GEOFIT

SMART GEOTHERMAL TECHNOLOGIES

The project aims at elaborating a novel design and construction strategy for making more new geothermal systems more technically and economically appealing. The team role will face the big challange to study its application in historical buildings by means of hBIM analysis.
The implementation case study managed by EAP Lab at Unipg is a medioeval fortress close to Perugia, Italy, the first GBC Historical Building certification in the world (LEED consistent certification specifically tailored for historical buildings). The ancient stable building is a laboratory itself and a trigeneration system is already installed. The geothermal novel heat exchangers will be included into the circular economy loop for heating and cooling.

Stay tuned!

ZERO PLUS

ACHIEVING NEAR ZERO AND POSITIVE ENERGY SETTLEMENTS IN EUROPE USING ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY

In ZERO-PLUS, a comprehensive, cost-effective system for Net Zero Energy (NZE) settlements will be developed and implemented. The system will be composed of innovative solutions for the building envelope, for building energy generation and management, and for energy management at the settlement level. A reduction of operational energy usage to an average of 0-20 kWh/m2 per year (compared with the current average of 70-230 kWh/m2) will be achieved through a transition from single NZE buildings to NZE settlements, in which the energy loads and resources are optimally managed. A primary objective of the project will be to develop a system whose investment costs will be at least 16% lower than current costs. In order to reduce "balance of system" costs, an approach of mass customization will be employed. Mass produced technologies will be integrated in a system that is optimally designed according to the local climate and site of each project in which it is implemented. To this end, a structured process will be developed and applied for the integration, optimization and verification of the design. The project's work programme will ensure a rapid market uptake, within its four-year scope, of the innovative solutions that will be developed. These solutions will be implemented in four different demonstration projects throughout the EU, with varying climates and building types. The results of their implementation will be monitored, analyzed and disseminated. A comprehensive market analysis and business plan will support the commercial exploitation of the project's results. The project will be carried out by a consortium that includes universities, project owners, technology providers and organizations, which will closely collaborate in all the project's phases.
The role of University of Perugia corresponds to the integration at settlement level of all the technology productions and energy needs, by sprawling the boundary between the building scale and the neighborhood scale, which is the key contribution of this project at international level. Additionally, thanks to the effective construction of four settlement around Europe (in Italy, France, UK and Cyprus), the UNIPG group will also manage that design process, optimization and realization procedure, in order to take advantage of the initiative even at local scale. The project is coordinated by the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and its participants are: the Technische Universität München, the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, the Oxford Brookes University, the The Cyprus Institute, the Technical University of Crete, ABB Italy, Anerdgy A.G., FIBRAN S.A., CONSORZIO ARCA, Eco Ltd., OPAC38, CONTEDIL di Ricco M. & C. S.A.S., George Vassiliou Ltd., Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust, together with University of Perugia.

​This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 678407 (ZERO-PLUS).

SWS-HEATING

DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF AN INNOVATIVE SOLAR SELECTIVE-WATER-SORBENT-BASED HEATING SYSTEMe

The project aims at developing a compact solar-assisted heating system with advanced materials and components, for covering over 60% of heating demand (both space heating and DHW) of energy efficiency single-family houses in Central/North Europe (solar fraction is further increased in South Europe to over 80%). The core of the energy system is a multimodular thermochemical seasonal heat storage based on an innovative adsorption module employing Selective Water Sorbent (SWS) and dedicated heat exchangers (HEXs) in the adsorber, evaporator and condenser. High-efficiency solar collectors with vacuum tubes will be optimized for the specific requirements of the proposed system. A back-up heater is integrated for fully covering the heat demand during winter. The overall goal is to reduce the system size and cost compared to sensible seasonal TES, while maximizing its performance, compactness and simplicity of operations.
Intensive research will be conducted for nano-tailoring the innovative SWS materials, and optimizing both components and control with smart features and flexible operating modes. SWS-storage module prototypes will be designed, manufactured and initially tested in the lab. The test results will serve for optimizing and up-scaling the design of the full-scale SWSHEATING system, suitable for solar-active houses and then tested under real environment in two different climatic conditions. At the same time, user friendliness through automated operation, and low equipment costs and maintenance will be considered as design targets.
Key parallel activities are also planned, such as the investigation of social and environmental barriers to overcome and the development of appropriate business models towards its industrial level. The project also includes dissemination and communication activities to ensure outreach of its results. Moreover, exploitation activities include long-term deployment path development, according to the technology roadmap to be implemented.
​EAP Lab at University of Perugia
CIRIAF - Interuniversity research centre on pollution and environment Mauro Felli
Department of Engineering

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