Introduction

E.D.E.R.A. stands for Ecology of Energy and Environmental Renovation. This is the extended title of the project carried out by a Public Authority, the Municipality of Rossiglione in cooperation with Liguria Region, Province of Genoa and the University of Architecture of Genoa – Polis Department, and partially financed by the European Community through the Life Environment program (project ENV/IT/000121) established by the Regulation 92/1973/CEE, the financial means for the Environment of EU. The Municipality of Rossiglione the beneficiary subject, is located in the Province of Genoa, in the mountain area right behind the coast, and the Mountain Community of Stura and Orba Valleys. It is, indeed, an environment of great value, that must be highlighted by qualified interventions on the landscape and integrated in a network system to correctly manage ali the processes that can influence on the environment, and strengthen the existing financial, social and cultural tissues.

Objectives and target audience

EDERA is a pilot project and has as its main target to promote and spread a sustainable approach to the living problem. With the intervention for the renewal and completing of the school building, the bio-architecture has been experimented, by using environ-compatible techniques and materials both of traditional and innovative type to meet the requirements of sustainability, and to deal with problems and relating costs. The project is based on the acknowledgement that the construction sector is one of those that uses more intensively non-renewable resources, and therefore produces a very high level of pollution, more than a quarter of the total waste produced on the planet. In the nation, the spreading of construction works with biocompatible characteristics is extremely important for the introduction of a new building philosophy that is strictly linked to situations of environmental sustainability.
To reduce the environmental impact and the overall power energy cost of the construction sector it is essential to promote a correct refurbishing of the existing construction properties and to build new biocompatible buildings, where the use of ecological, durable, and non-toxic components and materials is implemented.

Financial Resources and Partners involved

The technical scientific partners of the project are: Liguria Region (Environment, Construction and Energy Department), Province of Genoa (Department for Environment, Construction and Sustained Development), Faculty of Architecture of Genoa, Polis Department.
The participating subjects interested in the experimentation are: Mountain Community of Stura and Orba Valleys, CREA Liguria (Regional centre for environmental education), ENEA CCEI Liguria (Agency for the New Technologies in the Energy and Environment Sectors The project has had an indirect impact on the institutions, and the business class, represented by: firms, professionals, manufacturers, research institutes and vocational schools, but a direct impact on the residents of the Comunità Montana Valli Stura and Orba, the operators and the users of the school itself.

Process

The project has been carried out in four implementation phases:
1)    Bio-construction project, which includes the sub-phase of environmental analyses. It had defined, in according to local characteristics, the modality of intervention, keeping in great consideration: indoor pollution; energy savings; biocompatible materials and systems; renewal and/or recycle of demolition debris; the recycling collection of the waste; indoor temperature comfort; natural illumination and ventilation;
2)    Pilot construction site, realizing a biocompatible construction, the direction of the works and accounting the costs within the experimentation framework;
3)    Final monitoring on the biocompatible qualities of the building and the- comparison of the collected values before and after the works, registration of the energy costs for at least one year of operation to verify the obtained savings at the end of the management, maintenance and indoor comforts against the extra costs of the building site, with the total environmental balance sheet of the intervention , and the costs/benefits ratio;
4)    Integrate dissemination actions to ensure the spreading of the developed know-how and of the obtained results by means of informative events and information also on the web:

• The creation of a dedicated website: http://www.lifeedera.it

• The opening of a structure for information and consulting, an “eco-desk” in the website of the project, a data bank on biocompatible construction and on power energy savings, updated on the result of the project

• Specific promoting events as: special exhibitions of the sector, training and educational stages, conclusive conference at the Expo centre Valle Stura, with the Managing Consortium  (made  up of many authorities among which:  Province of Genoa, Municipalities of Stura Valley, Mountain Community, Chamber of Commerce, CNA and private companies)

• The videotape of the building site.

The experimentation of the intervention has been oriented to:

• the evaluation of sustainable materials and components, long lasting, easy maintenance and the possibility to dismantle and reassemble in the disposal phase.

• engineering solutions that exploit at best the natural illumination and ventilation, installation of thermal, power and sanitary systems with a low level of environmental impact and compatible from the ecological point of view, to improve the indoor comfort and obtain relevant energy savings.

The heating systems of the school connected to the district heating plant that supplies the heating to many public users, is fuelled with freshly-cut biomasses, which is a peculiarity of the area. In fact, there is a large production of oaks for fireplace and chipping that can provide heating at a very low cost. The biomasses are, in fact, a renewable energy source in a region with a high density of woods as Liguria. This plant, partially financed by Liguria Region, not only provides the protection of the environment, but also foster the care and improvement of the woods, which are often abandoned and consequently can cause instabilities of the hill slopes and hydro- geological upheaval phenomena. The Municipality of Rossiglione, moreover, has received a financial support for the programme “Photovoltaic roofs” promoted by the Ministry for the Environment, for the installation of the photovoltaic System connected to the electrical network, to be located on the roofs of the new gym.

Results

We can highlight the following results of the project:
•    The biocompatible re-qualification of the school building with a intervention methodology that can be reproduced, and can interact with the manufacturing, professional and research world.
•    The promotion and spreading of bio-architecture as sustainable approach to the living problems,
•    The monitoring of environmental benefits and the evaluation of the costs/benefits of the interventions
•    The creation of this operating manual, that has a main task to transfer the experience with the guidelines and a reproducible methodology.
•    The check of requirements necessary to evaluate the environmental sustainability, for the energy and environmental certification of the public buildings.

Critical Success Factors / Challenges