• Energy Research

AbstractRecently, great attention has been given to the transition from centralized to distributed generation energy production systems. There is a growing potential regarding the use of trigeneration systems in the residential sector because they have the ability to produce thermal energy and electricity from a single source of fuel.This study has the goal to determine the best systems able to satisfy the demand for electricity and thermal energy for a complex of historic buildings in Rome. Such analysis has been conducted using a specific tool conceived for energetic and financial analysis: the RETScreen software.

Convective heat transfer coefficients for external building surfaces are essential in building energy simulation (BES) to calculate convective heat gains and losses from building facades and roofs to the environment. These coefficients are complex functions of: building geometry, building surroundings, local air flow patterns and temperature differences. A microclimatic analysis in a typical urban configuration, has been carried out using Ansys Fluent Version 14.0, an urban street canyon, with a given H/W ratio, has been considered to simulate a three-dimensional flow field and to calculate the thermal fluid dynamics parameters that characterize the street canyon. In this paper, the convective heat transfer coefficient values on the windward external façade of the canyon and on the windward and leeward inner walls are analyzed and a comparison with values from experimental and numerical correlations is carried out.

AbstractThe energy consumption of urban buildings is affected by the surrounding microclimate which differs from standard weather data and by mutual obstructions between buildings, which decrease sunlight and wind potentials for internal solar gains and passive cooling. The building construction itself affects both outdoor and indoor microclimate. This research addresses these interdependences in respect with energy performance. An urban structures are investigated with a fixed value of H/W and solar orientation. The numerical method used is the building energy model (TRNSYS), for simulating building energetic and thermal responses to external and internal settings and the Sombrero software to evaluate the to evaluate the shading of surrounding buildings.

The smart and resilient city evolves by slow procedures of mutation without radical changes, increasing the livability of its territory. The value of the city center in a Smart City can increase through urban lighting systems: its elements on the territory can collect and convey data to increase services to city users; the electrical system becomes the so-called Smart Grid. This paper presents a study of smart lighting for a small town, a touristic location inside a nature reserve on the Italian coast. Three different approaches have been proposed, from minimal to more invasive interventions, and their effect on the territory has been investigated. Based on street typology and its surroundings, the work analyzes the opportunity to introduce smart and useful services for the citizens starting from a retrofitting intervention. Smart city capabilities are examined, showing how it is possible to provide new services to the cities through ICT (Information and Communication Technology) without deep changes and simplifying the control of basic city functions. The results evidence an important impact on annual energy costs, suggesting smart grid planning not only for metropolis applications, but also in smaller towns, such as the examined one.

The European Union is working on strategies in order to increase the energy efficiency of buildings. A useful solution is to identify the energy performance of buildings through the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC), as it provides information for the comparison of buildings with different architectural typology, shape, design technology and geographic location. However, this tool does not assess the real energy consumption of the building and does not always take into account its impact on the environment. In this work, two different types of analysis were carried out: one based only on the energy efficiency and the other one based on the environmental impact. Those analyses were applied on a standard building, set in three different Italian locations, with the purpose of obtaining cross-related information. After the evaluation of the results, interventions on some parameters (walls insulation, windows frame, filler gas in the insulated glazing) have been identified in order to improve the energy behavior of the building with an acceptable environmental impact. The aim of this paper is to propose a methodology that integrates the EPC with green building rating systems, leading to a more conscious choice of retrofit interventions as a compromise between energy performances and environmental impact.

Outdoor thermal comfort affects the health of the people and the quality of life in urban areas. This is the reason why in the past few years different mitigation strategies for the microclimate have been studied and examined. These strategies depend on those passive factors characterizing the urban setting that are able to affect the values of local meteorological variables, as the limit surfaces of the urban space (parterre and façades of the buildings). This paper examines the Cloister by Giuliano da Sangallo, which is part of the Faculty of Engineering of Sapienza University of Rome. The case study compares the present configuration of the Cloister with four other configurations characterized by some vegetation and materials with a high albedo by taking into consideration the PMV (Predicted Mean Vote) model. Microclimatic variables are calculated through numerical simulations performed by the ENVI-met software. Such a comparison is performed during a typical summer day. While examining the results it can be noticed how the strategy presenting the best results is the one with some vegetation, whereas the materials with a high albedo improve the microclimate if applied on surfaces characterized by a high sky view factor.