SOSTENIBILITA' ENERGETICA E AMBIENTALE DELL COSTRUZIONI

The course aims to provide students with the technical and scientific foundations necessary for sustainable construction design, with particular emphasis on materials and energy consumption throughout the entire life cycle, according to the Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) approach.

Starting from the more general context of Life Cycle Thinking, which addresses the environmental impact of material and energy flows in construction throughout the entire life cycle (production, use, and disposal), students will acquire the most modern analysis and assessment techniques, regulatory and legislative frameworks relating to energy and the environment, eco-labels for materials and products, the possibilities for recovering and reusing waste materials, the characterization of eco-friendly materials and constructions, as well as the multi-criteria and analytical tools currently available for assessing the energy and environmental quality of building products and constructions.

The course described contributes to the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by addressing crucial issues related to energy, energy efficiency in buildings, and the environmental impact of construction technologies, in accordance with the following Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):

SDG 7 - Affordable and Clean Energy

SDG 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities

SDG 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production

SDG 13 - Climate Action

The course is taught through lectures and covers the following topics, aimed at understanding and evaluating the issue of energy and environmental sustainability in buildings:

· The principles of environmental sustainability

· Raw materials, secondary materials, and production processes of building materials

· Pollutant emissions generated by technological processes and their environmental impacts

· Environmental impact assessment indices

· Environmental profile of the main building materials and products

· Low environmental impact building materials: characteristics and areas of use

· Certification and eco-quality labels for building materials and products

· Building energy performance and regulatory audits

· Principles and techniques of environmental material analysis: from Embodied Energy to LCA

· Methodological phases of LCA

· International protocols for the multi-criteria assessment of the environmental quality of buildings (focus on ITACA and LEED protocols)

· EU Directives, National Legislation, and Technical Standards on the energy and environmental sustainability of buildings

· Minimum Environmental Criteria (CAM) and Environmental Product Declaration (EPD)

· Examples of LCA assessments of building materials and products

· Exercise – Energy and environmental analysis of a building of the student's choice

• Pollutants from construction materials production processes and their environmental impacts

• Low-impact construction materials

• Eco-sustainable disposal techniques for waste materials

• Eco-labels for construction materials and products

• Building environmental quality assessment protocols (BREEAM; LEED; ITACA)

• LCA methodological phases