EU targets for sustainable development call for strong changes in the current energy systems as well as committed protection of environmental resources. This target conflicts if a policy is not going to promote the compatible solutions to both the issues. This is the case of the additional renewable energy sources to be exploited for increasing the share in the electricity mix and in the gross final energy consumption. Solar energy is, currently, the cheapest solution in Southern European Countries, like Italy. In this paper, thanks to the availability of three open databases provided by National Institutions, the authors compared the historic trends and policy scenarios for soil consumption, electricity consumption, and renewable electricity production to check correlations. The provincial scale was chosen as resolution of the analysis. The deviations from the policy scenarios was then addressed to identify the demand for policy recommendations and pathways to promote in order to achieve the target for renewable electricity share as well as the reduction in soli consumption trend in 2030. The role of renewables integrated in the existing contexts, such as building integrated photovoltaics, is considered a key driver for solving this issue.@en

Electrification of the built environment is foreseen as a main driver for energy transition for more effective, electric renewable capacity firming. Direct and on-time use of electricity is the best way to integrate them, but the current energy demand of residential building stock is often mainly fuel-based. Switching from fuel to electric-driven heating systems could play a key role. Yet, it implies modifications in the building stock due to the change in the temperature of the supplied heat by new heat pumps compared to existing boilers and in power demand to the electricity meter. Conventional energy retrofitting scenarios are usually evaluated in terms of cost-effective energy saving, while the effects on the electrification and flexibility are neglected. In this paper, the improvement of the building envelope and the installations of electric-driven space heating and domestic hot water production systems is analyzed for 419 dwellings. The dwellings database was built by means of a survey among the students attending the Faculty of Architecture at Sapienza University of Rome. A set of key performance indicators were selected for energy and environmental performance. The changes in the energy flexibility led to the viable participation of all the dwellings to a demand response programme.@en

Buildings with architectural constraints and recognized historical values entail careful design process, especially, when the aim is to improve the energy efficiency. Foreseeable interventions consist of preservation and improvement of building envelope energy performance as well as the adaptation of the built environment to modern use and its accessibility. The compatibility between the aforementioned constraints and its future more sustainable use represents the crucial challenge. In this paper, feasible interventions on the dwellings from the 40’s in Borgata Trullo, Rome were designed and analyzed. Public housing asset is an interesting environment to test a sustainable holistic approach due to its homogeneity in terms of building technology solutions and typologies. Furthermore, the absence of public funding made more difficult the ordinary and extra-ordinary maintenance processes. So, the approach accounts for the age of the building along with the subsequent reduced energy performance as well as the architectural values to preserve. The proposed energy retrofitting measures are related to the building envelope, in the installation of insulation layers, the substitution of windows and improvement of HVAC systems to enhance energy efficiency. Besides the case study, design guidelines were presented to help the stakeholders in compatible and sustainable interventions. New HVAC solutions showed high gains in energy saving even if building envelope modifications were limited by the willing to preserve the cultural heritage values. Therefore, a virtuous restoration can address effectively current energy efficiency targets.@en