Primary Energy Demand Research Articles

Analysis of the Impact of Funding Policies for the Energy Refurbishment of Buildings Using Dynamic Simulations

Dynamic simulations can accurately estimate the thermal demands for space heating and cooling in buildings, as well as the energy and economic performance of specific energy refurbishment actions. This study aims to evaluate the energy and economic savings resulting from the adoption of particular energy measures applied to a cluster of residential condominium buildings, also considering some possible Italian funding policies. To this scope, dynamic simulation models of several buildings with different features in terms of geometry, shape, and thermo-physical properties are considered. The selected buildings are representative of the most common buildings in the city of Naples, Southern Italy. Two scenarios regarding the possible penetration of the refurbishment actions are considered: the “25% scenario”, where 25% of buildings in the Naples municipality adopt the selected measures, and the “100% scenario”, where all buildings adopt such energy refurbishment actions. The results of the simulations, reported over different time periods, compare the economic, energy, and environmental benefits of the specific energy measures. This study evaluates the replacement of conventional natural gas-fired boilers with natural gas-fired condensing boilers, as well as the use of thermal insulation on the external walls of the buildings. The primary energy demand for space heating decreased by 28% when the proposed energy measures were implemented in all buildings of the Naples municipality.

Eco-efficiency of coffee production and consumption in the UK at the product and sectoral levels

Coffee is one of the most consumed products globally, and yet its eco-efficiency is still unknown. To address this knowledge gap, this paper examines for the first time the life cycle eco-efficiency of different coffee drinks to identify the most sustainable options and opportunities for improvements in the coffee industry. Nine types of coffee are considered: espresso, latte, cappuccino, Americano, drip-filter, coffee pods, spray-dried and freeze-dried instant, and instant coffee mix. Taking a cradle-to-grave approach, the following life stages are included: coffee cultivation, production and consumption, and end-of-life valorisation of spent coffee grounds. The methodology follows the eco-efficiency ISO 14045 standard to measure the environmental efficiency of a system relative to the economic value it generates. The eco-efficiency is estimated at both the product (one serving) and sectoral (annual consumption) levels based on life cycle assessment (LCA), life cycle costing (LCC) and economic value added (VA). The results show that latte has the highest environmental impacts and LCC but it also has the highest VA at both the product and sectoral levels. Spray-dried instant coffee, on the other hand, has the lowest impacts but also the lowest VA, which makes it the least eco-efficient option. Espresso emerges as the most eco-efficient drink because it has moderate environmental impacts and high VA. Latte and coffee pods are the second most eco-efficient drinks, followed by cappuccino, Americano, and instant coffee mix. Valorising spent coffee grounds could reduce the environmental impacts, LCC and increase the VA at the sectoral level. For example, the climate change impact would be reduced by 80.5–132.1 kt CO2 eq./yr and primary energy demand by 0.9–2.3 PJ/yr while also increasing the VA by £50.2–95 M/yr. When compared to some other food sectors, coffee is 6.4 times more eco-efficient than cheddar cheese and 5.4 times than ice cream and biscuits, respectively. The findings of this study can be used to guide businesses, consumers and policy makers in identifying more eco-efficient coffee products and improving the environmental and economic sustainability of the coffee industry.

Retrofitting of the Italian precast industrial building stock. LCA analysis as decision-making tool

The challenging European goal concerns the achievement of a carbon-free economy by 2050 must necessarily consider the improvement of the construction sector along with the redevelopment of the existing buildings. In fact, according to a European report concerning existing buildings, 80% of the built environment will remain the same by 2050. Nowadays buildings are responsible for 30% of the global final energy consumption and 37% of global energy and process emissions. As regards industrial buildings, they account for 33% of global final energy demand. The research aims to define some effective retrofitting measures to be applied in the existing Italian industrial facilities to improve their both energy and environmental performance. Several redevelopment scenarios and their possible combinations related to external envelope technological solutions and systems are analysed. The different interventions are applied to an existing Italian industrial building chosen as a case study and are compared by Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) analysis considering different environmental indexes (GWP, AP, PERT and PENRT). The calculation of the primary energy demand is also performed. Phase B6 accounts for about 80% of the whole environmental impact calculated considering 20 years as building lifetime. The redevelopment scenarios that foresee the intervention on the external envelope are the most impactful ones in terms of the production phase (A1-A3). Those related to the existing roof are characterised by a significant impact due to the demolition, disposal and landfill of finishing panels made of asbestos. The configurations that include the substitution of the existing heating system with an air-to-air heat pump coupled with renewables to produce electrical energy on-site are the most advantageous ones. The latter make the industrial building carbon-zero thanks to the considerable amount of surplus electrical energy produced on-site. In this case, phase D mostly recovers the environmental impact of the whole life cycle considering the different indexes.

