Auditoria and Public Halls. The preserved Architectonic Heritage, in the Perspective of Sustainability

AbstractTheatres and auditoria have only rarely been "virtuous" examples for energy use both for their peculiar space requirements and for the discontinuity of their use; such statement is even more true when such spaces are located and hosted within monumental buildings such as former churches or industrial areas; that is a quite frequent case in the Italian urban contest. To re-think critically the entire process - from political-planning decision-making to the managing phase – does represent a key step to prevent the decay and abandonment of works of great value and great architectonic and cultural significance. To that aim, three cases of architectonic and historic quality, located in Torino (Italy), are reviewed

Towards the electrification of buildings heating - Real heat pumps electricity mixes based on high resolution operational profiles

The energy transition driven by the need of a deep decarbonization to limit the world temperature rise requires coordinated actions across the whole energy sector. Among other measures, the strong development of renewable energy sources in the power sector is gaining momentum in different parts of the world. The possibility of producing low-carbon electricity leads to a renovated interest in increasing electricity penetration in final sectors, especially in transport and buildings heating. However, a large share of renewable electricity comes from non-dispatchable sources, notably wind and solar PV, and their daily and seasonal variability needs to be matched with the demand profiles of those sectors. In particular, the charge of electric vehicles shows a relatively constant demand on a seasonal basis while attention must be paid on the daily operational logic to fully exploit available power from solar and/or wind. On the other hand, the operation of heat pumps for building heating shows a strong seasonality that may be an issue in countries that have a larger renewable production during summer. This research work is focusing on this specific issue, with the aim of improving the common practice of evaluating energy consumption and emissions on an annual basis, thanks to a detailed analysis based on hourly time-step, both for the electricity generation mix and for the heat pumps demand. To increase the significance of the results, different countries across Europe have been analyzed and compared

Evaluating the Emissions of the Heat Supplied by District Heating Networks through A Life Cycle Perspective

The Life Cycle Assessment methodology has proven to be effective in evaluating the impacts of goods production throughout its life cycle. While many studies are available on specific products, in recent years a growing interest is related to the analysis of services, including energy supply for final customers. Different LCA evaluations are available for electricity, while the heating and cooling sector has not yet been properly investigated. The objective of this study is the analysis of the specific impacts of the heat supplied to the final users connected to a district heating system, in comparison with traditional individual natural gas boilers, which represent the baseline heating solution in several urban contexts in Europe. The results show that the comparison is heavily dependent on the allocation method used for combined heat and power plant production. District Heating impact on heat supplied to the users can vary from 0.10 to 0.47 kgCO2eq/kWh, while distributed natural gas boilers present an overall impact equal to 0.27 kgCO2eq/kW

Air Cooling and Dehumidification with a zeolite coated heat exchanger regenerated by Solar thermal energy

This paper presents some experimental results of a new device for low energy/low exergy air conditioning system. The device can realize both dehumidification and sensible cooling of external air, and it is designed for very low pressure drops, drastically reducing the electricity consumption for the driving fans. It is composed by a finned coil heat exchanger, coated with a SAPO-34 zeolite layer, that handles both heat and mass transfer in a single component. During the adsorption a cold water flow at 20 °C circulates through the coil, cooling the air and realizing in a single step a complete air-treatment. Hot water produced with evacuated solar collector is then used to regenerate the zeolite

Prevention and early diagnosis of oral carcinoma in construction workers in Italy: a pilot project

Objectives: A research project on occupational exposure in relation to oral carcinoma was periodic compulsory check-ups, oral examinations were performed to detect pathologies and the prevalence of potentially neoplastic oral conditions and a selfassessment questionnaire was administered to all of the subjects. The questionnaire was structured to collect information regarding demographic and clinical characteristics, risk habits (tobacco and alcohol consumption) and oral health habits, and to allow an assessment of knowledge about oral cancer, related risk factors and early signs. Results: The study cohort included people with different ethnicities, and there were significant differences in clinical characteristics between Italians and other Europeans. The subjects showed a good knowledge about oral cancer and related risk factors (with correct answers provided to >50% of the questions) but insufficient knowledge about the early signs of oral carcinoma (correct-answer rates of 16–42%). There were high rates of habits that are potentially harmful to oral health, such as smoking (43.8%) and alcohol consumption (57%). The daily habit of brushing teeth was present in 92.6% of the subjects, but they had a low propensity to undergo regular dental examinations. The percentage of subjects with pathologies of the oral cavity was 18.6%. Conclusions: Despite the smallness of the sample, this pilot project could facilitate the acquisition of valid and cost-effective data for the primary prevention of oral cancer through information and educational campaigns on the related risk factors

Opportunities for heat pumps adoption in existing buildings: real-data analysis and numerical simulation

