A pilot project for energy retrofit of educational buildings - The engineering campus of the University of L’Aquila

Abstract

The engineering campus of the University of L’Aquila represents a complex use case in the context of energy efficiency, mainly due to its size, the high thermal power, the hybrid hydronic and ventilation system, the absence of a room’s thermal control, and the progressive obsolescence of the heating plant. An in-depth recognition and study of the campus’ HVAC system made it possible to assess the main energy inefficiencies and define interventions to improve its performance. The energy retrofit, carried out by the University’s “Energy Commission Workgroup”, highlighted the main criticalities and potentials of the HVAC system providing viable paths for energy optimization. Among them, one of the hypothesized interventions concerned the thermal regulation of the heating plant, which is, to date, substantially absent. This work presents the results of a Pilot Project to quantitatively evaluate the effectiveness of the closed-loop control on a thermal system. Two classrooms in the Engineering Campus, similar in geometry, orientation, and occupancy, were selected. One of them has been equipped with a control system. The results of the monitoring campaign showed that the proposed system achieved more than 30% energy savings over a three-month trial period.