MATERIALS AND METHODS INTRODUCTION AND GOALS Case

Wine Cellar Modeling for the Assessment of Energy Efficiency
Stefano Benni, Federica De Maria, Alberto Barbaresi, Daniele Torreggiani, Patrizia Tassinari
Ref: C0536
University of Bologna - Department of Agricultural Sciences, Viale G. Fanin 48, 40127 Bologna (Italy) - patrizia.tassinari@unibo.it - http://www.scienzeagrarie.unibo.it/
INTRODUCTION AND GOALS

Environmental sustainability has gained increasing importance in farm building design, particularly for wineries.

Small-medium wine-growing and producing farms play an essential role in the Italian wine sector.
In wine productions, temperature control of built spaces for conservation represents one of the main factors of
energy consumption.

Rising energy costs entail a drag on farm competitiveness.

Stakeholders are interested in the research of constructive systems that maximize energy efficiency, through thermal control optimization.

This research involves the evaluation of the energy performance effects of various design choices, such as location, orientation, building technologies, materials, and technical solutions.

The purpose of this study is to assess the energy efficiency of different design solutions for wine storage, through
digital modelling and thermal simulations.

Examples of cooling
systems of Italian farm
wineries
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Thermal modelling
Case study
Building digitally modeled for thermal simulations through
Energy Plus (open-source software for energy analysis). It calculates heating and cooling loads necessary to maintain thermal control setpoints, and energy consumption of primary
plant equipments.
Farm winery producing 1500 hl/year in
Bologna province (Italy)


Wine storage building considered for the
study:

vertical steel structure;


wall layers: 1 cm internal plaster, 15
cm hollow brick, 10 cm of insulation
(expanded polystyrene) and an outer
coating 2 cm thick of wood planks;

1. Actual condition of the building;
2. Same condition without insulation;
3. Higher insulation level than configuration 1 (14 cm thick
tiled roof with timber structure and 10 cm of polystirene insulation;

door with of 5 cm of insulation (rock wool), internally covered by a 2 mm thick steel plate, and externally by wood planks;

floor deck 10 cm thick of lightweight concrete.

Four model configurations considered:
insulation layer).
4. Walls of single masonry layer of 60 cm (traditional constructive solution of a full four bricks thick), with the same
wood cladding and internal plastering as the above models.
Last configuration designed to show the effect of masonry thickness and wall thermal inertia on internal temperature
behavior.
RESULTS


January
Lack of insulation (configuration 2 vs 1) causes a temperature increase
of up to 3.5°C summer and a decrease up to 2.5°C in winter.
Configuration 3 in comparison with configuration 1:
modest increase in maximum temperature difference (less than 1°C
in the second half of June);
temperature trends nearly overlapping in most critical periods.


configuration 4



Overheating above 20°C (in degree-hour, Kh)

configuration
1
Overheating (Kh) 13867
2
19466
3
13248
configuration 2
4
17502
As wine storage calls for temperature values not higher than
20°C, energy demand needed to keep indoor conditions below
such threshold was computed.
10 cm insulation layer led to energy saving of 55% of current
consumptions.
Further 10% saving is expected with 14 cm insulation layers
(configuration 3).
Increasing thermal inertia of external walls (configuration 4)
does not appear an effective solution, as it entails energy consumption 39% higher than configuration 1
configuration
August
Energy demand
16000
14000
12000
10000
GJ 8000
6000
configuration 4
4000
2000
0
configuration 2
August
configuration 2
1
2
3
Configuration
4
CONCLUSIONS
configuration 1




configuration 3

The study represents a contribution in the research of best practices for energy modeling of agro-industrial buildings.
The models developed allowed to perform thermal simulations, testing the application of different wall packages, and to assess the
respective effectiveness in terms of energy demand.
Results provided quantitative indications about thermal performances of various solution of wall stratigraphy that can be adopted to
optimize energy efficiency.
The method proved suitable to guide the choice of building materials and technical solutions in the design of new wine storage
buildings, and in the thermal adaptation of existing ones, identifying the most energy-efficient configurations.
Further developments are expected to consider the integration of obtained results with cost/benefit analyses of solutions considered, quantifying the redevelopment cost and the savings deriving from a less intensive use of facilities or their complete disposal.