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This report focuses on methodological issues related to the determination, assessment and presentation of the environmental performance of buildings. The purpose of this report is to provide the foundations to responsible parties for further developing their specific methods to assess the primary energy demand, GHG emissions and further environmental impacts of buildings and to increase the mainstreaming of practice globally. As far as possible, this should lead to a standardization of methods used worldwide. Where this goal cannot be achieved, methodological differences can be at least identified. The specific objectives of this report are to: clarify methodological questions that have been shown as significant but are under-addressed in the analysis of methods currently in use in the Annex 72 participating countries provide a consistent and transparent basis for a methodology and reporting structure for environmental performance assessment in line with international standards to enable comparability and usability of results contribute to the interpretation and supplementation of international standards to improve their applicability and support their dissemination promote long-term and life cycle-based thinking, by encouraging the early consideration of likely future environmental impacts regarding maintenance, repair and replacement as well as of durability and adaptability of building components and the building as a whole contribute to the overall efforts of national governments and standard makers to guide construction and real estate industry on how to respond to climate change promote the application of principles for circular economy by encouraging the early consideration of the deconstructability of buildings and building components and quantification of their reuse, recycling and/or recovery potential enable benchmarking and target-setting.

The integration of electrochemical energy storage, renewable energy production, and fuel cell systems can play a key role in the development of more efficient eco-friendly systems, spanning all sectors of energy management, from stationary to mobile. In particular, residential sector consumed 19% of worldwide energy production in 2015, resulting the third energivorous sector after transport and industry. Distributed energy systems, which efficiently use local resources, can reduce problems in regions with lack of a stable network and more in general help the growth of a sustainable development. In this case, the impact of PV-Lithium Batteries-SOFC integration in a NZEB (Net Zero Energy Builiding) is investigated by using software simulation, developed in Matlab/Simulink environment, to find optimal compromise between environment benefits, electricity grid independence, and costs. The NZEB was realized at CNR-ITAE laboratories by using eco-friendly technologies such as low environmental impact renewable FRP (Fiber Reinforced Pultruded) materials for its manufacturing, high efficiency PV panels, custom innovative multi-source inverter, advanced LiFeMgPO4 batteries, Solid Oxide Fuel Cell, optimized HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning). Software simulation helps to evaluate and forecast the impact of all of the systems described upon, aiming to obtain an efficient energy management. At first, a monitoring campaign has been launched to evaluate loads consumption, PV production during the year and performances of single elements. After this, all data collected have been used to create models of all the systems present inside the building. The model developed permits to evaluate improvement parameters such as CO2 reduction, Load Cover Factor, Supply Cover Factor, estimate effective energy consumption and costs, and choose the right algorithm for energy management.

I sistemi “edificio-impianto” di nuova costruzione, caratterizzati da migliori prestazioni energetiche, stanno riducendo sensibilmente gli impatti energetico-ambientali connessi alla loro fase d’uso. Per quantificare i costi energetici ed ambientali necessari ad ottenere tali prestazioni è necessario l’utilizzo di un approccio integrato alla progettazione, che coinvolga sia una simulazione termofisica della fase d’uso, che uno studio di Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) applicato all’intero ciclo di vita dell’edificio. L’articolo presenta un componente informatico innovativo integrato in ambiente TRNSYS che permette di integrare uno studio LCA di un edificio alla simulazione termofisica, in accordo alla normativa UNI EN 15978. Il componente è stato applicato alla modellizzazione LCA di un edificio ad energia netta zero e validato utilizzando i risultati di un'analisi LCA dettagliata dello stesso edificio, ottenendo scostamenti inferiori all’1%.

