News

Technology and aesthetics at the service of high comfort

enertour — 2011-02-24T17:20:00Z

The building was designed by Arch. Stephan Marx from Silandro and is inserted harmoniously into the landscape through the provision of tower apartments, the green areas which follow the trend of steep terraced vineyards surrounding the choice of a plaster, whose tone recalls the rural buildings in the area, and the large windows that give light to the building. Beyond the aesthetic choices, the compact design of the structure provides a volume ratio - area particularly favorable, while the presence of large windows allows you to capitalize on passive solar gains, with proper shielding in the summer. This, combined with the insulation of the wrapping, allows the construction of energy to reach a very high standard. Not only, for the heating requirements the building makes use of clean energy: a geothermal system with vertical probes, combined with a reversible heat pump, can heat the rooms in winter and cool them in summer. The energy concept developed by Studio Energytech of Bolzano, is based on a sophisticated power plant which should be easy to handle and to use at the same time. To complete the thermal system there is also a controlled ventilation system with high heat recovery for each accommodation. The air drawn from outside goes through an underground tunnel, where it is preheated and pre-cooled before placing in the apartments. Thanks to the very low energy requirements of the building, the floor heating, which distributes heat in winter and cools in summer, works at temperatures very close to the surface temperature, thus creating a comfortable environment with little air movement. In addition to thermal comfort and freedom of the autonomous control of ventilation machines in each apartment, tenants can also count on the air conditioning running costs which are significantly lower than those of a traditional natural gas system.

Client: Wohnbau GmbH, Laces
Project: architects MARX / LADURNER, Silandro
Energy system planning: Energytech, Bolzano

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First ClimateHotel: tourism gets sustainable

enertour — 2010-11-29T10:20:00Z

The Theiner family, owner of the hotel, has been active for over 25 years in the farming and trade of organic products. The theme of "organic " is therefore not just a fad, but a philosophy of long life. The ClimateHotel in Gargazzone offers its guests 53 rooms, a wellness area and a gastronomy exclusively using certified organic products. The challenge of the clients, the architect Domink Rierder (Baukraft Architektur) and the construction team was to reconcile modern architecture with the requirements of environmental building. The result is obvious: the ecological footprint of the hotel was reduced -compared to traditional accommodations in the same category- more than 80%.

The floors that house the bedrooms were made of solid wood. The largest trial for the architects was to make the rooms free of allergens and electromagnetic pollution. The problem of sound transmission between rooms was also solved by a particular type of construction of the ceilings and walls. The walls of the rooms, as well as the exterior walls were built using an innovative system called "Soligno”, which provides a built in solid wood elements totally without glue or metal parts. This type of wall, which has an extremely low coefficient of heat transfer, has been used in combination with ecological insulating materials of highest quality.

The hotel’s heat index is about 50 kWh / m²a and has, as calculated by the CasaClima Agency, CO2 emissions of less than 20 kg / m²a. The heating and cooling of the building is controlled entirely through a system through floors and walls. The thermal energy is produced by a solar thermal plant (110 m²) and a natural gas boiler of high efficiency. The hotel also uses the excess heat of the wellness area for energy purposes. A considerable part of the supply of electricity is instead produced thanks to a photovoltaic system (124 kW). Much attention was given to water saving and the use of rainwater.

Construction period: March 2008 – March 2009
Constructor: Rubner Objektbau
Cubage: approximately 21.000 m³
Net area: 4374 m²

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Zero Emission keeps its promises, and manages to give even more.

