Search results for "BUILDINGS"

Gli strumenti finanziari nazionali di supporto alla riduzione dei consumi energetici negli edifici delle pubbliche amministrazioni

2015

Public Administrations are currently constrained, in their aims of carrying out actions and projects for the limitation of the energy consumption of buildings, by the scarcity of adequate budgets and by the need of observing the Growth and Stability Pact. On the contrary, the availability of (and the access to) suitable financial sources would represent significant opportunities for an economic development characterized by energy and environmental sustainability. This paper, after a short review of the domestic financial tools actually available for the reduction of their energy consumption of municipalities, analyses the technical and economic barriers that limit their effective utilizatio…

Monitoring the urban environment: developing a mixed (fix and mobile) observatory on the urban quality control

2005

An integrated network of monitoring was developed by the authors from 2002. A wide knowledge of the space and time distribution of the environmental data can be acquired integrating the network of fixed stations (were each environmental parameter is collected) with a number of sensors installed on public transport means (were, at the present time, only some parameters are collected). All citizens of the involved local governments will benefit from an increased awareness of environmental quality and their effects on health. The system could be considered as a decision support system and a tool of knowledge dissemination. The aims of the system is to define a standard protocol for monitoring …

Energy and Economic Analysis of Different Buildings Constructed with Environmentally Sustainable and Traditional Materials

2013

Passive components for reducing environmental impacts of buildings:analysis of an experimental green roof

2020

The reduction of the environmental impacts related to the building sector is a matter of outmost importance concerning the sustainable utilization of resources related to human activities. Such sector is in fact responsible for about 40% of both release of pollutants in the atmosphere and energy consumption. When trying to reduce buildings’ environmental impacts, as well as to limit their energy consumption, building envelope passive systems can be used. Amongst these, green roofs have been gaining global attention due to their benefits in terms of resilience and sustainability, in order to mitigate the unfavourable urbanization effects. Research on the green roof has been indeed increasing…

The economic and environmental sustainability in the choice of materials to improve the performances of existing buildings

2015

The concept of sustainability in the construction industry cannot, above all in this historical moment, include in its parameters considerations about economic, social and environmental factors. All this factors are deeply connected with the context, both for climatic reasons and for economic and social reasons. Technical valuations about the choice and use of materials must be motivated by reality in which we work, in the perspective of quality of process as satisfaction of the users but also, in this case, of the producers. The aim of the proposed study is the valutation and individuation of suitable materials for the improvement of the energetic performances of existing buildings which w…

Modeling of spanish household electrical consumptions: Simplified and detailed stochastic approach in trnsys environment

2013

The initial assessment of electric energy demands of a building is a key element in the design process, that should be integrated in the earlier stages of the design of a net zero energy building. The objective of the study is the creation of predictive models of household electrical consumptions in the Mediterranean/Spanish climate and its implementation in TRNSYS 17 environment. The models offer both a simplified level of analysis, based on average seasonal electrical consumptions trends and a stochastic in-depth level for the simulation of peak loads through the compiling of multiple TRNSYS types.

The Role of Natural Ventilative Cooling in NZE Temporary and Emergency Shelters Design: a Mediterranean Case Study

2016

The paper presents a case-study of a pre-fabricated housing module built in Messina (Sicily, Italy) and the assessment of its energy performances under the net zero energy perspective. The potential of ventilative natural cooling application in the case-study is also investigated. Some particular features of the building - the modularity, the prefabrication, the rapidity of assembly, the possibility of being built on disconnected soils and the absence of maintenance - identify an effective use as a temporary housing solution for e.g. workers in proximity of an isolated working place or in emergency situations such as earthquakes and natural disasters. Monitoring studies were performed durin…

Analysis of Load Match in Nearly Zero Energy Buildings

2018

The concept of load matching refers to the degree of agreement or disagreement of the on-site generation with the building load profiles: it can be increased and optimised with modifications on both the energy demand and generation. In this context, the paper presents the load match analysis of a case study: a modular housing construction (it has an area of 45 m 2 and S/V ratio equal to 2.75 m −1 ) built in Messina (Italy). Moreover, in order to optimize the design of the next test module to be built, a parametric analysis was performed considering different scenarios on the generation side, to explore the effectiveness of the solutions sets used in current design and plan different solutio…

Experimental determination of natural air ventilation rates based on CO2 concentration

2009

This study reports the first results of a survey carried out by the authors on a hall used for conferences, training courses, seminars, and aimed to determine the correlation between the concentration of CO2 and the number of air changes only through natural ventilation. The assessment of ventilation rates was based on the knowledge of the indoor and outdoor CO2 concentrations and of the number of people in the hall. As it is known, the CO2 concentrations can be used as an index for the number of people present in a room and can be evaluated as a function of time by using the Meckler equation in steady-state conditions. In that case it is however necessary that some restrictive hypotheses a…

LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT OF SOLAR COMMUNITIES: A SCENARIO ANALYSIS

The study proposes the comparisonof the life cycle performances of two different energy systems aimed at covering the needs of a large mixed-mode community, in Calgary (Canada). The two systems investigated are a“conventional” one, using heat pumps for heating, cooling and domestic hot water, and another one widely deploying solar thermal panels as well as a district heating infrastructure and a borehole seasonal thermal storage. The analysis is based on the LifeCycle Assessment (LCA) methodology and includes the stages of raw materials and energy supply, system manufacturing, use stage of the systems, generation and use of energy on-site, maintenance and components’ substitution, and explo…