Study of an integrated retrofit system for energy positive buildings in urban areas

The paper describes a research carried out in collaboration with the Regional Agency for home and living of Apulia (Arca Puglia Centrale) that aims to implement systems and building technologies for the refurbishment of public housing, according to the European Directive 27/2012. It proposes an innovative retrofitting system, which integrates traditional thermal plant with renewable energies (solar and photovoltaic) and passive modules (vegetation shelters, buffer space, water collectors). It consists in a kit of replicable assembled elements, installed externally as a “second skin” on the building. The kit is flexible and it can be fitted to different orientations of existing buildings, area morphology and climatic conditions. An abacus of the performance of each module is created in order to provide a tool for a quick dimensioning of its energy benefits. Subsequently, the system is applied to an existing multi-storey building and it is studied in different configurations of building renovation through dynamic simulations. Therefore, it is possible to quantify both the achieved energy savings and the energy production from renewable sources for a common building typology in Mediterranean area. The system allows existing building to achieve the targets of positive energy building and it is adaptable to any type of building.