Energy and Buildings 68 (2014) 183–195 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Energy and Buildings j ourna l ho me page: www.elsevier.com/locate/enbuild Thermo-fluid dynamic modeling and simulation of a bioclimatic solar greenhouse with self-cleaning and photovoltaic glasses Paolo Sdringola ∗ , Stefania Proietti, Umberto Desideri, Giulia Giombini Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Perugia, Via G. Duranti 67 – 06125, Perugia, Italy a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 26 September 2012 Received in revised form 8 April 2013 Accepted 4 August 2013 Keywords: Bioclimatic greenhouses Nano-materials Organic photovoltaic thin-film CFD-FEM 3D modeling and simulation a b s t r a c t This paper describes the multifunctional complex “Solaria”: a development project of an unused indus- trial area, located in a urban district in the immediate outskirts of Perugia (Italy), conceived and designed according to principles of sustainable buildings. Energy efficiency solutions and innovative experimental components are synergically integrated in a single project, enabling to reach important results, as demon- strated by the assessment of environmental achievements and the calculation of avoided CO 2 emissions. Since a quantitative evaluation of the energy savings, that can be achieved with the use of bioclimatic greenhouses, is very complex, due to the large number of parameters,which are necessary to describe their operation, the research work focused on the thermo-fluid dynamic modeling of these systems, with the use of a specific CFD-FEM software, COMSOL Multiphysics TM . In particular a model was created, initially conceived in 2D and currently developed in 3D, which reproduces the thermo-fluid dynamic behavior of an experimental greenhouse in the Solaria complex. The possibility of changing parameters characterizing materials and climatic conditions allowed to appre- ciate the influence on energy performance of special reinforced thermal insulation, solar control glasses and external sliding sunshades. A further added value is the possibility to simulate an organic thin-film photovoltaic device of nanometric thickness. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Both at legislation and research levels, attention is focused on the adoption of systems that aim at energy saving and using renew- able energies in buildings. Building construction involves several environmental issues: the exploitation of non renewable resources, land use, energy consumption in all phases of the life cycle of “build- ing”, including demolition and waste disposal; but it is one of the areas with the biggest potential of intervention. The energy demand in terms of net end-uses in Italy is steadily divided into three equal parts (approximately 30% each) among the industrial, transport and civil sectors; the rest is consumed in agriculture, fishing, non- energy use, or it is stored. The civil sector share is divided between tertiary (commercial and office buildings) – 40% – and residential users – the remaining 60% – where the distribution of typology of uses is in line with the EU statistics. The largest demand is for heating (68%) [1]. The subject of this paper is part of a larger project, aimed at achieving an integrated approach to solve the problems related to ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 075 5853930; fax: +39 075 5853736. E-mail addresses: psdringola@mach.ing.unipg.it (P. Sdringola), stefania@unipg.it (S. Proietti), umberto.desideri@unipg.it (U. Desideri), giuliagiombini@gmail.com (G. Giombini). ensure a comfortable and healthy living, the sustainability of build- ings and building process, the reduction of energy consumption and the increase of renewable energy utilization [2,3]. In order to build a sustainable building, an integrated planning is needed, providing a multiscale and integral view of the building-technical plants system [4–6]. A specific energy efficiency coordination should be carried out to address project choices toward an integration between environmental, social and economic aspects involved in the decision-making process. This includes the following steps: a base energy project assessment; a preliminary evaluation about energy classification and environmental sustainability; the selec- tion of certification protocols; a preliminary project on energy and environmental sustainability issues; the check about the com- pliance with regulatory framework (heating, cooling, acoustic requirements); possible changes of envelope and plant features, aimed at improving energy saving; definitive and executive plan- ning, including optimization of renewable energy systems, active and passive solutions for environmental sustainability; project realization; energy and environmental sustainability certifications, in agreement with selected protocols; management choices aimed at optimizing energy consumption (e.g. participation of an Energy Service Company ESCo). The research work described below concerns the optimization phase, focusing on the bioclimatic greenhouses designed in a mul- tifunctional complex in Italy. This kind of passive solar systems 0378-7788/$ – see front matter © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2013.08.011