case study sustainable construction

7/27/2019 Case Study sustainable construction

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Case Study 321: Cooperativa Santa Francesca Cabrini Due, Italy

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Residence Le Sorgenti A house to the benefit of the city

COOPERATIVA SANTA FRANCESCA CABRINI DUE CO-OPERATIVE BUILDING COMPANY- Lod i, ITALY

Summary

The project Le Sorgenti is the first complete intervention of eco-sustainable construction in the province ofLodi. It includes an energetically autonomous building with really high energy efficiency (30 kWh/m

2for year)

and exclusively powered by renewable sources of energy. The project is promoted by the CooperativeSFCDue, it is non-profit and it will be financed by Banca Popolare Etica that has acknowledged its really highenvironmental, ethical and social value. In November 2006 the COOPERATIVA has become partner of SEECand in November 2007 it also signed a voluntary framework agreement with the Italian Ministry forEnvironment, Land and Sea that has acknowledged the project as Best Practices for the dissemination of

good eco-sustainable practices in the building field. Further to the due charges and fees the COOPERATIVAhas committed to refurbish and re-qualify a public building intended for activities in favour of the community.


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End-user area Target Audience Technical

New buildings Citizens Energy efficiency

Refurbishment of buildings Households Heating

Transport and mobility Property owners Cooling

Financial instruments Schools and universities Appliances

Industry Decision makers Lighting

Legal initiatives (regulations, directives, etc) Local and regional authorities CHP

Planning issues Transport companies District Heating

Sustainable communities Utilities Solar energy

User behaviour ESCOs Biomass

Education Architects and engineers Wind

Other Financial institutions Geothermal

Other Hydro power

Other

Context

The project is located in an easily accessible area andin continuity with a landscape area "sensitive" and"delicate" from a morphological and environmentalviewpoint, to act as a connection function between theurban settlement system and the rural area. Thisenvironmental and building re-qualification is theoccasion to carry out a "new door" to enter the town.The green areas design will allow redefining therelationship with the existing urban settlements andthe creation of a new strategic connection with thenew University centre: this will provide an added valueto the whole district. This project becomes theoccasion of a re-planning of the existing urban"terminal". The underlying concept is to carry out aself-sufficient housing block with renewable sources of energy that can serve and fit in the environment where itis located. The COOPERATIVA pursues non-profit mutual-aid purposes.

Objectives

In the area the building industry offers a traditional building typology not very attentive to the environmental

sustainability; this project will be the first important intervention of sustainable construction in the province ofLodi and it will become an experimental and pilot-project. The purposes are: CO 2 emissions reduction; energyautonomy of residential units; environmental sustainability and integration by means of the exclusive use ofrenewable energy sources and a complete project of green areas re-qualification in the whole lot; use ofterritorial resources and products aimed at the development of local activities and transport pollution decrease;use of tested building technologies and solutions easy to find on the market; attesting the completeeconomicalsustainability of energy-saving interventions; giving a contribution to thecommunity growth bymeans of a direct intervention on a public building and through indirect interventions of education, information,distribution and dissemination of the criteria connected to environmental sustainability in the building field.

Process

The COOPERATIVA intends to carry out a residential complex composed of No. 14 single-family houses and a

business centre. The residential units will be built with really high energy efficiency criteria (30 kWh/m2

for


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year), conformed to the principles of eco-sustainable building and by exclusively using the renewable sourcesby means of new technological systems.

The Cooperative Sf Cabrini Duewas born in 1987 from an idea ofSF Cabrini parochial community'sparish priest who, in order to easethe purchase of new houses foryoung couples, elderly people andfamilies living and operating in theFanfani district of Lodi, gave astimulus to the initiative.

Between 1987 and 1989 theCOOPERATIVA carried out an 18-

flat building. Then as it wasntpossible to find other suitable areasand being thus unable to pursue itscompanys purpose, theCOOPERATIVA split up. In 1995 inconsideration of the availability ofnew building areas in Fanfanidistrict and further to an ever-growing request for pursuing the mutualistic social purposes that guided the previous cooperative, the newCooperativa Santa Francesca Cabrini Due was created. Between 1999 and 2001 it carried out a residentialcomplex of 8 single-family houses. It is a cooperative company with overriding mutuality; it pursues non-profitmutual-aid purposes and it assigns the building units at the real building cost - even the administrators do notreceive any remuneration for the rendered service (in Italy this is a factor giving credibility to companies).

From a building viewpoint the first purposes which we concentrated our efforts on have been the lagging andthermal insulation, as the energy saving and efficiency start when the thermal energy yearly requirement isreduced. This is the direction taken in order to certify the houses according to the strictest CASACLIMA agencyparameters. We have rediscovered the use of natural materials; we will carry out a ventilated wooden roof withcovering made of hip-tiles, wooden attics this will allow to make good use of hollow spaces to house fittingsthus eliminating thermal bridges. The houses will have a design characteristic of the local architecture and willhave large and duly screened windows on the south side. There will be large outer areas to allow activities onones own or common ones; our aim was to recreate in a modern and consistent way the old farmyards areas,areas to enjoy and to live well in. Even the technological plants have been carried out according to radicalchoices. The heart of the plant is a central with vertical geothermal probes with heat pumps to produce hot andcold water. It will be a centralized plant with single meters. This central will be powered by the energy producedby photovoltaic panels that will also supply the single residential units with energy. We will also install solar

thermal panels for the production of hot water as integration of the water produced by the heat pumps. All theinner distribution will happen by means of low temperature systems with the help of heating/cooling panels. Wewill have a plant for the recovery and reuse of rainfalls. A building made this way decreases the need formaintenance and substantially increases the houses salubrity. After a long administrative procedure theconstruction site will start within the end of 2008.

