Considering the significant impact that the residential sector has on energy consumption, it is particularly important to implement policies aimed at improving energy efficiency in buildings. Highly energy efficient buildings can either save primary energy or disseminate the use of the most suitable technologies to be used in new constructions. Due to those reasons, the Municipality of Citta della Pieve promoted the creation of a "Renewable Energy Park" in a deprived area of its territory, where some green technologies could be installed and tested. This site has also been considered as an optimal location for an educational/demonstrative "zero energy consumption" building for multifunctional activities and realized with the most innovative techniques to save energy. The building may be considered as an example to study and optimize the benefits of higher energy efficiency together with the use of renewable energy systems. In this paper the technical solutions adopted both in the building envelope and the technical plants are described and discussed. A simulation of the behaviour of the building in summer and winter was carried out in order to assess the benefits that can be obtained both in energetic and economic terms. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.