Carbon-Neutral-Campus Building: Design Versus Retrofitting of Two University Zero Energy Buildings in Europe and in the United States

Carbon-neutral design is pivotal for achieving the future energy performance targets of buildings. This paper shows research projects that promote environmental sustainability university campuses at international level. GHG accounting methods and operational strategies adopted by University Genoa (UNIGE), Italy, Florida International (FIU) in Miami, USA, are compared, with both universities striving to make buildings campus facilities benchmarked carbon neutral near future. Our comparative includes analyzing their attempts design, retrofit, transform these into Two case studies were discussed: Smart Energy Building (SEB) Savona Campus UNIGE, Paul L. Cejas School Architecture (PCA) FIU. The SEB’s construction reduced emissions about 86 tCO2/y, whereas PCA’s retrofitting 30%. Other strategies, including efficiency generation, allowed UNIGE reduce overall Scope 1 + 2 25% from 2013 2016. Globally, FIU per person found result more than three times UNIGE’s emissions, 2.4 if evaluated square meter. results compared other universities.