enertour — 2010-11-25T17:05:00Z

Built in 2009, the corporate headquarters of Naturalia-BAU, have been awarded the CasaClima Gold + plaque and the prize for the best ClimateHouse 2009. By comparing the actual energy requirements of the building to the value calculated in 2009, we arrive at a balance in favor of no less than 5,400 kWh * per year. This positive balance is largely due to an optimal cooling of the building during summer months. The energy consumption for the cooling system, in fact, results of only 2346 kWh*year instead of 4475 kWh*year, as expected from the calculation. The main cause for this low consumption is the wooden building, properly insulated, with an internal mass sufficiently dimensioned to permit the accumulation of as much as possible long "freshness". The insulation in wood fiber in combination with a plaster of clay of 3 cm, in turn, is characterized by a high mass capacity and a high heat storage capacity, while presenting a low thermal conductivity. It also reveals the remarkable efficiency of the photovoltaic system that, with an installed capacity of 19.8 kW, actually produces 24,500 kWh*year, 15% more than expected. The monitoring of energy consumption took place in collaboration with the research center “EURAC - Institute for Renewable Energy." (Source: Naturalia - Bau)

Client: Naturalia - Bau
Planning: Arch. Dietmar Dejori
Construction: holz&ko, Nova Ponente (BZ)

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New multi-technology photovoltaic field

enertour — 2010-11-16T16:55:00Z

The plant, owned by ABD and developed with a co-financing of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), is divided into two main parts: a 662 kW commercial installation, mounting 8538 CdTe modules First Solar 277, and a 62 kW experimental installation, mounting 24 different types of modules, divided into 39 groups ranging between 1 and 2 kW each. In this experimental installation the modules are mounted on fixed racks, as well as on mono-axial and bi-axial active trackers. EURAC Research is the scientific responsible of this test facility and follows the monitoring and test activities to evaluate the performance and the lifetime degradation of the modules. The aim of the monitoring activity is to allow a better understanding of module loss mechanisms for each technology and evaluating the performance in the alpine climatic conditions. The PV modules are evaluated in relationship to meteo data from an on-site station, counting a sensor for ambient temperature, an anemometer, a pyrheliometer, three pyranometers, an albedometer and also a sun photometer which allows evaluating the influence given by aerosols, ozone and vapors in the atmosphere to the irradiance. PV reference cells are also used, mounted horizontally, on the module plane, and on the two trackers. The PV plant has been connected to the MV network on August 10, 2010, and it is presently in course of approval by GSE (Gestore Servizi Energetici) for the incentive scheme in force. Monitoring results can be presently shown only for a couple of days for a limited number of groups. (Source: EURAC Research, Institute for Renewable Energy)

Owner: ABD Airport
Construction: Leitner Solar, Brunico (Bz)

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Casanova district of Bolzano

enertour — 2010-11-16T16:45:00Z

For CasaNova the municipality of Bolzano aimed from the beginning of the planning at the realization of a sustainable district regarding the energy performance. The urban concept includes the construction of eight so called “housing castles”, which consist of 3-4 buildings encircling a common green area. In order to hold the space heat consumption of the apartments low, a limit of 30-50 kWh/m² depending on the volume of the building was defined. Space heating and the domestic hot water for the houses will be provided to an important part by renewable energy sources, and to the major part by a district heating. The heat for the latter will be produced by the waste incinerator of Bolzano and a further district heating plant using natural gas.
According to the project description the adopted measures will lead to a reduction of space heat consumptions of about 42% compared with a scenario following the requirements of the law 10/91, which was in force at planning stage. Considering all energy efficiency measures and renewable energy sources applied the primary energy consumption is reduced by 65% compared to typical constructions in Italy.
The reduction of car traffic is a declared goal of the planning documents for the realization of the area. This will be obtained through a package of measures such as the integration in the bicycle net of Bolzano and the creation of a train station for the “City Train” which connects Bolzano city centre and the town of Merano. A further comparatively innovative aim is the intensive rain water recycling at district level.
(Source: Marco Castagna, Alexandra Troi, Yan Schmitt, Wolfram Sparber - EURAC Research, Institute for Renewable Energy)

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Campo Tures: the plan to become a municipality of zero emissions of CO2

enertour — 2010-11-16T16:35:00Z

The action plan for achieving this goal has a number of interventions and aims on increasing the exploitation of renewable energy and energy efficiency of buildings.

