OPEN ACCESS
The increasing attention paid to energy efficiency in buildings by researches has led toward solutions favoring the adaptation of the European passive house standard, developed and codifi ed mainly in cold contexts, to different climate contexts, in particular the Mediterranean one. In warm areas, energy efficiency is related to summer performance and the passive cooling of buildings. In southern and central Italy, the main factor is the heat control, which regards just the summer period during which situations of overheating occur – this implies significant energy consumption due to conditioning systems, therefore it has to be restricted. It may be possible that the energy required to cool buildings exceeds the requirements for heating. This implies that the criteria for energy efficiency projects should be revisited and adapted to specific national climatic situations, even by recovering and updating design criteria and techniques adopted in traditional building. Relevant experiences are also developing in Italy, where the Mediterranean climate has different characteristics compared to the cold climates of central and northern Europe. An interesting project is presented as an indicative case study of experimentation in this field.
energy efficiency, Mediterranean architecture, passive house, technology
[1] Energy Effi cienty in Buildings - European Commission, EUROPE 2020 initiative – Energy Effi ciency Plan 2011. Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/energy/effi ciency/action_plan/action_plan_en.htm
[2] Wienke Uwe, L’edifi cio Passivo – Standard, Requisiti , Esempi, Alinea: Firenze, 2002.
[3] Passive House Institute, Available at http://www.passiv.de/
[4] Cost Effi cient Passive Houses as European Standards – THERMIE Programme of the European Commission, Available at http://www.cepheus.de/eng/index.html
[5] VV. AA., 11th International Conference on Passive Houses – Proceedings, Bregenz 2007, Passivhaus Institut: Darmstadt, 2007.
[6] Effi ciency Research Group, Passive on Project, Rockwoll: Milano.
[7] The Passive-On Project – Intelligent Energy for Europe SAVE programme, Available at http://www.passive-on.org/en/
[8] VV. AA., Costruire sostenibile: il Mediterraneo (Cuore Mostra SAIE), Alinea: Firenze, 2001.
[9] Carotti, A., La Casa Passiva in Europa, Clup: Milano, 2005.
[10] Carotti, A. & Madè, D., La Casa Passiva in Italia, Rockwoll: Milano, 2006.
[11] Boeri, A. & Longo, D., Strategies for the promotion of energy effi cient design in Italian historical contexts, in INTED 2009 – Proceedings of International Technology, Education and Development Conference: Valencia, 2009.
[12] Barozzi, A. & Ghini, A., The passive house in a temperate climate. Energy balance building envelope system, in VV. AA., Bologna-Delft First Meeting for Knowledge Exchange, DAPT University of Bologna – Delft University of Technology: Bologna, 2005.
[13] Colombo, G., Edifi ci Passivi, Alinea: Firenze, 2006.
[14] Boeri, A., Riqualifi cazione energetica, in Progettazione ed effi cienza energetica, Rinaldi, A., Maggioli: Rimini, pp. 184–203, 2010.
[15] VV. AA., +Qualità–Energia. Per costruire sostenibile, Be-ma: Milano, 2008.
[16] Novi, F., La riqualifi cazione sostenibile, Alinea: Firenze, 1999.
[17] Sassi P., Strategies for Sustainable Architecture, Taylor & Francis: New York, 2006.
[18] Boeri, A., Criteri di progettazione ambientale, Delfi no: Milano, 2007.
[19] Klima Haus Agentur, Available at http://www.agenziacasaclima.it/
[20] Barucco, M.A. & Trabucco, D., Architettura_Energia, Edicom: Montefalcone: Gorizia, 2007.
[21] Hendriks, Ch. F., Sustainable construction, Aeneas technical publishers: The Netherlands, 2001.
[22] Smith, P., Eco-Refurbishment, Architectural Press: Oxford, 2004.