Educational architecture: Evaluation and proposals for the energy performance of the building envelope

Abstract

Public educational buildings require a high level of indoor comfort conditions to be achieved for their users. The vast majority of educational buildings in Cyprus consist of typical typologies and construction characteristics. The designs show significant similarities, extensive standardization of building components and construction methods and a reliance on previously tested building models. The intent of this paper is to investigate the energy performance of a typical classroom, as well as to evaluate various methods for improving energy performance, based on construction interventions. For the investigation of the energy performance of the case studies, a standard methodology for the calculation of the energy performance of buildings in Cyprus has been applied, based on the directive 2002/91/EC for the energy classification of buildings (software SBEMcy v3.3.d). The base model used for the investigation is examined according to the four orientations and the four climatic zones of Cyprus. The analysis consists of a comparison of the energy consumption and carbon dioxide footprint of each building model to the respective energy-and environmental parameters of a reference building. Construction improvement strategies for the energy performance of the educational space (thermal insulation) and other construction interventions (buffer zones, solar spaces) are examined. The results of the analysis for each construction or architectural intervention are then compared to allow for an evaluation of the respective contribution to the decrease in energy demands and carbon dioxide emissions, as to the typical classroom in its present state.