Towards environmental sustainability of non-residential buildings: An integrated approach to combine thermal comfort of people with energy saving strategies for heating system management

Abstract

Buildings are constructed and operated to satisfy human needs and improve quality of life. Good indoor air quality and thermal comfort are prerequisites for human health and well-being. At the same time, these aspects are strictly linked to the buildings’ energy consumption, with a direct impact on energy efficiency global goals and climate changes. Global technical regulations and guidelines aim at increasing the energy performance of buildings, with targets of NZEB and ZEB, both for new and existing buildings. In this context the research was carried out in order to investigate energy saving strategies related to heating systems, combining with indoor comfort analyses. The case study is an existing building, located in Perugia (Italy), which is the main seat of Arpa Umbria. The recent energy crisis has imposed strict measures to contain energy consumption, especially for heating; for this reason, the study aims to identify optimal management of the heating, based on a thermal calibrated model of the building and thermo-hygrometric monitoring. With the model, different management strategies were defined and simulated in order to develop schedules to set switch-on/off systems based on indoor and outdoor weather conditions. The results are presented in an integrated approach, combining the estimated reduction of energy consumption with human well-being.