Dagmar Exner

European Academy of Bolzano/Bozen (EURAC), Institute for Renewable Energy, Department Member

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Address: Bolzano, Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy

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Papers by Dagmar Exner

An Energy Self-Sufficient Alpine Hut: The Refurbishment of an Ex-Tobacco Farm Using Building Integrated Photovoltaics

Buildings, Feb 14, 2024

The abandonment and deterioration of historic rural buildings in Europe raise significant issues,... more The abandonment and deterioration of historic rural buildings in Europe raise significant issues, including hydrogeological risks, the loss of productive land, and cultural heritage decline. Despite being underestimated, these structures hold significant potential for cultural and productive activities. Renovating these structures is crucial for local communities committed to preserving their heritage, and it is a more sustainable approach than constructing new buildings. This study explores activities undertaken in the Interreg IT/AT project "SHELTER" in Valbrenta (IT): through a participatory approach involving communities, stakeholders, designers, and researchers, an energy concept is developed for refurbishing an abandoned tobacco farm, chosen by the community, to be an alpine hut. Due to the inability to connect to the city electricity grid, the new energy concept focuses on minimizing consumption through envelope refurbishment, efficient heating, and domestic hot water systems. Additionally, the integration of renewable energy sources, particularly Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV), is emphasized to preserve the building's original appearance. This study demonstrates the feasibility of meeting seasonal energy needs entirely through renewables and explores the potential integration of biomass for meeting annual energy requirements.

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ATLAS-FeliCity: Supporting Energy Retrofit of the Heritage Building Stock Through a Simplified Digital Twin

Historic Building Atlas : Sharing best practices to close the gap between research a practice

The 3rd International Conference on Energy Efficiency in Historic Buildings (EEHB2018), Visby, Sweden, September 26th to 27th, 2018., 2018

Building stock analysis as a method to assess the heritage value and the energy performance of an Alpine historical urban settlement

The 3rd International Conference on Energy Efficiency in Historic Buildings (EEHB2018), Visby, Sweden, September 26th to 27th, 2018., 2018

Materiality, meanings, and competences for historic rural buildings: a social practice approach for engaging local communities in energy transition

IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science

Natural and cultural heritage are important resources for engaging local communities in the promo... more Natural and cultural heritage are important resources for engaging local communities in the promotion of a sustainable future, both for achieving energy targets and repopulating rural areas. Public engagement is an important factor particularly to preserve historic rural buildings and its landscapes in Alpine communities, where people build up an emotional relationship with cultural and natural heritage. The study, realised in the framework of the Interreg ITA-AUT SHELTER project, aims at defining a new use for an abandoned historical building by the engagement of the local community and, according to the new use, at defining insights for elaborating the energy retrofit balancing preservation and sustainability issues. The study also identifies the relevant elements to be available within a local community to ensure a long-lasting use and management of a public retrofitted historical building. Among these elements and using the sociological lens, we investigate: the materiality of the historic building and its landscape; the community and social meanings attributed to the building and the landscape; and the heritage management competences of the local community to manage and maintain the building in the next future. All these elements can be translated into a social practice of building and land management that avoids a second abandonment. Social science-based interviews are conducted in Valbrenta (IT), using content analysis.

The ???Waaghaus??? of Bolzano: Energy optimization of a heritage building

EEHB2018 The 3rd International Conference on Energy Efficiency in Historic Buildings, 2018

What Is the Relationship between Collective Memory and the Commoning Process in Historical Building Renovation Projects? The Case of the Mas di Sabe, Northern Italy

Sustainability

In Italy, an increasing number of historical buildings have been abandoned in the last decades. A... more In Italy, an increasing number of historical buildings have been abandoned in the last decades. As a response, some local administrations decided to foster renovation projects to preserve their heritage for future generations. Among them, the northern municipality of Val di Zoldo (Veneto) relies on the European Shelter Project, which covers a part of the costs of renovating an ancient private barn called Mas di Sabe, which the community considers an identity symbol of local history and culture. For this reason, the local administration decided to acquire the structure through donations and expropriation, activating a commoning process of the Mas di Sabe. This process is based on the involvement of local inhabitants to identify the building’s future uses, which will inform the renovation project and the integration of renewable energy plants. Through thirteen semi-structured interviews, the study investigates how the collective memories of the building influence and are influenced by...

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Conservation compatible energy retrofit technologies: Part II: Documentation and assessment of conventional and innovative solutions for conservation and thermal enhancement of window systems in historic buildings

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Planning energy retrofits of historic buildings

This handbook follows the systematic approach outlined by the European standard EN 16883:2017 Gui... more This handbook follows the systematic approach outlined by the European standard EN 16883:2017 Guidelines for improving the energy performance of historic buildings. It describes how the standard can be applied in practice with chapters on heritage value assessment, building survey and holistic assessment of energy efficiency measures. The book draws on the experience from a team of international leading experts in the field of energy efficiency in historic building.

