The Italian greenhouse vegetable industry is an important sector that requires thermal energy as much as 0.74 Mtoe, derived\ud mostly from fossil fuels, which corresponds to 2 MtCO2 emissions. The Energy Strategy 2020 of the European Commission calls\ud for increased use of renewable resources in the energy system, thus pushing the technology of wood biomass system for space\ud heating of the greenhouses, since this resource is considered as ‘greenhouse gas’ (GHG) neutral when converted to\ud heat, excluding the GHG generation during harvesting, transportation, and pre-processing of raw materials.\ud Taking into account the different climatic areas in the Italian peninsula, power energy load was estimated to be between 30 Wm-2\ud (in southern regions) and more than 175 Wm-2 (in northern regions), while the energy consumption was estimated in the range\ud from 21 to 546 kWhthm-2year-1 according to different internal air temperatures. Moreover, the CO2 enrichment in greenhouses\ud from the exhaust gas of a biomass heating system can bring benefits for greenhouse plant production, along with optimal\ud management strategies to reduce fuel consumption.\ud Unfortunately, CO2 enrichment from the exhaust gas of biomass boilers is still challenging and expensive, considering that wood\ud biomass boilers generate a higher volume of particulate matters (PM) and ash emissions than other fossil fuels. However, wet\ud scrubbers and other recent flue gas conditioning devices could help to reduce costs and make this process more feasible.\ud Thus, a techno-economic assessment is highly recommended to ascertain the economic feasibility of wood biomass boilers for\ud the greenhouse industry.\ud Finally, some economic considerations are provided to make cost-effective use of the solid biomass in relation to the economic incentives by the National Decree of 28 December 2012, so-called “White Certifies”

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The debate on the relevance of the global sustainability (including energy, environmental, social, economic, and political aspects) of building stock is becoming increasingly important in Europe. In this context, special attention is placed on the refurbishment of existing buildings, in particular those characterized by significant volumes and poor energy performance. Directive 2012/27/EU introduced stringent constraints (often disregarded) for public administrations to ensure a minimum yearly renovation quota of its building stock. This study describes how Life Cycle Cost analysis (LCC) can be used as a tool to identify the “cost-optimal level” among different design solutions to improve the energy performance of existing buildings. With this aim, a social housing building located in the town of Pisa (Italy) was chosen as the case study, for which two alternative renovation designs were compared using the LCC methodology to identify the optimal solution. The two alternatives were characterized by the same energy performance—one was based on the demolition of the existing building and the construction of a new building (with a wooden frame structure, as proposed by the public company owner of the building), while the other was based on the renovation of the existing building. This study can provide useful information, especially for designers and public authorities, about the relevance of the economic issues related to the renovation of social housing in a Mediterranean climate.

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