E n e r g y S a v i n g s i n B u i l d i n g R e s t o r a t i o n
131
ENERGY SAVINGS IN BUILDING RESTORATION - AN
APPLICATIVE CASE
Silvia Pennisi
1
& Gianluca Scaccianoce
2
1
Dipartimento di Architettura, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Italy
2
Dipartimento dell’Energia, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Italy
Abstract
Italy has a historical and architectural heritage which consists mainly of buildings built in
different historical period.
These buildings are today characterized by some aspects of functional distribution and
comfort, which need rehabilitation. This is related to the change thinking on a more
comfortable distribution of spaces, and improving the sustainability of buildings. These
issues have spurred the study of methods to improve the distribution of spaces, the
performance of indoor comfort and the energy efficiency in the full respect of materiality
and aesthetics of the building. Therefore, the aim of this rehabilitation is improving the
indoor comfort, the energy efficiency and the environmental performance of existing
buildings, but it is also to choose more carefully the most environmentally sustainable
materials for the restructuring. In this work, a case study of rehabilitation of a historical
school building sited in the city of Palermo in Italy is reported.
Keywords:
School building, energy performance of building, building restoration.
Introduction
Sustainable restoration requires a new attitude throughout the process of refurbishment
projects and concerns intentions, attitudes and roles of different actors: inhabitants,
designers, construction companies and public administrations.
This is a process that begins with the need for carrying out renovation of the existing,
which aims to preserve the architectural qualities, existing cultural and social hardship, it
also takes care to reduce the impact on the environment, health and improving occupant
comfort, always compatible with economic and management aspects.
Therefore, a sustainable restoration should also aim to improve energy performance of
building. Since a decade, The European Community has implemented policies on the
energy saving in buildings.
On the 16 December 2002, in fact, the European Parliament enacted the Directive
2002/91/EC (EPBD), the main legislation on the energy performance of building in
European Union (EU). Recently, the European Parliament passed the EPBD recast,
which requires higher energy performances. Therefore the EPBD recast states that
“Buildings occupied by public authorities and buildings frequently visited by the public
should set an example by showing that environmental and energy considerations are
being taken into account and furthermore those buildings should be subject to energy
certification on a regular basis” (DIRECTIVE 2002/91/EC). Consistent with this, the
educational buildings play a meaningful role.
In literature there are numerous international studies on the energy efficiency and indoor
environmental quality of educational building (Dascalaki and Sermpetzoglou, 2011;
Desideri and proietti, 2002; Corgnati, 2008; Theodosiou and Ordoumpozanis, 2008,
Butala and Novak, 1999). Other studies, however, propose tools to improve energy
efficiency in educational buildings (ASHRAE, 2008; EPA-NR Project, 2007).
A primary school, belonging to the school park of the municipality of Palermo, will be
here considered for interventions regarding the renewal of the energy performances and
rehabilitation of the indoor conditions.
