scholarly journals Evaluation of School Building Energy Performance and Classroom Indoor Environment

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 2489 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jitka Mohelníková ◽  
Miloslav Novotný ◽  
Pavla Mocová

Existing building stock represents potential for energy saving renovations. Energy savings and indoor climate comfort are key demands for sustainable building refurbishment. Especially in schools, indoor comfort is an extremely important issue. A case study of energy consumption in selected school buildings in temperate climatic conditions of Central Europe region was performed. The studied buildings are representatives of various school premises constructed throughout the last century. The evaluation was based on data analysis of energy audits. The goal was aimed at assessment of the school building envelopes and their influence on energy consumption. One of the studied schools was selected for detailed evaluation. The school classroom was monitored for indoor thermal and visual environments. The monitoring was performed to compare the current state and renovation scenarios. Results of the evaluation show that the school buildings are highly inefficient even if renovated. Indoor climate in classrooms is largely influenced by windows. Solar gains affect interior thermal stability and daylighting. Thermal insulation quality of building envelopes and efficient solar shading systems appear to be fundamental tasks of school renovation strategies.

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 2881
Author(s):  
Federica Rosso ◽  
Arianna Peduzzi ◽  
Lorenzo Diana ◽  
Stefano Cascone ◽  
Carlo Cecere

Nowadays, energy retrofit interventions on the existing building stock are of paramount importance towards energy consumption and emissions reductions in the construction sector. Such interventions are also crucial in the view of increasing cities resilience with respect to the intensification of frequent extreme weather events, such as cold spells and heatwaves. Indeed, a wide portion of our cities is dated and lacking with respect to performances. These are the motivations behind the proposed sustainable approach, which deals with the environmental perspective, but also with social and economic ones, by proposing the retrofit of the Public Residential Building stock (Edilizia Residenziale Pubblica, ERP). The objective is to improve the energy performance of ERP stock by means of construction materials coming from local km0 agricultural waste and by-products. The research was conducted by means of in field and numerical analyses of the energy performances of a relevant case study building. Different layers of bio-based, recycled construction materials for the envelope were tested with respect to their efficacy in improving the energy performance of a case study building. The results demonstrate that the most performing envelope solutions and their combination are able to reduce up to 36% of the yearly energy consumption for heating.


2020 ◽  
pp. 50-64
Author(s):  
Kuladeep Kumar Sadevi ◽  
Avlokita Agrawal

With the rise in awareness of energy efficient buildings and adoption of mandatory energy conservation codes across the globe, significant change is being observed in the way the buildings are designed. With the launch of Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) in India, climate responsive designs and passive cooling techniques are being explored increasingly in building designs. Of all the building envelope components, roof surface has been identified as the most significant with respect to the heat gain due to the incident solar radiation on buildings, especially in tropical climatic conditions. Since ECBC specifies stringent U-Values for roof assembly, use of insulating materials is becoming popular. Along with insulation, the shading of the roof is also observed to be an important strategy for improving thermal performance of the building, especially in Warm and humid climatic conditions. This study intends to assess the impact of roof shading on building’s energy performance in comparison to that of exposed roof with insulation. A typical office building with specific geometry and schedules has been identified as base case model for this study. This building is simulated using energy modelling software ‘Design Builder’ with base case parameters as prescribed in ECBC. Further, the same building has been simulated parametrically adjusting the amount of roof insulation and roof shading simultaneously. The overall energy consumption and the envelope performance of the top floor are extracted for analysis. The results indicate that the roof shading is an effective passive cooling strategy for both naturally ventilated and air conditioned buildings in Warm and humid climates of India. It is also observed that a fully shaded roof outperforms the insulated roof as per ECBC prescription. Provision of shading over roof reduces the annual energy consumption of building in case of both insulated and uninsulated roofs. However, the impact is higher for uninsulated roofs (U-Value of 3.933 W/m2K), being 4.18% as compared to 0.59% for insulated roofs (U-Value of 0.33 W/m2K).While the general assumption is that roof insulation helps in reducing the energy consumption in tropical buildings, it is observed to be the other way when insulation is provided with roof shading. It is due to restricted heat loss during night.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (10) ◽  
pp. 2827
Author(s):  
Pavla Mocová ◽  
Jitka Mohelníková

