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Energy poverty is a significant social, economic, and health issue which increasingly affects millions of households worldwide. Both climate change and the socio-economic crisis have aggravated this phenomenon, making families unable to keep adequate comfort conditions at home because of economic constraints and/or dwelling inefficiencies. Considering the recent inflation trends, as well as the global effort to reduce the building sector's carbon emissions, energy retrofitting of buildings emerges as the most forward-looking strategy to cope with energy poverty risk. In the case of large building stocks, which are typical for social housing complexes across the EU, deep and fast energy retrofitting might prove challenging, especially considering the resource shortages and disruptions to occupants that may arise. Therefore, this article investigates the relationship between the envelope's insulation ratio and the risk of energy poverty for households. To this end, diverse scenarios are defined, corresponding to progressive increases in the percentage of building envelope that is insulated. The resulting energy needs are calculated for each of them and correlated with local average incomes and relative energy expenses of households. This is tested on an Italian social housing demo case. The results confirm a predictable but not linear correlation between thermal insulation and reduced energy needs for heating, and an interesting side effect on cooling needs for scenarios that perform better in winter. As for income, energy cost has a greater effect on the energy poverty risk when monthly rent is lower, while energy prices have a major role when rent per month is higher. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adaptive façades represent a viable and effective technological solution to reduce the building energy demand for cooling while achieving interesting aesthetic effects on the building envelope to screen solar radiation. During the last decade, many different design solutions, including those based on shape memory alloys, have been experimented to obtain appropriate responses without being dependent on electro-mechanically actuated systems. Several recent and ongoing studies have been published in the scientific literature regarding the different actuator typologies, as well as the different properties of the materials used, which usually determine the adaptive solution characteristics after a series of complex and time-consuming simulations using specialised dynamic modelling software. Due to the time and resources required, this kind of evaluation is usually delivered during the last and more advanced design stage as a form of assessment of already-taken architectural and technological choices. The study reported in the paper aims to offer a quick, time-saving simplified algorithm to calculate the response of an adaptive façade, according to the ISO 13790 standards, to be adopted during the early design stage to evaluate the possible effects of design decisions. The study includes three main steps: (a) the conceptualisation of the adaptive solution considering the context conditions; (b) the definition of the calculation algorithm; (c) the application of the method to a test room in a case study building located in Bologna for supporting the discussion of the related outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, most descriptions of low-energy buildings assume that the envelope acts as a barrier against energy loss. However, this approach does not focus on the potential exploitation of favorable contributions from the surrounding environment that could lead to additional improvements in performance. Adaptive building envelopes (ABEs) offer a number of different options for this. However, many of them require the supply of a certain energy amount to operate. A viable alternative is offered by self-sufficient solutions that adopt responsive materials-based actuators, which are capable of modifying some of their properties in response to environmental stimuli (e.g., temperature, humidity, light, and others), which determines the dynamic behavior of the envelope without requiring additional energy inputs and minimizing technical complexity. The research field into self-sufficient adaptive envelopes (SSAEs) has received a significant boost recently. Given the heterogeneity of the proposed solutions, this paper will report on a taxonomical investigation that will be performed on the available studies that deal with SSAEs, which highlight their role in innovation and will provide a systemic classification for applications to support future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building envelope design is rising in relevance and, within this specific context, the application of passive and climate adaptive building shells (CABS) is investigated as an opportunity for energy savings and improvement of users' thermal and visual comfort. The paper reports a research concerning the climatic based development of a customized dynamic façade based on a passive self-adaptable system to climatic conditions via actuators. The solution is designed with the aid of a customized workflow based on Ladybug Tools, which is calibrated according to recorded thermal-mechanical behaviours and allow to predict the energy and thermal/visual comfort dynamic performances. The system is tested in four European climates and sky types, tracing the scenarios of its adaptability under various settings. The results indicate that the system by its constant mechanical changes due to the variation of temperatures provides a higher degree of adaptation, energy-saving and indoor thermal and visual comfort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A considerable part of recent EU policies is currently addressed at developing effective measures to support the transition towards a low carbon society according to the principles and goals of Roadmap to 2050. In this general framework the links between the development of low-emission strategies and climate-resilient approaches to buildings play a key role. As most part of the existing building stock was built before the 1980s, retrofit and renovation actions are widely investigated. Despite progress in this field, relatively little attention has been given to the connections between the achievable energy savings and the energy investment needed to pursue the renovation process and to how technological choices can impact on the energy balance according to a multi-criteria perspective. The paper will explore how different technologies and design solutions to building envelopes cladding contribute to the reduction of the heat gains in urban environments and how appropriate adaptive strategies can further mitigate against accelerated greenhouse emissions. It will discuss the relationship between individual building performance and consequent effect on external environment. The effects of technological and material choices are evaluated for some design scenarios and conditions in order to develop an indicative impact mode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent surveys on the condition of the Italian school building stock provide information on its relevant seismic behavior and fire safety levels, however no information is made available on its thermo-hygrometric conditions and energy behaviour, despite the fact that the former has a considerable impact on the use and physical conditions of indoor environments and the latter plays a fundamental role in limiting the buildings operating costs, as literature abundantly shows. This paper reports the results of a study carried out on a sample of Italian school buildings, substantiating their high levels of energy consumption, and describes the application of a specific method of analysis used for identifying the main causes of these, therefore allowing to propose some possible strategies for retrofitting, aimed to improving the building energy efficiency and environmental quality, by way of simulations and validation of their relevant effects and benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]