Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development
Energy: Online a new software for energy performance certification of buildings
A new version of DOCET[1], the simplified software for the energy performance certification of residential buildings, developed by ENEA in collaboration with Cnr- Institute for Construction Technologies - and addressed to workers in the construction sector, is free to download on the ENEA portal.
The application, suitable for properties up to 200 m2 not undergoing major renovations, allows to draw the energy performance certificate (APE), which certifies the performance and energy class of a property, indicating the ameliorating interventions more economically convenient. The previous version of the software reached over 300 thousand users.
The latest version of the software maintains its original characteristics, still using a simplified method to perform standard assessments of buildings with standard climate conditions and user behaviors.
The new features include the possibility of further personalizing the description of the property, with additional inputs to improve the characterization of transparent surfaces for the calculation of solar heat gains.[2]
The unit costs of fuels have also been updated in the new version. “Given the variability of energy prices, a careful check by the certifying technician is recommended” said Carlo Romeo at the ENEA Laboratory of Energy Efficiency in Buildings and Urban Development.
It also features an alert that invites you to modify the proposed requalification intervention when not financially convenient. The alert is issued when the proposed actions, both on the building envelope and the plant systems, show negative time of return. “For example, when the return on investment exceeds the useful life of the replaced elements,” explained the researcher.
The calculation of the energy performance of the building-system system is conducted in full compliance with the national energy legislation and supporting technical standards. Its use is addressed at users with specific training, capable to correctly manage data retrieval and entry, both in options predetermined by the software and in manual entry.
The new version was developed upon passing the Periodic Surveillance Verification Procedure required for commercial calculation tools and software for the purposes of issuing the declaration issued by the Italian Thermotechnical Committee (CTI)[3]. The assessment conducted meets the minimum legal requirements for the specific category of interventions.
For more information on applicability, technical specifications, calculation methods and software compilation, a user manual and the latest version of DOCET are free to download.