The impact of prefabrication in the building sector is currently undergoing significant growth. Although prefabricated buildings cannot in any situation replace conventional buildings, they have some characteristics, such as reduced construction time, higher safety during construction if compared to traditional buildings and modularity, that make them competitive in specific applications, that are undergoing substantial increase importance and market relevance. However, in a context where the transition towards a low-carbon energy system is quickly becoming an important target of scientific efforts and research, prefabricated buildings, as well as any other type of building, will have a key role in achieving the decarbonisation of the building sector. In this contex, this work of thesis explores the energy and environmental performances of a NZEB modular case study: the IDEA (Integrating Domotics, Energy and Architecture) building. The case study is a prototype of a net zero energy housing module, integrating renewable sources energy generation systems (PV system) and innovative materials (fiber reinforced polymers materials) in Messina (Italy) at the “National Research Council of Italy– Institute for Advanced Energy Technologies”. Through the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology all life cycle stages were included in the study: materials and component production, construction process, use and end-of-life. Monitoring studies were performed during 2 months. The building use stage was simulated through and energy plus model, validated on monitored data. In addition to investigate the overall energy and environmental performances of the existing prefabricated modular unit, another aim of the research is to analyze several building redesign option through a multidisciplinary approach with a view to the entire building life cycle. In this context, the research proposes a multidisciplinary methodological framework which allows to integrate into the building design and investigate at the same time the use stage energy performances, the load matching and the grid interaction issues, the life cycle overall performances and the economic feasibility. The results show that the materials production stage alone accounted for about 50 - 80% of the total energy and environmental impacts caused by the building. The use stage is the second most impactful stage (about the 31% on average of the total life cycle impacts), while the construction and the end-of-life stages give a marginal contribution to the total impacts. In this context, the findings of the research pointed out the relevance of LCA in the assessment of the building energy and environmental performances. In particular, the study demonstrates that reaching the Net Zero target during the use stage could imply the displacement of the environmental impacts to the other stages, as well with a prevalence towards the production of the building materials. Therefore, a mere focus on the use stage performances cannot give the whole picture that is required in the context of a paradigm shift towards decarbonisation policies. Focusing only on the assessment of the energy consumptions related to the use stage quantifies the reduction of the environmental burdens of this stage but it does not guarantee that the life cycle overall performances will be improved. Thus, the integration of the LCA methodology in the design choices is of paramount importance to support the development of sustainable buildings. Moreover, the research shows that the design of any type of building requires an integrated and multidisciplinary design approach, covering a number of key aspects such as energy saving, life cycle environmental impacts, economic feasibility and many others, to create the conditions for a significant decarbonisation of the building sector. In this context, the multidisciplinary methodological framework can be used to explore and improve the low sustainability performing areas over the life cycle of new modular building designs. Moreover, the methodological approach can also be adopted for sustainability assessment of other type of constructions.

The paper explores the energy performances and environmental impacts of a prefabricated building module located in Messina (Sicily, Italy) through an approach that combines both the non-steady state building simulation and the Life Cycle Assessment methodology. The building uses renewable energy technologies and is usable in emergency situations or as simply temporary housing. Results show that the building module causes the emission of 1.5 t of CO2eq/m2 and consumes 29.2 GJ/m2 of primary energy during its life cycle. The building achieves the Net Zero Energy Building target even if it has relevant environmental impacts in the materials production stage (72% on average of the total impacts while the use stage reaches the 23% on average). The construction and the end-of-life stages give a marginal contribution to the total impacts, since they account for the 1% and the 3%, respectively.

The building sector is one of the most relevant sectors in terms of generation of wealth and occupation, but it is also one of the main contributor to energy use and greenhouse gas emissions (e.g. at the European level it is currently responsible for 36% of CO2 emissions). For these reason this sector must play a key role in achieving a low-carbon economy consistent with the objective of holding the increase of the average temperature of the globe below 2 °C if compared to pre-industrial levels. In this context, the paper analyses the potential impact of climate change on the energy uses for heating and cooling in southern Europe, based on the assumptions of the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) future climate projections (assessment report 5). Different General Circulation Models (GCMs) were analysed using different metrics for selecting the most suitable one to be applied to building simulation. GCM data were used as input to a downscaling method known as “morphing”, to generate hourly weather files for 3 future time projections (2035, 2065 and 2090). Finally, in order to assess the building energy use for heating and cooling for the next century, energy simulations for a case study were performed. The results show, in all scenarios, consistent and large increases in future air temperature. The impacts of these driving forces on heating and cooling energy use are very relevant: the results show an overall increase in total energy consumption with a relative decrease in heating demand and increase in cooling demand: the yearly heating and cooling energy requirement in 2090 is expected to increase in a range of +50.8–119.7% if measures are not foreseen to counter and limit the effects of climate change.