907 research outputs found
Italian Guidelines for Energy Performance of Cultural Heritage and Historical Buildings: The Case Study of the Sassi of Matera
No full textThe Sassi of Matera are a unique example in the world of rock settlements, developed from natural caves carved into the rock and molded into increasingly complex structures inside two large natural amphitheaters. Research focuses on the compatibility of the energy efficiency measures applied in Sassi buildings with the recent MiBACT guidelines on "Energy efficiency improvements in cultural heritage" and AiCARR guidelines on "Energy efficiency of historical buildings". The paper aims to analyze energy and environmental performance of different building typologies and monuments of the Sassi site
Technical feasibility of heating systems for two school districts in the town of Matera
No full textThe present work is focused on technical feasibility of heating system design of two School District situated in the town of Matera. This paper analyses three different heating system highlighting for each of them advantages and disadvantages respect energy covered and environmental impact. To design heating system we conducted a previous energy audit in dynamic conditions on School District. This previous step is necessary to define energy demand and the best strategies to improve energy efficiency of these structures. Before to design heating system, we applied some envelope improvement on numerical model built with Design Builder software. In Fact, the school building which took part in School District has a high heat loss surface because they were built before the first Italian Law on energy efficiency. The heating system typologies considered in this study are: high temperature absorption heat pump integrated with a solar thermal system, high temperature electrical heat pump and cogeneration system. The first heating system typology has a great advantage in terms of primary energy because the conversion factor from natural gas to primary energy is equal to 1.05. The second one, high temperature electrical heat pump, has a great energy efficiency respect to the first one (2.50 vs 1.65) but, in term of primary energy, this system is not so convenient. In fact, the conversion factor from electricity to primary energy is equal to 1.95. The third one, cogeneration system, has the advantages to cover not only heating request but also electric request of school district
Energy Performance and Economic Feasibility Study of Historical Building in the City of Matera, Southern Italy
No full textIn this paper a careful energy audit and an energy restoration of some historical buildings was performed. In particular, three cultural heritages buildings situated in the city of Matera in Southern Italy were analysed. To analyse these buildings, an integrated approach based on measurements in situ and on dynamic energy simulations was used. Then, some energy efficiency actions were performed, safeguarding the authenticity value of these structures. The thermal conductance, the indoor temperature and the energy consumption were measured in situ and then the numerical virtual model was created by the Energy Plus code (Energy Plus is free, open-source, and cross-platform developed by the U.S. Department of Energy’s and Building Technologies Office) (U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Building Technologies Office (BTO), Washington, DC, USA). The numerical model was validated by using the Inequality Coefficient (IC) and then different parametric energy analyses were performed. The paper analysed different energy improvements and a techno-economic feasibility study was performed for each improvement. This analysis was conducted in dynamic regime by using the Energy-Plus code. In these buildings the thermal system improvements have a better payback time than envelope improvements. Two different thermal system improvements were analysed: the absorption heat pump with thermostatic valves and the compression heat pump with fan coil unit. Moreover, the replacement of present lighting with LED technologies has a payback time near one year
Thermo-hygrometric and comfort analysis of a vernacular multi-room settlement in the Sassi of Matera
No full textThe present work is focused on the thermo-hygrometric and comfort analysis of a vernacular
multi-room settlement in the Sassi of Matera. The vernacular multi-room settlement is
composed of n. 8 rooms divided into two levels, partly built and partly excavated into the
calcareous rocks. The case study hypothesizes a possible low-level environmental system
solution able to respect with the strictest design standards, within a structure located in the
Sassi district of Matera.
Our first goal is to outline a microclimate profile of typical environment of Sassi of Matera.
To do this we carried out a comparative analysis of climatic data from different sources:
Energy Plus weather data, ALSIA-Matera data and ilmeteo.it- Gioia del Colle data. From the
analysis conducted we have found that Enegy Plus weather data series presents temperature
lower than ALSIA-Matera and ilmeteo.it- Gioia del Colle data series with an average of
absolute deviation in winter and summer season respectively of 0.9 °C and 0.45 °C.
Measures conducted have been useful to analyse the energy behavior in spontaneous regime
i.e. without heating or cooling system. In this case thermal comfort is not acceptable.
Assuming to install absorption heat pump in all multi-room settlement comfort is acceptabl
Design of small cogeneration system for public buildings in the town of Matera
No full textThe present work is focused on a small-cogeneration system design for three school buildings in the town of Matera on which it was conducted an energy audit in dynamic conditions in order to define energy demand necessary for the small-cogeneration system design. Cogeneration, also known as CHP (Combined Heat and Power), through the joint and the simultaneous production of electricity (or mechanical) and useful heat from a single energy source, aims at more efficient use of primary energy, with savings on production processes, where there is a strong coincidence in time between electrical and thermal extraction. Cogeneration system power is calculated as indicated in standard UNI/TS 11300-4:2016. Remarkable it is also the economic advantage through the access to White Certificates, Italian incentive system. The CHP system is designed on electricity request of the case studies analysed and its power is 90 kWel with a pay-back time between three and four years. In order to satisfy the entire heating energy demand for the entire district, the authors hypothesized interventions on envelope and system plant. In this case the pay-back period increased and it is between 6-7 years considering White certificates and Thermal Bill.2.0 incentives
Non-invasive Methods for Energy and Seismic Retrofit in Historical Building in Italy
No full textItalian historical buildings do not respect often standard requirements established by National regulations, so that they need of an energy requalification. In addition, commonly the adopted provisions do not belong to an integral design approach in which different aspects, such as architectonic, energetic, and structural should be together considered for obtaining a total building rehabilitation. This work mainly addresses to the application of non-invasive methods for energy retrofitting of historical buildings in Italy. In particular, an energy audit protocol is studied and applied to a case study, consisting on an ancient masonry building located within the historical center of “Sassi of Matera,” recognized as UNESCO site since 1993. In the paper some energy efficiency measures are considered, by examining also alternative interventions with respect to the classical ones, by applying innovative and sustainable materials, fashionable as well from a structural point of view. This proposal, to be investigated more in detail in future, responds to the criteria of non-invasiveness for preserving the cultural heritage identity, and simultaneously improving the energy and the structural response
Analysis of the energy performance strategies of school buildings site in the Mediterranean climate: A case study the schools of Matera city
No full textEnergy consumption of the public building stock represents an important cost of the balance of a state. Moreover, public buildings, in particular schools, should be buildings with elevated comfort levels because student and teachers spend much time in these rooms. The wellness and productive capacity of students and teachers are primarily affected by the comfort inside and air quality of school rooms.