The space heating of buildings represents one of the most important causes of energy consumption in Europe. The necessity to increase the share of renewable energy within the sector is hindered by the difficulty to renew and refurbish the existing building stock. In this context, heat pumps can have an important role in helping increase the renewable share of thermal energy production for the civil sector, in particular in those countries in which the electricity generation mix has large contributions from renewable energy sources. The paper presents a real-data analysis and a numerical simulation to evaluate the opportunity to substitute traditional heat generation systems (natural gas boilers) with air-source heat pumps or hybrid solutions. Three buildings located in Turin (Italy) are taken as case-study, and the hourly profiles of outdoor temperature, water supply temperature and absorbed thermal power are used to simulate four heat generation scenarios, that are compared in terms of primary energy consumption. Results show that (1) the substitution of the traditional natural gas boiler with a heat pump (with backup electric resistance) is always favorable (18% to 32% of primary energy reduction); (2) the influence of water supply temperature of each building on the overall primary energy saving is very high; (3) the adoption of a hybrid system (heat pump and natural gas boiler working alternatively) provides advantages in terms of reduced primary energy consumption only if the required supply water temperature is high. Further studies will investigate the economic aspects and will introduce comparisons with condensation natural gas boilers

Energy efficient choice of brick façade in Kolkata, India

Abstract The standard practice for facade in Kolkata, India is with 250 mm thick traditional burnt clay brick wall and 6 mm glazing fitted to aluminium window shutters. In the present study, the embodied energy of traditional brickwork and cumulative cost throughout its lifecycle in a conditioned space has been estimated. The impact on operational energy of such brickwork is also estimated through energy simulation. Variations of the present specifications using varying thickness of fly ash bricks and window glazing have been considered and the cost impacts are estimated. Fly ash brickwork of 300 mm thickness and single layer 6 mm glazing for window glass is proposed as the optimum facade specification

Local control of near-field diffusion of infected respiratory cloud in a room by air-blades

The respiratory cloud of an infective subject contains droplets of mucosalivary fluid carrying pathogens. As this cloud spreads at a certain distance from the emission point, the droplets accumulate and their volume concentration increases in the room unless dilution, adequate ventilation, or filtration reduce it. A susceptible subject, standing a short distance away can be exposed more easily to the infected respiratory cloud, thus inhaling a higher dose of pathogens than someone breathing the mixed air in the room. A local airflow pattern can be employed to reduce this short-distance risk of inhalation and potential contagion. We present experimental and numerical investigations of a novel device acting as a barrier to airborne pathogen diffusion at a short distance. This portable device generates V-shaped air blades in front of the subjects, shifting the respiratory clouds. The air blades are generated by 12 small fans, three on each side of the cube. The air is sucked into the small plenum inside the device body through the bases. By being positioned obliquely on a meeting table, the device acts as a direct barrier to virus-laden aerosols without any filtration. The experimental tests show that the system can reduce the local concentration of aerosol by 63 to 84% at the respiratory position of a subject sitting at a table in front of an infective person. CFD simulation outputs using the Multiphase Eulerian-Lagrangian model show a good agreement with the experimental results. The validated model will be used to extend the range of investigation to different settings and to perform a parametrical analysis of the main design conditions

Designing Health Structure in Emergency Contexts. Natural Ventilation as Response to COVID-19 Pandemic.

The importance of ventilation as response to pandemic emergency is a concept that trace its roots back in the history of human pandemic and it remains valid up to the current covid-19 emergency. Yet, extreme climates, scarcity of resources, and poverty might impinge heavily on the ability of designing a built environment fit for the purpose of guarantee environmental conditions appropriate to respond to pandemic. Often, in contexts of scarcity and hot climates, safety parameters of ventilation in buildings are achieved as ersatz, rather than by design, due to the difficulties of managing economic resources, thermal characteristic, and ventilation requirements. Keep buildings cool and well ventilated seems to be still a challenge. This work presents a study carried out to design health structures - both permanent and temporary - in response to covid-19, in the Global South. Specifically, the study focused on: 1) the design of a Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) Treatment Center (hospital for airborne diseases) in the city of Dori in Burkina Faso, and 2) the design and test of High Performance Tents. Natural ventilation is studied by mean of transient dynamic simulations, using Energy+ software, and the probability of contagion are evaluated applying the Gammaitoni-Nucci model, based on the original Wells and Riley approach. The yearly dynamic simulations are supported by specific 3D airflows analysis by mean of CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamic), with the intent to underline the effects of different internal partitions configuration. CFD is also used to evaluate pressure coefficient at the openings. Through this ventilation study and morphological design proposal, this work provides compositional, technological and environmental solutions to overcome limits due to the need of coexistence of ventilation and thermal control, and socio-economic limitations. The significance of this work is the ability to show the importance of the balance between passive ventilation, architectural design and behavioral organization by design. Such approach can play a critical factor to achieve healthy and resilient environment, and offer a feasible solution to the need for health buildings in hot climates and poor contexts