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| Eco House 2010  In Italy, the residential sector consumes 30% of energy expenses and produces 27% of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere. How can we design a house that, without giving up comfort and wellbeing, is able to respond to sustainability criterion too? Which technical solutions are already available on the market? To find the answers, companies and operators will meet at Eco House 2010 from 8 to 10 September at Rome Fair Centre.Reducing energy consumption in the home is possible and being able to produce it and become less dependent on fossil fuels is even better. Our homes consume too much and energy saving is ever more convenient, and is also a benefit for the environment, as well as, in this period of crisis, being a financial benefit too. The important challenge is that of sustainable construction. From the point of view of consumption of resources, houses have a very high impact. Just consider all the production and economic aspects of the building sector and activities connected to it. Our houses, the last step of this enormous sector, have a significant part in the emission of greenhouse gas during their entire life cycle, from construction to maintenance. Designing a house and renovating it as per sustainable parameters means, therefore, making it have a minimum impact on the environment, both at regional and at global level. With regards to the VI annual report on safety in Italy, Daily strategies and choices regarding energy safety, recently carried out by the national council of industrial experts (Cnpi) in collaboration with Censis, there is some important data to consider: in the residential sector alone, the annual cost for energy expenses is more than EUR 8 billion, the equivalent of a national budget. According to calculations from the WWF, in Italy, inefficient houses in terms of energy consume 30% of energy expenses and produce 27% of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere. In a family of four, for example, the cost for heating and lighting is 1.8 tep (equivalent tons of crude oil) with an inefficiency incidence of 55%. The estimates also state that, if interventions leading to energy efficiency were carried out on 20 million homes, the savings in terms of energy would be equal to the production of energy coming from eight nuclear power plants, with savings in CO2 emissions equal to those coming from 16 million vehicles. It is therefore of the utmost importance to intervene on energy savings and on the use of renewable energies, two key factors which, other than enabling to obtain savings on energy bills, would also have positive effects at economic and work level; a perfect mix to leave this crisis period behind us. This involves choices in planning and design that foresee the use of energy from renewable sources and that are attentive to energy savings parameters; a goal that is certainly possible since the technologies and solutions able to lower and to change the present trend are already available. Eco House 2010 will take place alongside: Eolica Expo Mediterranean (7 - 9 September), PV Rome Mediterranean (photovoltaic technologies), Geoenergy Expo (geothermal energy), CSP Expo (thermo-dynamic solar energy), CO2 Expo (the carbon credit market), CCS Expo (CO2 capture and storage). write your comments about the article :: © 2010 Exhibition News :: home page |