bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Thermo-hygrometric behavior of hempcrete walls for sustainable building construction in the Mediterranean area
Authors: Aversa P , Daniotti B , Dotelli G , Marzo A , Tripepi C , Sabbadini S , Lauriola P , Luprano V A M 
Published: July 2019

Abstract
Recent studies have demonstrated that the use of natural materials represents one of the pathways to achieve energy efficiency and environmental sustainability in buildings. In the framework of Circular Economy policies aimed at reducing the consumption of raw materials, shives, as an agricultural by-product of hemp cultivation, have gained a renovated life in the construction sector. Among all the building products made of hemp, hempcrete blocks are the most innovative, because they represent the solution to the needs of new and traditional buildings, offering a high energy saving, combined with the sustainability of materials and products, while remaining, in terms of shape and size, very close to the culture and the construction systems best known by professionals. In order to assess the potential benefits of hempcrete in the construction sector, its environmental performances were evaluated using the LCA methodology, following the international standard ISO 14044:2006+A1:2018 and in compliance with the European standard EN 15804:2012+A1:2013. To this purpose, four non-loadbearing walls were compared in the “cradle-to-gate” scenario, one made with hempcrete blocks and the others with more “traditional” materials. This research aims to be a basis for the development of future guidelines at national and international level in order to guarantee the maximum diffusion of this type of product also in the Mediterranean area. For this reason, it is important to identify the performance characteristics essential for hempcrete products studying their behavior not only as defined in the UNI EN ISO 12571, 2013 standard, but also in the Mediterranean climate. To achieve these objectives, some tests have been carried out to verify the thermo-hygrometric behavior. A 1 m2 of hempcrete wall was submitted to tests in a climatic chamber which simulated the environmental conditions typical of the south of Italy, in terms of temperature and moisture, in order to evaluate thermo-hygrometric behavior of hempcrete. Sensors and thermo-flowmeters for parameter analysis were applied on the wall. On the same material was carried out hygroscopic sorption tests as defined in the UNI_EN_ISO12571,2013 standard. The behavior detected by the experimental measurements on the masonry was compared with the simulated numerical behavior using WUFI software.
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) analysis of renders and paints for the restoration of historical buildings
Authors: Bonoli A , Franzoni E 
Published: July 2019

Abstract
A significant percentage of the building stock in Europe was built before 1950, hence the restoration, retrofitting and renovation of historical buildings is of paramount importance not only for society, but also for the overall sustainability of the construction sector, which is known to have a huge environmental impact. In particular, the application of new paints and renders is extremely common in the restoration interventions carried out in historical buildings. In the selection of these materials, it is important to consider that they must comply with compatibility requirements, in terms of low stiffness and high water vapour permeability, not to give rise to premature defects and detachment. However, their environmental impact is basically never evaluated.
In this study, a preliminary evaluation of the environmental impact of some selected renders and paints for the restoration of historical buildings by Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) analysis was carried out. This analysis was performed using the information that are supplied by the manufacturers of the materials (as reported in the technical data sheets), so from the point of view of the designers, who must select among a range of commercial alternatives. Both ready-mix dry renders and mortars purposely prepared in the building site, with or without paint, mechanically or manually applied, were analysed.
The paint, notwithstanding its low amount with respect to the render, seems to have a very high impact. The results also suggest that an evaluation of these materials by LCA is definitely not easy, mostly because some key characteristics of materials which are needed for this analysis are currently not reported at all in the technical datasheet, thus jeopardizing a proper evaluation of their environmental impact.
Toilet paper recovery from municipal wastewater and application in building sector
Authors: Cipolletta G , Eusebi A L , Palmieri S , Giosuè C , Tittarelli F , Frison N , Pastore C , Foglia A , Fatone F 
Published: July 2019

