Green house renovation in Italy, costs per house: calculation simulation

MILAN. The EU directive on “green houses” risks turning into a maxi-sting for Italian citizens, with spending on the renovation of private buildings which could reach 108 billion euros. This was stated by Codacons which, in the aftermath of the decision of the European Parliament, simulated the expenses which home owners will have to meet.

«The energy redevelopment interventions envisaged by the EU will concern the thermal coat, the replacement of the fixtures, the new condensing boilers and the solar panels – explains the association – Works that have very diversified costs depending on the type of materials chosen and the territorial location of the buildings”.

The thermal coat, for example, has an average cost of between 180 and 400 euros per square metre, while for the fixtures the cost varies on average from 10 to 15 thousand euros.

«For a new condensing boiler, considered a 100 m2 house, the cost ranges from 3,000 to 8,000 euros, double if the boiler is hybrid and with a heat pump – analyzes Codacons – For a 3 kW photovoltaic system, the cost to be supported is around 7,500-10,500 euros, depending on the type of photovoltaic panels used».

«The energy redevelopment interventions envisaged by the EU would therefore determine an average cost between 35 thousand and 60 thousand euros per dwelling, with an expense for the community, considering 1.8 million buildings affected by the measure, between 63 and 108 billion euros – calculates the Codacons – This is without counting the possible speculations linked to the race for restructuring, as has already happened for the Superbonus, with price list increases and tariffs for materials, components, installations, specialized companies, etc. which would further increase the bill for families ».

But the EU directive, according to the association, also risks causing an earthquake in the real estate market. According to the association it could lead to a devaluation of up to 40% of the value of the properties not subject to redevelopment works.

«It will be materially impossible to intervene within the established times on 1.8 million homes concerned as a priority by the European directive – explains the president of Sima Alessandro Miani – This is because both the raw materials and the workforce necessary to intervene on the buildings are completely lacking Italians”. The Italian Society of Environmental Medicine is in favor of interventions to reduce energy consumption and polluting emissions produced by private homes, but believes that imposing by law a redevelopment of the building stock in such a short time does not appear to be the right solution. «The “residential” sector alone is responsible for 64% of the quantity of PM2.5 produced and released into the atmosphere, and for 53% of PM10 – explains Miani -. In this sense, it is first of all necessary to intervene on the behavior of citizens inside homes, because a reduction in energy consumption would be enough to significantly cut the emissions of fine particles in the air, influencing the environment in a positive way».

Based on Sima calculations, in fact, a 1°C drop in the heating systems of public buildings and private homes would allow for savings of around 7% on CO2 emissions, equal to -2 million tons released into the atmosphere.