An Energy Rank B standard of residential restructuring work

Obtaining Energy Rank B certification is already an ambitious goal for a new building, but even more so if you are talking about a restructured building, with imposing architectural constraints resulting from the need to maintain the outer walls. However, the construction company called COIMA has achieved this feat, where it has built the Dolce Vita Homes residential complex from the restructuring of a prestigious four-storey building, consisting of four apartments, near the centre of Milan, in Via Archimede 81.

A crucial contribution to achieving this goal was given by the installing of a Mitsubishi Electric VRF COMPO MULTi centralised air conditioning system. The innovation of this centralised system applied to the residential sector means that the management of ambient and thermal comfort can be assigned to one single manufacturer.

Hot water supplies, for both domestic use and for heating radiant panels, is in fact produced by direct expansion system with heat recovery, making it possible to eliminate all in loco production of CO2, but more importantly, use the heat extracted from indoor areas during the summer season to produce hot water at no extra cost, generating outstanding energy and cost savings.

The plant consists of two outdoor simultaneous heat recovery, water cooled, cooling and heating units, which are installed in a separate basement utility room, where there is also enough space for water storage tanks and the compact HWS and ATW hydronic modules. The modularity of the Mitsubishi Electric VRF system allows considerable flexibility of use, ensuring ambient comfort for each apartment according to the different requirements: in fact, all system components are controlled independently by means of a centralised touch screen controller with a LCD display that makes the system simple and user-friendly to manage. Both electric and water consumptions have also been carefully allocated per individual user.

The savings in terms of energy costs reaches 32% compared to traditional technology systems, while CO2 emissions are reduced by up to 190 tons (-60%).

Maximum attention to the environment is also guaranteed by the refrigerant gas used by the Mitsubishi Electric VRF systems: the R410A refrigerant, in fact, has Zero ozone depletion potential (ODP).