Ricerc@Sapienza

Energy efficiency in existing buildings is a capital issue in Italy. Retrofitting interventions on buildings of historical and artistical interest have particular constraints and challenges. The present contribution deals with the description of the project and final results analysis of an experimental campaign of energy efficiency and acoustic improvement of a significant sixteenth-century building located in Rome, seat of the Chamber of Deputies of the Italian Parliament.

The control and improvement of energy-environmental quality in buildings are responsible for almost 40% of the emissions related to energy and processes, and are essential to achieve the commitment of the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) United Nations (UN). This paper provides a support tool to planners and administrators of the territory for the identification of interventions aimed at the energy requalification of the existing Italian building heritage, mainly for residential use.

Dynamic thermal behavior of hollow bricks is attracting much interest nowadays as there is much concern on energy performance of building envelope. In fact, high thermal inertia of outer walls provides mitigation of the daily heat wave, which reduces the cooling peak load and the related energy demand. Different approaches have been used to study dynamic thermal behavior within the papers available on unsteady heat transfer through hollow bricks.

The latest updates in the European directive on energy performance of buildings have introduced the fundamental “nearly zero-energy building (NZEB)” concept. Thus, a special focus needs to be addressed to the thermal performance of building envelopes, especially concerning the role played by thermal inertia in the energy requirements for cooling applications. In fact, a high thermal inertia of the outer walls results in a mitigation of the daily heat wave, which reduces the cooling peak load and the related energy demand.

Nowadays, passive strategies are identified among the preferred solutions to reduce energy consumption and to increase comfort in the built environment. Indeed, such strategies allow energy saving by exploiting the intrinsic characteristics of materials. In this work, an innovative cool, photoluminescent paint is considered for application in the built environment, as a passive strategy to (i) reduce energy for cooling in the hot season, (ii) maintain lower surface and air temperatures, thus benefiting comfort and (iii) contribute to the lighting of the outdoor public space.