Energy Cost for Effective Ventilation and Air Quality for Healthy Buildings: Plant Proposals for a Historic Building School Reopening in the Covid-19 Era

Carla Balocco and Lorenzo Leoncini
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Carla Balocco: Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Florence, via Santa Marta 3, 50139 Firenze, Italy
Lorenzo Leoncini: Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Florence, via Santa Marta 3, 50139 Firenze, Italy

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 20, 1-16

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the engineering/technical approach to building and plant design. In Italy, most of the school heritage belongs to historical buildings, which are not only under constraints for the protection and prevention of loss of cultural heritage but are often created with a different intended use. This fact implies that any plant engineering project is really complex. Starting from the current sanitary measures for reopening during the Covid-19 era and the crucial current research on this matter, the feasibility of plant retrofit/refurbishment solutions by means of effective ventilation and air quality are investigated. Various plant solutions based on demand-controlled mechanical ventilation, operating 24 h a day, seven days a week, without air recirculation mode, for a historical high school building were studied using transient simulations. A result comparison showed that it is possible to obtain healthy school environments by means of an optimal compromise between energy savings and the best ventilation conditions for indoor air quality (IAQ). Sustainability is understood as effective and efficient solutions for energy consumption reduction and environmental sustainability as a guarantee for people’s safety and wellbeing.

Keywords: healthy environment; indoor air quality; wellbeing; historical building school; controlled ventilation; energy sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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