Application of a GBC Italy rating system on a historical building: Assessment of the energy performance in the restoration of Casa "Dell'Ortolano" in Ferrara, Italy.

Since building is responsible for more than 40% of energy consumption and GHG emissions worldwide, many tools have been developed to assess the building sustainability. The concerns about the building environmental impacts extend to historical constructions too, especially in countries where heritage buildings represent a considerable amount the stock in use, like in Italy. This is why specific Green Building Rating Systems (GBRS) have been developed to assess the sustainability of conservation and restoration activities. After having carried an analysis on the current assessment schemes for sustainable building renovation, this Thesis has studied the application of GBC Historic Building™ protocol to the restoration project of "Casa dell'Ortolano" in Ferrara, Italy. Among the suitable retrofit strategies aiming at energy saving, preservation of historical architecture, and improving indoor environmental quality for users, the Thesis has focused on the requirements for comfort, safety, operation, and maintenance, which are crucial in adaptation of historical buildings to modern needs, and are included within the GBC HB™ assessment. More in detail, the specific topic of windows replacement has been addressed among the many possibly involved, in order to limit the latitude of the study field. Three types of basic requirements have been defined for the windows replacing in historic buildings, based of references retrieved in literature. Then, three market available different window frames were chosen, complying with those requirements. Subsequently, the environmental and functional features of these windows have been compared, aiming at selecting the one allowing to reach the higher score according to GBC HB rating protocol criteria. The carried process of comparison provides quantified evidences on which the design decision of window replacing can be based, in order to maximize energy efficiency and thermal comfort achieved by the restoration project