Energy efficiency and HVAC systems in existing and historical buildings

Refurbishment of existing and historical buildings is a priority in many European countries. Due to the need of developing a harmonized approach focusing on historical buildings, in 2014 AiCARR (Italian Association for air conditioning, heating, refrigeration) published a specific Guidelines entitled “Energy efficiency in historic buildings” (de Santoli et al., 2014) intended for both design engineers and superintendents to support the energy retrofit actions in historical buildings. The Guidelines provide the design engineers with a tool for the energy audit of the historic building and offer a framework for the design of possible energy upgrades, appropriately tailored to the needs and peculiarities of the cultural heritage. In this chapter, the energy efficiency in historical buildings and the new CEN Standard on this topic will be examined and discussed.