This page has only limited features, please log in for full access.
Valeria Todeschi graduated in Regional, Urban and Landscape Environment Planning at the Politecnico di Torino in 2016, with a thesis titled, “Energy sustainability at a urban scale. Energy consumption models of buildings in Turin and potential development of the district heating network”. She started a PhD run by the Future Urban Legacy Lab in Energetics on “Smart Energy Solutions for Sustainable Cities and Policies” at the Politecnico di Torino in 2018. The PhD aim is to promote sustainable and resilient development of cities by creating new energy models at an urban scale able to drive smarter use of energy.
It is common practice, in the production of photovoltaic energy to only use the south-exposed roof surface of a building, in order to achieve the maximum production of solar energy while lowering the costs of the energy and the solar technologies. However, using the south-exposed surface of a roof only allows a small quota of the energy demand to be covered. Roof surfaces oriented in other directions could also be used to better cover the energy load profile. The aim of this work is to investigate the benefits, in terms of costs, self-sufficiency and self-consumption, of roof integrated photovoltaic technologies on residential buildings with different orientations. A cost-optimal analysis has been carried out taking into account the economic incentives for a collective self-consumer configuration. It has emerged, from this analysis, that the better the orientation is, the higher the energy security and the lower the energy costs and those for the installation of photovoltaic technologies. In general, the use of south-facing and north-facing roof surfaces for solar energy production has both economic and energy benefits. The self-sufficiency index can on average be increased by 8.5% through the use of photovoltaic installations in two directions on gable roofs, and the maximum level that can be achieved was on average 41.8, 41.5 and 35.7% for small, medium and large condominiums, respectively. Therefore, it could be convenient to exploit all the potential orientations of photovoltaic panels in cities to improve energy security and to provide significant economic benefits for the residential users.
Guglielmina Mutani; Valeria Todeschi. Optimization of Costs and Self-Sufficiency for Roof Integrated Photovoltaic Technologies on Residential Buildings. Energies 2021, 14, 4018 .
AMA StyleGuglielmina Mutani, Valeria Todeschi. Optimization of Costs and Self-Sufficiency for Roof Integrated Photovoltaic Technologies on Residential Buildings. Energies. 2021; 14 (13):4018.
Chicago/Turabian StyleGuglielmina Mutani; Valeria Todeschi. 2021. "Optimization of Costs and Self-Sufficiency for Roof Integrated Photovoltaic Technologies on Residential Buildings." Energies 14, no. 13: 4018.
The EU building stock is 97% not energy efficient and the promotion of energy retrofitting strategies is a key way of reducing energy consumptions and greenhouse gas emission. In order to improve the energy performance of buildings, the European Union released the Energy Performance of Buildings and the Energy Efficiency Directives. The certification of the energy performance of a building is a central element of these Directives to monitor and promote energy performance improvements in buildings, with the aim of increasing their energy efficiency level, thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This work evaluates the energy performance of existing residential buildings using the energy performance certificate database and identifies the more effective retrofitting interventions by applying an urban-scale energy model. The novelty of this study is that a new retrofitting database is created to improve the results of a building energy model at urban scale taking into account the real characteristics of the built environment. The here presented GIS-based monthly engineering model is flexible and easily applicable to different contexts, and was used to investigate energy efficiency scenarios by evaluating their effects of city scale. An urban energy atlas was designed for an Italian city, Turin, as a decision-making platform for policy makers and citizens. This energy platform can give information on energy consumption, production and productivity potential, but also on energy retrofitting scenarios. The results of this work show that it is possible to obtain energy savings for space heating of 79,064 MWh/year for the residential buildings connected to the district heating network in the city of Turin; these interventions refer mainly to thermal insulation of buildings envelope with windows replacement and allow a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of 12,097 tonCO2eq/year.
Guglielmina Mutani; Valeria Todeschi. GIS-based urban energy modelling and energy efficiency scenarios using the energy performance certificate database. Energy Efficiency 2021, 14, 1 -28.
AMA StyleGuglielmina Mutani, Valeria Todeschi. GIS-based urban energy modelling and energy efficiency scenarios using the energy performance certificate database. Energy Efficiency. 2021; 14 (5):1-28.
Chicago/Turabian StyleGuglielmina Mutani; Valeria Todeschi. 2021. "GIS-based urban energy modelling and energy efficiency scenarios using the energy performance certificate database." Energy Efficiency 14, no. 5: 1-28.