Comparative assessment of simple and detailed energy performance models for urban energy modelling based on digital twin and statistical typology database for the renovation of existing building stock

The renovation wave calls for an integrated, participatory, and neighbourhood to neighbourhood approach tailored to the local environments. This can be hindered by the lack of geometric and performance input data about the existing building stock. A parametric digital urban building energy modelling (UBEM) tool was developed for local municipalities to automate calculations for comprehensive renovation strategies utilizing public databases specifically at the neighbourhood level. This article compares the accuracy of two energy performance calculation models (seasonal heat balance method and hourly resistance–capacitance method) used within the tool to detailed energy simulation software and measured energy consumption data of existing group of residential buildings in a same neighbourhood. The accuracy for estimating the total primary energy demand was roughly below 10 % for both simplified models. The seasonal calculation method showed consistent overestimation of space heating, depending on building characteristics. Solar and internal heat gains significantly affect the accuracy of simplified heat balance calculations, particularly in well-insulated buildings, while the more detailed 5R1C lumped capacitance hourly method provides improved accuracy for space heating demand. The comparison of uniform (proportional) and project based window area distribution used in the calculation models showed only marginal difference. The study validated simple seasonal and 5R1C hourly calculation methods using data from an apartment building neighbourhood with 22 apartment buildings. Despite larger deviations in the case of individual buildings, the average deviation from measured heating demand was only around 3 %, the seasonal method slightly overestimating and the 5R1C hourly method slightly underestimating the measured values. The primary energy demand including typical values of domestic hot water and household electricity was overestimated by both simplified methods due to lower electricity and water consumption in reality although the difference was below 7 % for the entire district. This concludes that pooling the building envelope heat loss calculation on a district level improves accuracy on average allowing better assessment of comparative renovation strategies.

Energy Hub Model for the Massive Adoption of Hydrogen in Power Systems

A promising energy carrier and storage solution for integrating renewable energies into the power grid currently being investigated is hydrogen produced via electrolysis. It already serves various purposes, but it might also enable the development of hydrogen-based electricity storage systems made up of electrolyzers, hydrogen storage systems, and generators (fuel cells or engines). The adoption of hydrogen-based technologies is strictly linked to the electrification of end uses and to multicarrier energy grids. This study introduces a generic method to integrate and optimize the sizing and operation phases of hydrogen-based power systems using an energy hub optimization model, which can manage and coordinate multiple energy carriers and equipment. Furthermore, the uncertainty related to renewables and final demands was carefully assessed. A case study on an urban microgrid with high hydrogen demand for mobility demonstrates the method’s applicability, showing how the multi-objective optimization of hydrogen-based power systems can reduce total costs, primary energy demand, and carbon equivalent emissions for both power grids and mobility down to −145%. Furthermore, the adoption of the uncertainty assessment can give additional benefits, allowing a downsizing of the equipment.

Energy and environmental evaluation and comparison of a diesel-electric hybrid tractor, a conventional tractor, and a hillside mini-tiller using the life cycle assessment method

Currently, electrification, especially hybrid solutions, still represents the most promising option to improve energy efficiency, emissions, and productivity for agricultural machinery. Agricultural machinery in China's mountainous areas is represented by quantities of small conventional tractors and hillside mini-tillers (HMTs), which are highly fuel-intensive and polluting. Effective measures need to be taken to reduce their environmental impacts. Thus, a diesel-electric hybrid tractor (DHT) was designed and developed. The life cycle assessment (LCA) method was used to assess and compare the energy consumption and environmental impacts of the DHT, an internal combustion engine tractor (ICET), and an HMT in this study. Comparative results present that the ICET had the most contribution to acidification potential (AP), eutrophication potential (EP), and respiratory inorganics (RI), while the HMT created the most to primary energy demand (PED), global warming potential (GWP), and photochemical ozone creation potential (POCP). The DHT had the lowest contribution to six environmental impact indicators, 5.1%–68.9% lower than those of ICET and HMT. Among the six phases in the life cycle, the Pump-to-Wheel (PTW) phase consumed the most energy (65.9%–78.5%) and brought about the largest environmental impacts (54.2%–94.7%), followed by the Well-to-Pump (WTP) phase (4.0%–37.3%). Increasing the proportion of electricity generation from non-fossil fuels in 2030 showed positive effects on saving energy and reducing environmental impacts for the ICET, DHT, and HMT, with the DHT benefiting the most. Discoveries in this study can contribute to the research and development of the DHT and the electrification of small agricultural machinery.

