Renewable energy sources in minor historical centers. New scenarios of sustainable development of the territory

The integration of building systems that exploit renewable energy sources in urban rehabilitation projects has shown interesting technological possibilities of intervention in different areas and with varying degrees of success, defining scenarios of high architectural acceptability even in sensitive contexts. Any recovery project aiming at the integration of systems exploiting renewable energy sources in historical contexts, typically characterized by a pre-modern material culture that forms their main testimonial value, requires an accurate process to verify the integrability, variable case by-case, that needs to be articulated at different scales: from the single building elements to the urban dimension of the village (roads, open spaces, urban spaces …). The attention placed on the historic villages stems from the desire to achieve an ambitious goal, namely the revival and revitalization of the territory in order to increase the overall level of quality and technological innovation, to avert the risk of depopulation and abandonment of human settlements. Moreover the promotion of the reuse of existing buildings or structures could avoid the construction of new building complexes that would cause, inevitably, a further use of the land. Finally, the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources would allow a significant reduction in consumption levels. The variety of topics presented entails important issues in relation to the integration of these systems, but the effort made is undoubtedly an important “step” along the way towards environmental sustainability and energy self-sufficiency.