Regarding energy use, school buildings waste much energy because most buildings were constructed before the 1991 and energy saving measures were only implemented in a few schools.
This paper analyses the energy performance of eight different schools located in Matera city, southern Italy. The aim of this research is to analyse energy requirement utilizing dynamic analyses with a time step of one hour (using Energy-Plus method). Next, the values of the dynamic analyses were compared to the effective energy consumption. Using the results of this comparison, we validated the numerical model, and then, we analysed different energy auditing actions for these buildings. We included the energy auditing works in three categories: energy restoration of the envelope, of the plant and of both. For each of these categories, we calculated the energy savings. Ultimately, we analysed the environmental benefits of the three different categories in terms of CO2 reduction. This research confirmed that the dynamic method is the best method to achieve a good energy analysis of these complex buildings
Microclimate of territory of Matera and the heat island effect
No full textThis work is focused on micro-climate analysis of the Matera town. We carried out several measurement campaigns of climate parameters in summer and winter season by measuring temperature and relative humidity. These analyses show that, in the historical center, the temperature values are greater than in areas with presence of vegetation. We analyzed the temperature and relative humidity trend of the last seven years. The average seasonal temperatures rise, due to an increased use of air conditioners, causes the growth of urban temperatures. The sparse vegetation present in the town center does not allow the dissipation of the latent heat
Le architetture militari
No full textLe trasformazioni delle architetture militari negli Stati italiani di età moderna, tra la fine del Quattrocento e i primi decenni dell'Ottocento, sono il risultato di grandi trasformazioni dei sistemi difensivi messi a punto da ingegneri e architetti non meno che dalle politiche di difesa di città e territori. Il saggio delinea la storia delle architetture militari in Italia dall'introduzione delle nuove armi da fuoco fino al campo trincerato.The transformations of military architecture in Italian states of the modern age, between the end of the fifteenth and the first decades of the nineteenth century, are the result of great transformations of the defensive systems developed by engineers and architects no less than by the defense policies of the city and territories. The essay outlines the history of military architecture in Italy from the introduction of new firearms to the entrenched camp
Drawing a Global Color Line: ‘The American Negro Exhibit’ at the 1900 Paris Exposition
No full textThis chapter examines the role African Americans had in the 1900 Paris Exposition. It focuses on “The American Negro Exhibit,” set up by prominent African American activists and intellectuals, such as W.E.B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington and Thomas J. Calloway, in order to represent the progress and achievements of blacks in the US in the three decades following the end of the Civil War. Based on research carried out in the Daniel Murray Pamphlet Collection and the Booker T. Washington Papers at the Library of Congress, the Archives Nationales and the Bibliotèque Nationale in Paris, this chapter highlights the ways in which the 1900 Paris Exposition became a way for Afircan Americans of challenging the forms of racism against blacks and colonized people carried out in the so-called “native villages,” and more broadly in society, and establish new forms of solidarity and political activism, domestically and internationally.
At the World’s Columbian Exposition, held in 1893 in Chicago, African Americans had already criticized the US government for denying them fair representations, through the pamphlet, The Reason Why the Colored American is Not in the World’s Columbian Exposition. In 1900, they demanded the right to be assigned a space where to set up “an exhibit of the progress of the American negroes in education and industry.” “The American Negro Exhibit” presented African Americans’ success in education, literature, industry and commerce, by making wide use of photography, charts and graphs. Its main aim was to challenge the idea that African Americans were “a mass of rapists, ready to attack every white woman exposed, and a drug in civilized society,” and highlighted the achievements of the so-called New Negroes. The images showed middle-class, respectable urban blacks, members of a generation that had not experienced slavery, while at the same time emphasizing the emergence of new forms of racism and violence in the South.
“The American Negro Exhibit” served as a turning point in the history of African American activism. Indeed, in the context of the 1900 Paris Exposition, Washington and Du Bois grew further apart, offering profoundly different understandings of race relations in the US and globally. On the one hand, Washington advanced the idea that the forms of racial integration promoted by the Tuskegee Institute should serve as a model for African colonies, uplifting Africans through work and discipline. On the other hand, in one of the plates displayed at the exhibition, Du Bois introduced the notion that, “the problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line,” a statement he later presented at the First Pan-African Conference, held in London in July 1900. For both leaders, the 1900 Paris Exposition allowed for the establishment of new transnational alliances with activists in Europe and Africa, which flourished after the First World War
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