Abstract
One of the most innovative applications for a circular economy approach is the recovery of cellulose fibres from municipal wastewater. Recovered cellulose fibres from the wastewater could bring benefits to the construction industry in terms of reducing the amount of non-renewable raw materials and increasing sustainability. Rotating belt filter was used to obtain cellulose fibre-rich sludge from real urban influent. Recovered cellulosic material reached values up to 26.59 g m-3 when the solids removal efficiency was higher than 70%. Treated cellulosic sludge had an average of 87% content of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. The recovered cellulose fibres were analysed and used in mortar mix to understand their possible impact in the building sector and the effect on the properties of hydraulic lime-based mortars. Properties of fibre addition were investigated in terms of microstructure and mechanical strength. Cellulose fibres were added by mix volume up to 20%. The overall results with the maximum content of cellulose fibres indicated the improvement of mortars performance in terms of increased lightness, flexural strength and hygrometric properties.
Design optimization of mist cooling for Urban Heat Island mitigation: experimental study on the role of injection density
Authors: Ulpiani G , Giuseppe E Di , Perna C Di , D’Orazio M , Zinzi M 
Published: July 2019

Abstract
Climate change, heat waves and weather extremes unveil the need to counteract excess heat and its dramatic consequences on energy, economy, outdoor liveability and, above all, health. In the urban context, further concern arises from the concerted action of cities’ materials, fabric, layout, density and activities, which are responsible of heat and pollutants entrapment, of wind force breaking and sweltering microclimates. Ready-to-use, high-impact, smart, cost and energy-effective countermeasures are the only ones having chances to be widely implemented in the short haul. Against this backdrop, this work presents the results obtained from an experimental campaign conducted on a single mitigation technology, meant to reach high local temperature reductions and empowered with climate-adaptive features to be applicable close to any vulnerable target (e.g. schools, hospitals, hospices …): a web of smartly controlled mist sprayers. A prototype was designed and its impacts on the local microclimate were thoroughly characterized. Notably, the nozzle density was investigated to delineate the tradeoffs between evaporative cooling global magnitude and spatial dilution: in fact, by rarefying water emission, a larger air volume can partake to the cooling as it gets harder to reach saturation; conversely the point spatial temperature drop might weaken and become negligible, jeopardizing the whole mitigation strategy. This paper discloses such a controversial point and provides guidelines for the correct design of mist cooling systems for Urban Heat Island counteraction.
LCA and LCC as decision-making tools for a sustainable circular building process
Authors: Giorgi S , Lavagna M , Campioli A 
Published: July 2019

Abstract
Resilience can be interpreted as the capacity to overcome sudden negative events, including those caused by environmental impacts, by minimizing their effects. Through the application of circular economy, built environment can be more resilient, decoupling the human well-being by resources consumption and waste generation. Within a circular approach, buildings are considered “material banks” and materials reuse/recycling is promoted. In this context, it is important to verify the life cycle sustainability of the new circular practices, linking the economic and environmental sustainability with circularity. In fact, resource efficiency and waste management in term of reduction of material flows, don’t represent certainly sustainable solutions. In this paper, LCA and LCC methodologies, which are scientific methodologies used to quantitatively assess the environmental and economic impacts, are investigated. Through a literature review, the paper analyses the state of the art regarding the application of Life Cycle tools for evaluating circular strategies, at the building level and at material level; then the use of Life Cycle tools for decision-making in the circular design process is investigated. Through the scientific literature review, the methodological assumption to assess the sustainability in decision-making is shown. Finally, the limitation of the methodology is highlighted and the improvement necessary to promote the use of Life Cycle tools in decision-making is discussed.
Long - Term Renovation Strategies, Energy Voluntary Certification Scheme and Building Renovation Passport: an overview on Energy Performance Certification tools for the European Building stock
Authors: Sesana M M , Salvalai G , Greslou O , Rivallain M , Zirngibl J 
Published: July 2019

Abstract
The revised Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EU) 2018/844 has huge potential for efficiency gains in the EU building sector, including measures that should accelerate the rate of building renovation towards more energy efficient systems. Under the 2010 EPBD, all EU countries have established independent energy performance certification systems supported by independent mechanisms of control and verification. However, current practices and tools of energy performance assessment and certification applied across Europe face several challenges. The paper presents an overview on researches and tools for the European building stock renovation process with the goal to highlight barriers, limits and benefits to increase the energy renovation rate. The main focus is to clarify the energy performance assessment and process for the certification and the introduction of the Building Renovation Passport, considering the novelty introduced by latest regulations and standards.
Plant maintenance in hospitals facilities
Authors: Dejaco M C , Gramigna M , Moretti N 
Published: July 2019

