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Beyond the EPBD: The low energy residential settlement Borgo Solare

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  • Aste, Niccolò
  • Adhikari, R.S.
  • Buzzetti, Michela

Abstract

The European Directive on Energy Performance of Buildings (EPBD) imposes the adoption of measures for improving the energy efficiency in buildings. These measures should take into account the local weather conditions as well as internal thermal environment and cost-effectiveness. In this respect, Italy is a very interesting benchmark. For Northern Italy, the climatic context is particularly difficult to deal with cold winters and hot summers. The legislations are changing very rapidly, but has not fully adapted to the local context. The considered methodology still involves winter heating while summer cooling is addressed in incomplete and inadequate ways. The energy issue is addressed only partially as final energy consumption, but with little attention to LCA. Moreover, the belief that the buildings with high energy savings are too expensive, and therefore not attractive from economic point of view. For these reasons, it is very important to develop case studies to demonstrate the effectiveness of sustainable energy in architecture, according to a holistic approach. This paper describes a detailed techno-economic analysis for Borgo Solare project, an extremely advanced and innovative residential settlement designed on sustainable architecture concepts. One of the most innovative aspects of the project is that it is not just an experimental operation but Borgo Solare is a real urban district, which will be built without public funds and should be inhabited by common people. Excellent energy performance, therefore, must be accompanied by affordable market prices. The energy and economical analysis is presented taking into account also the embodied energy of the building. The results on the performance of a sample building (case study) of this settlement are reported, according to different construction standards: prior to EPBD, present from the EPBD and more efficient developed specifically for the project. It has been shown that using the better design practices and technologies the higher initial embodied energy in a low energy building could quickly paid back during its life span. The economic analysis, in the same way, evidences that higher initial investment in case of energy efficient building could become economically convenient during the life span of the building. This kind of analysis is essential to determine the actual sustainability of a building.

Suggested Citation

  • Aste, Niccolò & Adhikari, R.S. & Buzzetti, Michela, 2010. "Beyond the EPBD: The low energy residential settlement Borgo Solare," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 629-642, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:87:y:2010:i:2:p:629-642
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Mateus, Tiago & Oliveira, Armando C., 2009. "Energy and economic analysis of an integrated solar absorption cooling and heating system in different building types and climates," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 86(6), pages 949-957, June.
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    1. Dixit, Manish K., 2017. "Life cycle embodied energy analysis of residential buildings: A review of literature to investigate embodied energy parameters," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 390-413.
    2. Jun Liu & Chu Lin & Li Huang & Jianghuan Zhu & Lijun Wu & Yunyun Li, 2017. "Use of Household Survey Data as a Tool to Assess the Carbon Footprint of Rural Tourist Accommodation and Related Services in China: A Case Study of Mount Qingcheng," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-17, September.
    3. Sierra-Pérez, Jorge & Rodríguez-Soria, Beatriz & Boschmonart-Rives, Jesús & Gabarrell, Xavier, 2018. "Integrated life cycle assessment and thermodynamic simulation of a public building’s envelope renovation: Conventional vs. Passivhaus proposal," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 1510-1521.
    4. Minunno, Roberto & O'Grady, Timothy & Morrison, Gregory M. & Gruner, Richard L., 2021. "Investigating the embodied energy and carbon of buildings: A systematic literature review and meta-analysis of life cycle assessments," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    5. GhaffarianHoseini, AmirHosein & Dahlan, Nur Dalilah & Berardi, Umberto & GhaffarianHoseini, Ali & Makaremi, Nastaran & GhaffarianHoseini, Mahdiar, 2013. "Sustainable energy performances of green buildings: A review of current theories, implementations and challenges," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 1-17.
    6. Bojic, Milorad & Nikolic, Novak & Nikolic, Danijela & Skerlic, Jasmina & Miletic, Ivan, 2011. "Toward a positive-net-energy residential building in Serbian conditions," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(7), pages 2407-2419, July.
    7. Kayaçetin, N.C. & Tanyer, A.M., 2020. "Embodied carbon assessment of residential housing at urban scale," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    8. Leckner, Mitchell & Zmeureanu, Radu, 2011. "Life cycle cost and energy analysis of a Net Zero Energy House with solar combisystem," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(1), pages 232-241, January.
    9. Pukšec, Tomislav & Vad Mathiesen, Brian & Duić, Neven, 2013. "Potentials for energy savings and long term energy demand of Croatian households sector," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 15-25.
    10. Baglivo, Cristina & Congedo, Paolo Maria & D'Agostino, Delia & Zacà, Ilaria, 2015. "Cost-optimal analysis and technical comparison between standard and high efficient mono-residential buildings in a warm climate," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 560-575.
    11. Aste, Niccolò & Adhikari, R.S. & Manfren, Massimiliano, 2013. "Cost optimal analysis of heat pump technology adoption in residential reference buildings," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 615-624.
    12. Llovera, Jordi & Potau, Xavi & Medrano, Marc & Cabeza, Luisa F., 2011. "Design and performance of energy-efficient solar residential house in Andorra," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(4), pages 1343-1353, April.

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