Gerardo Maria Mauro

5.21 Energy Management in Hospitals

Hospitals are complex structures that require the highest energy intensity of the building sector. Thus, in both cases of new construction and retrofit, their proper energy design and management are a critical issue, because these must consider all levers of energy performance, from the building envelope to the operation and efficiency of energy systems. Furthermore, different objective functions to minimize can be pursued, for example, energy consumption, thermal discomfort, lifecycle costs, and polluting emissions. Definitely, comprehensive approaches are required to address the aforementioned issues. The chapter provides an overview of these approaches by showing the application to different case studies.

Artificial Neural Networks for Predicting the Energy Behavior of a Building Category

Abstract The reliable assessment of building energy performance requires significant computational times. The chapter handles this issue by proposing an original methodology that employs artificial neural networks (ANNs) to predict the energy behavior of all buildings of an established category. The ANNs are generated in MATLAB by using EnergyPlus simulations for testing and training purposes. The inputs are properly set by means of a thorough preliminary sensitivity analysis. The final aim is a reliable assessment of the global cost for space conditioning as well as of the potential global cost savings produced by energy retrofit measures for each category’s building. The benefit is a huge reduction of computational times compared to standard reliable simulation tools. Definitely, this can support the diffusion of rigorous approaches for cost-optimal energy retrofits. Beyond the presentation of the methodology, this is applied to the office building stock of South Italy built in the period 1920–1970. The results show a high ANN reliability compared to EnergyPlus simulations, with regression coefficients ( R ) always higher than 0.98.

Cost-Effective Refurbishment of Italian Historic Buildings

Abstract This chapter investigates strategies for approaching the energy refurbishment of historic buildings, by proposing, beyond a general methodology aimed at guaranteeing feasibility of the design, its application to two cases studies in the context of South Italy, in a typical Mediterranean climate according to the Koppen classification. According to the latest international guidelines in matter of building energy efficiency and future trends, by 2020, a great effort should be applied to both new constructions and building refurbishments, to achieve goals of nearly zero-energy impacts or very low energy demand. Of course, the energy refurbishment of architectures characterized by historical or artistic values should not determine damage of the valuable peculiarities. In this study, by means of the proposed case studies, and thus an admirable Italian building, examples of an approach toward cost-effective and architecturally compatible actions are proposed, according to the European methodology of cost optimality. Moreover, by comparison with the feasible refurbishment of an existing building, the difference in energy retrofit designs of historical or modern edifices is evidenced. The proposed case studies are an educational ancient palace built beginning in the 12th century and, as an existing building, a railway station located in the same city. In both cases, replacement of components of thermal envelope and active energy systems will be applied, by evidencing that, based on the building peculiarities, technologies, architectural values, and kinds of loads, different boundary conditions imply different cost-optimal energy conservation measures.