Abstract
Maintenance is crucial in hospitals, where potential systems failures can have a significant impact on patients. An hospital is a complex asset because of the co-existence of multiple areas and interaction among health-related and non-health-related activities. The central hypothesis is that the appropriate maintenance procedure depends on served spaces and plants. Therefore, the research aims at establishing a correlation between the operational criticalities of each area and critical elements of plants to improve and optimize the execution of maintenance activities. The analysis is based on three steps. Firstly, the identification of criteria aimed at defining the plants criticality in correlation with the ways in which spaces are served and, moreover, definition of criteria for spaces classification based on performed activities. Last step is the description of components through two categories of factors. The first refers to analysis of design and functioning aspects of plants; the second is related to components functioning and deterioration. This correlation among “criticality index” and “health index” for all components provides indications on modalities and priorities for extraordinary interventions. Relative weights were attributed through the consultation with hospital technical office. The proposed maintenance management was applied in a hospital made up of 65000 squared-meters to include it in the informatic system that is currently used for repairs. This new maintenance management has the purpose of providing indications for maintenance strategies by considering contemporary nature of functional spaces, activities design characteristics and health state of them. The implementation into the informatic system and its check will be developed in future.
Decision Support for existing buildings: an LCC-based proposal for facade retrofitting technological choices
Authors: Seghezzi E , Masera G , Cecconi F Re 
Published: July 2019

AbstractThe goal of this paper is to present a usable and effective tool to evaluate residential façade retrofitting solutions in early stages of design, keeping into account envelope features and installation issues. Decarbonisation goals set for 2050 impose existing building stock renovation and energy retrofit. Several drivers are available in EU Countries to trigger these operations. Nonetheless, the renovation rate in EU Member States remains low: barriers to building retrofit are identified, and a main issue in this sense is the lack of use of Decision Support Systems. DSS exist but are often neglected by building designers or owners, due to different reasons. Existing methodologies do not take into account the quantity and quality of information available at the various stages of building life cycle; furthermore, they mainly focus on energy related aspects, neglecting technological and installation related factors. This paper aims at providing an LCC-based decision framework to help decision makers in early stages of design to choose the most suitable technology for building façade retrofitting. A Utility Function expressing LCC for residential building renovation is provided, focusing on façades renovation and on installation and morphology related aspects. Information and data flow through the phases is presented and discussed, showing how the proposed method can be adapted to different stages, and testing its robustness through sensitivity and uncertainty analyses. Three main categories of renovation technologies are analysed (ventilated façade, ETICS, and prefabricated solutions). The proposed method is applied to a residential case study building. The adaptability of the tool to different stages of design is discussed, and further potential applications are presented.
Urban Heat Island (UHI) risk maps as innovative tool for urban regeneration strategies. The case of Parma
Authors: Rota P , Gravante A , Zazzi M 
Published: July 2019

Abstract
For the purposes of regeneration of the consolidated city it is increasingly important to have the knowledge of the micro-scale distribution of the vulnerability of the population to the consequences of climate change and increasing urbanization. The work to be presented starts with the creation of maps of the risk classification induced by the heat islands in the city of Parma, and aims to investigate which are the most effective strategies that a Public Administration can adopt. The maps that have been created allow to assess the risk for the fragile population at the level of the single building. They relate the climatic datum of thermal variation with the population residing within each building, and verify the causal relationship with the soil sealing and with the morphology of the urban fabric. The results of the study can help to identify the thermal hot spot, receivers of specific mitigation actions. The risk map is itself a tool to develop multilevel actions, designed according to the peculiarities of the sites, where the possible adaptive solutions are compared with the physical and morphological characteristics of the places. The positive function of green infrastructures (contrast of overheating, flood mitigation, creation of places and services with a recreational function) is acquired by research and urban planning practice. It is equally well known the difficulty faced by Local Authorities in the maintenance and increase of unbuilt public areas, fundamental for the connection of ecological networks.
A 3d platform for energy data visualization of building assets
Authors: Cecchini C , Magrini A , Gobbi L 
Published: July 2019