Are alpine floatovoltaics the way forward? Life-cycle environmental impacts and energy payback time of the worlds’ first high-altitude floating solar power plant

Floating photovoltaics (FPV) and high-altitude PV installations are increasingly gaining importance in the sustainable energy sector, each technology holding its own potential. A pioneering high-altitude FPV installation in Switzerland represents the first implementation of combining the two technologies. In order to determine the environmental performance of such an installation, the present study examines the life-cycle environmental impact of the world’s first high-altitude FPV system, using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Our results record life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions of 94 g of CO2–eq per kWh of electricity produced by the high-altitude FPV system. The non-renewable primary energy demand amounts to 10′810kWh oil-eq/kWp, which equals an energy payback time of 2.8 years. Environmental hotspots in the life cycle of the installation were found to be the production of the PV panels, due to the wafer production, and the mounting system, dominated by the production processes of the aluminium. Comparison to other PV installations identifies the mounting system as the main point of issue in the high-altitude FPV installation, due to a more intensive aluminium use. It was found that the high-altitude FPV installation can generally compete with alternative PV systems in the lowland, with its environmental impacts lying in the range of −45 % and + 15 %, while being largely outperformed by ground-mounted PV installations at high altitude. By implementing measures such as transitioning to renewable energies in the PV panel and mounting system supply chains, as well as reducing aluminium use for the mounting system, FPV systems hold great potential to help meet the increasingly growing demand of renewable energy sources.

Evolution of Energy Efficiency of Buildings Using the Guidelines of the European Green Deal Plan

In contemporary literature, there are not many analyses taking into account changing heat transfer coefficients over the years and examining and comparing the variability of insulation thickness in different thermal standards. The article presents the evolution of energy demand taking into account the requirements of the Green Deal. The analysis was carried out using two materials, showing how their thickness changed in relation to the evolving energy requirements. The research was illustrated with an example of thermal modernization for a building in specific time periods. The analysis was carried out using a numerical program, comparing warming variants for individual years using the Index of annual primary energy demand. Following the requirements contained in the EPDB directive, a comprehensive reduction of the penetration coefficients for building partitions was proposed and requirements for the mandatory use of mechanical ventilation and photovoltaics were introduced.

Forecasting Turkey’s Primary Energy Demand Based on Fuzzy Auto-regressive Distributed Lag Models with Symmetric and Non-symmetric Triangular Coefficients

AbstractThis study aims to guide policymakers in allocating resources and planning for the future by consistently estimating energy data trends. Because of the complexity and uncertainty of energy demand behavior and many influencing factors, we decide to take advantage of a fuzzy regression model to determine the actual relationships in the energy demand system and provide an accurate forecast of energy demand. For this purpose, because of energy demand drivers, fuzzy possibilistic approaches with symmetric and non-symmetric triangular coefficients are integrated with the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model, each in a time-series format with feedback mechanisms inside. After regularizing the L1 (Lasso regression) and L2 (ridge regression) metrics to minimize the overfitting problem, the optimal fuzzy-ARDL model is obtained. Turkey’s primary energy consumption is projected based on the best model by benchmarking the static and dynamic possibilistic fuzzy regression models according to their training and test values.

Revolutionizing heat distribution: A method for harnessing industrial waste heat with supra-regional district heating networks

In both practice and literature, there is a lack of a concept for a supra-regional district heating network that efficiently transports heat from renewable and industrial waste heat sources to multiple heat sinks and regional district heating networks, like the high-voltage electricity transmission network in the electricity sector. This paper addresses this gap by presenting a novel method for the basic design of a supra-regional district heating network and its evaluation, along with key performance indicators for assessment. The method highlights essential data requirements and the derivation process necessary to enable the integration of such a heating network. Additionally, it describes how a basic design of such a network can be made feasible and evaluated. This method is then applied to a case study to demonstrate its implementation for a real-world application. Furthermore, this case study aims to either demonstrate or provisionally disprove the general feasibility of a supra-regional district heating network. The results indicate that the implementation of such a network has a positive impact on the CO2 balance and primary energy demand. The case study further demonstrates the technical feasibility of such a network, showing that a high linear heat density can be achieved through integration and that temperature levels within the network can be maintained adequately. This study confirmed that the developed method can effectively assess whether further investigations into implementing a supra-regional district heating network in a specific region are warranted. Additionally, the method offers a guideline on how to initially design such a network.

