Transforming a Historic Public Office Building in the Centre of Rome into nZEB: Limits and Potentials
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CITERA Interdepartmental Centre, Sapienza University of Rome, 00197 Rome, Italy
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Department of Astronautical, Electrical and Energy Engineering (DIAEE), Sapienza University of Rome, 00184 Rome, Italy
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Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editors: Andrea Mauri and Francesco Minichiello
Energies 2022, 15(3), 697; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15030697
Received: 25 November 2021
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Revised: 5 January 2022
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Accepted: 14 January 2022
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Published: 18 January 2022
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy Consumption in a Smart City)
According to the last census of 2019, about two million Italian buildings are more than 100 years old. Building energy retrofitting involves a diverse mix of influencing factors, depending on history, intended use, and construction techniques. This paper aims to assess the energy needs of a historic building by evaluating the variability of climatic conditions and internal loads, as well as the thermal capacity of the building envelope. The energy analysis was conducted using dynamic simulation systems (TRNSYS). The purpose of the study is to provide an analysis of the current energy conditions of the building to identify the main critical issues and suggest the most suitable interventions to be implemented. All the transformations were conducted to meet the nZEB requirements and evaluate technical and economic feasibility, compatibility with architectural and landscape constraints, and large-scale replicability. Specifically, to reach the proposed targets, a 36 kWp PV system was implemented for an area of 210 m2, in addition to the Air Handling Unit (AHU) already present. The profit index is above the unit, and it yields a time range between three and four years. Therefore, fully respecting the energy performance parameters required by the Italian legislation, the study demonstrated the unattainability of the nZEB class for a listed building.
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Keywords:
nZEB; historical buildings; TRNSYS; buildings retrofitting; buildings office; economic feasibility
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MDPI and ACS Style
Cumo, F.; Nardecchia, F.; Agostinelli, S.; Rosa, F. Transforming a Historic Public Office Building in the Centre of Rome into nZEB: Limits and Potentials. Energies 2022, 15, 697. https://doi.org/10.3390/en15030697
AMA Style
Cumo F, Nardecchia F, Agostinelli S, Rosa F. Transforming a Historic Public Office Building in the Centre of Rome into nZEB: Limits and Potentials. Energies. 2022; 15(3):697. https://doi.org/10.3390/en15030697
Chicago/Turabian StyleCumo, Fabrizio, Fabio Nardecchia, Sofia Agostinelli, and Flavio Rosa. 2022. "Transforming a Historic Public Office Building in the Centre of Rome into nZEB: Limits and Potentials" Energies 15, no. 3: 697. https://doi.org/10.3390/en15030697
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