Labeling and assessment of energy and sustainability performances in the civil sector: The case study of ESA-ESRIN in Rome.

The continuous improvement of the energy and sustainability performances of buildings is stimulated by mandatory rules, economic incentives and voluntary sustainability pathway of which energy efficiency is one of the most important components. The tools to evaluate the energy, sustainability, automation and energy metering performances of buildings, to check the status and lead the investments, are often complex, slow, expensive and related to the specific Countries, making difficult the job for the facility management departments of national or international organizations in EU. The present paper wants to give a contribute to existing literature by providing a new energy, sustainability, automation and energy metering label system to quickly, simply and economically evaluate the performances of office buildings in Europe. This tool has been tested on a case study, a research center of the European Space Agency (ESA-ESRIN) in Rome, Italy. The results of the test show that the tool has been successfully applied on the buildings of the research center using the data provided by the facility management department of ESA-ESRIN and the energy audit of the center. The labels can correctly represent the state of the buildings in a more cost-effective way if compared to the national energy certification and to international sustainability protocols. This study provides the facility management departments of public and private companies in EU - especially if they manage buildings in different EU nations - a reliable tool to quicky evaluate the energy, sustainability, automation and energy metering performances of their buildings. [Display omitted] • Energy and sustainability performances of buildings are evaluated through protocols. • Facility managers need quick tools: the proposed labeling tool for offices can help. • It labels energy, sustainability, automation and energy metering performances. • This tool considers Trans-national European Union differences (primary energy, CO 2). • The first application has been on the European Space Agency Italian research center. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]