scholarly journals BUILDING SURVEY AND ENERGY MODELLING: AN INNOVATIVE RESTORATION PROJECT FOR CASA DEL FASCIO IN COMO

Author(s):  
A. Buda ◽  
S. Mauri

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> Historic buildings are fragile systems to be managed and protected during time: in the task of heritage restoration, efficiency improvement interventions should enable a more sustainable building conservation and use. Such measures might be defined within the combination of building survey and energy performance simulation. A good knowledge of materials and physics characteristics is fundamental to weigh correctly any improvement intervention. This can be supported also by documentary research and diagnostics, to detect existing resources and conservation issues. However, how to match all collected qualitative and quantitative data with a building energy model is still an open question. Energy simulation alone gives a partial vision of heritage needs, excluding information which do not affect the thermal performance of the model; on the contrary, a whole building approach is necessary for defining restoration interventions. With the aim of suggesting a methodology to combine both fields of investigation, a case study has been chosen to our purpose: Giuseppe Terragni’s Casa del Fascio (1936). A multidisciplinary process with the combination of building survey, monitoring campaign, on-site investigation and energy modelling has been functional to the understanding of the real building needs and the definition of interventions. Furthermore, the analysis has given to the rediscover of Terragni’s microclimatic control system (not more existing), leading to the choice of reinventing - in a modern way – the existing devices (as curtains), well-balanced on building needs.</p>

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 699-704 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Mahmoud ◽  
M. Fahmy ◽  
M. Mahdy ◽  
I. Elwy ◽  
M. Abdelalim

Author(s):  
Ruá María José ◽  
Huedo Patricia ◽  
Cabeza Manuel ◽  
Saez Beatriz ◽  
Civera Vicente

In the urban context, buildings play a key role as they are energy consumers. In well-established cities with a high percentage of aged building stock, the focus should lie on sensitive urban areas where the weakest population sectors and the worst physico-economic conditions are usually encountered. In this work, the energy refurbishment of social housing is proposed. A block of municipally owned buildings is selected as a case study to consider that public buildings play an exemplary role according to Directive 2012/27/EU. The group is formed by 12 buildings, which account for 120 dwellings.This study is grounded on two levels. First the urban level. The building is located in a prioritised urban Area of Rehabilitation, Renovation and Urban Regeneration (ARRU), according to the new local Land Plan. This area presents multidimensional vulnerability and considers urban, building, socio-demographic and socio-economic features. Second, the building presents very low energy performance. It was built in 1959 when a high demand of dwellings and the economic resources then available led to low-quality buildings that are far from meeting today’s standards.Some proposals are made, having in mind the specific features of the urban context. The energy refurbishment of the building is proposed, selecting the optimal solution, considering technical, environmental and economic criteria. The energy performance simulation shows a remarkable improvement of the energy performance, resulting in an improvement of the thermal comfort of the dwellers. Besides, a reduction in the energy consumption is reached, which would reduce the energy bills and, on the other hand, a reduction of the carbon emissions to the atmosphere, contributing to a better environment quality. Having in mind that the building is intended for social housing, energy poverty situations could be avoided, as dwellings are inhabited by low-income dwellers.


2020 ◽  
Vol 197 ◽  
pp. 02002
Author(s):  
Ilaria Marotta ◽  
Francesco Guarino ◽  
Maurizio Cellura ◽  
Sonia Longo

Since the building sector is responsible for 40% of the world’s electricity demand, it is essential to act on it in order to reduce emissions of climate change gases on a global scale, as expressed also in the latest directive on the energy performance of buildings. A design approach that focuses on the energy flexibility of buildings can contribute to the improvement of its energy-environmental performances. In this context, the objective of the study is the analysis of the energy performance of a residential building in Sicily and the definition of strategies aimed at increasing its energy flexibility. In particular, the case study is a 631 m2 single-family house, modeled and simulated in TRNSYS environment. The approach involves the development of scenarios to reduce operating costs and CO2 emissions during the use phase of the building. Rule Based Control algorithms are implemented. The flexible control reacts to a price or emission signal, by modulating the heating set-point accordingly. The results highlighted significant increases in energy flexibility. The economic algorithm achieves savings of 21.46%, accompanied by a 15% reduction in emissions. The environmental algorithm allows to reduce CO2 emissions by about 30%. The economic impact is positive, with a 17.58% reduction in costs.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Oleksii Pasichnyi

Decarbonisation of the building stock is essential for energy transitions towards climate-neutral cities in Sweden, Europe and globally. Meeting 1.5°C scenarios is only possible through collaborative efforts by all relevant stakeholders — building owners, housing associations, energy installation companies, city authorities, energy utilities and, ultimately, citizens. These stakeholders are driven by different interests and goals. Many win-win solutions are not implemented due to lack of information, transparency and trust about current building energy performance and available interventions, ranging from city-wide policies to single building energy service contracts. The emergence of big data in the building and energy sectors allows this challenge to be addressed through new types of analytical services based on enriched data, urban energy models, machine learning algorithms and interactive visualisations as important enablers for decision-makers on different levels. The overall aim of this thesis was to advance urban analytics in the building energy domain. Specific objectives were to: (1) develop and demonstrate an urban building energy modelling framework for strategic planning of large-scale building energy retrofitting; (2) investigate the interconnection between quality and applications of urban building energy data; and (3) explore how urban analytics can be integrated into decision-making for energy transitions in cities. Objectives 1 and 2 were pursued within a single case study based on continuous collaboration with local stakeholders in the city of Stockholm, Sweden. Objective 3 was addressed within a multiple case study on participatory modelling for strategic energy planning in two cities, Niš, Serbia, and Stockholm. A transdisciplinary research strategy was applied throughout. A new urban building energy modelling framework was developed and demonstrated for the case of Stockholm. This framework utilises high-resolution building energy data to identify buildings and retrofitting measures with the highest potential, assess the change in total energy demand from large-scale retrofitting and explore its impact on the supply side. Growing use of energy performance certificate (EPC) data and increasing requirements on data quality were identified in a systematic mapping of EPC applications combined with assessment of EPC data quality for Stockholm. Continuity of data collaborations and interactivity of new analytical tools were identified as important factors for better integration of urban analytics into decision-making on energy transitions in cities.


