THE HUMAN DIMENSION OF BUILDING ENERGY PERFORMANCE

Highly efficient buildings and inefficient buildings can both lead to similar condi-tions of discomfort if not used correctly. Numerous research corroborates the thesis that the "performance gap" between project and real conditions often lies in the non-optimal management of the building, attributable to a non-virtuous behaviour of the user. Alt-hough, in fact, the use of high performance enclosures allows to achieve a considerable energy saving, it is the correct management during the use phase that contributes to guaranteeing a real efficient behaviour of the building. In this context, strategic im-portance can take the planning of diagnostics and monitoring of environmental parame-ters, aimed at evaluating the real behaviour of the building-plant system and controlling the aforementioned aspects related to comfort. The implementation of a remote monitor-ing system during the operational phase of a building can become, in fact, essential to evaluate the use scenarios, analyze any critical issues and plan an optimization. The final aim is the planning of monitoring activities, useful to define a "use booklet" of the build-ing, that can be taken as a guide for its management and, if correctly used, for minimiz-ing degradation phenomena, as well as for optimizing internal well-being levels, consid-ering also the user, in relation to the correct use of the building, as an active part in its management.