Energetic Saving in Italian Seclusion Institutes: Experimentation in the Town of Padova

In these last years, many actions have been taken both at international and national level to decrease the consumption of fossil fuels and the impact on the environment of the human activity. In Italy, several new laws for energy saving and incentives to promote a more rational use of energy have been promulgated. A special attention is paid to the public activities, which on one side must have as a priority the well-being and safety of the citizens, both on short and long period, on the other have also a role of model of rational approach on energy problems for domestic and industrial users. Among the public buildings and activities, prisons are big energy consumers, because many people (prisoners and policemen) live and/or work and many different activities take place inside their walls: cells, offices, workshops for different types of jobs, gyms, recreation areas, laundries, kitchens, apartments. Most of them have been built some decades ago, when the energetic aspect was not considered as a problem, and, until now, only the security aspect has been taken into consideration in prisons organization. This paper will describe the first results of a collaboration work between the municipality of Padova, the administration of the seclusion institutes of Triveneto (Italian North-East region) and the University of Padova. The use of energy in the prison of Padova, which is one of the largest in Italy and has been chosen as a pioneer, will be analyzed and some different proposal for energy saving will be explained. The possibility of self production of electric energy both by photovoltaic panels and by cogenerative engines will be explored and optimized. The results of a sensitivity analysis by means of the code Homer (Hybrid Optimization Model for Electric Renewables by NREL - National Renewable Energy Laboratory) will be reported for different energy costs and CO2 emissions penalty scenarios.