La sostenibilità ambientale dal Progetto Edilizio al Piano Urbano: L'integrazione della variabile energetica nella pianificazione del territorio

The energy issue has recently become crucial in the global debate in relation to four main factors: the non-reproducibility of natural resources, the exponential increase in consumption, the economic interests and the preservation of the environment and climate of our Planet. It is therefore necessary to change the pattern of production and consumption of energy, especially in cities where the highest consumption of energy is concentrated. For these reasons, the use of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) is now beginning to look as essential, appropriate and urgent even in urban planning. To improve the overall energy performance of the city system the government policies should come out of a "building-centric" operative logic covering, in addition to individual estates, the aggregations of buildings and their relationships/interactions in terms of input and output of matter-energy. The widespread replacement of existing estates with new hyper-technology buildings, is unlikely. So how, can we redefine rules and practices to create energetically efficient urban fabric building? This research proposes the integration of the emerging territorial energy planning and the more established zoning in the generation of the urban fabric "energy saving", adding to the energy and environmental performance of individual buildings those of the context, in a global energy balance. This study, describing and comparing the main RES available today, suggests a methodology for preliminary assessment of the mix of technologies and RES best suited for each site, configured as a "district energy". The results of this process provide the basics to prepare the necessary actions related to the integration of the energy efficiency in Town Planning through the application of the principles of equalization in the definition of performance requirements to the scale of settlements, which are essential for a correct transfer in the design of the urban "objects" and “systems".