1,720,991 research outputs found
Energy Refurbishment of Historical Buildings with Public Function: Pilot Case Study
No full textAbstractIn the last few decades, an increasing attention has been paid to the enhancement of energy performance and indoor comfort conditions of historical buildings, where the architectural heritage and artistic value do not allow typical retrofit intervention. The need to enhance the energy efficiency and environmental sustainability of historic buildings is addressed in this paper, through energy modeling and dynamic simulation of a real building with the integration of renewable energy plants for building heating and cooling. The pilot case study is “Palazzo Gallenga Stuart”, a historical university building located in Perugia, Italy. The energy performance of the building has been evaluated in order to reduce the building energy demand through the implementation of high-efficiency technologies in historic buildings. The increase of the energy efficiency of the building has been pursued through the improvement of the actual energy plants’ technology by introducing a more effective heat pump plant, in order to prevent the use of visually impacting external units on building historic façade
On an innovative integrated technique for energy refurbishment of historical buildings: Thermal-energy, economic and environmental analysis of a case study
No full textIn the last decades, increasing attention has been paid to the enhancement of energy performance and comfort conditions of historic buildings, where the necessity to preserve architectural heritage does not allow typical invasive retrofit interventions. The need for a replicable methodology for improving the sustainability of historic buildings based on the integration of energy efficiency solutions with renewable technologies is here addressed, by riding over the constraints imposed by architectural preservations, rather taking advantage of heritage architectural peculiarities. The case study is represented by Palazzo Gallenga Stuart, a historical university building located in central Italy. The optimization of the building energy efficiency has been pursued through two strategies specifically prototyped for application in historic buildings, i.e. innovative cool tiles with the same appearance of traditional historic tiles, and a geothermal heat pump system with water storage tanks positioned in the under-ground unoccupied areas of the building previously used as archives, also preventing the use of external units spoiling the building façade. Four retrofit scenarios were analyzed and compared from a both technical and economical point of view. The results showed that the application of the innovative cool tiles lead to a maximum cooling energy saving of 14.0% and 3.8% in the classrooms of the top floor and in the whole building, respectively. Furthermore, the installation of a more effective energy plant leads to an average energy saving of 64.3% and 67.0% in terms of heating and cooling demand, respectively. The combination of the two effects leads to an average energy saving of 64.0% for heating and 69.2% for cooling. Additionally, the cost-benefit analysis showed a payback time of 5 years. This work shows the important environmental benefit achievable by researching around smart and innovative integrated systems for energy saving in historic buildings having a great potential in reducing energy demand and carbon emissions, in ancient European countries in particular
Experimental analysis of natural gravel covering as cool roof and cool pavement
No full textBuilding energy efficiency has become a key research issue in the last years, given the huge energy requirement of the construction sector and the potential for energy saving. In particular, passive solutions such as natural materials are always appreciated for their intrinsic high thermal performance and low environmental impact. In this view, natural stones represent a good solution as building envelope covering or city pavements. This paper concerns the experimental characterization of several gravel coverings for roofs and urban paving in terms of their albedo characteristics. A cheap and local natural high reflectance stone is chosen, which common use is as aggregate for concrete. The purpose of the work is to study its intrinsic cooling potential. To this aim, the in-field albedo of gravel samples is measured with varying grain size of the same natural stone named “Bargiolina”. These in-field measurements are compared to in-lab measurements about solar reflectance and thermal emissivity. The analysis shows a significant variation of the albedo with varying grain size of the same stone. Both in-lab and in-field measurements agree that the stone with the smallest grain size, i.e. thin sand, has the best optic-thermal performance in terms of solar reflectance (62%). This feature results in the reduction of the surface temperature when exposed to solar radiation. Moreover, a natural mixed stone is compared to the high reflectance stone, demonstrating that the chosen “Bargiolina” presents an intrinsic cool behavior. Therefore, this natural, low-cost, low impact and high performance material could be successfully applied as cool roof or cool paving, for its passive cooling contribution and its potential for reducing urban heat islands
Dynamic Thermal-energy Performance Analysis of a Prototype Building with Integrated Phase Change Materials