At the present state of things, there are several hydroelectric, solar and biogas plants as also a wind power plant in the territory. Among the most recent constructions, the territory has a hydroelectric plant rated at 18 MW, which takes advantage of the jump of a nearby river and produces annually 65 million kWh of electricity. A growing importance is the contribution of photovoltaic: the present supply of about 500,000 kWh per year within the municipality will be increased by the “Programma venti tetti” (Programme of twenty roofs”), which encourages the installation of photovoltaic systems on private buildings. Under a pilot project some streets of the municipality were also equipped with street lights powered by solar panels. For the production of energy, another source available locally is represented by residues from agriculture and animal husbandry, which are enhanced in the biogas plant "Biowatt", owned by a cooperative of farmers and ranchers and which produces 5 million kWh of electricity per year. The territory of Campo Tures has also a wind turbine situated at 1700 m above sea level with a rated power of 300 kW.

For the production of thermal energy, the biomass district heating plant with a power of 18-20 MW is under construction. The center will provide comprehensive coverage of at least two thirds of the heat demand of the municipality and will be powered mainly by local woody biomass. It will also take advantage of the heat from the co-generators of the biogas plant and will be equipped with an ORC module.

Other initiatives of the municipality of Campo Tures to achieve zero CO2 emissions, are planned in the energy efficiency of buildings, the definition of the standard ClimateHouse B as a minimum requirement for new buildings and the “Programma 50 case” ("Programme of 50 houses"), which aims -through consulting activities- to the energy recovery of 50 private buildings over the next two years. Speaking of traffic, the introduction of electric public transport and a distributor of alternative fuels such as biogas, biodiesel, ethanol and hydrogen is being planned. There are also energy management activities, such as the one that has reduced over the course of two years the energy costs in public facilities by 15%, without the use of any investments. To promote an energy conscious culture, the Municipality has also recently opened a facility dedicated to energy, which houses offices, a development center and educational space and exposition for outreach activities.

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From recycling to energy production: the biogas plant in Lana

enertour — 2010-11-16T15:30:00Z

We are taking about the biogas plant in Lana, a medium size plant which became operational in 2006. Here, energy is produced from the wet fraction of waste, thanks to a recycling system in the cities of Bolzano and Merano and in thirty municipalities of the districts Burgraviato and Salto - Sciliar. In the plant in Lana energy is recovered from waste through an anaerobic and humid digestion process.

The waste entering the plant is pre-processed and homogenized. In particular, it is crushed and mixed with water. To each 2.6 tons of organic waste 7 tons of water are added to bring the dry content to 4%. Later, the passing-through a grating and a grit removal system allows the separation of impurities and heavier material. The mass is then concentrated through a thickening system, in which the substance reaches a dry content of 11%. At this point the mass is ready for fermentation and is sent into a digester, where it remains for at least 16 days. Under anaerobic conditions and at a temperature of 37 degrees, the bacterial flora present in the digester breaks down the organic waste, producing biogas. This gas, consisting of 60% methane, is burned in two co-generators of an electrical power equal to 334 kW and 536 kW.

In 2009 out of 12,207 tons of waste, the plant of Lana produced about 2483 MWh of electricity. Of these, 42% were used for own consumption, while the remaining 58% was introduced into the network.

Client/administrator: Ecocenter, Bolzano
Planning: Studio Baubüro, Bolzano
Construction: Atzwanger, Bolzano / Ladurner, Bolzano

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Prato allo Stelvio winner of the Champions League of renewable energy

enertour — 2010-11-16T13:55:00Z

This village of 3200 inhabitants located in the Upper Venosta Valley (BZ), has deployed a mix of different technologies which can be covered by local resources and therefore cover the renewable energy needs of its population, thus beating its opponents. The competition was attended by tens of thousands of German, French, Bulgarian, Polish, Hungarian and Czech municipalities, all winners of their nations. Prato allo Stelvio, for example, had qualified for the Champions League thanks to winning the Italian league “Comuni rinnovabili” (“Renewable municipalities”) organized by Legambiente.