Building energy-use models and tools can simulate and represent the distribution of energy consumption of buildings located in an urban area. The aim of these models is to simulate the energy performance of buildings at multiple temporal and spatial scales, taking into account both the building shape and the surrounding urban context. This paper investigates existing models by simulating the hourly space heating consumption of residential buildings in an urban environment. Existing bottom-up urban-energy models were applied to the city of Fribourg in order to evaluate the accuracy and flexibility of energy simulations. Two common energy-use models—a machine learning model and a GIS-based engineering model—were compared and evaluated against anonymized monitoring data. The study shows that the simulations were quite precise with an annual mean absolute percentage error of 12.8 and 19.3% for the machine learning and the GIS-based engineering model, respectively, on residential buildings built in different periods of construction. Moreover, a sensitivity analysis using the Morris method was carried out on the GIS-based engineering model in order to assess the impact of input variables on space heating consumption and to identify possible optimization opportunities of the existing model.
Valeria Todeschi; Roberto Boghetti; Jérôme Kämpf; Guglielmina Mutani. Evaluation of Urban-Scale Building Energy-Use Models and Tools—Application for the City of Fribourg, Switzerland. Sustainability 2021, 13, 1595 .
AMA StyleValeria Todeschi, Roberto Boghetti, Jérôme Kämpf, Guglielmina Mutani. Evaluation of Urban-Scale Building Energy-Use Models and Tools—Application for the City of Fribourg, Switzerland. Sustainability. 2021; 13 (4):1595.
Chicago/Turabian StyleValeria Todeschi; Roberto Boghetti; Jérôme Kämpf; Guglielmina Mutani. 2021. "Evaluation of Urban-Scale Building Energy-Use Models and Tools—Application for the City of Fribourg, Switzerland." Sustainability 13, no. 4: 1595.
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 methodology was applied to the case study of the city of Turin in Italy, a 3D roof model was designed, some scenarios were investigated, and priorities of interventions were established, taking into account the conditions of the urban landscape. The applicability of smart solutions was conducted as a support to the review of the Building Annex Energy Code of Turin, within the project ‘Re-Coding’, which aimed to update the current building code of the city. In addition, environmental, economic, and social impacts were assessed to identify the more effective energy efficiency measures. In the Turin context, using an insulated green roof, there was energy saving in consumption for heating up to 88 kWh/m2/year and for cooling of 10 kWh/m2/year, with a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of 193 tCO2eq/MWh/year and 14 tCO2eq/MWh/year, respectively. This approach could be a significant support in the identification and promotion of energy efficiency solutions to exploit also renewable energy resources with low greenhouse gas emissions.
Valeria Todeschi; Guglielmina Mutani; Lucia Baima; Marianna Nigra; Matteo Robiglio. Smart Solutions for Sustainable Cities—The Re-Coding Experience for Harnessing the Potential of Urban Rooftops. Applied Sciences 2020, 10, 7112 .
AMA StyleValeria Todeschi, Guglielmina Mutani, Lucia Baima, Marianna Nigra, Matteo Robiglio. Smart Solutions for Sustainable Cities—The Re-Coding Experience for Harnessing the Potential of Urban Rooftops. Applied Sciences. 2020; 10 (20):7112.
Chicago/Turabian StyleValeria Todeschi; Guglielmina Mutani; Lucia Baima; Marianna Nigra; Matteo Robiglio. 2020. "Smart Solutions for Sustainable Cities—The Re-Coding Experience for Harnessing the Potential of Urban Rooftops." Applied Sciences 10, no. 20: 7112.
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. In this work, a dynamic urban-scale energy model, based on an energy balance, has been designed to take into account the local climate conditions and morphological urban-scale parameters. The aim is to present an engineering methodology, applied to clusters of buildings, using the available urban databases. This methodology has been calibrated and optimized through an iterative procedure on 102 residential buildings in a district of the city of Turin (Italy). The results of this work show how a place-based dynamic energy balance methodology can also be sufficiently accurate at an urban scale with an average seasonal relative error of 14%. In particular, to achieve this accuracy, the model has been optimized by correcting the typological and geometrical characteristics of the buildings and the typologies of ventilation and heating system; in addition, the indoor temperatures of the buildings—that were initially estimated as constant—have been correlated to the climatic variables. The proposed model can be applied to other cities utilizing the existing databases or, being an engineering model, can be used to assess the impact of climate change or other scenarios.