Indoor climate comfort is important for school buildings. Nowadays, this is a topical problem, especially in renovated buildings. Poorly ventilated school classrooms create improper conditions for classrooms. A post-occupancy study was performed in a school building in temperate climatic conditions. The evaluation was based on the results of long-term monitoring of the natural ventilation strategy and measurements of the carbon dioxide concentration in the school classroom’s indoor environment. The monitoring was carried out in an old school building that was constructed in the 1970s and compared to testing carried out in the same school classroom after the building was renovated in 2016. Surprisingly, the renovated classroom had a significantly higher concentration of CO2. It was found that this was due to the regulation of the heating system and the new airtight windows. The occupants of the renovated classroom have a maintained thermal comfort, but natural ventilation is rather neglected. A controlled ventilation strategy and installation of heat recovery units are recommended to solve these problems with the classroom’s indoor environment. Microbiological testing of the surfaces in school classrooms also shows the importance of fresh air and solar radiation access for indoor comfort.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 5108
Author(s):  
María Esther Liébana-Durán ◽  
Begoña Serrano-Lanzarote ◽  
Leticia Ortega-Madrigal

In order to achieve the EU emission reduction goals, it is essential to renovate the building stock, by improving energy efficiency and promoting total decarbonisation. According to the 2018/844/EU Directive, 3% of Public Administration buildings should be renovated every year. So as to identify the measures to be applied in those buildings and obtain the greatest reduction in energy consumption at the lowest cost, the Directive 2010/31/EU proposed a cost-optimisation-based methodology. The implementation of this allowed to carry out studies in detail in actual scenarios for the energy renovation of thermal envelopes of public schools in the city of Valencia. First, primary school buildings were analysed and classified into three representative types. For each type, 21 sets of measures for improving building thermal envelopes were proposed, considering the global cost, in order to learn about the savings obtained, the repayment term for the investment made, the percentage reduction in energy consumption and the level of compliance with regulatory requirements. The result and conclusions will help Public Administration in Valencia to draw up an energy renovation plan for public building schools in the city.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 6018
Author(s):  
Theo Lynn ◽  
Pierangelo Rosati ◽  
Antonia Egli ◽  
Stelios Krinidis ◽  
Komninos Angelakoglou ◽  
...  

The building stock accounts for a significant portion of worldwide energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. While the majority of the existing building stock has poor energy performance, deep renovation efforts are stymied by a wide range of human, technological, organisational and external environment factors across the value chain. A key challenge is integrating appropriate human resources, materials, fabrication, information and automation systems and knowledge management in a proper manner to achieve the required outcomes and meet the relevant regulatory standards, while satisfying a wide range of stakeholders with differing, often conflicting, motivations. RINNO is a Horizon 2020 project that aims to deliver a set of processes that, when working together, provide a system, repository, marketplace and enabling workflow process for managing deep renovation projects from inception to implementation. This paper presents a roadmap for an open renovation platform for managing and delivering deep renovation projects for residential buildings based on seven design principles. We illustrate a preliminary stepwise framework for applying the platform across the full-lifecycle of a deep renovation project. Based on this work, RINNO will develop a new open renovation software platform that will be implemented and evaluated at four pilot sites with varying construction, regulatory, market and climate contexts.


2021 ◽  
pp. 174425912110560
Author(s):  
Yassine Chbani Idrissi ◽  
Rafik Belarbi ◽  
Mohammed Yacine Ferroukhi ◽  
M’barek Feddaoui ◽  
Driss Agliz

Hygrothermal properties of building materials, climatic conditions and energy performance are interrelated and have to be considered simultaneously as part of an optimised building design. In this paper, a new approach to evaluate the energy consumption of residential buildings in Morocco is presented. This approach is based on the effect of coupled heat and moisture transfer in typical residential buildings and on their responses to the varied climatic conditions encountered in the country. This approach allows us to evaluate with better accuracy the response of building energy performance and the indoor comfort of building occupants. Annual energy consumption, cooling and heating energy requirements were estimated considering the six climatic zones of Morocco. Based on the results, terms related to coupled heat and moisture transfer can effectively correct the existing energy consumption calculations of the six zones of Morocco, which currently do not consider energy consumption due to coupled heat and moisture transfer.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Seyedeh Samaneh Golzan ◽  
Mina Pouyanmehr ◽  
Hassan Sadeghi Naeini

