Estimates of the economic damage due to the soiling of residential buildings induced by air pollution in Italy

The soiling of the external façades of buildings caused by air pollution has economic costs that are generally not borne entirely by the polluters but by society in general. The present paper attempts to estimate the maintenance costs attributable to the soiling of the façades of residential buildings exposed to ambient air pollution in Italy. In this study, dose–response functions were used to link the environmental concentrations of pollutants to the soiling rate of the opaque and transparent surfaces of the building façades. It was assumed that the spatial distribution of façade materials follows the distribution of population. The basic assumption was that maintenance is performed when critical levels, 35% loss of reflectance for opaque surfaces and 1% haze for glass surfaces, are reached. Several important elements seem to emerge from the analysis carried out. The cost of damage to opaque surfaces due to air pollution appears to be a non-negligible fraction of the total maintenance costs of building façades incurred in Italy. Moreover, the cost of soiling damage to residential buildings from particulate matter has the potential to significantly increase total external costs due to air pollution. The costs of cleaning window panes due to air pollution also appear significant. Finally, if the levels of atmospheric pollution in the most populated areas become similar to the concentrations currently present in the most remote areas in Italy, the overall cost at national level due to the soiling of the building façades could be reduced by about 50%.