AbstractWith an exemplary role, the improvement of energy efficiency in public buildings is in the forefront of the European policies for smart and sustainable growth. However, very often the sector is characterized by large and old constructions that may also be marked by historical and cultural value and whose energy consumption is hard to be reduced, due to specific constraints. In order to operate in this field, the definition of a solid knowledge framework on the built environment appears to be the only viable starting point. Therefore, the analysis of the delicate balance between conservation and transformation should be investigated with a multi-scalar approach able to move from the city to the building elements. For this reason, it is extremely important to provide tools for monitoring and analysing the energy behaviour of the public building stocks to those actors that are involved in their management. The research here presented proposes a workflow to implement a web platform based on a three-dimensional GIS (Geographic Information System) interoperable with BIM (Building Information Modeling) and able to store, handle and display information on building assets and their energy consumption. With the aim of defining a repeatable model, the process starts from easily retrievable data on the built environment and uses standard data models and classification systems. The three-dimensional model is built in a semi-automated way from the combination of the two-dimensional GIS cartography of the municipality and from the point cloud resulting from a LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) national survey campaign. The set of thermal properties and energy data can be retrieved from the energy performance certificate of the buildings. In order to test and validate the process, an application on the building stock owned by the University of Pavia (Italy) is presented. Nine complexes distribute inside the historical centre of the city and heterogeneously dated from the X to the XX century are considered. After the definition of the model and its representation inside the web environment, an example of use is displayed with reference to a comparative energy analysis of different buildings.
Analysis of the solar potential of urban public areas for the installation of integrated photovoltaic systems
Authors: Paparella R , Caini M 
Published: July 2019

Abstract
The analysis of the solar potential carried out in a defined territorial context and considered as a case study, intends to estimate the potential production of electricity from solar sources starting from a survey on the availability of the present surfaces.
The use of energy from renewable sources for public purposes, obtained through the installation of integrated photovoltaic systems in public urban areas available and appropriately identified, can represent a valid energy strategy in response to the provisions of the European Directive 2009/28 / EC.
In this study we want to show how the upgrading of public areas for parking, areas of interchange, or for the shelter of pedestrians in holding areas for public transport or in parking ones for cars can become an opportunity for energy production.
In fact, all these public spaces can be transformed into places designed to characterize and redevelop the built space with the use of appropriately designed urban furnishing elements that integrate, for example, the function of shelter and energy production. This research project aimed at developing a methodology of systematic approach that can represent a further element that is part of the policies that can be drawn up in the next 30 years towards a decarbonisation in the territorial area taken into consideration.
The methodology developed concerned the following points:
1) Identification of the areas and spaces present in the territory taken as a case study, suitable for an upgrading project and/or for the insertion of urban furnishing elements made with integrated photovoltaic panels;
2) Calculation of usable areas and consequent calculation of installable photovoltaic surfaces;
3) Identification of the elements of urban furniture made with integrated photovoltaic panels and present in the market.
The work identifies and computes, through the use of specific softwares, the areas and spaces suitable for the insertion of integrated photovoltaic systems. Subsequently, after identifying the areas, the quantities of hypothetically installable photovoltaic surfaces and the quantities of energy that can be produced are calculated. The latter are then compared with the quantities needed to cover the energy requirements for public lighting.
Use of 3D tessellation in curtain wall facades to improve visual comfort and energy production in buildings
Authors: Giostra S , Masera G , Pesenti M , Pavesi P 
Published: July 2019

Abstract
In the vast majority of new buildings, energy and comfort requirements are met mostly by active systems that are often expensive, energy intensive, and complex to maintain. At the same time, advances in the use of digital tools for the design and fabrication of unitised curtain wall systems have substantially reduced the costs associated to non-planar surfaces in building envelopes. As a result, buildings deploy an increasing level of surface geometry articulation that is mostly used for decorative effects. By and large, the flourishing of a new formal vocabulary, enabled by digital tools, rarely translated into buildings that perform better. The research proposes the use of non-planar surface geometries for precise calibration in tilt angle and orientation of individual panels in curtain walls, as an effective passive design strategy. The goal is to improve visual comfort for users, limiting potential glare without the use of shading or blinds and, at the same time, to provide high potential for PV production without negatively affecting daylighting levels in the building interiors. The study explores four families of three-dimensional geometries, based on size limitations and other design constraints typically associated to unitized curtain wall systems. The investigation takes into account aspects such as local climate data, orientation, glass properties, morphology of the façade unit, indoor visual comfort, energy efficiency and energy production. Results show that all four families can be optimised to meet LEED requirements of sDA > 50% and ASE < 10% in office buildings, delivering better performances when compared to a flat facade.