Case Study: Integrated ICT Solutions for Energy Efficiency: the E3SoHo Italian pilot

Short Description

Main objective:
Deployment, test and evaluation of integrated solutions based on ICT to improve energy savings and energy awareness consumption in Social housing with a focus on renovation.

The pilot will:
- allow an improvement of the follow-up and exploitation of the building (HVAC, lighting,…);
- exhibit interfaces that are “highly-communicating” (friendly) to the stakeholders;
- provide with a kind of show-room in Genova for ICT support to EE in social housing.

The pilot should also give the opportunity to better define the way forward to developing consultancy services in innovation related to ICT-based EE in social housing and beyond.

Short description of the Building:
The Genova pilot will be carried out in a social housing cluster developed during 1980 - 1985. The pilot is located on the west part of the city in the so called San Pietro quartier on Pegli’s hills.
The site consists of 340 dwellings. It is divided in four main blocks and each of them is composed by three parts: a high block, a lower block, and a centre clock of apartments that span a large change in elevation called “the steps.” The complex is diverse in ownership (some public some private), energy infrastructure (some renovated some not), and population (some private, some public, young, and old). The complex has a small shopping centre on site, one common area, ample parking, and is served by a public bus line.

Pre-existing products integrated:
- Heating System: there are two typologies of heating system:
1 - Dwellings with a centralised system (within the part “high block”). The system is composed by a central thermal power plant for heating with a low hating value L.H.V. of 8550 Kcal/kg (this covers 160 dwellings). Residents can turn off radiators by closing valves.
2 - Dwellings with radiators and a dedicated apartment level heating system (result of refurbishment). Temperature can be regulated through a digital Siemens thermostat.
- Ventilation System: Natural ventilation only through opening/closing of apartment windows.
- Air Conditioning: Dwellings of one or two individual unit air conditioners.
- Domestic Hot Water: Unit level gas water heaters.
- Lighting: Traditional incandescent. Bulb types vary.


Service description:
The monitoring system will be integrated in a Central control unit which will control the different energy uses of each dwelling.
- The sensors needed for the intelligent system performance (Light level, Presence detection, Temperature, Humidity, Air flow,...) will be installed within dwellings.
- Smart meters will be installed in the dwellings with the solution implemented to monitor the energy consumption of the dwellings.
- Dwellings with the ICT solution implemented will be interconnected among them through a network that at the same time will be connected to internet.

Key Elements

Work with Residents

Increased energy awareness, e.g. smart meters can provide users with direct feedback on costs and environmental effects of their consumption. Studies show that this leads to a reduction in electricity consumption of 5% to 15% and fosters the appreciation of electricity as a valuable good.

Incentives

Opportunity for enhanced incentive schemes, with high resolution data on energy consumption enables novel energy pricing and bonus schemes. If designed properly, these incentive systems can unfold a positive effect on peak load and absolute consumption – and help to integrate the user in the overall strategy.

Main Results

Lessons learned

Additional Information

Please click HERE to find out more about the E3SoHo Project.