Energy Analysis in an Italian Opera House and Energy Savings Strategies

The refurbishment of historic buildings is a complex task in which the goal of obtaining a more energy-efficient building can conflict with the peculiar characteristics of the building’s environment and its intended use. In this article, the authors address this problem for a very specific type of building: a historic opera house located in northern Italy. The results of energy consumption monitoring and spot measurements on selected loads were used as a basis to propose energy-savings strategies. The objective of this article is to highlight the difficulties in refurbishing historic buildings, particularly regarding the building envelope, in lieu of proposing a new methodology for measurements or a new strategy for energy savings. It is documented that energy savings are obtainable with relatively small investments and low-impact construction work.