Guglielmina Mutani

The energy community is defined as a “cooperative/partnership/non-profit organization of final customers (municipalities, public and private entities, citizens) aimed at achieving energy independence in order to guarantee energy security, low environment impact and affordable energy costs”. This work defines a place-based methodology for the dimensioning of energy communities, according to the requirements of the first Italian law on energy communities issued by the Piedmont Region.

Urban rooftops are a potential source of water, energy, and food that contribute to make cities more resilient and sustainable. The use of smart technologies such as solar panels or cool roofs helps to reach energy and climate targets. This work presents a flexible methodology based on the use of geographical information systems that allow evaluating the potential use of roofs in a densely built-up context, estimating the roof areas that can be renovated or used to produce renewable energy.

The development of urban-scale energy modeling is currently the goal of many research groups as a result of to the increased interest in evaluating the impacts of energy efficiency measures in cities. These energy models are useful to explore consumption and emission distribution at district scale and to quantitatively assess renovation strategies and energy supply options. 

There is growing attention to the use of greenery in urban areas, in various forms and functions, as an instrument to reduce the impact of human activities on the urban environment. The aim of this study has been to investigate the use of green roofs as a strategy to reduce the urban heat island effect and to improve the thermal comfort of indoor and outdoor environments. The effects of the built-up environment, the presence of vegetation and green roofs, and the urban morphology of the city of Turin (Italy) have been assessed considering the land surface temperature distribution.

Some straw buildings, which combine eco-sustainability with versatility, low cost, and fast construction times, have recently been built in Northern Italy. In this work, the technologies used to build straw houses are presented, and the characteristics of the raw materials, the straw bales, and the construction techniques are dealt with. Two straw buildings, which have different characteristics and types of application, are analyzed. The first building is a residential, nearly zero-energy building, which was built in Saluggia (Vercelli) in 2012.

Greenhouse gas emission is an important issue and the largest source of it is from human activiti...es and from building sectors.

Energy resilience can be reached with a secure, sustainable, competitive, and affordable system. ...In order to achieve energy resilience in the urban environment, urban-scale energy models play a key role in supporting the promotion and identification of effective energy-efficient and low-carbon policies pertaining to buildings.

The energy community is defined as a “cooperative/partnership/non-profit organization of final cu...stomers (municipalities, public and private entities, citizens) aimed at achieving energy independence in order to guarantee energy security, low environment impact and affordable energy costs”.