Analysis of Swedish school buildings’ energy performance certificates with focus on ventilation systems

Abstract

Energy performance certificates are valuable sources of information about buildings. They are primarily used to assess the buildings’ energy performance, however the data included can also be used for building stock description or analysis from different perspectives. School buildings account for a substantial part of the Swedish public building stock and represent a great opportunity for implementation of energy saving strategies. To improve the energy efficiency, it is first important to analyse and understand the current energy use and identify the key factors responsible for most of the energy use. In Sweden, data used for EPC compilation are in most cases real measured data opposite to other European countries where EPC comprises calculated data practices. Therefore, the energy performance value provides a much more realistic representation of the building energy use. This study analyses certain aspects of school buildings’ energy performance using data available in EPCs, such as year of construction, floor area, heat supply systems and ventilation system. Comparison with data from some other European countries is also presented. The data which could be included in the certificate to extend the potential of EPC use in other areas, such as evaluation of indoor environmental quality, is also discussed.