The Padua Research Area hosted a series of events in celebration of the centenary of the founding of the National Research Council, offering CNR researchers the opportunity to present the institutes' research projects and activities on energy to the public. The focus of our institute was on recent advances in the application of geothermal energy for the energy efficiency of buildings, on which the Bernardi-Bortolin-Cadelano working team has been working.
A large attendance demonstrated the general interest in our organization and the topics covered. Dr. Cadelano (CNR-ISAC) took the visitors and authorities present through a tour of the pilot building, now renamed "ECO-CASA". Open to the public for the first time, the building is being used as a test bed for innovative solutions and prototypes developed in the context of research projects on energy efficiency in buildings. The interested visitors had the opportunity to take a close look and ask questions to CNR researchers about innovative radiant air conditioning systems, thermal insulation and other products born out of recent projects coordinated by ISAC: GEO4CIVHIC (Most Easy, Efficient and Low Cost Geothermal Systems for Retrofitting Civil and Historical Buildings), Cheap-GSHPs (CHEAP AND EFFICIENT APPLICATION OF RELIABLE GROUND SOURCE HEAT EXCHANGERS AND PUMPS) and Innowee (Innovative pre-fabricated components including different waste construction materials reducing building energy and minimizing environmental impacts). The facility will also host in the coming months the innovative thermal storage systems of the ECHO (EFFICIENT COMPACT MODULAR THERMAL ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEM) project, which is coordinated by ITC and has ISAC as a partner together with ICMATE. Dr. Bortolin introduced visitors to medium- and low-enthalpy geothermal energy for building air conditioning and also provided examples of practical applications.
Geothermal energy constitutes a renewable technology that allows moving in the direction of decarbonization of buildings. The geothermal heat pumps and high-efficiency vertical heat exchangers installed at ECO-CASA as part of the European GEO4CIVHIC project are concrete proof that low-enthalpy geothermal energy has broad possibilities for development and offers practical solutions developed in the awareness that there is an urgent need to find concrete answers to climate change.