Group decision-making for the thermal renovation of masonry buildings in Algeria

Abstract

In Algeria, the residential and tertiary sectors are the ones with the highest energy consumption making use of 34% of the total energy. The government has launched a thermal renovation program for existing buildings to reduce energy consumption. The existing stock has 1,050,000 of masonry dwellings built before 1945. Masonry buildings represent a cultural heritage; they are subject to a building rehabilitation program. The thermal renovation of masonry buildings would both guarantee their preservation and reduce energy consumption. Thermal renovation of masonry buildings in Algeria requires a comprehensive approach; it simultaneously involves a multitude of decision makers (actors concerned with the preservation of buildings, actors concerned by the reduction of energy consumption, owners, etc.) that can express a multitude of criteria (economic, energy, cultural, historical, societal, etc.). This paper presents a method for group decision making based on the Preference Ranking Organization Method for Enrichment Evaluation (PROMETHEE) methods for the thermal renovation of masonry buildings. The aim of the proposed method is to rank different thermal renovation solutions using a multi-criteria and multi-decision makers' approach. The method uses the structured group interaction method Delphi through which the decision group would define the evaluation criteria and the thermal renovations solutions, the group decision support system PROMETHEE GDSS to reach a global ranking of the renovations solutions and PROMETHEE V (optimization under constraints) to introduce additional constraints, the Graphical Analysis for Interactive Aid (GAIA) plan to get a better understanding of conflicts and similarities between the criteria and among the decision makers.