Smart Modular Approach Models to improve the rating of Energy Performance Certificate of Residential Buildings

The European Parliament gives the green light to the EU directive on "green homes": the provision put forward by the European Commission to improve the energy performance of buildings. The text of the Energy Performance of Building Directive (EPBD) was born with the mission of redeveloping the EU's building stock and improving its energy efficiency. The objective of the provision is to act as a priority on the 15% of the most energy-intensive buildings for each member state, located in energy class G (the lowest). The paper analyzed a real case study, an apartment in a condominium, starting with the current state of the Energy Certification in order to improve it, through system solutions, without having to resort to building solutions such as enclosures. Dynamic simulations were carried out, using different software, to evaluate energy consumption and lighting technology, in order to identify different scenarios of energy requalification interventions, analyze and optimize the management costs of the property, and therefore propose different and modular solutions implementable. The proposed interventions start from the possibility of insulating the walls, the replacement of windows, but in particular by acting on the system part (thermal and electrical), to demonstrate how it is possible to improve the energy class through the optimization of domestic equipment, home automation, energy management, without necessarily having to intervene on the building envelope. The paper, therefore, wants to demonstrate how where it is not possible, economically or due to other constraints, to improve the energy class through major renovations, it is possible to act through smart choices and management of heating and electrical systems.