Impact of temperature dependent coefficient of performance of heat pumps on heating systems in national and regional energy systems modelling

To successfully transition towards fully renewable energy systems, energy sectors that today are primarily autonomous should be closely integrated to increase system flexibility and maximise synergy from effective sector coupling. Heat pumps are one of the sector coupling technologies which enable a mutual integration of power and heat sectors. Heat pumps are viewed as a low-cost source of sustainable heat for both space heating and industrial processes. However, representation of heat pumps in energy system models is typically oversimplified by using a uniform coefficient of performance, which limits perception of the hourly temperature changes on heat pump efficiency, or by using generic heat pumps for all individual residential, district, or industrial heat supplies. The LUT Energy System Transition Model was expanded to examine the impact of utilisation of hourly coefficient of performance profiles and specific heat pumps for different applications. The results indicate that, in cold climate countries, the use of hourly coefficient of performance profiles has little impact on the heat supply structure and overall primary energy demand, but has a noticeable impact on the electricity supply and energy storage system. Though the cost of the optimised system stays on the same level, application of hourly COP profiles leads to a more accurate simulation of electricity consumption and energy storage operation. The separation of district and industrial heat pumps leads to a higher share of heat pumps in industrial heat supply and allows for a reduction in overall energy system primary energy demand by 1.8%.

Driving forces and typologies behind household energy consumption disparities in China: A machine learning-based approach

Establishing an intuitive link between driving factors of household energy consumption activities and inequalities is important for the understanding of household heterogeneity in energy consumption behaviours. This paper proposes a novel typology framework based on machine learning approaches and data from 3637 Chinese households in 2014 from 85 cities. Activity-based energy consumption was measured, highlighting inequalities across activities, regions and household types. The results showed significant energy consumption disparities between urban/rural and north/south households, especially in cooking, space heating and vehicle activities. By identifying driving factors of energy consumption, a new household typology classified samples into 6 (all), 6 (urban) and 7 (rural) types. Within these types, households with similar demographic structures, lifestyles and energy consumption habits were clustered. Demographic structure, region, and primary energy demand were used as the basis for the typology. The findings demonstrated how household lifestyle differences explained the cause and underlying driving factors of urban-rural energy consumption inequalities and provided suggestions for city-by-city and type-by-type measurements to support effective low-carbon transformation in cities.

Life cycle assessment as a driver for process optimisation of cellobiose lipids fermentation and purification

PurposeCellobiose lipids (CL) are biosurfactants produced by various Ustilaginaceae species in aerobic fermentations. They show high potential for application as alternatives to conventional oleochemical- or petrochemical surfactants. To ensure their environmentally friendly performance, we aimed to assess CL production from a life cycle perspective at an early developmental stage to identify process steps that have the highest impact on the environment. With this information, optimisation approaches can be derived.Materials and methodsFollowing a cradle-to-gate approach, we modelled the CL fermentation and purification process based on experimental data from the lab scale and process simulation data at a 10 m3 scale. For LCA, the impact categories (IC) abiotic depletion potential (ADP), eutrophication potential, photochemical ozone creation potential, global warming potential, acidification potential, and the primary energy demand were calculated for all process steps. Based on the obtained results, process bottlenecks were identified, and alternative process scenarios varying the related process parameters were simulated. These were used to assess the environmental impact reduction potential (EIRP) of an optimised process and draw recommendations for experimental process optimisation.Results and discussionThe obtained results showed that the fermentation caused ~ 73% of ADP and more than 85% of all other ICs. The major contributor was the electricity consumption for continuous fermenter aeration. Thus, reducing the fermentation duration from the initial 14 to 5 days would result in a decrease in all investigated ICs of up to ~ 27–52%. An increase in CL concentration results in a decrease in all ICs of a similar magnitude due to the higher yield per batch at comparable energy and material consumption. Although the share of purification process steps to all ICs is overall relatively small, implementing foam fractionation for in situ product recovery showed an additional EIRP of 18–27% in all purification IC shares.ConclusionsThe conducted LCA showed that overall, more EIRP can be achieved by optimising fermentation process parameters compared to purification process steps. This is mainly due to the long fermentation duration and large energy consumption for fermenter aeration. This highlights the importance of using LCA as a driver for process optimisation to identify process steps with high EIRP. While some of the results are specific to CL, other obtained results can be transferred to other fermentations.

