To achieve a carbon-free economy by 2050, the construction of low-carbon schools in Italy must select the proper structural and technological solutions for the building envelope while ensuring a low economic cost. The aim of this study was to analyze and compare several technological solutions for the building envelope and the related structural solutions in terms of thermo-dynamic properties, energy performance, environmental sustainability parameters, and economic evaluations, to obtain one or more alternatives. After a general study, the binomial load-bearing structure–external wall was investigated given its strong influence on both the environment and the total cost. The solutions were used in a new typological model for the kindergarten. All the solutions are comparable from an energy and environmental point of view, obtaining a primary energy demand of <25 kWh/(m2year) and an environmental impact of <20 kWh/(m2year). However, considering the economic factor and analyzing the binomial load-bearing structure–external wall, the advisable solutions are those that use wooden structures with insulation layer in wood fiber as they have a significantly lower environmental impact, along with the same good energy performance and have an acceptable cost compared to other analyzed solutions.

In 2017, 46.5% of school buildings in Italy needed urgent maintenance regarding architectural usability and accessibility, but also concerning structural, energy, and environmental aspects. A total of 36% of the energy needs during the operational and management phase of the Italian school sector are required by secondary schools. The main objective of this paper is to propose an integrated (architectural, energy, and environmental) redevelopment for the “Raffaello” School in Pistoia (Italy), aimed at improving the environmental and technological system and decreasing the building’s primary energy demand. Here, for the sake of brevity, we will only deal explicitly with energy rehabilitation. The results show that the replacement of the artificial lighting system with LED lamps alone leads to a 45% decrease in primary energy demand.

Window-wall ratio (WWR) is a parameter that necessarily affects the energy need for heating, cooling and lighting of buildings. Its definition during the early design process is remarkable to reduce the energy consumption. The aim of the paper is to optimize WWR minimizing global energy consumption in order to obtain Nzeb schools in mediterranean area. From the study it is possible to affirm that WWR exerts a considerable influence on energy consumption for heating and cooling, and to a lesser extent for lighting.

In Italy in 2020, only 15.5% of school building heritage was retrofitted from an energy and environmental point of view. In this paper, the cost-optimal method was applied to two different school buildings belonging to the same Italian cold climate zone but characterized by different structural and technological solutions. The research aims at defining the cost-effective redevelopment solution among several ones proposed to apply to this building type. At the same time, this paper provides a critical analysis of the methodology applied, highlighting deficiencies related to a not proper evaluation of environmentally friendly retrofitting measures. In a cost-effective context, the main results show that the intervention on the heating system is more convenient than the retrofitting of the envelope. The energy saving is equal to about 35% for both considered schools. Among the different proposed requalification configurations, the adoption of PV (photovoltaic) electric generation is included. In this regard, an optimization procedure was implemented in a generative design environment to maximize energy production with reference to different design parameters. As a result, a solution with south oriented PV modules with a tilt angle of 42° and arranged in 0.7 m spaced rows proved to be the most effective.

For the construction of a carbon zero school building, it is necessary to choose a proper technological solution for the external wall in the early stages of the design process. At the same time, the material to be used for the insulation layer must be defined. The main aim of the presented study is to analyze five different technological solutions for the external wall combined with four different materials for the insulation layer. The solutions will be used in a new typological model for kindergarten and analyzed and compared with respect to both environmental impact and energy performance.