Integrated energy design of building envelope and systems
To guarantee high energy performance and savings, it is necessary to combine and integrate the casing, in its opaque and transparent parts, and the technological systems into a single efficient system. This is not a simple operation. In fact, the designer is required to understand the individual parts and how they interact with each other. This manual aims to provide the reader with the tools to understand and govern the envelope-systems relationship in order to achieve optimal energy efficiency of the building product. The work accompanies the reader towards knowledge of the proportions, in terms of importance, between the building and the systems, demolishing the beliefs, still resistant and persistent, that a highly energy efficient building depends mainly on renewable energy systems. The author shifts the greatest burden of attention to the quality of the covering, opaque and transparent: walls, floors, dispersing roofs, windows and shading. It analyzes its vices and virtues related to the climate zone in which the building is located and the physical characteristics of the materials used, translating the technical physics in a very usable way. The manual also addresses the concept of air quality, talking about Controlled Mechanical Ventilation, continuing with the other parameters of living comfort: thermo-hygrometric, acoustic and luminous, to offer the reader a holistic overview of all the components of an energy efficient and sustainable building structure. Mirko Giuntini Engineer, has been working on eco-sustainable building projects for years. He is an energy consultant and teacher at the CasaClima Agency, Expert in Sustainable Building (EES) and Expert in Energy Management (EGE). He works as a teacher in specialization and master’s courses on issues of environmental sustainability and sustainable construction organized by professional associations, public and private bodies, schools and training centers of national importance.
