Energy performance assessment of a high sustainability building using whole building simulation and in situ measurements

The purpose of this study was to investigate the energy performance of a building that is part of a newly built residential development located in the city of Rome, Italy. The district, named Rinascimento 3rd, is of great energetic value and consists of 20 buildings fabricated with high thermal performance materials to reduce energy dispersions both in winter and summer. The whole residential settlement is also served by an innovative centralized energy production system that consists of a trigeneration (combined heating cooling and power) unit fed with biomass (vegetable oil), a heat exchange plant with geothermal heat pumps with 190 vertical pipes and a thermal generator fed with vegetable oil, as well. Dynamic simulation using a whole building simulation (WBS) tool and in situ measurements were used to investigate the energy performance of one of the 20 buildings. The approach consists in a careful survey of the building characteristics in order to build the model and in a short term monitoring campaign in one of the building apartments to calibrate the model. Simulations were then used to evaluate the energy demand of the building. The findings confirmed the high energetic standards of the construction.