No full textAbstractThe use of PCMs for improving buildings’ thermal comfort conditions and reducing summer cooling need has been largely investigated in the last decade. The capability of these materials of storing heat in latent form has been pointed out, especially when integrated in building envelopes. This paper deals with the analysis of the benefits in terms of buildings’ energy saving generated by the integration of PCMs inside two types of membrane for roofing applications, i.e. a traditional bitumen membrane and an innovative cool polyurethane-based membrane. To this aim, the dynamic simulation of the energy performance of a test-room was carried out. Four configurations were simulated and compared: (i) roof covered by a bitumen sheet membrane, (ii) roof covered by a cool membrane, (iii) the cool membrane with integrated PCMs, and (iv) the bitumen membrane with integrated PCMs. Both winter and summer conditions were studied. The results showed that PCMs integrated into the cool membrane are able to guarantee a 10.4% cooling energy saving, while PCMs integrated into the bitumen membrane generate a 12.6% of energy reduction for cooling if compared to the only bitumen membrane. The same roof configurations without taking into account the roof insulation layer generate a reduction of the cooling energy requirement of about 9.4% and 16.6%, respectively. In winter conditions, the reduction of the heating demand generated by the integration of PCMs inside the bitumen membrane is about 4.4% and 6.9%, with and without considering the roof insulation, respectively. Additionally, the heating energy saving generated by including PCMs into the cool membrane is equal to 5.4% and 8.4%, with and without considering the roof insulation layer, respectively. These results demonstrated that the integration of PCMs in both cool and non-cool roof membranes is able to reduce building energy requirement in both summer and winter conditions, especially in non-insulated roof configuration
Investigation on the effect of innovative cool tiles on local indoor thermal conditions: Finite element modeling and continuous monitoring
No full textThe achievement of building indoor thermal comfort conditions with the minimum energy need represents a challenge for both designers and researchers. To this aim, the development of passive strategies, e.g. cool roofs, for reducing the thermal gain entering building envelopes has spread in the scientific community. In this view, Computational Fluid Dynamic method is applied in this research in order to quantify the effect of a cool roof solution within the indoor environment of the thermal zone adjacent to the roof, by analyzing the attic local conditions. The case study is represented by an attic room of a continuously monitored residential building located in central Italy. A two-dimensional finite element analysis is carried out to investigate the indoor air temperature and air velocity field inside the attic. The available experimental data are used for validation. Therefore, the thermal profiles generated by (i) the roof with traditional brown-colored brick tiles and (ii) the same roof with innovative cool clay tiles are investigated. The final purpose is to compare the indoor thermal comfort conditions generated within the vertical cross section of the attic, in order to study the cool roof effect at different height of occupants' body. The main results show up to 2.79 K and 1.54 K air temperature difference between the cool and traditional roof configurations, in summer and winter conditions, respectively. A thermal stratification is detected during summer inside the attic, leading to strongly non homogeneous comfort conditions, particularly marked in the "hot" tiles scenario, demonstrating the usefulness of this contribution
Integrated numerical and experimental methodology for thermal-energy analysis and optimization of heritage museum buildings
No full textResearch effort was dedicated to the analysis of museums microclimate for the preservation of artifacts and indoor environment. In this paper, continuous monitoring and dynamic simulation of an ancient exhibition site are carried out to evaluate indoor microclimate and energy performance. The aim is to develop a multidisciplinary methodology for preserving artworks and historic buildings in the view of sustainability and comfort. The paper also shows how the environmental conditions of two thermal zones different for geometry, occupancy, ventilation rate, and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems are far from the values suggested by the regulations for the preservation of artifacts and from human comfortable set points of temperature and relative humidity. This work highlights the need for further investigation of historical exposition sites to reduce artworks' damaging and occupants' environmental stress. Practical application: Many historical buildings in European countries host exhibition sites. Indoor microclimate of such areas is often inappropriate for visitors' comfort, for artworks', and building preservation. In fact, usually HVAC systems operate according to simple temperature-based control protocols. This study shows how old architectures could present indoor environmental conditions far from the target, for artworks' preservation, for occupants' comfort, and for the building maintenance. This paper presents a numerical-experimental methodology applied to an architectural heritage. The analysis gives insight on this issue, and could guide building operators and service management to investigate and optimize indoor environmental conditions where artworks are preserved
