods, addressing comfort needs. In this sense, aspects of building energy vulnerability are explored as a prerequisite to the analysis of energy poverty in our cities and neighbourhoods. A methodology to characterize heating needs of urban areas is developed by using statistical data from the Spanish Census of Housing and Population. The superimposition of resulting demand values with demographic data allows introducing socioeconomic criteria in order to locate urban energy efficiency and fuel vulnerability. This information is useful in order to address specific public refurbishment strategies based on the reality of socioeconomic aspects of the neighbourhoods and the state of preservation of buildings