Financial resources and partners

The total cost is estimated to amount to 6100KE.

During the construction phase there will be a previous bank financing. At the end of the construction the totalcost will be as follows: 30% financed by Banca Popolare Etica and the remaining 70% financed by the partnerscapital.

The COOPERATIVA is partner of S.E.E.C. 2005-2010.(Sustainable Energy Europe Campaign)


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On 16th November 2007 the COOPERATIVA also signed a voluntary framework agreement with the ItalianMinistry for Environment, Land and Sea including the project in the implementation Program of the National

Action Plan for greenhouse gases reduction for 2007-2007 period, attached to CIPE resolution No. 123/202(especially Measure no 3 that provides for: Interventi dimostrativi per lincremento dellefficienza energetica ela riduzione delle emissioni di gas climalteranti in distretti industriali, in settori produttivi e nel settore civile enelledilizia pubblica e nel settore dei transporti), for the dissemination of eco-sustainable building bestpractices in the building field.

Another partner is Banca Popolare Etica that will finance the intervention as they have recognized its reallyhigh environmental, ethical and social value.

Another important partner of our project is Legambiente: we have established with them to develop an accuratedissemination action of the project in consideration of its replicability, as well as an awareness campaign on theuse of renewable energy sources.

Results

Saved CO2 emissions/year: 114.597 Kg

Saved energy/year: 230.396 kWh

Cost of saved energy/year: 20KE

The estimated economical result corresponds to a 10% saving in comparison to the market prices of newbuildings further to the saving derived by the large reduction of energy consumption.

Incidence of costs in residence Le Sorgenti: 2.450 /sqm local market prices 2.695 /sqm.

The project is gaining the whole communitys attention: on 12 th July 2006 the convention le Sorgenti: a house

to the benefit of the city was held in Lodi in the premises of Province of Lodi, under the aegis of the Provinceand the Municipality of Lodi and Legambiente; in April 2007 the project was presented to the convention forrenewable energies organized by the Municipality of Melegnano; in May 2007 the project was presented to oneconvention in Terra Futura (event promoted by Banca popolare Etica), held in Florence www.terrafutura.it; inNovember 2007 the project was presented to the URBANPROMO convention in Venice under the umbrella ofthe campaign for Sustainable Energy in Italy, an initiative by the Italian Ministry for Environment and theEuropean Commission for energy sustainability; in November 2007 the COOPERATIVA organized theconvention LodiAmo Lenergia sostenibile www.lodisostenibile.it.

During the construction we will organize informative conventions/days attended by the main suppliers,collaborators of theproject. After theconstruction the energy

efficiency data will bemonitored with thepurpose ofexperimentation inUniversities. Along withthe Province of Lodi weare thinking aboutorganizing educationdays in the highschools of the territory;we are arranging thepublication of theproject history and its

social and territorialimplications.


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Lessons learned and repeatability

The Cooperativa Santa Francesca Cabrini Due has an overriding mutuality and it pursues non-profit mutualpurposes and with this project, in brief, intends to: facilitating the purchase of new houses for young couples,elderly people and families at sustainable prices; giving a real answer to a need that originates from thecommon people; promoting a quality choice of living, involving the partners that have been sharing from thebeginning the guiding principle of the project:, that is building healthy and quality houses where it is possible tolive well and in harmony with the valuable surrounding environment; expressing the willingness to being usefulto the district and the city by proposing a project that can be easily replicated by others, manifesting theeconomical sustainability and feasibility of a quality project such as Le Sorgenti; giving a real answer to theproblems in a period of energy and environmental emergency because the cooperative wants to show theabsolute replicability of the intervention in any other context. The winning element of the initiative is the use ofterritorial resources and products that can be easily found on the market; the use of widely tested technologiesto be chosen according to the environmental context where they are located. In order to replicate the projectone shall identify the more suitable renewable sources in order to guarantee the energy autonomy in the area.

As for the energy and pollution issues connected to residential building the solutions of energy autonomy andfederalism are the most efficient answers to be adopted. Each morphologically homogeneous area has thepossibility to find the solution that can better employ the local resources. Further to guaranteeing the completeenergy autonomy, this system will trigger a really important commercial, industrial and service network. LeSorgenti will become a positive instrument of modification of local habits and customs, building market andenergy market in the Province of Lodi area.

Contact for more information:

Project Web Site: www.progettolesorgenti.it

Organisation/ Agency: Cooperativa Santa Francesca Cabrini Due Co-Operative Building Company

Main contact: Mario Borsatti - President

Address: Via Cavour 31, 26900 Lodi, Italy

Tel: +39 0371 428348 Fax: +39 0371 428378

E-mail: [email protected], [email protected]

Printed reports or other literature available: No. 1000 printed leaflets and brochures. The website has beenonline since 25th January 2007; up until 14th October 2008 there have been more than 60 000 hits.

Other contacts:

Banca Popolare Etica-Mr. Alberto Fantuzzo- [email protected] for Environment, Land and Sea-Italy- Mr. Antonio Lumicisi [email protected] onlus Italy Deputy Director General Mr. Andrea Poggio [email protected]

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