Social housing in Italy: energy audit and dynamic simulation towards a nZEB policy

The object of this paper is the analysis of a Social Housing building-type in the north of Italy, with the goal of reducing the energy consumption. The proposed methodology allows, once different hypotheses of energy refurbishment intervention on the existing building have been identified, to evaluate at the same time both technical and cost feasibility. The compliance with Italian nZEB requirements was also verified. The approach is based on the execution of detailed dynamic simulations (energy audits), combined with optimization, which allow to identify the set of retrofit actions that would determine the lowest global cost during the building lifecycle.