Guglielmina Mutani; Valeria Todeschi; Simone Beltramino. Energy Consumption Models at Urban Scale to Measure Energy Resilience. Sustainability 2020, 12, 5678 .
AMA StyleGuglielmina Mutani, Valeria Todeschi, Simone Beltramino. Energy Consumption Models at Urban Scale to Measure Energy Resilience. Sustainability. 2020; 12 (14):5678.
Chicago/Turabian StyleGuglielmina Mutani; Valeria Todeschi; Simone Beltramino. 2020. "Energy Consumption Models at Urban Scale to Measure Energy Resilience." Sustainability 12, no. 14: 5678.
The Paris Agreement goals require net‐zero CO2 emissions by mid‐century. The European Commission in its recent proposal for climate and energy strategy for 2050 indicated the need for more intensified actions to substantially improve the energy performances of buildings. With the rate of new construction in Europe, the challenge is to increase both the pace and depth of building energy renovations. Several barriers inhibit the wide uptake of comprehensive energy renovations, including the inability or inertia to finance upfront costs of energy renovations. Despite various policies implemented to address some of these barriers, current investments in buildings remain at suboptimal levels. The paper reviews current financing practices for energy renovations and investigates some innovative instruments with a special focus on their applicability to residential buildings. In addition to “traditional” financial schemes such as subsidies, tax incentives, and loans, the paper assesses innovative financing schemes: On property tax and on‐bill financing, energy efficiency mortgages, and energy efficiency feed‐in tariffs. The paper also investigates the concept of one‐stop shops for building renovations and crowdfunding. The paper offers an assessment of the characteristics, benefits, and challenges of each analyzed financing instrument and provides policy recommendations for their successful implementation. In general, as financing instruments involve different stakeholders and due to complex nature of the sector, there is no single solution to accelerate energy renovation investment in buildings. The emerging financial models offer the potential to address the long‐standing barriers to investment in energy efficiency. This article is categorized under: Energy Efficiency > Economics and Policy Energy Efficiency > Climate and Environment Energy and Climate > Economics and Policy
Paolo Bertoldi; Marina Economidou; Valentina Palermo; Benigna Boza‐Kiss; Valeria Todeschi. How to finance energy renovation of residential buildings: Review of current and emerging financing instruments in the EU. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment 2020, 10, 1 .
AMA StylePaolo Bertoldi, Marina Economidou, Valentina Palermo, Benigna Boza‐Kiss, Valeria Todeschi. How to finance energy renovation of residential buildings: Review of current and emerging financing instruments in the EU. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment. 2020; 10 (1):1.
Chicago/Turabian StylePaolo Bertoldi; Marina Economidou; Valentina Palermo; Benigna Boza‐Kiss; Valeria Todeschi. 2020. "How to finance energy renovation of residential buildings: Review of current and emerging financing instruments in the EU." Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment 10, no. 1: 1.
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. This analysis has considered all the information recorded by the local weather stations and satellite images, and compares it with the geometrical and typological characteristics of the city in order to find correlations that confirm that greenery and vegetation improve the livability of an urban context. The results demonstrate that the land-surface temperature, and therefore the air temperature, tend to decrease as the green areas increase. This trend depends on the type of urban context. Based on the results of a green-roofs investigation of Turin, the existing and potential green roofs are respectively almost 300 (257,380 m2) and 15,450 (6,787,929 m2). Based on potential assessment, a strategy of priority was established according to the characteristics of building, to the presence of empty spaces, and to the identification of critical areas, in which the thermal comfort conditions are poor with low vegetation. This approach can be useful to help stakeholders, urban planners, and policy makers to effectively mitigate the urban heat island (UHI), improve the livability of the city, reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and gain thermal comfort conditions, and to identify policies and incentives to promote green roofs.
Guglielmina Mutani; Valeria Todeschi. The Effects of Green Roofs on Outdoor Thermal Comfort, Urban Heat Island Mitigation and Energy Savings. Atmosphere 2020, 11, 123 .
AMA StyleGuglielmina Mutani, Valeria Todeschi. The Effects of Green Roofs on Outdoor Thermal Comfort, Urban Heat Island Mitigation and Energy Savings. Atmosphere. 2020; 11 (2):123.
