GOOD PRACTICE TEMPLATE

Energy Audit on Public Buildings

Title of the measure/initiative: Energy Audit on Buildings owned by the Municipality of Tirano

Name of the organisation: City of Tirano

Status of the organisation: Municipality of Tirano, in Province of Sondrio

Address: Piazza Cavour 18, Tirano

Contact person: Gianmartino della Vedova (Deputy Mayor)Phone: 0342-701256 Fax: 0342-704340E-mail: Web site : http://www.comune.tirano.so.it/

Topic (multiple answers are possible)

x Public Sector Private Sector Large Industrial Buildings Solar Plants District Heating Wind Biomass Geothermal energyx Energy saving Energy efficiency Energy concepts Other, please specify ___________________________________________

Stakeholders (multiple answers are possible)

Citizens Households Property ownersx Policymakersx Local and regional authorities Energy service company (ESCO’s) Architects and engineers Other, please specify ____________________________________________

BACKGROUND

Existing public buildings are often the place where a lot of energy is consumed, because of their typology or structure (they are in same case old and traditional) and because of their particular use (lots of electric equipments and lightings). Starting to conceive a plan to define the public buildings consumption in order to improve their energy performance is a good practice and example to citizens, since their municipality is not only saying them: “Save energy!”, but he’s trying to do that for his own properties, with the aim to find and apply the best ways to improve energy efficiency in heating and cooling and, in a few words, use these buildings.

OBJECTIVESAn energy audit provides a study of the building taking into account the surroundings operating conditions in order to provide a building model on which to simulate different renovation/retrofitting works assessing their own effectiveness in improving comfort and efficiency and for what concerning emission reduction, energy saving and economic convenience. The results are fundamental to reach a final decision on how implementing measures to improve energy efficiency of buildings.

PROCESSAn energy audit starts from a data collection all over the building, regarding both the building envelop (walls, floors, roofs, openings…) and the building systems (heating, cooling, conditioning, ventilation…) and taking into account the surroundings operating conditions: the user behavior, the real consumption, the climate, the building age and its position in the urban planning. The results from this first step _Light Audit_ can be used afterwards to build a model (using software and procedure) in order to suggest different renovation solutions, in a _Detailed Audit_. For every solution the effectiveness will be calculated, assessing the energy efficiency improvement after the work, as well as the CO2 emission reduction and providing also a cost-benefit analysis calculating the return on investment.

For the case under exam 2 Detailed Audits were provided on the <Swimming Pool Building> and the <School ‘Trombini’ Building>. In these cases the Energy Certifications were provided and the thermo graphical analysis have been reported, and of course, being the first step, the Light Audits.

The Light Audits were provided for the following 10 buildings: Town Hall‘Credaro’ Elementary School‘Madonna’ Elementary School‘Agricoltura’ Elementary SchoolMilitary Police StationEx-property Foppoli House of the ARtEx Magistrate’s CourtLibrary new reading room‘Arcari’ Library

FINANCIAL RESOURCES AND PARTNERSThe Audit Procedure has been carried out subscribing a CARIPLO tender for the “Promotion of sustainability at a local level” – www.fondazionecariplo.it dealing with the Energy Audit of Public Buildings owned by small and medium Municipalities (tender deadline jun 2007).

RESULTSOther than start the study about the public buildings and to begin the construction of a fundamental tool for the municipality decision makers (how can we make our building energy efficient? The study results are a good starting point to answer this question), this initiative helped to provide skills within the Local Council finalized to intelligent management of resources and to raise citizen’s awareness through the promotion of good practiced.

LESSONS LEARNED AND REPEATABILTYThis study has been done thanks to the participation to a tender for sustainability. Many other possibilities are available in tenders to continue this process, also in other territories. The main goal is to provide Detailed Audits for all the buildings in property of Tirano Municipality (the tender required to plan light audit for all buildings and some detailed analysis at least for the most energy-consumptive buildings identified or for the most relevant regarding the local needs).

PHOTOS: (PLEASE INCLUDE UP TO 3 PHOTOS)