OVERVIEW

The issue of energy saving in buildings is extremely topical. Buildings are responsible for 40 % of final energy consumption in the Union and 36 % of energy-related greenhouse gas emissions, while 75 % of buildings in the Union are still energy inefficient.

Since 2002, EU legislation has introduced a policy attentive to the theme of energy saving in buildings which has been implemented at national level. The technical regulations have supported this need by promoting calculation procedures aimed at uniquely calculating the energy performance of buildings.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims to provide students with knowledge of the energy performance of buildings with particular reference to the legislation and technical regulations in force. The aspects relating to the energy diagnosis of existing buildings, the minimum performance requirements that new buildings have to undergo and major renovations or energy requalification and energy certification of buildings will be covered. A mention will also be made of the topic of tax incentives with particular reference to the Ecobonus and the Thermal Account. The course involves the application of content to a real case study through the use of commercial software.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The main objectives of energy policies at Community level are:

- the energy requalification of the existing building stock,

- the construction of new buildings with NZEB (nearly zero energy building) qualification.

According to the new European Directive 2024/1275 (EPBD IV, called Green Houses), by 2050 the entire building stock in the EU will have to be decarbonised and new and existing buildings will have to be ZEmB (Zero Emission Buildings).

To this end, the main tools available are:

- energy diagnosis of existing buildings;

- design in compliance with the minimum requirements in the case of new buildings and subjected to restructuring at various levels;

- the energy certification of buildings.

The course aims to provide the knowledge and tools necessary to tackle the problem of energy efficiency in construction with reference to the three tools described above.

Starting from the knowledge of the current legislation and regulations, the student must be able to create the energy model of a building and to evaluate the main parameters that influence its energy performance. In the exercises, a real case study will be addressed, using commercial software.

PREREQUISITES

Fundamentals of heat transmission: conduction, convection, radiation, transmittance.

TEACHING METHODS

Frontal lessons and guided exercises using commercial software.

Students who have a valid certification of physical or learning disabilities on file with the University and who wish to discuss possible accommodations or other circumstances regarding lectures, coursework and exams, should speak both with the teacher and with the Department of Architecture and Design's disability referent (https://architettura.unige.it/commissioni_e_referenti_dipartimento).

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

Legislation and technical standards on the calculation of the energy performance of buildings.

• Overview of current legislation on the energy performance of buildings at European, national and regional level.

• Overall energy performance indicators of the building and for each single service: heating, cooling, domestic hot water, ventilation, lighting, transport. CO2 emissions.

• The standards of the UNI/TS 11300 series and the procedure for calculating the energy performance of buildings. Types of evaluation: on the project, standard, adapted to users.

• Renewable energy: definition, conversion factors, renewable share. Outline of renewable energy production systems: heat pumps, biomass, solar thermal, solar photovoltaic.

• Reference building.

• Nearly zero energy building (NZEB) and zero emissions building (ZEmB).

• Classification of interventions according to Ministerial Decree 26-06-2015: new construction, major renovation, energy requalification.

• Legislation and technical standards on energy certification of buildings.

• Legislation and technical standards on energy diagnosis of buildings.

• CAM, Minimum Environmental Criteria for public administration tenders.

• Tax incentives for the energy requalification of buildings: eco-bonus, thermal account.

Building Envelope

• Heat exchange through the opaque components of the building envelope according to UNI EN ISO 6946: walls, attics, floors, stairway doors. The abacus of the wall structures UNI / TR 11552.

• Heat exchange through the transparent components of the building envelope according to UNI EN ISO 10077-1: windows, doors, shutters.

• Heat exchange through thermal bridges according to UNI EN ISO 14683.

• Ideal thermal energy requirement of the building for heating and cooling according to UNI / TS 11300-1: ventilation, transmission, internal contributions, solar contributions, utilization factor of the free contributions. Average monthly climatic data according to UNI 10349-1.

• Summer performance of the building envelope: time constant, dynamic regime according to UNI EN ISO 13786, periodic transmittance, admittance, internal air capacity, attenuation and phase shift of the thermal wave, cold roofs, SRI solar reflection index.

Heating, cooling and domestic hot water systems

• Emission subsystem: thermal emission and thermal inertia, radiators, fan coils, convectors, radiant panels, radiant plates, air heaters, vents in hot air systems.

• Regulation subsystem: manual with boiler thermostat, centralized climatic, for single zone, for single environment, zone + climate, environment + climate.

• Distribution subsystem: autonomous and centralized systems, horizontal and vertical distribution.

• Storage subsystem.

• Generation subsystem: combined and separate production, traditional boilers with constant and sliding temperature, condensing boilers.

•4 Domestic hot water systems: storage, instantaneous, mixed production.

• Air-to-air (split and VRF) and air-to-water heat pumps (monobloc, hydro-split, refrigerant-split).

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Lecture notes will be provided.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

LESSONS

LESSONS START

February 17, 2025

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

The exam consists of an oral interview where the discussion will focus on the case study addressed during the exercises. The student must be able to justify the choices made and to discuss the results using the contents learned during the lectures.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The exam consists of an oral interview