Assessment of Energy Sustainable Operations on a Historical Building. The Dante Alighieri High School in Florence

Abstract

Italy has a huge cultural heritage, most of which consists of historical buildings that have changed their original function and use over time. The complex question of building and plant system refurbishment and retrofitting mainly derives from this crucial aspect. The aim of this paper is to provide a simple provisional tool useful for the assessment of efficient, energy sustainable refurbishment solutions for historical buildings and their plant systems. The Dante Alighieri high school (with an important music department) in Florence was the case study. We proposed a method based on dynamic simulations that allows plant design guarantying indoor air quality (IAQ) and thermal comfort, as well as energy efficiency, but, at the same time offering reversibility and mobility as well as ease of management and maintenance. Transient simulations of building-plant system were specifically addressed dynamic control and adaptive proportional regulation, so as to ensure that the plant adapts to the change of building and indoor environment thermo-physics and thermo-hygrometric parameters. Results showed that important refurbishment and retrofitting operations for energy saving are possible and effective for historical buildings if they are oriented to sustainability-i.e., low environmental impact, indoor thermo-hygrometric conditions, ventilation, air quality, and user wellbeing improvement-in compliance with preventive protection constraints.

Modelling of Reversible Plant System Operations in a Cultural Heritage School Building for Indoor Thermal Comfort

“…Building-plant system analysis carried out by dynamic simulations using commercial software TRNSYS have been shown in a recent paper [35]. Here [35] the simulation models were calibrated and validated with real data of yearly heating consumption.…”

“…Building-plant system analysis carried out by dynamic simulations using commercial software TRNSYS have been shown in a recent paper [35]. Here [35] the simulation models were calibrated and validated with real data of yearly heating consumption. The authors demonstrated that active operations for plant system improvements can be more effective than building envelope improvements for possible retrofitting and refurbishment projects with minor impact on the historical value of the school building.…”

“…The authors demonstrated that active operations for plant system improvements can be more effective than building envelope improvements for possible retrofitting and refurbishment projects with minor impact on the historical value of the school building. They are also noninvasive with lower costs and pay-back time [35]. Furthermore, the authors analysed the whole building taking into account the different thermal zones (thermophysical data, schedule concerning activity, occupation, and plant-system) and the heating plant system composed of cast iron radiators with barycentric distribution.…”

“…Furthermore, the authors analysed the whole building taking into account the different thermal zones (thermophysical data, schedule concerning activity, occupation, and plant-system) and the heating plant system composed of cast iron radiators with barycentric distribution. The heating period was taken in compliance with Italian Building Regulations (from 1 November to 15 April [35]). Results obtained from simulations performed on the "present state" demonstrated that the heat generator is consistently dimensioned and the dry bulb air temperature values in the classrooms are different and oscillating with positive and negative values around the set-point [35].…”

Historical School Buildings. A Multi-Criteria Approach for Urban Sustainable Projects

“…In Italy, the Legislative Decree 102/2014 [13], which implements the European Directive 2012/27/EU, outlines a strategic reference framework specifically aimed at promoting urban renewal projects on public real estate assets in order to improve their energy efficiency [14][15][16][17]. This also with the use of renewable resources present in nature, building systems and technological solutions capable of producing a low environmental impact [18][19][20][21][22].…”