More than a third of the energy needs in Italy, and in many other European countries, is absorbed by the building sector, followed by transports and industry.
Energy consumption in the residential sector, according to an elaboration of the data presented in the 2006 ENEA Report on Energy and Environment is thus distributed:
- 5% to cook
- 11% to heat water
- 16% for other kind of electric energy consumption
- 68% for heating or air conditioning
Thus, from the end of 2020, all new buildings in Europe will comply with stricter energy saving standards and simultaneously the energy expenditure of existing buildings shall be reduced.
It is therefore important for Public Administrations to have a tool that, through an evaluation of the energy needs, provides an overview of the situation to estimate the potential energy savings in the sector.
This is the aim of the “Energy efficiency of existing buildings, a 3D system to manage energy in residential areas” project , recently presented by CSI-Piemonte at the 2011 IFIP e-government conference in Delft.
Using existing data bases and applying innovative technologies, a 3D energy cadastre has been created experimentally for a sustainable urban management, so as to monitor energy needs, support the identification of energy saving actions and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
Initially, data on the volumes of the buildings of the Piedmont territory have been analysed using GIS and remote sensing techniques. At a later stage, the buildings of the of the residential areas have been classified into typologies and the results have been compared with the data recorded in the Information System for Building Energy Certification, developed by CSI-Piemonte for the Piedmont Region, that simplifies communication between Public Administration, registered auditors and citizens to produce the energy certification of a building.
These are some of the most significant data entered into the system from May 2009 to May 2011: more than 180,000 certifications and 5,910 recorded professionals. It is moreover interesting to see how the energy class of the buildings changes over the years and significantly improves for the buildings built in the past two years.
The energy certification certificates of the buildings have then been geo-referenced and associated to the 3D cadastre.
The described methodology, that has initially been applied to the Municipality of Turin area, to calibrate the parameters to estimate the heating needs, can be used, also for other residential area of the Piedmont region. An important project to support intelligent and increasingly sustainable urban development, ensuring energy savings.
