Search results for " retrofit"
showing 10 items of 81 documents
Performance Analysis of Innovative Vacuum Insulation Panel
2013
Thermal insulation has become one of the central themes in energy behavior improvement. The use of insulating materials, from the thermal and hydrothermal aspect, allows the reduction of the heat transfer in each of the technical elements increasing their thermal inertia. Even if the research has led to the use of innovative materials with high values of thermal insulation, one of the main problems, which is difficult to resolve, is the thickness of the building envelope to reach levels of transmittance that can allow considerable savings of energy and CO2 emissions. With this objective the VIP (Vacuum Insulation Panel) technology in building applications is an innovative solution to obtain…
ECO-FRIENDLY MATERIALS FOR THE ENERGY RETROFIT OF EXISTING BUILDINGS
2015
Today is widely recognized that the main cause of CO2 production and of non-renewable energy consumptions in Europe is due to the building field. For this reason, to improve the energy performance of existing houses through an energy retrofit action (adapting their performances to those required by regulations) is an important strategy to reduce energy consumptions since they are much more than new ones, also representing an economic opportunity. In particular, an important approach in the reducing energy needs consists in the thermal insulation of the envelope, through the application of innovative technologies and materials. The paper will present the result of a research about the possib…
Is the NZEB Benchmarking Approach Suitable for Assessing Energy Retrofit Design?
2013
Currently, many effort have been done to enable energy saving issues in building design and many definitions have been introduced for most performing constructions based on energy balance between energy demand and supply. Recently, the Net Zero Energy Building theory has bypassed old Passive House concept but many questions still remain open. Present work aims to estimate how NZEB requirements matching could be affected by the choice of their definition and the choice of weighting factor system, to be count in the energy balance. NZEB concept is mainly referred to new buildings design. Its application to existing buildings is for sure an hard task provided the architecture and physical cons…
Scenarios of Climatic Resilience, Economic Feasibility and Environmental Sustainability for the Refurbishment of the Early 20th Century Buildings
2019
This paper aims to examine the theme of energy retrofit within the circumscribed field of refurbishment interventions on load-bearing masonry buildings built in the early 20th century. These include a remarkable share of the fabric of many European cities and, in particular, they can be found in geographical areas characterized by a Mediterranean (mild) climate. The main objective is to increase the climate resilience of the buildings by verifying the economic feasibility and the environmental sustainability of the interventions at the same time observing the specific architectural features of the buildings. We put forward alternative retrofit solutions carrying out synoptic comparisons of …
The effects of vegetation on indoor thermal comfort: the application of a multi-scale simulation methodology on a residential neighborhood renovation…
2017
Abstract Despite the acknowledged positive effects of vegetation at urban, neighborhood and building scales, there are still only limited comprehensive design tools for multi-scale evaluation of the microclimate and thermal benefits of plants and building-integrated vegetation (BIV) systems. The paper describes a case study in the city of Palermo (Italy) that applied simulation methodology to quantitatively assess the microclimate effects of different neighborhood and building retrofit scenarios where vegetation plays a main role. The simulation workflow moves from a micro-urban to a building scale assessment by linking the ENVI-met software to the building energy simulation program EnergyP…
Strategies for building energy retrofit in the mediterranean basin
2012
The paper focuses on passive and active strategies for achieving sustainable recovery of existing buildings in the Mediterranean Basin, in order to improve indoor comfort and reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere. The Mediterranean Basin is characterized by relatively mild winters and very warm summers. Although Mediterranean climate conditions offer excellent opportunity for the application of alternative energy sources (eg. wind, solar, hydroelectric), they are not very applied yet. Italy and Sicily in particular, comparing to most of EU countries , hang still behind in the application of innovative techniques for sustainable design and planning, and energy retrofitting of exi…
Building integrated solar thermal design: assessment of performances of a low cost solar wall in a typical Italian building
2016
Abstract Present work deals with the topic of building integration of solar thermal collector (BIST) as a refurbishment measure. Such equipment, more than its main function as heating generator, plays a specific role as a building component (envelope finishes, thermal insulation layer, roof cover etc). Consequently, from a heat transfer point of view, an integrated component affects twice the global building balance: supporting the thermal plant (i.e. providing heat for final uses) and modifying the wall heat-transfer pattern (i.e. reducing thermal losses). In turn, the collector performance itself is influenced by the wall structure (back losses reduction). Present work proposes a method f…
The Role of Local Administrations in the Energy Retrofit of Public Buildings: a Case Study
2022
Recent regulations, and related incentives, concerning urban sustainability issued at European and national level place particular attention on improving the energy and environmental performance of buildings. In this sense, a particular focus has been placed on public buildings (offices, schools, hospitals, etc..), being these centers of gravitation of social life. Among the EU strategies on this matter is an initiative called Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan (SECAP), through which local administrators, based on the knowledge of their territory, are called to establish appropriate energy strategies and commit to achieving their targets within the timeframe set by the EU. The prese…
Benefits of a translucent building envelope made of DSC-integrated glass blocks
2015
The aim of this paper is to analyse the benefits deriving from the replacement of the glazed façades of an office building located in Palermo (Sicily) with a new translucent BIPV envelope made of multifunctional glass block panels integrated with Dye-sensitized Solar Cells (DSCs). The analysed 11-storey building is cladded by a curtain wall determining high management costs, especially during summer, in order to maintain indoor comfort. After the design of the building envelope and of the components for the connection of the glass block panels with existing load bearing structure, the energy performance of the building, before and after the replacement of its envelope, were analysed with th…
Experimental results of RC columns strengthnened with Fiber Reinforced Cementitious Mortars
2012
The structural behaviour of reinforced concrete columns strengthened with a system made up of fibre nets embedded in an inorganic stabilized cementitious matrix was investigated. Specimens with circular and square cross-section were cast and subjected to monotonic uniaxial compression to investigate the efficiency of a Polypara-phenylene-benzo-bisthiazole (PBO) Fibre Reinforced Cementitious Mortars (FRCM) system in increasing both carrying capacity and ductility. The experimental results show that confinement with PBO fibre produced a noticeable increment in strength and ductility, though the low mechanical ratios of fibre considered were not always able to ensure hardening behaviour up to …