On an innovative integration strategy of renewable energy system in historic building with public function
No full textEnergy efficiency of existing buildings is becoming an increasingly important research
issue, given the slow building renovation and new construction development in
Europe. Additionally, most of the buildings in the old city centers in Mediterranean area,
and all around Europe in general, often present important architectural and artistic elements
to be preserved even in retrofit interventions. This aspect makes the energy efficiency
optimization even more difficult to implement, and historic buildings are typically
considered as low performance buildings by definition. In this panorama, innovative
strategies and integrated assessment to be specifically designed in historic buildings represent
a fundamental research development, aimed at improving the environmental sustainability
of Italian and European city centers. This paper concerns the integrated evaluation
of multiple retrofit scenarios on a historic building case study for public auditorium
use. Several active technologies and passive solutions are compared in terms of (i) cost,
(ii) energy performance, (iii) technical feasibility, for intrinsic constraints deriving from
the characteristics of the ancient structures and the positioning of the case study. This
building is a large space built in the historical city walls, where the municipality office
would like to install an auditorium and training space for public use. Specific solutions
have been elaborated focusing on the building characteristics and the final use of each
thermal zone. The overall cost-benefit assessment shows how the reduction of the conditioned
volume in association with (i) the integrated geothermal plant and (ii) the methane
boiler with absorption chiller represents the best overall solution after three years from
the construction in terms of primary energy requirement for (i) cooling and (ii) heating,
respectively
Environmental sustainability concept applied to historic buildings: the experience of LEED international protocol in the stable of Sant’Apollinare fortress in Perugia
No full textEnvironmental certifications of buildings represent an important tool for monitoring the impacts of the whole construction process, with the purpose being the development of an environmental consciousness. The main goals are (i) the indoor environmental comfort, and (ii) the sustainable use of resources i.e. materials, energy, land, and water. These goals are relatively easy to achieve in the case of the design of new buildings, or recent construction. A different scenario is represented by historic buildings, which are typically subject to several constraints due their high cultural and artistic value. This article concerns the environmental analysis of a renovation process applied to an ancient building used as the stable of aBenedictine fortress located near Perugia, Italy. The purpose of the study is to show how the retrofit of historic buildings can be addressed by optimizing the ancient construction techniques and by introducing new technologies in the perspective of sustainability. In particular, this project concerns the application of the LEED Italy 2009 New Construction and Major Renovation, while waiting for the completion of a system fully dedicated to historic buildings, i.e. the GBC Historic BuildingTM. The analysis of the building’s traditional characteristics allowed to identify where the actual protocol lacks, if applied to historic buildings. The need to merge both architectural and energy requirements suggested to pay particular attention on the choice of the envelope materials. Therefore, the choice of the materials gives the possibility of updating traditional building techniques according to the contemporary needs in terms of energy-environmental requirement and innovation in the design process
Nanotech-Based Cool Materials for Building Energy Efficiency
No full textThis book presents the current state of knowledge on nanomaterials and their use in buildings, ranging from glazing and vacuum insulation to PCM composites. It also discusses recent applications in organic photovoltaics, photo-bioreactors, bioplastics and foams, making it an exciting read while also providing copious references to current research and applications for those wanting to pursue possible future research directions.
Derek Clements-Croome, Emeritus Professor in Architectural Engineering, University of Reading (From the Foreword)
Demonstrating how higher energy efficiency in new and existing buildings can help reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, this book details the way in which new technologies, manufacturing processes and products can serve to abate emissions from the energy sector and offer a cost-effective means of improving competitiveness and drive employment.
Maximizing reader insights into how nano and biotech materials – such as aerogel based plasters, thermochromic glazings and thermal energy adsorbing glass, amongst others – can provide high energy efficiency performance in buildings, it provides practitioners in the field with an important high-tech tool to tackle key challenges and is essential reading for civil engineers, architects, materials scientists and researchers in the area of the sustainability of the built environment
- …