Energy efficiency and conservation of cultural values at “Portici” Houses of Bolzano

The paper presents the results of the studies realised on FP7 European Project EFFESUS that aims ... more The paper presents the results of the studies realised on FP7 European Project EFFESUS that aims to reduce the environmental impact on urban heritage, making significant improvements to its energy efficiency, conserving and promoting cultural, historic, and architectural values. The energy and environmental assessment realised in the " Portici " Houses, a part of the historic Centre of Bolzano built at the end of the 12th century, is presented. The original house is a courthouse with arbours lined up continuously along the road axis. The atrium provides daylight and fresh air to the internal dwellings. Unfortunately, more recently the users have inserted roofs to protect from sun and water. This situation has completely changed the original energy behaviour. The project aims to restore the original energy concept in order to adapt it to the modern requirements. The energy retrofitting starts from a thorough understanding of the behaviour of the ancient buildings, supported...

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3ENCULT Monument Information System: The “Raumbuch”-principle extended to energy issues

2013 Digital Heritage International Congress (DigitalHeritage), 2013

ABSTRACT By implementation of high quality energy efficiency solutions a significant reduction in... more ABSTRACT By implementation of high quality energy efficiency solutions a significant reduction in the energy demand is achievable also in heritage buildings. But in Cultural Heritage it has to be established that all single efficiency solutions have to be very specifically targeted and adapted to the particular building case. That&#39;s why the ongoing FP7 project 3ENCULT strongly recommends to build up an experienced multidisciplinary team for measures on heritage buildings allowing a failure free implementation of the energy efficient measures. - Here the result for an improved multidisciplinary planning tool is demonstrated. In the frame of building heritage preservation the “Raumbuch” (room book) is a well established inventory documentation and moreover a planning tool. The Raumbuch facilitates all the assessment and survey in preparation of a refurbishment of heritage projects in all sizes. To support the constructive discussion across disciplines now the heritage related information of the objects is crosslinked to energy issues. There the conservation and energy issues come in the survey and documentation phase yielding a joint and structured documentation. This is on the level of the single room supporting the development of solutions, comparison of different options and finally selection of the best one for the specific building. This innovative digital tool can be used for all energy retrofit cases aof heritage buildings. Finally the comprehensive documentation of as-it-is-state and all interventions together with supporting justification, given over to future generations – of restorers and users of the specific buildings – is the basis for the sustainable maintenance and long-term preservation of this piece of built heritage.

A tool for multidisciplinary development of energy efficiency solutions for historic buildings: the Raumbuch concept extended to energy aspects

Through implementation of high quality energy efficiency solutions a remarkable reduction in the ... more Through implementation of high quality energy efficiency solutions a remarkable reduction in the energy demand of historic buildings is achievable. Those solutions have to be very specifically targeted and adapted to the particular building case. Impor¬tant basis for this approach is an experienced multi¬disciplinary team which guarantees a failure free implementation. This is the base postulate in FP7 project 3ENCULT. The paper outlines actual experiences with multidisciplinarity in the planning process both in heritage objects and low energy buildings and illustrates how the – in conservation well established – “Raumbuch” (room book) can be integrated with energy issues to support the construc¬tive discussion across disciplines. It describes, which specific issues the conservation and energy experts look at in the survey and documentation phase and how the joint an structured documentation, not only on an aggregated level, but down till the single room supports also the developmen...

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Erratum to: Europe’s Building Stock and Its Energy Demand: A Comparison Between Austria and Italy

Energy Consumption and Indoor Comfort in Historic Refurbished and Non-refurbished Buildings in South Tyrol: An Open Database

To achieve the EU energy-saving targets, renovation of existing buildings requires particular att... more To achieve the EU energy-saving targets, renovation of existing buildings requires particular attention. In total, historic buildings amount to one fourth of Europe’s building stock. Also, in the Province of Bolzano (Northern Italy), 30% of the building stock was built before the end of World War II—in some municipalities even around 60%. Therefore, energy refurbishment of this sector represents an opportunity to reduce CO2 emissions and to provide comfortable living space using existing resources and preserving cultural and social values. In this work, we collect information on the energy behaviour of historic buildings in South Tyrol, analyzing some representative “best practices”. “Best practices” have been selected in accordance with the local heritage authority, and have been defined as successfully retrofitted buildings that satisfy both energy and heritage conservation aspects. The aim is to show that retrofitting historic buildings is feasible and also can achieve high level...

