Building activity, in a sector, is known for having the highest environmental impact. The reasons for this vary, but range from the use of the land to the energy supplies required for the execution and the operation present in the building. Sustainable construction involves designing and building that is in harmony with the natural environment and ensures the physical well-being of man.
This approach ensures the achievement of new levels of development where they are integrated, analyzed and optimized environmentally, socially, and economically. Today, it is increasingly important to create and use certification systems to evaluate the environmental quality of buildings throughout their life cycle. Current trends make it possible to identify two major categories for certification: Energy and Environment.
The building in Casal Bertone, by RÉDAIS©, is the first apartment in Rome requested and has received two certifications; Class A KlimaHaus and Silver Membership to LEED (Environmental certification).
We built a building, in Rome, with low environmental impact, which provides energy savings and a better quality of life. All aspects of the construction of the building were designed and manufactured in compliance with the various criteria suggested and requested by the two certification significant factors. During the construction process, numerous experimentations were carried out in order to verify the buildings compliance with the requirements indicated in each certification protocol.
LEED
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design is the protocol of the American environmental certification that is spreading in Europe. The LEED system analyzes 64 parameters in different sections; Water Management, Energy and Atmosphere, Materials and Resources, Indoor Environmental Quality, and Innovation of the project to local circumstances and priorities.
There are 4 levels of certification: Basic, silver, gold, and platinum.
Environmental certifications promote an approach in which the building is a single body in which all the elements exploit the mutual synergies, in order to minimize the environmental impacts of individual systems.
The overall focus of the environmental certification is given to issues closely related to energy consumption and climate alone. Specifically, the proper management of the building, construction and the minimization of the impression of light pollution, electromagnetic and air, in general, are all verified. The use of building materials is also evaluated, favoring those with low energy (local or recycled materials) and free of harmful emissions (such as VOC’s, radon, ..). Another focus is the comfort of the space.
CASACLIMA
The certificate, ClimateHouse (KlimaHaus), promotes methods of building construction that satisfy the principle of saving energy and protecting the environment and analyzing the overall efficiency of buildings, in terms of energy requirements of air conditioning and sanitary hot water.
This type of certification is addressed in targeted technology-related issues involving the building envelope (thermo-physical properties of the elements of the façade, opaque or transparent), the shape and orientation of buildings, solar radiation absorbed by the surface envelope, internal heat loads and the associated user system (efficiency for the production of heat transfer fluids, or of the use of renewable sources).
ClimateHouse certifies and classifies buildings according to their level of energy consumption, pointing to several classes of thermal requirements and their associated costs.
RÉDAIS’© solutions have been adopted in the building construction, both in terms of structural and building envelope, such as thermal insulation of exterior walls and the use of suction for thermal insulation, which made it possible to aim for certification ClimateHouse – class A.
A house, with a Class A certification, has an index of energy consumption of less than 30 years kWh/m2, which means a maximum consumption of 3l diesel per square meter per year.