Chicago/Turabian StyleGuglielmina Mutani; Valeria Todeschi. 2020. "The Effects of Green Roofs on Outdoor Thermal Comfort, Urban Heat Island Mitigation and Energy Savings." Atmosphere 11, no. 2: 123.
In urban areas, district heating (DH) represents a valuable technology for providing sanitary water and house heating to buildings, because of its technical and economic strengths and its potentials on reduction of pollutant emissions. In large towns, DH is often an evolving structure. Connection of additional buildings, without any modifications in the existing network, is a frequent option to be considered to avoid further investment costs. When additional buildings are connected, the circulating mass flow rates increase and the corresponding pressure and velocity values might be inacceptable because of the large vibrations. This represents a crucial technical limitation. The possibility of optimally exploit the existing pipeline to connect as much users as possible, within the technical limitations, is an interesting issue. In this work, a methodology for optimizing the connection of additional buildings in existing large DH networks is proposed. The methodology allows finding the optimal expansion in order to minimize the pumping costs. The approach is obtained by integrating a) a GIS tool for gathering the necessary information on the building position, request and type of heating system installed, b) a fluid-dynamic model of the network able to account for the technical limitations and c) an optimizer of the pumping system for minimizing the pumping costs. The model is applied to a large existing DH system. Results show that the proposed approach allows one significant expansion of the DH (about 26% of additional connections), with limited investment costs. As a consequence in terms of environmental effects, the increased use of the DH technology allows a reduction of CO2 emissions associated with home heating of more than 13%.
Elisa Guelpa; Guglielmina Mutani; Valeria Todeschi; Vittorio Verda. Reduction of CO2 emissions in urban areas through optimal expansion of existing district heating networks. Journal of Cleaner Production 2018, 204, 117 -129.
AMA StyleElisa Guelpa, Guglielmina Mutani, Valeria Todeschi, Vittorio Verda. Reduction of CO2 emissions in urban areas through optimal expansion of existing district heating networks. Journal of Cleaner Production. 2018; 204 ():117-129.
Chicago/Turabian StyleElisa Guelpa; Guglielmina Mutani; Valeria Todeschi; Vittorio Verda. 2018. "Reduction of CO2 emissions in urban areas through optimal expansion of existing district heating networks." Journal of Cleaner Production 204, no. : 117-129.
Today 54 % of the world's population resides in urban areas and in 2050 the projections are for 66 %. Therefore, the issue of city sustainability becomes increasingly important. This paper analyzes city energy sustainability with consideration to the complex built environment, high population densities, anthropogenic activities, energy demands, environmental impacts, as well as limits on both space availability and renewable energy sources. The evaluation considers models of thermal energy consumption for both residential and non-residential buildings based on a GIS tool. The thermal energy-use models consider established statistical methods as well as the introduction of energy-dependent urban-scale variables
Guglielmina Mutani; Valeria Todeschi. Space heating models at urban scale for buildings in the city of Turin (Italy). Energy Procedia 2017, 122, 841 -846.
AMA StyleGuglielmina Mutani, Valeria Todeschi. Space heating models at urban scale for buildings in the city of Turin (Italy). Energy Procedia. 2017; 122 ():841-846.
Chicago/Turabian StyleGuglielmina Mutani; Valeria Todeschi. 2017. "Space heating models at urban scale for buildings in the city of Turin (Italy)." Energy Procedia 122, no. : 841-846.
Reduction in energy consumptions and CO2 emissions and increase in the use of renewable energy sources can be reached through large scale implementation of energy efficiency measures. In urban contexts, district heating (DH) systems are expected to allow integration of waste heat and thermal renewable sources. In this work we propose a GIS-based model for the technical feasibility analysis of possible expansions of existing DH networks. The application to the City of Turin is presented as a case study
Elisa Guelpa; Guglielmina Mutani; Valeria Todeschi; Vittorio Verda. A feasibility study on the potential expansion of the district heating network of Turin. Energy Procedia 2017, 122, 847 -852.
AMA StyleElisa Guelpa, Guglielmina Mutani, Valeria Todeschi, Vittorio Verda. A feasibility study on the potential expansion of the district heating network of Turin. Energy Procedia. 2017; 122 ():847-852.
Chicago/Turabian StyleElisa Guelpa; Guglielmina Mutani; Valeria Todeschi; Vittorio Verda. 2017. "A feasibility study on the potential expansion of the district heating network of Turin." Energy Procedia 122, no. : 847-852.