2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 268-309
Author(s):  
Fernanda Acre ◽  
Annemie Wyckmans

Purpose – Non-technical dimensions such as spatial quality are just as relevant for energy efficiency as technical and economic dimensions in the renovation of dwellings. However, the significance of non-technical dimensions is often neglected in the energy renovation of dwellings. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how the renovation of dwellings for energy efficiency influences spatial quality in the MS-1 building in the neighbourhood of Arlequin, Grenoble, France. The Arlequin case study is part of the ZenN project, nearly zero energy neighbourhoods, funded by the European 7th Framework Programme (Grant Agreement No. 314363). Design/methodology/approach – The impact of the renovation on spatial quality is analysed by crossing technical measures, applied in the energy renovation of dwellings with the definition of spatial quality proposed by Acre and Wyckmans (2014). The spatial quality definition results from a literature review on quality of design and urban life, wherein works of Weber (1995) and Gehl (2010, 2011) are related to the residential use in the scales of the building and block. The impact of renovation on spatial quality is further evaluated by using the spatial quality assessment developed by Acre and Wyckmans (2015). The impact on spatial quality is observed by considering all the renovation measures, instead of only considering the measures primarily related to energy performance. This emphasises the need for a cross-disciplinary approach between technical and non-technical dimensions in the energy renovation of dwellings. Findings – The results display both negative and positive impacts of the energy renovation on spatial quality in the dwellings and emphasise the potential of non-technical dimensions in promoting renovation. The impact on spatial quality is primarily negative when only measures adopted in order to improve energy efficiency are considered in the evaluation. Originality/value – This paper consists of a novel crossing of technical and non-technical dimensions in energy renovation of dwellings. The work aligns with the current European trend of nurturing energy-deep renovation to reach Europe’s 2050 energy-efficiency targets (Buildings Performance Institute Europe (BPIE) 2011).


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaitlin Paige Carroll

This study assesses the performance gap between actual energy performance and desired energy performance outcomes for a case study of 19 LEED-certified multi-unit residential buildings in the Greater Toronto Area. The study examines 1) how accurately design-stage energy modelling predicts actual energy use, 2) how much variation of energy performance can be seen between buildings of the same level of certification, and 3) the key contributing factors of this performance gap. Using EUI as the basis of comparison, trend analysis was carried out. It was determined that a performance gap between modelled and actual building energy use does exist. When compared to a larger sample of existing buildings, the case study buildings show no real improvement, on average. Regression models revealed no strong correlation between LEED Level or LEED EAc1 credits and reduced EUIs.


2018 ◽  
Vol 165 ◽  
pp. 172-183 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Egan ◽  
Donal Finn ◽  
Pedro Henrique Deogene Soares ◽  
Victor Andreas Rocha Baumann ◽  
Reihaneh Aghamolaei ◽  
...  

2003 ◽  
Vol 125 (3) ◽  
pp. 251-257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jongho Yoon ◽  
E. J. Lee ◽  
D. E. Claridge

Calibration of an energy simulation with actual data has generally been considered too difficult to be part of the energy audit procedure. The purpose of this paper is to develop a systematic method using a “base load analysis approach” to calibrate a building energy performance model with a combination of monthly utility billing data and sub-metered data such as is commonly available in large buildings in Korea. The calibration procedure was specifically developed to be suitable for use in both the audit and savings determination procedure within a retrofit process. The procedure has been visualized using a logical flow chart and demonstrated using the simulation of a 26-story commercial building located in Seoul as a case study. The results indicate that the approach developed provided a reliable and accurate simulation of the monthly and annual building energy requirements of the case study building.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi Huang ◽  
Yufan Xiao ◽  
Fan Yu

Abstract Background: The existing heritage buildings are considered as symbols of the original spirit of a city, which also contains vitality and resilience through centuries. In Qingdao, the Liyuan courtyard styles are still existed as a very regional and representative colonial residential architecture form in the urban development history from 1900s in this city. Method: The research here made the hypotheses of the heritage buildings can regain its authentic appearance while achieve energy efficiency in building performance through optimization and renovation strategies. The sustainability potentials assessment is discussed and evaluated with field investigation in a Liyuan building case study by on-site observation and building performance simulation analysis of two renovation options.Result and Discussion: One model with façade supplemented in the insulation layers in the envelope walls and another model with further upgrade with consideration of recycling materials mixed were discussed and estimated with building performance simulation method. Both scenarios improved the energy efficiency, while the advanced model could achieve better result in the building energy behavior dramatically.Conclusion: This research paper verified the hypotheses of sustainability embodied in Liyuan buildings. It also confirmed the vitality and resilience could be regained through history with considerable and reasonable guideline in strategy together with personal alternatives. Technologies innovation helps to improve their energy performance by reducing consumption or self-supplying on the existing buildings renovation actions. Every specific choices of renovation action could achieve low energy goals and impose optional positive effects on the behavior of the living comfort preference. Multicriteria considerations might influence the balanced between different factors when making decisions in the heritage building restoration and it is expected to empower the fresh glory in the development of heritage building protection and restoration.


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