Life-Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Primary Energy Demand of Agricultural Greenhouse Plastics: Proposed Optimization toward Agricultural Plastic Sustainability

Life-Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Primary Energy Demand of Agricultural Greenhouse Plastics: Proposed Optimization toward Agricultural Plastic Sustainability

Semi-stationary and dynamic simulation models: A critical comparison of the energy and economic savings for the energy refurbishment of buildings

Dynamic simulation is a powerful tool for accurately evaluating the thermal demands of buildings and assessing the impact of energy refurbishment actions on their final consumption. Conversely, semi-stationary models are widely adopted in commercial applications for its simplified approach, which reduce calculation times, resulting in standardized results showing a certain deviation with respect to the real energy This paper presents the energy and economic comparison between the dynamic simulation and semi-stationary approaches for the calculation of primary energy demand of residential buildings. The semi-stationary method, used by the legislation to calculate the buildings energy label, is based on an energy performance parameter, not representative of the real energy demand. Conversely, an approach based on dynamic simulation provides a more reliable estimation of the primary energy demand. The main novelty of this paper is to numerically prove that the energy and economic savings calculated by means of software based on the current legislation may be overestimated. In this work, the dynamic simulation of the building-plant system is performed by TRaNsient SYstem Simulation (TRNSYS) program. Each building apartment is divided in thermal zones, where the internal heat gains are defined in detail. The semi-stationary simulation of the building-plant system is performed according to the Italian standard UNI TS 11300. The models allow one to evaluate the yearly primary energy demand, along with the energy bill and CO2 emissions. A specific case study is developed for a residential building located in Naples (Italy). The models are used to calculate the building energy demand for several scenarios, considering different thermal transmittances of the building elements. The results show that the semi-stationary method overestimates of primary energy saving, equal to 64.7 %, with respect to the one calculated with the dynamic approach, equal to 43.2 %.

Techno-economic evaluation of a seawater source heat pump system with auxiliary heat source in cold region of China

The utilizing of renewable seawater energy through seawater source heat pumps (SWHPs) in coastal areas is considered as a sustainable technology with minimal environment impact. Promotion of this technology needs clear understanding of its techno-economic performance but there are limited relevant studies. An empirical study was conducted in Qingdao, China, based on a practical installation comprising SWHPs supplemented by electric boilers. On-site measurements revealed considerable COP of 3.81 for SWHP and COPs of 2.87 for the whole system, implying SWHP as a viable and efficient solution for space heating in mild winter in this region. Results from TRNSYS simulations showed SWHP with auxiliary gas boilers (SWHP-GB) achieved the lowest annual primary energy demand and best economic and environmental benefits compared with other three schemes, namely SWHP with electric boilers (SWHP-EB), chillers with gas boilers (Chiller-GB) and air source heat pumps with gas boilers (ASHP-GB). SWHP played important roles in energy efficiency of the whole system with a considerable seasonal COP of 3.72 and 3.22 respectively for heating and cooling. Annual primary energy demand of SWHP-GB accounted for 55 %, 78 % and 56 % of SWHP-EB, Chiller-GB and ASHP-GB, respectively. SWHP-GB achieved the lowest life cycle costs and a rapid payback period of 10.9 years. Moreover, using direct or indirect heat exchange with seawater was found with limited impact on techno-economic performance of the system. To conclude, SWHP-GB could be used as an efficient solution for building heating and cooling in northern coastal cities in China.

Analysis of the Energy, Environmental and Economic Efficiency of Multi-Family Residential Buildings in Poland

Improving the energy efficiency of buildings is one of the main challenges facing Europe in the context of climate neutrality policy. In this article, the authors decided to investigate the impact of thermal insulation of building envelopes and the type of ventilation on the energy efficiency of multi-family buildings located in different Polish cities. In accordance with EU directives, economic analyses of the costs incurred during the lifecycle and calculations of CO2 emissions were carried out for the analyzed facilities. It was determined what measures need to be taken under Polish climatic conditions in order to meet the requirements for improving the energy efficiency of multi-family buildings. The multi-criteria analyses presented in this article provide a voice in the discussion of the issues related to the achievement of the energy performance of buildings with almost zero primary energy demand (nZEB). Based on the conclusions of the research conducted, it was possible to develop general recommendations for investors and designers of multi-family residential buildings characterized by energy efficiency and reduced environmental impact.