Learning from the past: the recovery and the optimization of the original energy behaviour of “Portici” Houses in Bolzano

The paper presents the studies realised on the “Portici” Houses, a part of the historic Centre of... more The paper presents the studies realised on the “Portici” Houses, a part of the historic Centre of Bolzano, built at the end of the 12th century. This characteristic architectural typology is composed by a system of houses with narrow facades and a continuous arcade on the front. The serial repetition of this type of building forms a constant structure, interrupted only by a system of atria that provide daylight and fresh air to the dwellings. The surface-to-volume ratio, the dimensions of the courtyards, the presence of internal shadowing, the thermal inertia of walls and cellars, and the colour of the surface finishing have a positive influence on heating and cooling demand of the buildings. Unfortunately, more recently, the users have altered the historic energy system with roofs and canopies to improve comfort and to protect from sun and water. This situation has completely changed the original energy and environmental behaviour. The study aims to restore the original concept and...

Energy diagnosis of a historic building and building simulation Diagnosi energetica e simulazione di un edificio storico

SUMMARY The energy diagnosis and the energy refurbishment of a historic building are in most of t... more SUMMARY The energy diagnosis and the energy refurbishment of a historic building are in most of the cases difficult. Not only there are seldom drawings with any constructive indica- tions, but often there are also limited possibilities to investigate the properties of the build- ing envelope because invasive measurements are not allowed. Dynamic simulation mod- els may be used not only to investigate the possible retrofit interventions and to optimize them, but also to improve the energy diagnosis by simulation model calibration and vali- dation from the measured performance. In this work, we analyzed the "Waaghaus" (weigh house), a historic building located in Bolzano/Bozen (Northern Italy), one of the eight case-studies within the FP7 project 3encult. It is a four storeys XIII century building with thick stone walls and a wooden roof located in the center of the city. The former use during the middle age was to weigh the products before they could go to the market. Today...

A parametric study of a Passive House under different climate conditions

In Southern European regions the challenge is not only to provide heating in winter but also, and... more In Southern European regions the challenge is not only to provide heating in winter but also, and in some cases even more importantly, to ensure cool buildings in summer [IEE Passive-On project]. Unlike passive strategies to reduce heating in cold climates, passive solutions to keep buildings cool in hot climates are not so well spread and applied by building designers and construction practitioners. Even if several concepts (shading, ventilation, thermal capacity, etc.) have already been applied in historical buildings, in the past decades the summer comfort was considered a question to be solved mainly by active systems.

Making deep renovation of historic buildings happen learnings from the Historic Buildings Energy Retrofit Atlas

The energy refurbishment of historic buildings is necessary for many reasons, for the preservatio... more The energy refurbishment of historic buildings is necessary for many reasons, for the preservation and continued use of the buildings themselves, but also to achieve a very much needed reduction of GHG emissions. Good examples of such refurbishments show that the conflicting demands between respecting and protecting the heritage significance and achieving high levels of energy efficiency can be met. The case studies documented in the Historic Building Atlas HiBERatlas are used to examine which influencing factors are responsible for the success. This database is one of the main outcomes of the research projects Interreg AS ATLAS and IEA SHC Task 59 to provide a solid knowledge base on deep renovation of historic buildings and includes so far a broad range of about 50 different case studies published. The case studies presented here as examples were carried out under different framework conditions: as part of a research project, with public financial support or with a committed and e...

Teaching experience with the Historic Building Energy Retrofit Atlas – HiBERatlas

Having tomorrow’s architects energized at retrofitting historic buildings might be decisive for b... more Having tomorrow’s architects energized at retrofitting historic buildings might be decisive for bringing towards zero our building stock’s carbon emissions while maintaining the values of historic buildings and city centres. To reach this aim, the authors worked with the recently developed Historic Building Energy Retrofit Atlas (www.hiberatlas.com) in an elective course at the faculty of design in Coburg/Germany for architecture and interior design bachelor students as well as students of the master Heritage Design. The HiBERatlas presents best practice examples starting from a description of the building’s architecture and heritage values, presenting the overall aim and concept of the retrofit project, only after that explaining the single retrofit solutions and closing with some key figures on the performance. All this supported by photos and drawings which illustrate the single aspects. Since this structure reflects also the good practice in retrofit design, it seemed suitable a...

The “Waaghaus” of Bolzano : Energy efficiency, hygrothermal risk and ventilation strategy evaluation for a heritage building

The “Waaghaus” of Bolzano : Energy efficiency, hygrothermal risk and ventilation strategy evaluat... more

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