Evaluation of energy conservation opportunities through Energy Performance Contracting: A case study in Italy

Non-residential buildings like healthcare ones contribute to energy consumption and cause a negative environmental impact. This is mainly due to the age of the buildings, their poor level of energy efficiency and the implementation of only a basic maintenance plan. Owing to the very limited budget available for public administrators, Energy Performance Contracting (EPC), that entails the involvement of an Energy Service Company (ESCo), can provide the entire or part of the capital needed for investments aimed at progressively increasing energy efficiency over their service life. In this paper, three acute hospitals and two community clinics built in Italy are analysed, in order to assess the economic feasibility of several energy renovation actions that can be included within EPC contracts. To this purpose, the outcomes of energy audits carried out in 2014 about these buildings are reported, which involved analyses of consumption measured over the previous three years and assessment of use profiles for the development of models to break down the overall consumption and to estimate potential savings. Diverse improvement strategies were assessed, consisting in either isolated or combined renovation actions and tested on the five buildings, whose comparison was carried out in terms of energy saving, pollution reduction and economic feasibility. As a result, the best combined renovation actions per each hospital were recommended, that included - but were not limited to - the improvement of the control and regulation of existing sub-systems without replacement, partial replacement of other sub-systems and integration of renewables. Finally, each scenario was evaluated through the payback period and other economic performance indexes in order-to assess the feasibility of the EPC framework when applied to this case study

Managing Energy Retrofit of Acute Hospitals and Community Clinics through EPC Contracting: The MARTE Project

Abstract Acute hospitals and community clinics contribute to energy consumption and have a negative environmental impact. This is mainly due to the age of the buildings, a poor level of energy efficiency and a basic maintenance plan. Owing to the very limited money available for public administrators, Energy Performance Contracting (EPC), involving an Energy Service Company (ESCo), can provide the capital needed for investments aimed at increasing energy efficiency. In this paper three acute hospitals and two community clinics in Italy are analyzed prior to EPC development in order to assess the economic feasibility of retrofit strategies. The outcome of energy audits carried out in 2014, the analyses of consumption measured over the last 3 years, and the assessment of use profiles were all considered for the development of models to break down the overall consumption and to assess potential savings. Recommended improvement strategies include better insulation in envelopes, enhancement of mechanical and lighting equipment, use of renewable energy, better regulation of systems. Finally, payback periods for the most likely scenarios were evaluated

Interrogating the technical, economic and cultural challenges of delivering the PassivHaus standard in the UK.

A peer-reviewed eBook, which is based on a collaborative research project coordinated by Dr. Henrik Schoenefeldt at the Centre for Architecture and Sustainable Environment at the University of Kent between May 2013 and June 2014. This project investigated how architectural practice and the building industry are adapting in order to successfully deliver Passivhaus standard buildings in the UK. Through detailed case studies the project explored the learning process underlying the delivery of fourteen buildings, certified between 2009 and 2013. Largely founded on the study of the original project correspondence and semi-structured interviews with clients, architects, town planners, contractors and manufacturers, these case studies have illuminated the more immediate technical as well as the broader cultural challenges. The peer-reviewers of this book stressed that the findings included in the book are valuable to students, practitioners and academic researchers in the field of low-energy design. It was launched during the PassivHaus Project Conference, held at the Bulb Innovation Centre on the 27th June 2014

An innovative approach to manage uncertainties and stock diversity in the EPBD cost-optimal methodology

The EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) 2010/31/EU is a step in the right direction to promote near zero energy buildings (NZEB) in a step-wise manner, starting with minimum energy performance and cost optimal thresholds for “reference buildings” (RBs) for each category. Nevertheless, a standard method for defining RBs does not exist, which led to a great divergence between MS in the level of detail used to define RBs for the EPBD cost-optimal analysis. Such lack of harmonisation between MS is further evident given the resulting large discrepancies in energy performance indicators even between countries having similar climate. Furthermore, discrepancies of 30% or higher between measured energy performance and that derived from the EPBD software induces uncertainty in the actual operational savings of measures leading to cost-optimality or NZEB in the simulated environment. This research proposes a robust and innovative framework to better handle uncertainties in the EPBD cost-optimal method both in the building software input parameters and in the global Life Cycle Costings (LCC), making the EPBD more useful for policy makers and ensuring a more harmonised approach among MS. The concept behind the proposed framework is the combination of a stochastic EPBD cost-optimal approach with Bayesian bottom-up calibrated stock-modelling. A new concept of “reference zoning” versus the “reference buildings” approach is also introduced in this research, which aims at providing a simpler and more flexible aggregation of energy performance for the more complex commercial building stock.peer-reviewe

Identifying Barriers to Address During the Delivery of Sustainable Building Renovation Projects

Architects, engineers, and contractors are continuously searching for tools and methods to reduce the unique risks associated with the delivery of construction projects. Since national policies to reduce carbon emissions and energy consumption will require drastic improvements to the existing building stock, one specific area in need of such tools is the sustainable renovation of existing buildings. The purpose of this research is to identify the barriers to address during the delivery of sustainable renovation projects and offer solutions that overcome these barriers. For example, typical renovation projects do not coordinate energy retrofits with building system renovations, resulting in poor use of resources and inefficient building performance. Reaping multiple benefits from single expenditures and optimizing planned capital costs is a strategy for overcoming this barrier. This research searches for the best opportunities to improve the delivery of sustainable building renovation projects. A literature review and case study were performed to identify barriers to address during the delivery of sustainable renovation projects. Exploratory case study data was obtained through interviews with the project owner and contractor, site visits, and review of project documents. Results show that barriers found in sustainable renovation projects include issues regarding unforeseen existing conditions, interactions between building systems, financial analysis, and lack of experience, education, and awareness. Identifying methods to overcome these barriers may render existing buildings more sustainable. Methods for further exploration include: Policies and tools for promoting sustainable renovation, education and training of industry professionals and end-users, and enhancing the role of government and other public bodies to create a market demand for sustainable renovation

Garth House: Design research and evaluation report

Garth House as an example to retrofittting and thermally upgrading the UK existing Non-Domestic building stock to meet 2050 net zero carbon target

Energy Performance and Improvement Potentials for Selected Heritage Building Adaptation in England

Public heritage buildings (PHBs) were evaluated with the aim to determine their operational energy performance and the objectives of identifying improvement potentials for their long term sustainable reuse. Six listed churches initially used for worship and later converted to community uses were selected and surveyed as case study buildings using purposive sampling technique. A qualitative analytical approach based on ranking the performance of the surveyed building’s energy consumption assessment compared to others within the same geographical region was adopted. Findings show that a greater number of the surveyed buildings are low-performing with their energy use being exacerbated by the combination and interplay of multiple factors such as building use pattern, efficiency of services and lighting etc. Results of the findings imply that potential and identifiable prospects for efficiency improvements and CO2 emissions reduction exists within the operation of the buildings. Recommended actions for wide-scale improvements in the form of capital replacement, retrofit/refurbishment, behavioural and improved operational management and control were suggested. The study concluded wider opportunities towards achieving energy saving such as energy management programme, building energy refurbishment scheme and use of energy efficient equipment could enhance stainable reuse of PHBs