Briquette Shape Roles in Carbothermal Reduction Process of Limonitic Laterite Nickel

Lateritic ore carbothermalreduction is currently the focus of many researchers. This process uses a relatively lower temperature of operation than the smelting. Therefore, the carbothermal reduction process has a relatively lower primary energy demand and CO2 gas emissions. This research examines the appropriate briquette form to obtain the optimum recovery, concentration of nickel, and selective reduction of nickel, as well as analyzes the compounds/phases formed. The briquette in this study was formed into three different geometries, i.e., the pillow, spherical, and cylindrical forms. First, this research was carried out by mixing the raw materials and forming it into specified briquette forms. Second, the formed briquettes were put into a crucible. Third, the coal-limestone bed mixture was used to cover the briquettes. Then, the carbothermic reduction process was started by heating to 700 oC for 2 hours and continued to 1400 oC for 6 hours. Finally, the magnetic separation process was performed to separate the reduced briquettes. As a result, the cylindrical shape briquette obtained better results at 6.74% Ni, with a nickel recovery of 96.20% and a selectivity factor value of 10.39. The compounds formed after carbothermic reduction process products include FeNi, Fe3Si, and SiO2. In a spherical-shaped briquette, Fe3O4 and Mg2SiO4were found in the reduced product, indicating impurities in the reduced briquettes.

Helping the climate by replacing liquefied natural gas with liquefied hydrogen or ammonia?

The war in Ukraine caused Europe to more than double its imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in only one year. In addition, imported LNG remains a crucial source of energy for resource-poor countries, such as Japan, where LNG imports satisfy about a quarter of the country’s primary energy demand. However, an increasing number of countries are formulating stringent decarbonization plans. Liquefied hydrogen and liquefied ammonia coupled with carbon capture and storage (LH2-CCS, LNH3-CCS) are emerging as the front runners in the search for low-carbon alternatives to LNG. Yet, little is currently known about the full environmental profile of LH2-CCS and LNH3-CCS because several characteristics of the two alternatives have only been analyzed in isolation in previous work. Here we show that the potential of these fuels to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions throughout the supply chain is highly uncertain. Our best estimate is that LH2-CCS and LNH3-CCS can reduce GHG emissions by 25%–61% relative to LNG assuming a 100 year global warming potential. However, directly coupling LNG with CCS would lead to substantial GHG reductions on the order of 74%. Further, under certain conditions, emissions from LH2-CCS and LNH3-CCS could exceed those of LNG, by up to 44%. These results question the suitability of LH2-CCS and LNH3-CCS for stringent decarbonization purposes.

Energy Performance Analysis of the Renovation Process in an Italian Cultural Heritage Building

Renovating buildings with cultural heritage significance is an important step toward achieving sustainability in our cities. The benefits are not only energy-related but also encompass social aspects that make these renovations a high apriority. The present work investigates the renovation process of a cultural heritage building in the Municipality of Trento in Italy, specifically focusing on achieving energy savings and renewable energy integration by implementing various renovation actions. These renovation actions include improvements to the building envelope, such as roof insulation and window replacements. Additionally, the renovation actions for active systems involve the installation of a ground-source heat pump for heating/cooling coupled with a borehole thermal energy storage system, which is an innovative technology for the renovation of cultural heritage buildings. The electrical systems of the building are upgraded through the addition of standard rooftop photovoltaics, innovative building-integrated photovoltaics (shingles), and the installation of an LED lighting system. The baseline and the renovation scenarios are studied using the dynamic simulation tool INTEMA.building, written in the programming language Modelica. This tool simulates both the building envelope and the energy systems with a high level of detail, using advanced control systems and adjustable time steps. According to the simulation analysis, the primary energy demand is reduced by 30.49%, the final energy demand by 36.74%, and the net electricity demand by 8.72%. Results from this study can be useful to interested stakeholders (e.g., building owners, architects, construction companies, public agents, and urban planners) dealing with the renovation of cultural heritage and protected buildings. Also, the results can be exploited for estimating energy savings by applying advanced renovation strategies for cultural heritage buildings.