The great majority of the buildings erected between the 1960s and the 1970s in Southern Italy share a series of features, such as concrete structure, non-insulated outer envelope made of clay blocks, low-performing windows, thermal bridges. As a consequence, these buildings show very poor thermal performance, implying severe discomfort for the occupants unless they use space heating and cooling systems with very high energy consumption. With reference to a case study consisting in a single-storey office building that shows all the above-mentioned features, in this paper the authors intend to investigate the energy and cost effectiveness of a series of energy retrofit strategies, with the possibility to accomplish the requisites for Net Zero Energy Buildings (Net ZEBs). First, the current energy needs for heating, air-conditioning, lighting and hot water production are calculated through quasi-stationary and dynamic simulations tools. Then, the study discusses possible retrofit strategies, both on the envelope and on the energy systems, complying with all the requisites introduced by Italian regulations in case of important retrofit intervention: the combination of the most convenient retrofit solutions will transform this building into a Net ZEB. Cost-effectiveness will be duly taken into account, through the calculation of the discounted payback time for the investment. Due to the spread of this building typology, the discussed case study is highly representative, and the conclusions may be extended to a significant portion of public buildings in Southern Italy estate.

Improving the Italian building stock: energy retrofit of a single-storey public building in Southern Italy

G. Evola
Conceptualization
;
L. Marletta
Supervision
;
S. Tamburella
Software
2018-01-01

Abstract

The great majority of the buildings erected between the 1960s and the 1970s in Southern Italy share a series of features, such as concrete structure, non-insulated outer envelope made of clay blocks, low-performing windows, thermal bridges. As a consequence, these buildings show very poor thermal performance, implying severe discomfort for the occupants unless they use space heating and cooling systems with very high energy consumption. With reference to a case study consisting in a single-storey office building that shows all the above-mentioned features, in this paper the authors intend to investigate the energy and cost effectiveness of a series of energy retrofit strategies, with the possibility to accomplish the requisites for Net Zero Energy Buildings (Net ZEBs). First, the current energy needs for heating, air-conditioning, lighting and hot water production are calculated through quasi-stationary and dynamic simulations tools. Then, the study discusses possible retrofit strategies, both on the envelope and on the energy systems, complying with all the requisites introduced by Italian regulations in case of important retrofit intervention: the combination of the most convenient retrofit solutions will transform this building into a Net ZEB. Cost-effectiveness will be duly taken into account, through the calculation of the discounted payback time for the investment. Due to the spread of this building typology, the discussed case study is highly representative, and the conclusions may be extended to a significant portion of public buildings in Southern Italy estate.
2018
978-88-96386-56-9
energy retrofit; office building; Southern Italy; cost-effectiveness; Net-ZEB.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11769/374788
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