For its part, the municipality of Prato allo Stelvio, has a long tradition in the energy supply from renewable sources: the commissioning of the first hydroelectric power station and a local energy strategy dates back to 1926 and sees the involvement of citizens, in good part members of the cooperative that manages the local energy plants. The successful formation of Prato distinguishes itself also for the variety of technologies brought into play, which use biomass, solar source, water and wind. A district heating system served by two stations, which produces annually approximately 10,000,000 kWh of thermal energy, provides heat to 85% of the area. Heat is half produced by a woodchip boiler, while the remainder is produced by two heat pumps through the recovery of four thermal power co-generating engines. In fact, in Prato allo Stelvio two co-generators operate by using a mix of diesel and vegetable oil; two other plants use instead biogas produced in a nearby plant, which enhances the sewage from about fifty farms and livestock in the area. Overall, the four co-generating units provide an average of 2,200,000 kWh of electricity per year.

Along with the contribution of biomass, which accounts for 90% of primary energy used in the two plants described above, water is also an important energy source in Prato allo Stelvio. The jump of the streams in the area is used by four hydroelectric plants of small and medium size (turbines from 250 to 2600 kVA), providing an estimated annual production of electricity around 12,000,000 kWh.

The number of solar, thermal and photovoltaic systems that cover the roofs of houses, hotels and companies in the village of Prato allo Stelvio, also increases. Currently, the installed thermic solar covers an area of 1,100 m² and up to 1,800 kW photovoltaic power. In addition, the Energetic Cooperative of Prato is the owner, along with some nearby municipalities, of the two megawatt class wind turbines located in Malles. With reference to the year 2007, the plant of Prato allo Stelvio was able to produce 18,600,000 kWh of electricity, compared with a total annual requirement of 11,200,000 kWh by the municipal network. Therefore, considering the annual budget, the municipality of Prato allo Stelvio exports around 39% of the electricity it produces.

The winning strategy of Prato allo Stelvio, characterized by the teamwork between the different technologies used, not only allowed this small Italian municipality to compete at European level, but it also allows its citizens substantial savings in electricity bills. The members of the Energetic Cooperative, representing 90% of the connected users, receive retail prices per kWh of electricity about 30% lower than regular market prices.

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A biomass central in Varna, not just a district heating

enertour — 2010-11-16T13:50:00Z

The heart of the central is a biomass boiler of 6.500 kW, which works with untreated wood (such as wood chips, bark and sawdust) from sawmills and forestry workings from the area. In support of this boiler there are two auxiliary boilers of natural gas, each with a thermal power of 7,500 kW, which are used to cover the peaks of demand and as a reserve in case of breakdown or failure of the biomass boiler. The annual production of heat power station is of 30,000,000 kWh. The contribution of the auxiliary boilers of natural gas is approximately 2%.

The central of Varna also produces power thanks to a group of ORC (organic rankine cycle) turbogenerators. The heat produced by the biomass boiler is used inside the closed loop of the ORC to evaporate a silicone oil. When the high-pressure gaseous state is being reached, the fluid expands in the turbine, generating electricity and is then condensed, while giving up heat to the circuit of the district heating network. Thanks to this highly efficient technology in Varna, with approximately 5,000 kW of thermal power 980 kW of electrical power can be generated and a thermal power of about 3,800 kW is retrieved. With the use of the ORC group the biomass power central can produce annually 5,000,000 kWh of electricity.

The central is managed by the Department of Public Works of Bressanone and its network of heat distribution has been linked to the district heating network of the adjacent municipality of Bressanone. This way, the district heating network serving Varna and Bressanone reached the length of 120 km, allowing to deploy more than 70 million kWh per year of thermal energy and to serve 1700 users, including 1,400 in Bressanone and 300 in Varna.

Client: Teleriscaldamento Varna – Bressanone
Central planning: Studio EUT, Bressanone (BZ)
Network planning: Engineering Office Bergmeister, Varna (BZ)

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