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The increasing energy consumption levels of buildings within Europe call for controlled consumption and improvements to energy savings and efficiency and effective energy efficiency regulations. However, many aging and energy-inefficient buildings require energetic retrofitting that can employ various façades solutions and insulation materials. The selection of the most sustainable options in each situation therefore requires a decision-making methodology that can be used to prioritize available retrofit solutions based on economic, functional, environmental and social criteria. In this paper, both the methodology and the economic basis of the retrofitting process are presented. The methodology was validated in a case study, and a sensitivity analysis also demonstrated its validity, robustness and stability This research was funded by UPV/EHU PPGA19/61.

A life cycle assessment (LCA) of the Spanish high speed rail (HSR) network in service in 2016 (2583 km) was conducted. Life cycle inventory (LCI) data related to the construction and maintenance phases of the infrastructure was collected using Google Earth tool, and complemented with data obtained from the LCA carried out by Tuchschmid et al. [1]. LCI data associated with the operation phase of the infrastructure was built on available fragmentary data on passenger movements for the year 2016 [2–4], processed with a python algorithm to estimate the transport service provided by the infrastructure. Environmental impacts for transport modes were obtained from Ecoinvent v3.7 database [5,6] and processed with openLCA software [7]. Life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) results gathered in the dataset include Global Warming (GWP100a), Cumulative Energy Demand and total emissions for PM10, SO2, NOX and NMVOC. This dataset presents a detailed description of the Spanish HSR network, including the length of each item (bridges, tunnels, earthworks, railway tracks), and a robust estimation of passenger transport over the infrastructure for year 2016. The LCI data presented in this paper support the original research done on whether the construction of Spanish HSR network infrastructure is justified in terms of reducing environmental impacts and energy consumption [8], and may be used as a baseline for future studies on transport economics. The authors acknowledge the funding provided by the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU under research grant US15/11, by the Department of Education of the Basque Government through Grants IT-1359–19 (UPV/EHU Econometrics Research Group) and IT-1365–19 (UPV/EHU Ekopol Research Group), and by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness through grant ECO2017–82111-R.

Spain has the world's second longest network of high speed rail lines built and in service. High-Speed Rail (HSR) is usually presented as a sustainable means of transport with huge potential to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and energy consumption. The majority of studies carried out on this mode of transport have focused on analysing and estimating these savings in terms of network operation, but sometimes ignore the burdens associated with the construction of the infrastructure. Based on the application of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology, this work integrates into the analysis the construction and maintenance phases of the HSR lines in operation in Spain in 2016 together with their operation during that year, and verifies whether construction is justified in terms of reducing environmental impacts and energy consumption. This article concludes that the construction of the Levante and Northern corridors is not justified in terms of energy savings and emission reductions due to the low demand and therefore the decision to build new HSR sections should be based on an analysis of demand so that only corridors with high transport demand are built. Furthermore, policymakers should consider other measures related to transport that would lead to considerable and rapid reductions in environmental impacts without the burden of building new infrastructures: e.g. reducing the demand for transport, increasing the occupation of private vehicles, promoting electric traction and the use of electricity from renewable sources.