Energy: From ENEA and Assoimmobiliare a new guide to increasing office efficiency

ENEA and ASSOIMMOBILIARE have created “Quaderni dell’efficienza per uffici”, a practical guide to facilitate energy diagnoses and promote solutions to minimize energy consumption in a sector which counts about 630,000 real estate units in Italy, mostly in the North (53 percent), with Lombardy ranking first (30 percent).

Addressed at both professionals and operators it provides information for conducting quality energy audits and creating an energy consumption monitoring plan. It also provides a cost-effectiveness analysis of the interventions conducted and an extensive description of possible energy efficiency solutions with respect to a sample of 767 interventions that, if implemented, would lead to savings of about 50 GWh/year, of which about 75 percent in electricity savings.

The quality of office buildings in Italy varies widely depending on the construction and location era, ranging from renovated historic buildings to modern constructions designed according to the latest standards of sustainability and energy efficiency. An analysis of energy classes, based on SIAPE data, shows that 49.3 percent of certified offices fall into the lowest energy classes (E, F and G), 41.3 percent in the intermediate classes (B, C, D), 9.4 percent reach the most efficient classes (A1-A4), while only 0.4 percent of the total certified fall into the NZEB (Nearly Zero Energy Building) category.

From an energy point of view, the sample shows a consumption mainly related to the electric energy carrier (67 percent) and natural gas (22 percent), followed (11 percent) by a moderate use of other energy carriers (e.g., diesel, LPG, biomass etc.).

 “The real estate sector is facing major challenges today. Growing awareness of the environmental impact of buildings, combined with European sustainability and energy efficiency goals, requires us to radically rethink the way we design, build and manage our buildings,” said Ilaria Bertini, head of the ENEA Energy Efficiency Department. “This Notebook stems from the need to provide methodological tools and energy performance indicators to measure office building consumption and plan efficiency improvement interventions,” Bertini concluded.

 “In recent years, the office real estate sector has undergone a significant transformation, driven by changes in working arrangements, like coworking and remote working, and an increasing focus on containing energy consumption. This evolution presents the sector with significant challenges, including decarbonization and increasing energy efficiency,” said Emanuela Poli, director general of Confindustria Assoimmobiliare. “In this context, accurate knowledge of energy consumption is crucial to guide decisions and actions toward more conscious and sustainable property management. Buildings in the tertiary sector, although fewer in number than residential ones, generate a high impact on CO₂ emissions. A set of targeted interventions on these buildings can therefore yield significant benefits, including the achievement of the targets set by the EPBD,” Poli concluded.

The eighth volume in the “Quaderni dell'Efficienza” series, part of the program agreement for Electricity System Research 2022-2024 funded by the Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security, was presented in Milan at the conference “Energy Efficiency and Value: New Horizons for Sustainable Real Estate”.