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Buildings are among the primary contributors to global energy consumption, and reducing their demand is one of the challenges that need to be considered for a sustainable future. Zero Energy Buildings (ZEB) represent one of the most promising strategies in this endeavor, and in this sense, the UniZEB project addresses this issue with an innovative approach. It is a Zero Energy Building Laboratory of the University of Padova, built up from a collaboration between local companies, students, and researchers, featuring high performance HVAC and envelope technologies integrated with renewable energy sources. The present work offers an overview of the project, showing some of the already-faced challenges, as well as future opportunities of research and study. The purpose of the laboratory is indeed to offer the students the possibility to put in practice the knowledge they gain through university, as well as exploring new subjects through recent research topics, e.g., the development of a sensor network for the monitoring of the building, the dynamic model calibration, able to compare expected and current energy demand. The paper aims also to demonstrate the potential of a project like UniZEB, proving how research, innovation, and collaboration can shape the future of sustainable construction.

In recent years, building stock models have been developed by researchers to examine the aggregate performance of stacks of buildings within large areas, thereby giving rise to the concept of urban building energy models (UBEMs). The input data for such models consists of geometric and non-geometric attributes of the buildings, in addition to meteorological information. In this perspective, the acquisition of precise and comprehensive data poses a challenge, as the existing datasets often lack certain parameters or are not in a standardized format. This study aims to address the challenges by proposing a workflow for generating an input data frame tailored for incorporation into UBEMs. The data frame should include all the essential parameters of the buildings, and its constitution should be reflective of the real-world data. Moreover, the proposed workflow should remain consistent with databases available at national or regional levels. Acknowledging this non-uniformity in databases across regions, the methodology proposed in this study strategically considers various alternatives. For this reason, the proposed automatized workflow ensures flexibility and adaptability to changes in data availability. The workflow proposed in this study is a QGIS based geographical calculation method. The method can combine data from various sources into one shapefile that can be used to simulate the energy performance of buildings in urban areas.

In this work, the climatic chamber CORE-CARE is presented. The laboratory was built at the Industrial Engineering Department of the University of Padova, in order to further investigate issues related to indoor environmental quality, the comfort perceived by people in confined spaces and thermal performance of radiant systems. CORE-CARE is equipped with radiant panels in each surface, which can be controlled separately. The room presents two real windows on the East side, equipped with shading systems. Furthermore, the mechanic controlled ventilation system installed in the room can act as integration of sensible or latent heat both in heating and in cooling conditions. The climatic chamber is provided with a data acquisition system, consisting of 38 sensors, that allow the evaluation of the surface temperatures in different positions, the air temperature at different heights, the mean radiant temperature, relative humidity and CO2 concentration. The CORE-CARE chamber is thermally characterized using a detailed model developed at the Industrial Engineering Department of the University of Padova and the simulations results are compared with test measurements. Moreover, the impact of radiant asymmetry is investigated.

Nowadays, the search for new solutions to the pandemic situation caused by the spread of SARS-CoV-2 is one of the most important issues worldwide. The difficulties encountered in finding an effective cure for the infection and the ongoing vaccination campaign place a priority on minimising the transmission of this disease. This paper deals exclusively with the airborne route of transmission for COVID-19, proposing a model for the evaluation of infection risk. It starts from the well-known Wells-Riley model and its successive modifications and tries to couple it with a zonal model which analyses the air movement in an indoor environment. The objective of this model is evaluating whether the infection risk depends considerably on the position of the infected subject and the susceptible person in the room and how different ventilation concepts affect these aspects. The model was applied to an office room with a mixing ventilation system. The results obtained concern the sub-division of the considered volume in four cells, each one perfectly mixed. The evaluation of infection risk in different positions was carried out and an analysis on the parameters affecting this value was performed.

Revised EPBD directive has set ambitious targets for renovation. It is stated that Member States shall establish a long-term strategy facilitating the cost-effective transformation of existing buildings into nearly-zero energy buildings. The long-term strategy should set out a roadmap with a view to the long-term 2050 goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union. This creates the need for cost-efficient renovation solutions which can be implemented in large scale. The impact assessment shows that roughly a doubled renovation rate of 3 % would be needed to accomplish the energy efficiency ambitions in a cost-effective manner. The objective of this study is to specify renovation concepts with adequate heating and ventilation, based on Estonian and German apartment buildings and corresponding local solutions. Energy performance and sizing analyses were conducted for selected multifamily apartment buildings typical for 1960-70es with three different renovation concepts. Energy calculations were conducted with national energy calculation methods and national energy requirements for major renovation. In the renovation, the building envelope insulation, air tightness, and heating and ventilation systems were improved so that the renovated building complies with national nearly zero-energy requirement for major renovation.

The European building sector is responsible for approximately 40% of total energy consumption and for 36% of greenhouse gas emissions. Identifying technological solutions capable of reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions is one of the main objectives of the European Commission. Ground source heat pumps (GSHPs) are of particular interest for this purpose, promising a considerable reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of HVAC systems. This paper reports the results of the energetic analysis carried out within the EU research project GEO4CIVHIC about the performance of geothermal heat pumps working with low-GWP refrigerants as alternatives for R134a and R410A. The work has been carried out through computer simulations based on base and regenerative reverse cycles. Several heat sink and heat source temperature conditions have been considered in order to evaluate the GSHPs' performance in the whole range of real conditions that can be found in Europe. Particular attention has been paid to the evaluation of compression isentropic efficiency and its influence on the overall cycle performance when dealing with steady-state heat pump simulations. To do so, five different scenarios of isentropic efficiency calculation have been studied and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]