Improving the Energy Efficiency, Limiting Costs and Reducing CO 2 Emissions of a Museum Using Geothermal Energy and Energy Management Policies

Gianluca Cadelano, Francesco Cicolin, Giuseppe Emmi, Giulia Mezzasalma, Davide Poletto, Antonio Galgaro and Adriana Bernardi
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Gianluca Cadelano: Istituto per l’Atmosfera e il Clima, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, 35137 Padua, Italy
Francesco Cicolin: Istituto per l’Atmosfera e il Clima, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, 35137 Padua, Italy
Giuseppe Emmi: Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale, Università degli Studi di Padova, 35131 Padua, Italy
Giulia Mezzasalma: R.E.D. Srl, 35129 Padua, Italy
Davide Poletto: UNESCO Regional Office for Science and Culture in Europe-Science Unit, 30122 Venice, Italy
Antonio Galgaro: Dipartimento di Geoscienze, Università degli Studi di Padova, 35131 Padua, Italy
Adriana Bernardi: Istituto per l’Atmosfera e il Clima, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, 35137 Padua, Italy

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 16, 1-18

Abstract: Museums are major energy consumers amongst buildings, especially if they are housed in historical constructions. Museums usually present high energy demand for the air-conditioning due to their architectonical and structural characteristics, such as the presence of large exhibition rooms and open spaces. At the same time, temperature and humidity have to be strictly controlled in order to assure proper microclimate conditions for the conservation of the housed collections and adequate thermal comfort for visitors and personnel. Moreover, despite being subjected to architectural protection that limits most structural refurbishment interventions, these buildings must be adequate from an energy point of view to allow their reuse or continuity of use according to current quality standards, while retaining their heritage significance. In this awkward context, ground source heat pump working with high temperature terminals is proposed as a viable refurbishment solution. The use of shallow geothermal systems can improve the energy efficiency of the heating ventilation air-conditioning systems and, at the same time, increases the renewable energy source exploitation without affecting the indoor environmental conditions. However, after the interventions, the expected benefits and the sought-after limitation of energy consumption/cost may not occur for different reasons. In fact, even if the installed solution is working perfectly and properly designed, every effort will be in vain if adequate attention is not paid to the management of the plants during the operational phase. This document is meant to evaluate and compare the magnitude that invasive (i.e., technical interventions) and not invasive (i.e., energy management policies) actions respectively and their combined interaction, have on a museum. Through energy simulations it has been possible to quantify the effects that different interventions and energy management strategies had on an existing museum housed in an historical building, from energy consumption, energy costs and CO 2 emission standpoints.

Keywords: energy management; energy efficiency; geothermal energy; museum management; historical building; thermal comfort; cultural heritage conservation; indoor microclimate; energy saving; energy simulations; CO 2 emissions; sustainable energy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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