Abstract
Educational buildings comprise a considerable portion of the public non-residential building stock. In order to assess the influence of the main parameters involved in the design and possible retrofitting of educational buildings, a secondary school building was selected and investigated with respect to its thermal behavior using EnergyPlus. Designing factors, as well as construction and operational solutions are examined individually and compared with each other, in order to find the best solution for either designing from scratch or retrofitting an educational building. In particular, the orientation of the openings, the thermal mass of the building and alternative insulation solutions, such as the thickness and location of the insulation layers in the building components, are compared. The simulation confirms, that the best orientation for educational buildings is the one in which their long axis coincides with the east-west one. The internally insulated building requires less energy but the difference is too small to be considered cost efficient. Regarding the heating system, from the alternative scenarios examined a one or two hour morning reheat strategy reduces the needed installed capacity for heating by up to 10%.
Highlights
Buildings are nowadays responsible for as much as 32% of the total final energy consumption, constituting one of the biggest energy consumers
The analysis concerning the three selected heating system operation scenarios when applied to the two different types of buildings, the internally and the externally insulated, is summarized in Table 7, in terms of monthly and annual energy consumption values, in kWh, along with the maximum values of demand that were calculated for the whole heating period of the simulation
The dynamic simulationbuildings of the is building’s performance confirms, the optimal orientation for educational the one in energy which their long axis coincides with that the east-west one, which should be taken into consideration design phase
Summary
Buildings are nowadays responsible for as much as 32% of the total final energy consumption, constituting one of the biggest energy consumers. Secondary education schools constitute important energy consumers and are highly distinguished among public buildings by their great diversity, due to the different time periods of their construction, and their spatial distribution [2]. Energy refurbishment of the existing stock should be considered a priority for governments worldwide, estimating the potential for energy saving in the whole sector is very difficult because of several factors that do not allow a reliable overall assessment. One such factor is the heterogeneity in the existing situation; both in terms of building construction and heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. Energy consumption in schools varies depending on their age, state of repair, occupancy hours
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