PurposeThe modular dynamic façade (MDF) concept could be an approach in a comfort-centric design through proper integration with energy-efficient buildings. This study focuses on obtaining and/or calculating an efficient angle of the MDF, which would lead to the optimum performance in daylight availability and energy consumption in a single south-faced official space located in the hot-arid climate of Yazd, Iran.Design/methodology/approachThe methodology consists of three fundamental parts: (1) based on previous related studies, a diamond-based dynamic skin façade was applied to a south-faced office building in a hot-arid climate; (2) the daylighting and energy performance of the model were simulated annually; and (3) the data obtained from the simulation were compared to reach the optimum angle of the MDF.FindingsThe results showed that when the angle of the MDF openings was set at 30°, it could decrease energy consumption by 41.32% annually, while daylight simulation pointed that the space experienced the minimum possible glare at this angle. Therefore, the angle of 30° was established as the optimum angle, which could be the basis for future investment in responsive building envelopes.Originality/valueThis angular study simultaneously assesses the daylight availability, visual comfort and energy consumption on a MDF in a hot-arid climate.


2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (11) ◽  
pp. 996-1000 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lars Gullbrekken ◽  
Klodian Gradeci ◽  
Øyvind Norvik ◽  
Petra Rüther ◽  
Stig Geving

Clamped joints of wood frame buildings are a traditional way in Norway to attain airtight joints for the air and vapour barrier. There are numerous defects registered in the SINTEF Building Defects Archive related to air leakage through the vapour barrier, on one hand, and stricter requirements for reduced energy consumption, on the other hand, question today’s efficacy of these type of joints. This study investigates the durability of clamped joints by studying how the airtightness is affected by several drying and wetting cycles. Experimental work is carried out to measure air leakage rates, which in turn, are used to evaluate their impact on the airtightness of two different constructions by numerical estimations. Results show that the air leakage rates are increased significantly due to transient climatic conditions. Clamped joints may no longer provide airtight building envelopes given the stricter requirements for energy consumption and implications of climate change. A more promising and robust alternative is the use of self-adhesive tapes.


Proceedings ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michele Vavallo ◽  
Marco Arnesano ◽  
Gian Marco Revel ◽  
Asier Mediavilla ◽  
Ane Ferreiro Sistiaga ◽  
...  

Buildings are the key factor to transform cities and to contribute to recent European energy efficiency objectives for 2030 and long-term 2050. New buildings account to only 1–2% annually. Yet, ninety percent of the existing building stock in Europe was built before 1990, it is therefore necessary to promote their energy renovation to achieve the set objectives. Renovation solutions are available on the market, yet a wrong implementation and integration due to a lack of knowledge neither maximizes the energy performance of the post-retrofitting nor the financial optimisation and viability of the projects. This paper presents research on a plug & play, modular, easy installable façade and ICT decision making technologies to provide affordable solutions in order to overcome those deep renovation barriers. The paper sets out by defining a value framework that can be applied by real estate investors for making better retrofitting decisions for residential buildings, through mapping targeted building typologies and investigating new building revalorisation strategies, new renovation concepts and KPIs for evaluation. Thereafter the paper presents the modular and easy-to-install façade system that is replicable and scalable at European level.


2019 ◽  
Vol 43 (5) ◽  
pp. 398-427 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamed H Saber ◽  
Wahid Maref ◽  
Ali E Hajiah

Many parts of the building envelopes contain enclosed airspaces. Also, the insulating glass units in fenestration systems, such as curtain walls, windows, and skylight devices, contain enclosed spaces that are normally filled with air or heavy gas such as argon, xenon, or krypton. The thermal resistance (R-value) of an enclosed space depends mainly on the type of the filling gas, emissivity of all surfaces that bound the space, the size and orientation of the space, the direction of heat flow through the space, and the respective temperatures of all surfaces that define the space. Assessing the energy performance of building envelopes and fenestration systems, subjected to different climatic conditions, requires accurate determination of the R-values of the enclosed spaces. In this study, a comprehensive review is conducted on the thermal performance of enclosed airspaces for different building applications. This review includes the computational and experimental methods for determining the effective R-value of enclosed reflective airspaces. Also, the different parameters that affect the thermal performance of enclosed airspaces are discussed. These parameters include the following: (a) dimensions, (b) inclination angles, (c) directions of heat flow, (d) emissivity of all surfaces that bound the space, and (e) operating conditions. Moreover, numerical simulations are conducted using a previously developed and validated model to investigate the effect of the inclination angle, direction of heat transfer, and the coating emissivity on the R-values of enclosed spaces when they are filled with different types of gases.


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